Best Points Use MELto JFK

[Harpoon]

Best Points Use MEL to JFK

Hi Gang. I currently have 277,000 points and I'm looking to book a trip to the NYC later this year with my wife.

I noticed that for 256,000 points plus $1600 in taxes (what the...) I can get there economy classic awards. So that is completely out of the question given sale fares are roughly $1500 return. What a joke. Anyway...

The next option is to try to snare an upgrade. Am I right in saying sale fares are not eligible for an upgrade? So I'd need to buy a proper economy seat how do I know what class I'm booking on the QF website to make sure I can try to upgrade it? What's the cheapest seat i can buy that's eligible?

I guess my main question - are there any tricks you can recommend to make the best use of my points MEL-LAX or MEL-NYC. Happy to go any other codeshare airline if it's going to be worth it. Would be happy to fly economy inside the USA, but ideally want to get MEL-LAX in business or prem economy. Any suggestions?

Or should I just fork out $1500 return sale fare x 2 and save my points for another day?

Thanks.

 

[Mr_Orange]

For the booking class see: http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ent-flyer-program/qf-booking-class-22124.html.

I'd also be looking at a partner redemption in J. CX via HKG to JFK should be possible with the number of points you have (unless I am mistaken).

 

[Harpoon]

For the booking class see: http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ent-flyer-program/qf-booking-class-22124.html.

I'd also be looking at a partner redemption in J. CX via HKG to JFK should be possible with the number of points you have (unless I am mistaken).

Sorry i forgot to add it's for 2 of us. Surely can't get there in Business on CX via HKG for 277k points?

Also are those partner awards flights searchable online or do I need to ring somebody....?

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

What is your QF FF status?
They do say that P1/WP have first dibs at any upgrade opportunities.
I won't be pulling my "dog toy" out of the basket, seeing some on here dont like it.
Bid now would be the next thing to consider, if you are PS/SG, or wait your chance, if it comes.
Personally, I would use my "dog toy".
Let me know if you want to know what I mean.

 

[Harpoon]

What is your QF FF status?
They do say that P1/WP have first dibs at any upgrade opportunities.
I won't be pulling my "dog toy" out of the basket, seeing some on here dont like it.
Bid now would be the next thing to consider, if you are PS/SG, or wait your chance, if it comes.
Personally, I would use my "dog toy".
Let me know if you want to know what I mean.

I'm only silver And yes I'm a tad lost....

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Ah, and I read that there are 2 of you travelling.
For 1 person travelling, I would have pulled the P+P way... but with your further info, P+P would be too expensive.
QF PS, ah, pity.
Best of luck, but being realistic, it will have to be flying in Y this time. Party of 1 has a chance, but 2, hard.
Maybe use the points on another occasion, maybe P+P for both of you one way east coast of Australia to NZ on the EK metal QF flight numbered Airbus380.
I am a lover of P+P as it allows a person to use points, but also at the same time, earn points and status.
And yes, I talk like a mad magpie talking to himself/herself on a power line. Warbling along and not making a lot of sense.

 

[Mr_Orange]

Sorry i forgot to add it's for 2 of us. Surely can't get there in Business on CX via HKG for 277k points?

Also are those partner awards flights searchable online or do I need to ring somebody....?

Sorry, my bad, that will teach to read posts when I am only half awake. Correct, 277k is not enough for two in J. You could still go in Y although as you have noted the redemption value is very poor.

You can search some partner awards on the QF web site and may need to use the multi-city search tool to see some routes. Other partners can only be booked by telephone so you need to use other web sites to find availability or spend a long time on the phone to QF.

You can certainly try for the upgrade option but as you noted you will have to buy a more expensive ticket to enter the lottery but then, as a PS, you will well down the pecking order and the opportunities for upgrades transpacific are reduced since it is a popular route that QF has high yields on.

Your other option is to research the cost of going MEL-NAN-LAX-JFK flying J with Fiji Airways from NAN-LAX. This will cost more than economy but much, much less than J, and probably less than Y+, with QF.

 

[eminere]

Re: Best Points Use MEL to JFK

Hi Gang.

OT but did anyone else read this in Fred's voice (from Scooby Doo)?

 

[Nickor]

I'm only silver And yes I'm a tad lost....

Don't let lack of status deter you Harpoon, with prior planning and persistence it can be done! The best value for your points is award travel in premium cabins (due to the taxes), then upgrades to premium cabins. I am also silver and over the last 3 years, I have made 20 upgrade requests for transpacific flights and been successful on 14 occasions (8 economy to premium, 6 premium to business). The secret is to travel on days and flights which historically have lighter loads. My experience tells me Tuesday is the best day and travel via BNE on 15/16. After doing some research earlier this year on Expertflyer, I suspect the new 17/18 from SYD and 95/96 from MEL might offer the same opportunities.

To check if you can request an upgrade on a fare, when searching for flights, click on the coloured header for each column and you will get a popup with all the rules. I just did a quick search MEL-JFK and all fares were upgradeable except "Sale".

You currently have enough points for a return business class award for your wife, but you need to book this well in advance. Award seats are released 353 days in advance at 10am BNE time. You can only book one way and have to wait for the dates to come up for your return leg. Once your wife is locked in, you can then book a return flight for yourself and earn 560 status credits, almost enough to reach gold. Depending on your budget, you might decide to go premium instead. If you pick up a good sale fare for yourself, you may be able to get both of you return for as little as $4.5k (with 85k points left over). I have just booked 2 business class awards to JFK via BNE for next April and will purchase a ticket for myself. If I manage to jag a good sale fare some time in the next couple of months, then I will end up with 3 business class return flights SYD-JFK for $8.5k!

Cheers.

 

[Harpoon]

So after much trolling partner airlines and research I've given up on using points this time round. Will bank them for another day.

Next question is regarding entry and exit points in the U.S. We want to do Vegas, NYC, Texas, Washington and a couple of other smaller stops. So my basic thinking was to buy MEL-LAX return and then jump on AA or USAirways websites and find all our internal flights that way. Is that the most common approach for an around the USA holiday?

Or or would I be better buying MEL-NYC return flights on QF sale fares and try to start and end our holiday from NYC? Kind of a pain given Vegas is just out of LA :/

How do people usually handle a USA East southern and west coast holiday and gets the best value out of their airfares? So many options and I'm not sure if there's something obvious I should do to reduce cost?

Any advice?