Award seat & taxes question

[uk_expat]

Hi,

I'm new to the use of frequent flyer points so have joined this forum in the hope of some guidance. I've managed to earn around 600,000 points (Qantas) over the last few years and would now like to use them to take my family (2xA 2xC) back to the UK. Initial investigation has been disappointing as the 'points plus pay' option requires around 1.3M points, I have now generated flights using the 'classic' award seating and can fly the four of us from 500-600,000. Unfortunately however it is around the houses (2 stopovers, 32+hrs fly time). I may just have to wear this, although 32+ hours travel with two young kids will be painful.

My question is in relation to taxes, as I understand it classic rewards do not cover taxes, in a 2 stopover scenario how many of the four airports we travel through do we pay taxes at, and where can I find out how much this would be?

Any help or advice is much appreciated. If anyone has any thoughts on how I could score better flights with these points I would love to hear that too. I had thought of cashing them in for Coles vouchers to free up the cash so I can look for deals on skyscanner etc..

 

[JohnK]

Welcome to AFF uk_expat.

Your biggest problem will be Qantas notorious fuel surcharges not genuine airport taxes. The more transit points/stopovers you introduce into the itinerary the more the fuel surcharges will increase.

Oh and UK departure tax is also quite high.

 

[bryanjones]

Generally economy rewards are not good value for points. Maybe best to just buy cheap economy...

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Agree with the above posters. Transits will generally be tax free, but will increase fuel surcharges.

On a flight to London your tax + fuel surcharges on a direct Qantas flight (least flying time) are in the region of $655 per person (based on a sample date 8-22 November, but this will be same at any time of year). For just $300 more (approx $1000 per person) you could buy a ticket on Qatar airways and not have to worry about finding award seats or lengthy flight times. Your 600,000 QF points can save as little as $1200 for the family of 4. Extraordinary bad value unless travelling in peak season when economy fares are upwards of $2500 per person (but in those cases award seats may be hard to find).

Points plus pay is generally the worst option and least value. There can be some sweet spots, but they're hard to come by.

 

[Deleted member]

Mel-traveller has pretty much covered it.
Like many before you, you have discovered that planning these things needs a lot more lead time. If you're determined to make long term use of the intellectual property of those here you will need to take the long view. Simple fixes are now a thing of the past ...., unfortunately :-(

 

[uk_expat]

Thanks for the info guys, I guess all that glitters is not gold eh. I'll soak up some more info here and see how we can best utilise these points.