Advice: QFF redemption Melbourne-Europe J (2 pax)

[Edge]

Hi guys, looking for any suggestions or tips please.

Looking to book 2 x J classic awards from MEL to either London or Paris for around this time next year (yeah - I need to get on my bike immediately). Have around 480k points and will be able to borrow the remaining 35k or so to reach the magical 512k mark.

Looks like going to CDG will result in a cheaper cash component than LHR. Will this take more points though? Do I need to use the multi-city tool on the website to book this?

Can I check out partner airline options though the Qantas website or do I need to call up to find out?

Should I be trying to stick on Qantas metal or would you recommend other carriers (also will other carriers cost more points?)

I have a 10 week old and I'm not sure whether she'll be coming or not at this stage. Is it easy to add an infant to a rewards booking at a later date?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Have never booked a classic award, have only used points for upgrades so far. Thanks in advance.

 

[BillytheFIsh]

You need to do a bit more reading around the forums because all the answers you want are here if you look for them. Briefly though:

Looks like going to CDG will result in a cheaper cash component than LHR. Will this take more points though? Do I need to use the multi-city tool on the website to book this?

Probably, but possibly not. Depends what partner you fly because QF don't fly to CDG. I'm not sure if you get stung with the APD if you connect through LHR on a multi-city ticket for less than 24 hours, but you will if connecting time is >24 hours, so be careful of that. You don't need to book the multi-city tool and it will likely use more points if you do, but availability is a problem trying to book connecting flights like that online.

Can I check out partner airline options though the Qantas website or do I need to call up to find out?

Some partner options show up online (CX, BA), but most don't. Better to call when you're ready to book but can't find anything online to discuss any options with QF.

Should I be trying to stick on Qantas metal or would you recommend other carriers (also will other carriers cost more points?)

QF metal will be easiest to book if you get on at 10 am 353 days out to book each leg. You should be able to get 2x J seats on CX through HKG which is a good product, but longer flights and more points. MH has wide open availability for bookings with Enrich points, but I'm not sure how much of that they open up for QF. Call QF and see.

I have a 10 week old and I'm not sure whether she'll be coming or not at this stage. Is it easy to add an infant to a rewards booking at a later date?

Haven't done it on QF, but don't imagine it would be an issue.

 

[Edge]

Thanks, appreciate the feedback. Looks like MEL-LHR-MEL it will be. Probably the easiest as well. I'll call Qantas and ask about adding an infant to the booking at a later stage.

I assume it's best to book the outbound flight as soon as there's availability for the dates I want, and then book the return flight a few weeks later when they open up?

 

[BillytheFIsh]

I assume it's best to book the outbound flight as soon as there's availability for the dates I want, and then book the return flight a few weeks later when they open up?

Yes - if the return leg then doesn't work out, you can cancel for 5K points each ticket.

The taxes will be different because you will be paying for the return leg taxes in GBP. I'm not sure whether the taxes on two one ways is much more than a return, but I can't imagine it would be significant enough to worry about.

 

[Edge]

Thanks, I really appreciate your help. I will definitely book the MEL-LHR leg (or attempt to) ASAP.

Doing dummy bookings from other European cities back to MEL on the way home (to try and avoid the LHR departure tax and the need to return to London at the end) and they yield some strange results. Does anyone have any tips on this? EG - Paris - Mel comes up with a mix of BA/CX that are all 3 legs. Doing a multi-city booking PARIS-DXB-MEL brings up a different set of airlines (Qatar Airways for example) but none come up direct Paris-DXB. It's weird, I thought EK flights would appear. Is there any trick to this that I'm missing? Or are there any other non-LHR airports I should be trying?

 

[BillytheFIsh]

Welcome to the coughpiness that is the QFi award search engine.

Call QFF. if you're flexible with departure points and dates, they should be able to find something for you 1 year out, even if it is just a BA flight Paris to London connecting to one of the many options LHR-MEL. Be prepared for it to cost more than 128K points though.

 

[Edge]

Thanks for the advice. I took it and called QF - was able to get EK flights MEL-CDG that weren't appearing on the Qantas website. Then logged on at 10am on the right day and got 2x LHR-MEL