Europe/USA trip 2013

[trblvb]

Posted this on 5 November under “Global sale: what would you do with 5 million points?” thread and didn’t get a response so thought I would have a go here….

"Looking to book Brisbane-Europe (whatever’s cheapest Frankfurt?)-London-Chicago-Dallas Fort-Worth-Brisbane in late March and returning mid-May (2013) in Economy for two people.
Travelling through Europe in April (first stop Venice-Prague-Dresden-Rome and back to London). Then travelling through USA (first stop Chicago-Boston-New Orleans and Dallas then home to Brisbane).
Ready to book and pay so thought I would take advantage of Global sale & 5 Million points Comp.
Currently have 256K FF points so would like to use these to upgrade flights where possible.
Any advice/recommendations would be appreciated."

Did not take advantage of the Qantas promotion so still looking for some advice/recommendations on the best way to book the flights and with which airlines.

 

[casanovawa]

Dunno, me personally I use the USDM program for these sorts of things and fly in Business class on all the long legs for a bit over $2000 and then do short haul stuff inside the continents...

How much do you want to spend all up?? You almost have enough for a 280,000 OW award in business and could could buy a J RTW ticket??? Whether bought here in Australia or one of the cheaper countries??

 

[trblvb]

$4000 total for two - just for the Bris-Europe-USA-Bris flights. All other flights/travel I will arrange inside the continents as suggested.

What is the USDM program? and how do I go about booking a J RTW ticket.

Thanks - fairly new at this sort of stuff

 

[casanovawa]

$4000 isn't much for two round the world flights... Sounds like if you can get your QF points up to 280,000 or so then you could maybe book two OW 140,000 Y itineraries with no real points left over for upgrades (which i'm not sure you can do on such award tickets anyway)... Will probably still cost you more than $1,500 in taxes and fuel surcharges for the 2 redemptions... There is a OW 210,000 awards option for 1 Y+ redemption and then maybe you could pay by cash for another paid Y+ ticket???

I sometimes jump on Round World Flights - Cheap Flights - Phone Flights Results to have a look for RTW prices, but as i indicated before i can't really beat what value i get from USDM.. There are some cheapish RTW options there that involve some potential Qantas flights, others here will know much better than i if they are upgradeable with QFF points... Do you have much status with QF to enhance your chances of getting an upgrade if you apply for??

For USDM you can buy miles in their program and then redeem on any star alliance airlines (Thai, Lufthansa, United, etc, etc)... I just booked a business class redemption on sunday night for PER-BKK-CDG-FRA(nkfurt) Where i am stopping - FRA-LAX Where i am stopping - ICN-SIN-PER... So stopping in Frankfurt where i will buy Y fights around Europe and in LA where i will buy Y flights around America... The price in miles was 110,000 plus about $312 in taxes... There is a current promo on at US Air where they will give you 100% bonus on any miles you buy up to the max of 50,000 bonus miles (so you buy 50 and get 50)... The formula is they charge $35 per 1,000 miles plus a 7.5% tax plus a $30 processing fee... So to get 100,000 miles on the current offer running this month you would pay 50,000 * 0.035 * 1.075 + $30 = $1911.25... You would then need to buy another 10,000 miles either straight away (no 100% bonus on these) so = $406.25 or else wait for the next 100% bonus offer (they are almost coming out monthly) where it would cost you = $218.12

So assuming you waited until the next bonus offer the miles would cost you $2130... When you book the taxes and telephone service charge shouldn't come to much more than $300 (maybe only $250??) and so for around $2,500 each you have a full business class redemption RTW with 2 stops... So about $5,000 for 2 people...

I did have to try a few different operators to get me the above itinenerary (as they are tightening up the rules on the award redemptions) so i am not saying its a given but it can be done... And then save your QFF points for something else..

There is lots more on the USDM in a thread just on the US dividend mile program and also examples of successful redemption to wet your appetite in the successful redemption thread on here...

 

[trblvb]

Great info casanovawa - Thanks.

Only have Bronze status with Qantas.

Will research USDM and see what I come up with. I would be happy with the $5000 business class redemption RTW with 2 stops for 2 people if I can get it.