500,000 points - can I get a Berlin->Sydney->Berlin ticket?

[deangelj]

Hey everyone,

I have accumulated a few points on my Westpac Black Altitude card. Now I'd like to see if I can get a return ticket for my son who lives in Berlin, hopefully without paying any taxes, etc. I know I can get 250,000 points in Krisflyer, Velocity, Malaysian, etc but don't know if that's enough for the flight and whether I can start from OS? Any help appreciated. Looking to fly in Nov/Dec 2016.

thanks
John

 

[AnnaB]

It should not be a problem at all, you could even get a business class ticket and have 100,000 points left over.

You need to transfer the points though. You wont get much by booking through Altitude, unless you want to fly economy, but why do that when you can travel in style.
Singapore Airlines does not fly to Berlin, but they do fly to Frankfurt. A J class ticket SYD-FRA is about 161,500 SQ points plus taxes with SQ.

Not sure about Virgin, but I think it is fairly similar in Business class (about 250,000 velocity points) except that they have lower taxes. If you want to go straight to Berlin, I would look into transferring the points to Velocity instead.

 

[deangelj]

Thanks RoseAnna. Is there a way to use points to pay for the taxes? Do any airlines allow this?

cheers
John

 

[AnnaB]

VA would, but I am not sure about SQ. I have always saved the points and paid the taxes. The points have always been worth more to me so I have sucked it up and just paid.

Dont know anything about the other schemes, but you also have the option to redeem on other airlines like Etihad when transferring to VA.

I would think you get better value for your points going through SQ, but they have high taxes and they do not fly straight to Berlin.
VA would be your preferred option (of the two I know of) as they do fly to Berlin, and you can also pay taxes in points but it will also cost you more points.

Then there is the question what class you would prefer to travel in.

 

[deangelj]

Then there is the question what class you would prefer to travel in.

thanks RoseAnna - its for my son who lives in Berlin so he can travel coach

 

[AnnaB]

Then I would start by ringing up Altitude rewards to see what they have to offer. Flying coach can sometimes be quite ok, booking through them and then you dont have to worry about transferring the points. If they can give you tickets at around 250,000-300,000 amex points then its not too bad. It would be fairly similar to as if you are transferring to VA.