Does anyone remember the days of Ansett when...

[Archipelago]

...you could fly multiple J sectors on an award redemption for 25k-30k points?

Bit of a nostalgia question, I am trying to refresh my memory on those days of being able to book a multi-sector round trip journey trips where you could pretty much circumnavigate the country and only spend 30k points.

I recall a trip I did while scouting for a documentary shoot in early 1999, which went something like PER-ADL-MEL-CBR-SYD-BNE-CNS-DRW-BME-KTA-PER
All booked in J, but got bumped to F CNS-DRW (which led to an interesting & unforgettable celebrity run-in)
All it cost me was 30,000 points, and I recall many happy flights and long visits to the Golden Wing lounges where the wine flowed freely.

Did a similar run a few years earlier for 25,000 points.
Cannot for the life of me recall what taxes (if any) were charged, but I am assuming there must have been something.
Have searched to see if there are any threads about this but couldn't dig any up - apologies if this topic has been covered previously.

Hoping to hear from anyone who did similar mileage trips back in the Ansett days.

 

[opusman]

They had some sort of "around Australia" fare which was insanely good value, is that what you're remembering?

 

[clazman]

Didn't they also do mystery flights for $99

 

[TraceyK90]

Yes it was an around Australia fare, no back tracking if I remember. 30k sounds right.

 

[kpc]

I did Syd-Ayq, Asp-Drw, Drw-Kun, Kun-Bme, Bme-Asp, Asp-Syd in ?1996 in Y class on Ansett for ?20K points...I don't recollect any taxes !!

 

[Limewood]

I remember long hours drinking in the Ansett lounge with my old mate Sandy S the well known boat (guru) surveyor before going to Gold Coast to inspect my Southern Cross progress, yikes we drank a lot then.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Both Airlines had them. I remember doing a QF one circa 1999-2000 which was 37.5K points for J (whY was 30K I think - but why would you even think of doing it) which I kicked it off in MEL after a work trip & the first day had breakfast in MEL, lunch in ADL with a friend then dinner in PER with other friends. I nested that ticket & flew back from PER to SYD then at a later date positioned back to PER then flew PER/BME, BME/AYQ non-stop on the smurfjet (BAe-146) then AYQ/ASP/DRW/SYD or something like that.

It was based on flying a certain amount of kilometres but I can't remember if it was unlimited stopovers or not. I was a QP member back then so had lounge access but it was great knowing that every flight you took was guaranteed J.

Paging Serfty to the white courtesy phone!

 

[Archipelago]

They had some sort of "around Australia" fare which was insanely good value, is that what you're remembering?

Not a round Australia fare that I am thinking of. Definitely from the published points awards, in the highest zone.

Yes it was an around Australia fare, no back tracking if I remember. 30k sounds right.

No back tracking is right, but I am fairly sure it wasn't referred to as such as an around Australia fare (or similar wording) - rather it was just the top tier zone, with the little publicised feature of being able to insert multiple sectors. This was the beauty of it, as at the time (mid 90's onwards) it was like a loophole which I took great delight in exploiting. The earlier one I did would have been around 1995 or 96, and was then only 25k points for J on AN from memory

Would be great to dig up the old literature. I used to keep everything from all my travel and membership programs, but lost my entire home contents in a move a few years back, gutted.

 

[opusman]

I found a reference to it here: FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Help with Australia award

For ANYONE reading this and one time planning a visit here, both Ansett and QF have an amazing and little publicised deal.


You can fly AROUND Australia, Business class (there are no domestic First cabins) for 37,500 QF or AN points. These seats can be pre-confirmed up to a year in advance.


It covers ANY routings that do not go past your origination point up to about 11,000 Km.


Remember that 37,500 AN points are not MILES - they are awared on K's flown, so it really only takes a little more than 20,000 miles of flying equivalent, to get to 37,500 Kms.


FAR more cost effective option .. as Tom can see .. both those flights, were doable for the one award, dates whenever you liked within 12 months, and you could add Alice Springs and Ayers Rock and Adelaide on as well if you wished!

 

[Archipelago]

Didn't they also do mystery flights for $99

Thanks for reminding me, I used to take these often from PER and was always able to score east coast flights. Used it on a few dates, much to their delight

 

[Archipelago]

I found a reference to it here: FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Help with Australia award

Thanks opusman - I did find that while searching, and recognise that as being in the twilight of Ansett's life. It was up to 37.5k just before they finally knocked it on the head.

Still keen to find the details on the published awards in the mid 90's, will keep looking though

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I mentioned this in another thread awhile back that in 1999 QF had a 100K bonus points offer if you flew on 5 One World airlines between certain dates so when I went on a holiday to Asia I did the following routing: SYD BA SIN AY BKK CP HKG CX SIN QF DRW which went a long way towards purchasing 3 of these (had to kick in 12.5K of my own points).

I either had two of three of these fares nested at the same time so used various fares to position to/from certain cities along the way so it's kind of hard to remember where one ended and another one began!

 

[kelvedon]

I remember in 1987 buying an Ansett Airpass. 6000 miles(?) for $600. Got me and my mullet syd-cns-asp-per-kgi, where I ran out of miles and caught the train back to Sydney.
IFE was a Sony Walkman with orange headphones!

 

[andye]

I mentioned this in another thread awhile back that in 1999 QF had a 100K bonus points offer if you flew on 5 One World airlines between certain dates so when I went on a holiday to Asia I did the following routing: SYD BA SIN AY BKK CP HKG CX SIN QF DRW which went a long way towards purchasing 3 of these (had to kick in 12.5K of my own points).

I either had two of three of these fares nested at the same time so used various fares to position to/from certain cities along the way so it's kind of hard to remember where one ended and another one began!

What is CP? Google throws up Canadian Pacific but it stopped in 1987

 

[codash1099]

What is CP? Google throws up Canadian Pacific but it stopped in 1987

From memory, it was Cathay Pacific.

Edit: great! I can remember today!

 

[Archipelago]

From memory, it was Cathay Pacific.

Cathay Pacific is CX

CP would be Compass (USA airline, spun off from Delta). Not sure that helps though given the context of routes it was in

 

[JohnM]

Thanks for reminding me, I used to take these often from PER and was always able to score east coast flights. Used it on a few dates, much to their delight

And yours too, I suspect .

 

[Archipelago]

And yours too, I suspect .

Sir! A gentleman never boasts!

(but yes, very much so. Many happy times )

 

[samh004]

What is CP? Google throws up Canadian Pacific but it stopped in 1987

Cathay Pacific is CX

CP would be Compass (USA airline, spun off from Delta). Not sure that helps though given the context of routes it was in

CP in this instance refers to Canadian Airlines, which left the alliance in mid-2000 having been bought by Air Canada.

CP comes from its original name Canadian Pacific Air Lines.

 

[serfty]

I booked 5 or 6 of these - 37½K in business; they did not need to go "around" Australia, just up to 11,000 Km "wholly within Australia".

In the early days there was no +++, I remember being surprised when I was asked for $3.40 for the SYD noise levy.

Also, the routing rules were simple, you could book BNE-MEL-OOL-MEL-MCY-MEL-BNE for example to get three journeys between SE QLD and MEL (Around the mid to later 90's, they brought in co-terminal rules and definitions for groups such as BNE/OOL/MCY and WLG/SYD/NTL).