HELP! - One World - advice needed on combining miles

[Toolerc]

Hi all,

I'm planning to travel home to Ireland for the first time with our new baby in August and I feel like it's time to cash in some of my FF for the flights.

The problem is that I have a large number across Emirates (35,000), Qantas (41,000) and British Airways (60,000). How can I combine these to pay for 2 adult one way flights from Melb or Syd to Dublin.

Qantas They are all part of the One World alliance right? so why can't I use the miles across airlines? It is really frustrating.

Points needed for one way flight- 64,000 with Qantas, 78,750 with Emirates, 54,500 with BA.

Thanks for your help,

Colin

 

[Mwenenzi]

Welcome to the forum

... How can I combine these to pay for 2 adult one way flights from Melb or Syd to Dublin......

Effectively you cannot combine transfer miles / points between different freq flyer programs
Anyway they have different values (earn vs burn)

Look at individual flights point to point to get value from your points / miles

 

[AIRwin]

Welcome Colin! Looks like your best bet is to redeem a flight on BA and buy a ticket on the same flight... My sister was travelling to LHR on BA with 2 kids and ended up having to repack her luggage at the airport as BA allows only 1 piece per pax, so you may have to think about that. By the way I'll also be travelling to Ireland in August for a wedding - on QF/EK!

 

[Toolerc]

Thanks for the (very) quick replies!
Hadn't thought of booking separate legs of the journey that might work.

It is THE most frustrating thing. I had all these points from Europe for BA, my wife had to fly emirates for work and I have to use Qantas. We thought we as they were part of the one world we could combine so never actually thought about nominating just one account for the two airlines, now we are caught between three
stools!!

If anyone has any other idea I'd love to hear them!!!

 

[Cynicor]

Emirates is NOT oneworld.

And unfortunately the ability to transfer between airlines is practically non-existent. Your best bet is to book individual legs on different airlines, but this allows more problems.

 

[alieninperth]

where are you flying from?

BA partner award from SYD/MEL via DXB to DUB on QF and BA. (54,500 avios +GBP 0.00)
QF award to from SYD/MEL to DXB or DXB to DUB (48,000 QFFP + $400) or (35,000 QFFP + approx $244)
EK award/partner award from SYD/MEL to DXB or DXB to DUB.

Alternately.
QF to from SYD/MEL to DXB as above
EK from SYD/MEL to DXB
BA from DXB to DUB (59,000 avios + GBP340 using points and pay) you will need to top up the points

Or another alternative
BA partner award from SYD/MEL to DXB is not feasible in this instance as it is 50,000 avios per person one way!
EK award and QF partner award from DXB to DUB.

I am not sure on the EK flights but I would think that the best option is to use the points as a combined return and then buy a normal return with cash.

 

[Toolerc]

Able to fly from Sydney or Melbourne, I'm actually in Albury but I can make my way to either with the same effort!

 

[Kef]

Hiya,
Just a little note, Emirates isnt actually part of oneworld. Thats where I believe people are getting confused with this QF/EK arrangement. Good luck with your travels, it would be great if we could
use a FF points across the board on various oneworld carriers.

 

[RAM]

Thanks for the (very) quick replies!
Hadn't thought of booking separate legs of the journey that might work.

Booking the legs separately can also be substantially cheaper (points and cash). For example Return Sydney to Innsbruck booked in 3 legs (2 out & 1 back) flying BA and QF coded Emirates (Gatwick/Dubai) and QF2 Dubai Syd worked out at $890 per adult including taxes for high season Jan 2014 (for 5 adults). Combining it as total return - its price "magically" increases $800 per adult. Where is the ACCC?

BA put out their cheap (yield filler) seats by drip feed starting at 12 months ahead of departure and seem to add another % of remaining every 6 wks or so. So you can be lucky.

Do not be put off by TAs saying that legging fares costs more - they either don't know what they are talking about or all deliberately misleading you.

I had two (always give a couple of TAs at random a chance to bid for my business once I've id'd all the flights - ring them, explain they can have business if they save me money for this exact itinerary and give them an hour to email me back - I tell them that they are competing with another TA and I will accept the first quote 5% or better than I can achieve).

In the past I've got up to $1,100 (from 5 travelling) reduction. Success rate probably 1 in 2 bookings, surprisingly only once did one come back at exactly 5% below what I had achieved.

So, suggest trying BA as first bookings within Ireland/Dubai or Ireland/Gatwick/Dubai aiming for a rebadged Emirates for the leg to Dubai.

Curiously enough best pricing combination this time (normally I check across 5 or 6 sites like SkyScanner etc) was STA. They were the only ones that showed that economy fare for the 3 home legs (although a Qantas wide offer from Europe). Heading out in late Dec the best (by a mile for price generated) was Sky scanner. Combining both legs across the 6 sites saw cost hit $2670 per adult at best. Booking by parts cost under $2,000 all up.

Better in my pocket than Q's.

Happy Hunting!

 

[Robert K]

sign up for some credit cards to get the bonus points and you'll have enough

 

[IrishPete]

I just last night booked Sydney to Dublin on 7th June, returning 1st July for $1840 on Etihad, who I really like. This fare appeared suddenly - last weekend the cheapest was about 2600 and before the weekend about 2100! Doesn't help you use your points, and in fact you'll end up with a substantial number of Etihad points afterwards, but it's cheap and Etihad give you a much much shorter trip to and from Ireland than any other airline, with only one stop! That has to be worth something with a baby...

After two trips I'd say you'll get Silver Status and access to lounges. Switch your custom to Etihad and maybe use your other points some other way, some other time (or for domestic flights from Albury to catch the international flights).

August will be a bit more expensive.

And do yourself a favour and go through Melbourne - Sydney Airport is much more unpleasant.

Pete