300K points to burn, but low value redemptions

[AndyGoodyear]

Hi All

I have achieved SG status on Qantas for the first time after a lot of hard working and a hell of a lot of flying for both business and pleasure - mostly in economy. I'm happy that I now have WG until March 2017 for lounge access, but I wondered what everyone does with their points?

Having amassed 300,000 points I thought it would be fairly easy to use them and get good value, but it seems not. I'm in the UK right now on an economy ticket which I paid $2500 for SYD-LHR-SYD departing beginning of December until the end of January. I tried to upgrade the outbound flight to business or at least PE, however the fare was not available for upgrade. I'm aware of economy fare classes, but this was not a red e-deal ticket. On phoning Qantas I was told the fare was too cheap to be able to upgrade. I guess our opinions on what a cheap economy flight is are very different! I'm flying back on an EK flight with a QF flight number, but this means (according to who I spoke to) that it cannot be upgraded either. Personally I don't see why Qantas will not allow you to upgrade any fare on their own metal - they could simply charge more points for 'sale' fares upgrades.

Then I looked at flights later in the year with Qantas to London. Classic economy award (which I know are not the best value anyway) uses 128,000 points and still costs $850 cash. There was a sale economy fare around the same time for around $1600, so if my calculations are correct that puts the point value at .05c, in fact even less once you take into account points earned on a revenue tkt. I did only look at Y though, not J awards vs revenue.

So it seems the only good value redemption is a 140K/280K ticket.

Anyway long post, but I'm just wondering what people suggest? After spending just over two years collecting the points, I'm keen to start getting value back (aside from status) for my loyalty to Qantas. How do you use yours?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Yes. It's not easy to redeem premium travel on Qantas aircraft.

Your options for greater flexibility will likely involve partner airlines - Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, British Airways. These come at a small surcharge over QF/EK awards, but will open up a lot more seats. You can search for seats on Cathay via the Qantas booking engine, split your flights Europe-HKG, and then HKG-Australia. For Japan Airlines you can use the BA engine, or the JAL booking engine.

 

[AndyGoodyear]

My point more is not the availability of award flights, but the 128,000 points plus $850, compared to a $1600 revenue ticket which is not good value. I can book BA/JAL via Qantas I presume, so would there be a benefit to using the BA website?

 

[RooFlyer]

A general rule of the QFF program is what you have just found - that whY redemptions are not good value and should be avoided. J and F redemptions are better value but of course are scarce - but obtainable with some planning. Partner awards, per Mel_Traveller ore OK too.

To redeem QFF points on partners you have to book via the QF website (or phone and pay the phone penalty). Partners that don't charge high cash co-payments are better of course.

(ps I think you are now SG, not WG ; you have to spend more time in the tin can to be a true W )

 

[offshore171]

Then I looked at flights later in the year with Qantas to London. Classic economy award (which I know are not the best value anyway) uses 128,000 points and still costs $850 cash. There was a sale economy fare around the same time for around $1600, so if my calculations are correct

London is a bit of an exceptional case in terms of bad value, as the poms have huge taxes and passenger movement charges. It can be a lot cheaper to fly into a destination in Europe.

That said, you can prevaricate forever in trying to find the best deal for your points. My tip is to just use them, with no regrets. If you can find reward seats to where and when you want to go, just go.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

My point more is not the availability of award flights, but the 128,000 points plus $850, compared to a $1600 revenue ticket which is not good value. I can book BA/JAL via Qantas I presume, so would there be a benefit to using the BA website?

Indeed the comparison can be even worse than the example you have found. In some cases the use of 50k+ frequent flyer points might only save you $100-$200 over one of QF's or JQ's regular sale fares to Asia or Honolulu.

You can book BA/JL through Qantas - in fact you can book any oneworld partner through qantas, but the problem is that the QF booking tool doesn't offer a complete service, and in some cases is actually misleading.

Many carriers don't show on-line on QF - so that's why you need the BA, JL, or variety of other tools to search for availability. Alternatively you can call QF directly and have them search for you.

QF doesn't show Qatar airways business class for example... it will tell you there are 'no seats', when in fact there may be seats and the call centre can book them for you.

 

[AndyGoodyear]

A general rule of the QFF program is what you have just found - that whY redemptions are not good value and should be avoided. J and F redemptions are better value but of course are scarce - but obtainable with some planning. Partner awards, per Mel_Traveller ore OK too.

To redeem QFF points on partners you have to book via the QF website (or phone and pay the phone penalty). Partners that don't charge high cash co-payments are better of course.

(ps I think you are now SG, not WG ; you have to spend more time in the tin can to be a true W )

Thanks for your advice.

