First time user, I need help

[eliza]

:roll:
Hi, I am getting confused, I have quite alot of Westpac alltitude points and want to take a trip to Barcelona from Melbourne and then depart from Paris back to Melbourne. Quantas only goes to London, so would prefer not to transfer the points over to QFF :?: . What are some alternate programs I could use.? Can any one suggest a better FF program?

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

Hi and welcome to AFF eliza

Qantas points can be used on partner airlines as well. For example both British Airways and Iberia fly to Barcelona and Paris and are members of One World alliance (partners of Qantas).

Another option is Air NZ Airpoints. Air NZ doesnt fly to Barcelona or Paris, but is a member of Star Alliance and several of those partner airlines do fly to Barcelona or Paris.

To help narrow down options, perhaps you could help with a few more details. Do you want to fly in economy or business or first class? I take it you dont fly a lot currently, but are there flights you may take occassionally (earning for future flight awards)?

Less important but may still be relevant is how many of you are travelling and what time of the year.

Cheers

 

[eliza]

Confused

hi, thanks for your reply. I am aiming to travel mid to late August, returning in a months time, with two adults. I know I have approx. 220,000 points. I think if I go with quantas via these other airlines it will take about 140,000 points per ticket. I was hoping for a more direct flight which may take less points.

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

Re: Confused

hi, thanks for your reply. I am aiming to travel mid to late August, returning in a months time, with two adults. I know I have approx. 220,000 points. I think if I go with quantas via these other airlines it will take about 140,000 points per ticket. I was hoping for a more direct flight which may take less points.

Its only 110,000 Qantas points each if you can do it only Qantas and British Airways only. Routing something like MEL-SIN-LHR-BCN-LHR-CDG-LHR-SIN-MEL (Melbourne to London via Singapore, then to Barcelona, to Paris via London and return to Melbourne via London and Singapore). There are other variations you could do on the routing but they all cost the same number of miles. This assumes you book before 24 May 2005.

From 25 May 2005 (the date QFF changes take effect) the cost goes up to either 142,500 Qantas points each (assuming only one fee for assisted booking) or 147,500 Qantas points each (if assisted booking fee is charged on each trip).

I havent checked Star Alliance as I am not sure of the conversion rate from Altitude points to Airpoints Dollars. On Star Alliance the best routing would be MEL-VIE-BCN-MAD-CDG-VIE-MEL (Melbourne to Vienna via Kuala Lumpur, on to Barcelona, to Paris via London or Madrid, back to Melbourne via Vienna and Kuala Lumpur) - flying Austrian to/from Europe. The other same priced option would be flying Air NZ to/from London via Auckland and Los Angeles.

Hope this helps.

 

[thadocta]

A slightly better way - with more U class availability on some of the flights - might be SYD (QF) FRA (IB) BCN (surface) CDG (QF flight number, AF operated) SYD.

Might also be cheaper in terms of number of points.

Also, remember that you need two Altitude points for every Qantas FF point you get.

How many points do you have exactly? You may be able to use Altitude direct if there are indeed a huge amount of points there.

Dave

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

thadocta - the reason I didnt suggest that routing is IB isnt one of the valid airlines for the cheaper QF award table - but QF and BA are. Ie would need more points (I think?) even though distance is slightly shorter.

I assumed eliza would prefer to fly between Barcelona and Paris (as long as can still afford the award), although could of course bus or train (they have high speed I think) - would take a day to travel between by land.

Question for the experts, does QF not count land segments towards the mileage for award calculation?

 

[eliza]

Hi, thanks for your feedback, I didn't realize that I needed 2 altitude points for 1 Quantas FF point. Have only about 230,000 visa altitude points. It may only get me one fare.

 

[thadocta]

Hi, thanks for your feedback, I didn't realize that I needed 2 altitude points for 1 Quantas FF point. Have only about 230,000 visa altitude points. It may only get me one fare.

Get yourself an Altitude Amx card - you can apply online, and as far as I know there are no checks done, and anything you charge on either Amex or Visa goes to the same account. You get 1 Altitude point for every $1 you spend on Visa, whereas you get 2 point per $1 on the Amex. So to get 230K points of Visa, you would have had to have had $230K spend. That spend on Altitude Amex would have got you 460K points. That 460K points would have got you 230K Qantas points.

Dave

 

[eliza]

Hi all. Thank-you for all your help. I am going to apply for the Amex altitude card- good idea! I don't think I will bother with the QFF program due to the 2 for 1 points deal, instead I will get travel vouchers with Flight centre with my altitude points. This way I may strike a better deal with more flexible flights.
Thanks again.