Do classic flight rewards hold any value now?

[AndyGoodyear]

Hi Everyone

Planning to go back to the UK in June or July so thought I'd check out what's on offer with classic rewards as well as points plus pay. Normally, I never look at the points plus pay as classic rewards work out better value in points, even with the high taxes contained within a classic reward. I thought this was exactly the reason why they were limited availability.

Now I'm thinking this has changed, unless I am missing something obvious. I found some dates in June & July that both have sale fares (when isn't there a sale?) and they also have classic rewards on the same dates. So the flight numbers, dates are the same. SYD - LHR - SYD

• Classic Reward, 150,000 points plus approx $800 taxes
• Points plus pay, 150,000 points plus approx $380 cash

I purposely moved the points plus pay slider to 150,000 points to match the classic reward, and as you can see the cash component is halved.

So with this in mind, I'm failing to see where classic flight rewards even hold value any more? Also, having not booked and points/pay flight before, do I earn QF points? (I'm presuming not)

Any insights would be appreciated.

 

[jetpack]

Not all routes are the same. Say you needed to fly from Bundaberg to Broome. I can't imagine a time when points plus pay will ever beat classic rewards.

 

[Kangol]

If you fly F, then yes, classic awards have a lot of value.
For most people, saving tens of thousands of dollars is a good thing.

 

[TomVexille]

What class? Y is120k return and PE is 192k return.

Y classic awards are hardly ever good value because of the sales, so you have likely found one of the occasions that points plus pay makes sense. You need to factor in the points earn on the points plus pay booking too.

 

[AndyGoodyear]

To clarify, I am just looking at Y. It wasn't coming up at 120K though - was coming at 150K for classic rewards

 

[grussellt]

To clarify, I am just looking at Y. It wasn't coming up at 120K though - was coming at 150K for classic rewards

Did the flights include travel on BA? Try and limit them to QF or EK (if you can find availability).QF1 is 60000pts and $282 (one way).

 

[TomVexille]

I’m seeing it as 60k each way on QF1/2.

 

[woodborer]

It is reasonably common for the lower priced Economy fares as a Points+Pay being similar in price to a Classic award. One thing that does get overlooked is that Classic Awards are a more flexible option (cancellation fees and what not)

 

[cvmceg]

Are you perhaps selecting 'pay with points' rather than selecting an actual classic reward? It should be much cheaper than 180k so i suspect youve done the former

 

[RichardMEL]

To address the more general question - YES they can still be.. even with the fuel fines and all the rest. As mentioned above being able to grab premium seats can save thousands and work out well. Now havving status definitely helps with this a lot and there's a bit of a catch-22 with that obviously but IMO yes there can still be value to be had.. specially if needing something at short notice and ticket prices are ridiculous and being able to get a seat (yes, this requires status I know) has been a personal godsend for me (with a bonus that I got into F).

However luike all things it's so subjective!! The OP is looking at Y and the value propisition is a lot different there, and also without status or access to more award seats then you might think what's the point if seats are hard to find and on top of that the fuel fines etc almost make up for the price of a sale Y ticket. You're absolutely right there.

To me it's about the use and that's when value becomes highly subjective. So while some of us would say yes they have their value, others, depending on situation and experience will disagree... and both answers I think can be considered to be right.. well opinions really.

 

[Mattg]

I’m seeing it as 60k each way on QF1/2.

It's 150,000 Qantas points for Australia-Europe return on a partner airline other than Qantas or Emirates, e.g. CX, JL, BA etc.

(By adding another flight on a second partner airline, this would become a Oneworld Award and the price reduces to 140,000 points.)

 

[TomVexille]

It's 150,000 Qantas points for Australia-Europe return on a partner airline other than Qantas or Emirates, e.g. CX, JL, BA etc.

(By adding another flight on a second partner airline, this would become a Oneworld Award and the price reduces to 140,000 points.)

Is points plus pay available on a partner booking? If not it means the comparison isn't quite correct.

Doesn't mean there isn't still value to the OP though

 

[33kft]

Referring to the recent data I have on my redemptions in Y, J and F, I can see a huge difference in the point redemption value of a classic reward seat vs a P+P booking. I see anywhere from 4-7c per point for Classic Rewards bookings in premium cabins, and around 1.47cpp for a Y redemption, yet P+P is pretty much static at 0.68c per point. Note that I don't have many data points to go on for Y or P+P redemptions as I tend not to do them, but sharing the data that I do have for comparison.

Clearly everyone's experiences will be different but from my experience, P+P has been half as valuable as a Y classic reward redemption, which itself is poor value at approx one quarter of the value of a premium cabin redemption. I do subtract fees and taxes from the retail value of the redemption ticket when I do these calculations.

 

[JohnK]

Classic awards can still be good value.

BNE-SYD 8,000 points + ~$42 instead of a $195 airfare.

 

[amaroo]

Absolutely.... IMO. But you probably need status and fly F.

 

[kermatu]

Classic awards can still be good value.

BNE-SYD 8,000 points + ~$42 instead of a $195 airfare.

CBR-DPO approx same cost but Red E fare usually over $250, so classic awards a good option here too.

 

[Matt_01]

I believe they do. I am currently looking to book a RTW x1 *OW in F and x2 *A in J. Having to split over the programs 2 programs as getting x3 in F or J on rewards in one program is a bit problematic. After doing a couple of dummy bookings the rack rate for the 3 trips would be north of $40k, after using the required points and around $3k-$4k in fees, tax’s etc. so it represents good value to me.

 

[amaroo]

This week QFF released 2 F awards seats for us SYD-LHR for a flight departing in a couple of weeks.... pretty good value there!

 

[MsTee]

I think you can find value in classic rewards, if you look - not always, but sometimes. The amount of value you find does depend to a great extent on whether you value premier, business and first at the same level as Qantas does.

I'm talking about the full price they charge and whether you think it's worth that price. For most people, it's not worth it, it's worth less compared to spending the same $$ on something else. Using points can be better value than using dollars whether it's for comfort or just for the feeling of being treated as a bit "special" for a few hours .

 

[JohnM]

This week QFF released 2 F awards seats for us SYD-LHR for a flight departing in a couple of weeks.... pretty good value there!

Show-off! .