And I did know about SG, but had been reading lots of posts about WP and got myself confused. Thanks for the pick up - edited now

 

[AndyGoodyear]

London is a bit of an exceptional case in terms of bad value, as the poms have huge taxes and passenger movement charges. It can be a lot cheaper to fly into a destination in Europe.

That said, you can prevaricate forever in trying to find the best deal for your points. My tip is to just use them, with no regrets. If you can find reward seats to where and when you want to go, just go.

I see your point, but I just can't justify using 130,000 points and still spending $850. Id rather spend the extra $700 and earn points/status. I do know that people have got much more value per points, so I guess I'll keep looking.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I see your point, but I just can't justify using 130,000 points and still spending $850. Id rather spend the extra $700 and earn points/status. I do know that people have got much more value per points, so I guess I'll keep looking.

the value is in premium travel, or, as we found in another thread, you could consider points + pay. if you want to fly economy. It actually saved quite a lot of money on the bookings in question.

 

[Croupier]

Best value redemptions imo would be short haul intra Asia in F/J on CX.
EG: HKG-TPE 26000 points and less than $40 in tax, only a 2hr flight but you also get CX F lounge which is a treat.

 

[RichardMEL]

putting the fare class issues aside for upgrades out of Y (remember the QF agent will just see fare class O or N or whatever it was not care the relative cost of the ticket - or rather just not care that to you $2500 is a lot to go to LHR - which I agree it is) but also as SG you're a fair way down the pecking order for upgrade seats. I've been spoiled as WP and P1 to get upgrades from requests but I know at least one flight I was on that I clearly got the last seat as a P1, so even WP's let alone Golds would have got a look in.

I do agree with the other comments that partner awards can be better value - also be aware if you find a premium PE/J/F award seat out of the UK, the APD's will be heaps *more* due to the multipliers on premium tickets out of the UK (grrr). The other option would be to look for awards and tickets out of Paris, Amsterdam etc and get the train over to the continent - avoid a heap of the APD's and possibly more options via EK connections to DXB and then onto oz on EK/QF. Or else other partners such as CX as mentioned earlier.

I do not find (personally) Y redemptions at all good value as you point out. Premium is better but one needs to pick the targets and it can work.

good luck and welcome to the world of status with QF. Remember that Gold will be recognised by other oneworld carriers as a Sapphire member, and that can be very handy - specially in the USA if you're bound to that part of the world (waived bag fees etc)

 

[awkwardpaws]

Not sure if US travels was on your radar, but US domestic travel is one that has low additional taxes with QFF points, and there is decent domestic AA availability on the QF award engine if you give yourself enough time. From memory, some flights have taxes of $5.60 (not sure if that has gone up)

Also, with the AA SYD-LAX flight introduced, this is one that you can use your QFF points on to pay less taxes when compared to a QF SYD-LAX - some information about that here!

 

[kitkatff]

with 300K points you have enough for a round the world in business, I suggest you start looking at that thread and start planning ...
And 128K is close to a round the world in Y (140K), which is way better value than just a return trip to London.

I use my points for upgrading the family, not guaranteed I know, but worked so far (touch wood). Key is to ensure the fare is upgradeable, as you found out, and avoid busy days/periods if possible (eg. fly on a tuesday/wednesday, when all the businessmen are likely to travel on Sunday/Monday/Friday.

 

[Mattg]

As others have said, point-to-point international flights in Economy are not the best way to spend Qantas points. 128K + ~$800 taxes for a return trip to LHR is a good example of why this is the case. Returning to Australia from somewhere outside the UK (e.g. Paris or Frankfurt) will reduce the taxes a bit. But as has been said, you can go all the way around the world for another 12K points - and that redemption would be worth anything from $3000 to $5000+.

Premium cabin travel is also a much better use of points. But in terms of Economy redemptions, domestic travel is usually fair value on shorter routes where tickets can be a little pricey. Taxes are reasonably low, not that many points are needed and availability is good. For example, CBR-BNE costs 8,000 points and around $50 in taxes. Revenue tickets are often around the $200 mark.

 

[AndyGoodyear]

Thank you everyone for your very detailed responses - I really appreciate your advice. I think I am going to focus on premium travel, either a business class point to point to the US, or the 280K award. I'm definitely away from the Y idea.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thank you everyone for your very detailed responses - I really appreciate your advice. I think I am going to focus on premium travel, either a business class point to point to the US, or the 280K award. I'm definitely away from the Y idea.

To the USA there are often plenty of options with JAL from SYD. It will cost more than SYD-USA non-stop, but will also give you a much bigger range of destinations. If you can score the JAL 777 with business skysuite you'll have a nice ride. Check seating on the 787 carefully as many of those still have angled beds.