Best use of points to get to london or Paris

[travisjw]

I've just purchased some Phil Collins Tickets for London next June for my wife and I.
Was contemplating using points to upgrade to business for possibly one leg of the travel.
this being my first post on here although I have been a regular visitor to the site.
We will be departing Melbourne.. early June 2017..

I guess id love some direction or advice on how to get the best bang for my buck or I should say bang for my points.

We will be getting across to Paris on during this trip so I guess it doesn't matter if we land in London or Paris.


Cheers
T

 

[opusman]

Qantas international points upgrades are something of a lottery; they're not confirmed until just before departure and are awarded based on your status level. You will need to make sure you book an upgradable fare (sale fares are usually not upgradable from economy), put your request in and then just wait and hope.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I've just purchased some Phil Collins Tickets for London next June for my wife and I.
Was contemplating using points to upgrade to business for possibly one leg of the travel.
this being my first post on here although I have been a regular visitor to the site.
We will be departing Melbourne.. early June 2017..

I guess id love some direction or advice on how to get the best bang for my buck or I should say bang for my points.

We will be getting across to Paris on during this trip so I guess it doesn't matter if we land in London or Paris.


Cheers
T

You'll need to spend more money on your fare (as opusman points out, only the more expensive ones can be used for an upgrade request).

After that, upgrades will be determined on status, Chairman's Lounge, platinum 1, platinum, gold, silver, bronze. A platinum buying their ticket and requesting an upgrade a few days before departure will trump a lower status member who might have applied for an upgrade 6 months in advance.

If you are gold, silver or bronze you should really expect to fly in the class you have booked.

Alternatives? Use the points to get a confirmed business class award to Singapore or Bangkok (on either Qantas or Emirates), then buy a cheap business class on Sri Lankan, Finnair, Qatar or Vietnam Airlines to London/Paris. Those tickets should cost about $2000 return business class from Asia. And for all airlines bar Vietnam airlines you'll earn more Qantas points and status credits.

 

[HTG2016]

Can you reconfirm that you can earn QF points and status on Vietnam Airlines fight , as i am aware they are skyteam member not oneworld unless i am wrong

 

[MEL_Traveller]

And for all airlines bar Vietnam airlines you'll earn more Qantas points and status credits.

Can you reconfirm that you can earn QF points and status on Vietnam Airlines fight , as i am aware they are skyteam member not oneworld unless i am wrong

No points earning on Viet Nam airlines.

 

[BD1959]

Alternatives? Use the points to get a confirmed business class award to Singapore or Bangkok (on either Qantas or Emirates), then buy a cheap business class on Sri Lankan, Finnair, Qatar or Vietnam Airlines to London/Paris. Those tickets should cost about $2000 return business class from Asia. And for all airlines bar Vietnam airlines you'll earn more Qantas points and status credits.

While I generally agree with MEL_Traveller's approach, $2000 J rtn from SIN might be pushing it a bit, BKK I've seen. The issue next year with BKK appears to be EK dropping the direct MEL-BKK sector meaning that QFF will offer you JQ direct, JQ/3K via SIN or QF/EK via SYD. 96K return each with about $450 each in "fines" is poor return in my book on JQ.

Regards,

BD

 

[Mattg]

There is merit in some of the alternatives offered.

If you do decide to try to use your points to upgrade, make sure that you book a Qantas flight with a QF flight number. Flights operated by Emirates (or any airline other than Qantas, for that matter) cannot be upgraded using Qantas points. Also make sure that you don't book "sale" tickets - they'll need to be "saver" or above.