Cheapest way to earn 300 SC's

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Josh

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Gday,

I'm just about to qualify for Qantas FF Silver in a month or two.
I'll have at least 400 SC's by years end. I'm just wondering if anyone could suggest a cheap way to earn another 300 SC's so I could make Gold. I've got til the end of the year. BTW i live in Melbourne.

Cheers,

Josh
 
Hi Josh,
Welcome to AFF.
300 SC is certainly quite a few.
And if you want to do it (relatively) cheaply, it will require a lot of time sitting on a plane.
Flying business backwards and forwards between SYD and CBR is probably the cheapest way to do it, but certainly not much fun.
Alternatively, a would suggest a business class Asia Discovery pass. For around $6,000 you can fly business class up to Asia and you also get 4 flights within Asia. That would certainly get you 300 status credits!
Another option which is a little more tricky is to book some domestic flights and pay for empty seats next to you. Qantas have told me over the phone that you don't have to pay fuel surcharges for empty seats, but you still earn FF points and SC. The QF website states that you get FF points, though admittedly no mention of SC.
 
Josh, 300 SC's is a quite expensive way to achieve QF Gold in Australia with an effective rate of around $8/SC it will cost you at best $2,500 and a lot of time sitting in an aircraft. If you wait for specials you can probably get this number down to around $2,200.

The best I can think of at the moment is

Code:
MEL-AKL-MEL   QF Y    $660    40 SC    (Will require at least one overnight in AKL, not included in cost)
AKL-SYD-AKL   LA J    $700   160 SC    (Book LAN flight from NZ website for cheaper airfare)
MEL-SYD-MEL   QF Y    $235    20 SC
SYD-CBR-SYD   QF J    $585    80 SC    (MEL-SYD-CBR-SYD-MEL can be achieved in one day so no overnight stays required)
Total               $2,180   300 SC    (~$7.25/SC)

*** Note that Y is discount economy and J is business class.
 
Another option, if your got a US trip planned, drop in some AA YUP fares. (Booked as discount full Y, but allocated F seat and F SC's)
Ive done 1 over the last year 420 SC's for bout $700 US. I could have dropped in another stopover for an additional 120 SC's.
So a total of 540 SC's for $700US , which isnt to shabby....

Rob
 
Maybe cheaper just to put out the moolah to buy QC memberhship. But u don't get quite the same priveleges on international flights.

By the way, if u qualify for gold earning 700SC.

I have heard that qantas will give you gold the following year, if you get close to 600 SC. I wonder how close do you have to get?
 
oz_mark said:
This ain't good. $650 with the right flights will get you MEL-ADL-PER-ADL-MEL and 60SC.
Yes I know it is not good but in order to get to AKL for the AKL-SYD-AKL LAN flights you need the MEL-AKL-MEL flight. Yes I know there are other ways to do it but I proposed what I felt was the most simplistic and cost effective option.

There are other options like the option that Robert mentioned but to get to LOTFAP you need to spend at least $2,000 to get there plus accommodation plus you need expert flyer and knowledge to book YUP fares. This takes some planning.

Then there is my favourite SC run from BKK....
 
Chucksta said:
By the way, if u qualify for gold earning 700SC.

I have heard that qantas will give you gold the following year, if you get close to 600 SC. I wonder how close do you have to get?
600 SC's qualifies you in subsequent years. It is a lottery whether you get complimentary Gold again if you are short of the 600 SC's required. There is no formula!
 
odoherty said:
JohnK, your AKL-SYD-AKL find is a ripper!

You need to read AFF or FT more carefully. Its been reported many times and some of us have made good use of it (even better rates in the past).

Another tip which wont help the OP but may if you live in Australian cities served by NZ but with no QF trans-tasman flight (there's only 2 of these), QF fares ex-NZ match NZ's and you can get a lot of SCs from a minimum of 2 zone 3 flights each way.
 
The Frequent Flyer Concierge team takes the hard work out of finding reward seat availability. Using their expert knowledge and specialised tools, they'll help you book a great trip that maximises the value for your points.

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There was a special on last week at the qantas website for Singapore.

www.qantas.com.sg

SIN to Frankfurt, business class return was $3500 SGD. Which is cheap as!!!! (about 2900 AUD)

This will earn you 320 SC.

But i think you had to depart first 2 weeks of June.

Actually, I wonder why booking from singapore is so much cheaper?
SIN to PER return is $348 SGD (without tax), where as you pay $930 AUD if booked from Perth! Taxes can't be that much.....??
 
home markets are always the dearest

you can do better than that closer to home ;)
 
Chucksta said:
SIN to Frankfurt, business class return was $3500 SGD. Which is cheap as!!!! (about 2900 AUD)

This will earn you 320 SC.
Not the cheapest way available to earn 300 SC's. Add on cost for MEL-SIN-MEL and it is a lot more than A$2900.
 
robertz said:
Another option, if your got a US trip planned, drop in some AA YUP fares. (Booked as discount full Y, but allocated F seat and F SC's)
Ive done 1 over the last year 420 SC's for bout $700 US. I could have dropped in another stopover for an additional 120 SC's.
So a total of 540 SC's for $700US , which isnt to shabby....

Rob

Can you elaborate on this? I dont mind doing a few side trips to earn 540 SCs on the next trip to the US. Would be best to start off in LAX or JFK.
f
 
Domestically for ADL based pax, a quick & cheap run is ADL-KGC 20 SC's for $128! $6.40 per SC. But can only do one per day.

True good value status runs in Australia domestically, are disappearing fast (disappeared?). I recall last year my brother went to Perth (for a wedding not a status run!) MQL-MEL-PER for only $30 dearer each way than MEL-PER - ie on a MQL-PER "throughfare" which actually existed. Now the same fare is $115 dearer than MEL-PER, which coincidentally is the same price as a 1 way MQL-MEL. No more throughfares = no more SC runs!
 
dajop said:
Domestically for ADL based pax, a quick & cheap run is ADL-KGC 20 SC's for $128! $6.40 per SC. But can only do one per day.
It is a shame as this is a good one but only if you live in ADL.

dajop said:
True good value status runs in Australia domestically, are disappearing fast (disappeared?).
Unfortunately true good value status runs have disappeared in Australia.

If people need to consider true status runs in Australia then $8/SC is the best they can hope to achieve.
 
Foreigner said:
Can you elaborate on this? I dont mind doing a few side trips to earn 540 SCs on the next trip to the US. Would be best to start off in LAX or JFK.
f

For AA SC runs look for QUP and YUP fares (found under restricted first on www.aa.com search engine), between hubs of (or even just destinations well served by) competitors, preferably with a couple 1200+ mile flights in each direction.
 
Kiwi Flyer said:
For AA SC runs look for QUP and YUP fares (found under restricted first on www.aa.com search engine), between hubs of (or even just destinations well served by) competitors, preferably with a couple 1200+ mile flights in each direction.
Why do you get F seat and F SC for a discount full Y booking?
 
odoherty said:
Why do you get F seat and F SC for a discount full Y booking?

Because the fare rules say it books into first (subject to availability of course). It's all a ploy by the airlines for companies that won't pay for first - create an economy fare that gives upgrade to first class.

Note on some routes QUP and YUP could be more expensive than regular discounted first.
 
YUP fares book into A class if there is A class available. QF sees the A class booking and notes that it is First Class and credits accordingly.
 
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