Best value for return flight MEL-LHR with 2A, 1C, 1I with part points

[tocal]

Hi all,

In the last few years my husband and I have been accumulating points, as his parents live in London and we'd like to go back to visit them. Currently I'm pregnant with our second child, and our daughter is almost two. At the moment we have about 78,000 points - not heaps, but enough to contribute to a flight.

Now, my understanding was that we could essentially get enough points for a return flight for one of us to London, possibly two as we won't be travelling for probably 18 months (we'd be flexible with dates and times within a few days), and pay cash for the rest. I logged onto the Qantas site as I wanted to roughly work out how much the fees and charges are, but now I'm not sure that I can book us together using the two methods. It seems if you use points+pay, you need WAY more points than for a Classic flight. Is this correct?

Can anyone advise me of the most economical way to arrange things when the time comes? I've never used Qantas points and have been saving them specifically for the purpose of flying to London. We'd most likely go off-peak anyway, and last time we left late in the evening from Melbourne, and left London around 9am (we flew with Etihad, but I've also flown with Emirates whom I know Qantas code shares with). I'm a bit bamboozled, and wasn't sure if arranging things through their flight centre would yield the cheapest result for us.

Thanks!

 

[BD1959]

Hi tocal,

I've just done a couple of MEL-LHR-MEL Y dummy bookings.

A straight Classic Economy Award return costs 128,000 points and right on $900 in "taxes". I then selected a couple of dates in October and November using Sale Fares. This prices up at $1811 return.
I then selected Points+Pay option and nominated $900 with the points required reducing to 105,907 - so it appears that Points+Pay isn't always dearer. So your option of booking "off-peak" may work for you if that aligns with cheaper $fares which can then be translated to points.

Regards,

BD

 

[tocal]

Thank you for replying

In terms of the "taxes" required to be paid, I didn't realise they were such a high proportion - roughly 50% of the fare!

That's definitely help me understand the process a little better, and knowing the tax price helps better understand the points+pay value. Annoying as I hadn't initially taken the taxes into account when I calculated the value of the points - but oh well!

 

[opusman]

You could always pay for your flights outright and use the points for a toaster to take over as a pressie for the in-laws

 

[tocal]

You could always pay for your flights outright and use the points for a toaster to take over as a pressie for the in-laws

I've looked at the points rate for that (and used my Coles flybuys for purchases) - so probably not

But I figure at least the points will reduce the cost of the flights, when I don't ever spend more to get points with the exception of signing up for the EDR credit card which I am now ditching since their points are capped at $2,500 for 1:1 and then drop to 0.5:1 and switching to a bankwest card. Since all my expenses go on the card and I pay the balance in full anyway, I never pay interest, so I'm getting something for nothing

 

[BD1959]

Thank you for replying

In terms of the "taxes" required to be paid, I didn't realise they were such a high proportion - roughly 50% of the fare!

That's definitely help me understand the process a little better, and knowing the tax price helps better understand the points+pay value. Annoying as I hadn't initially taken the taxes into account when I calculated the value of the points - but oh well!

Unfortunately one of the less visible (to the casual observer) devaluations of the QFF scheme over time has been the steady increase of taxes. Most here seem to be of the opinion that an International Y Classic redemption is a very expensive way of burning points, which is probably why QF make it so easy to redeem Y!!

As a comparison: as you've seen, if we say a standard Y QF MEL-LHR return is $2000 (including taxes) then your 128,000 points are worth roughly $1100. If we say a standard J return is $8,500 then the *additional* 128,000 for J (a Classic QF J return is 256,000 points) is worth approximately $7,000 - you get far better value for your J redemptions than your Y.

You have to be wary if you're forced to use "partners" since the burn rate increases. QF appear to be "very good" at marketing partner availability - especially on BA and CX, although you may find the "taxes" drop: though as far as MEL-LHR is concerned, the LHR Airports Levy seems to be the most significant portion. The exception here is Emirates (EK). If you're able to fly into (say) Birmingham rather than Heathrow, the sale fare comes in at $1622, using Points+Pay you can spend 100,000 points and the "taxes" reduce to roughly $812. If you redeem the standard 128,000 points for this return, the taxes reduce to approximately $544. Of course, for this fare you're flying EK between Dubai and Birmingham. In comparison, a Classic Y redemption at 128,000 points has taxes of about $849. If you're looking to pool points, need to buy a second Y fare and your final destination is north/west of London, you may find Birmingham to be better value.

As an aside, if your final destination is London or South, don't even think about Gatwick - I'm not sure whether it's a bug or not but QF.COM is pricing a sale return at around $2800!!

Hope this helps some more.

Regards,

BD

 

[tocal]

Sorry for my delay in replying - and thank you again for your reply!

In our case, it just wouldn't be worth going business class, since we have to pay for both of us and are unlikely to have 250,000 points in time! Plus we'd have to pay for the kids, as well, and I don't know about prices there. But it's good to know and understand these things.

Unfortunately we're staying with family who live in south-east London, so given we have little ones to cart about we'd almost certainly fly into Heathrow, but again interesting to know that it may be cheaper to fly in elsewhere and then, say, catch a train across - English countryside is always so lovely, although I suppose after a 24 hour flight one rarely appreciates such things

Thanks again for your help, it's great to know all these things

 

[ffhound]

Hi Tocal

I just saw this thread and thought I'd add my 10 cents worth. Hopefully I can assist your with some of my learnings.

Around 6 months ago I decided to rack up some points using various online offers.

At a cost of about $800 I have accumulated 190,000 qantas points + 95,000 velocity points and a couple of passes to online lounges. The velocity points are particularly valuable because unlike Qantas, Velocity don't charge fuel surcharges.

So my first point is that you can quickly and cheaply accrue points by applying for some selected credit cards. I recommend that you cancel the card though once the points have accrued in order to avoid paying more than 1 year's annual fee.

Looking at what is available, and noting your need to accrue some further points. If you both work you might consider applying each for the same credit card thus doubling the points. Remember what I said about cancelling though. Credit cards can be a trap for the unwary. Note also that applying for credit cards can affect your credit rating.

Ok so what is available? Here's a quick list


ANZ Frequent Flyer VISA 50,000 points annual fee = $95, cost per 10k points = $19 (1)
St George Amplify Signature Visa 60,000 points annual fee =$279. cost per 10k points = $46.50 (2)
Bankwest Qantas Platinum Mastercard 50,000 points annual fee = $160, cost per 10k points = $32


(1) - make sure its the qantas card, don't get a rewards card
(2) - includes 2 lounge passes

These are not the only offers - there are others out there but read the fine print carefully.

https://www.qantaspoints.com/earn-p...mode=view&p_p_col_id=column-1&p_p_col_count=1

In my next post I'll discuss how you can use your points effectively for your trip to europe.

 

[ffhound]

OK so now I assume you've racked up at least 130k points if not much more. How to use them effectively?

If you redeem a Mel-Lhr ticket for 128k on qantas you will pay, I believe, around $900 in fees currently.

Let's first look at what that $900 in fees is made up of. About $600 is fuel surcharges and $300 is the evil UK Airport Departure tax. For a family this can really add up.

Read this link on ways to reduce or eliminate paying these amounts.

Air Passenger Duty

Now to the fuel surcharge.

You might consider flying into Amsterdam and back out of Amsterdam on Cathay. Cost is I think 150,000 points if you can get your balance up to that. Great airline and you fly via Hong Kong. Best thing though is that the HK govt have set limits on fuel surcharges so the fuel surcharges are significantly reduced so less cash to pay. It will cost a little extra to get between the UK and Amsterdam but you will save overall and Amsterdam looks to be worth a visit.