Is this a good use of 175K points

[The man with no name]

Over time i've managed to acquire 175K points with QF but as many of my flights are QF charter flights I have very few SC, only 100. That is likely to change in the new year so I should accrue around 500SC/year through work alone and I'd like to use an upcoming leisure trip to kick that along a bit faster.

The plan at this stage is to use them all ( and maybe buy a few ) to purchase a first class classic award MEL- LHR, after which I will do the Trans Siberian and find my own way home.

Do you think this is a good way to burn the points and gain SC ?

 

[lovestotravel]

Welcome!

Using points for a long-haul first/business class flight is pretty much the best way to use points!

However, using them for a Classic Award will NOT gain you Status Credits

You can earn SC & points on an Any Seat Award though. So when you see a Classic Seat available, ring Qantas and then request the following

Thanks to NM for this post!

Ok, let me summarise here. I will make this a sticky and close the thread, so continue to post comments in the regular thread. If anyone disagrees with my summary, send a PM and I will consider appropriate edits.

Firstly, Any Seat Awards can still be booked on-line with the new booking front-end. Any flight can be booked as a combination of Points plus Pay, which is an Any Seat Award*.

However, Any Seat Awards that book into the Classic award fare buckets of X, Z, U and P cannot be booked on-line. These can only be booked on-line as Classic Awards.

If you want to book an Any Seat Award that books into the Classic Award fare classes, follow this process:

1. Check on-line for classic award availability. If Classic Award availability exists, proceed to next step.
2. Call the new special phone number (1300 366 587) 9am-5pm EST Mo-Fr and ask "I would like to book a Classic Award fare as an Any Seat Award please".
3. You should not be charged any Telephone Assistance Booking Fee for the reservation
4. If the agent does not understand the request, ask them to check with a supervisor and try reversing the request above to "I would like to book an Any Seat Award in X/Z/U/P class" [these are the classic award fare classes for economy/premium/business/first]

* Note that some AFF members disagree that such booking is an AnySeatAward (ASA) as defined in the Qantas Frequent Flyer terms and conditions, and that this is just a means of payment for a commercial ticket using a combination of points and cash. This topic is debated in other threads discussing the topic of recent changes to ASA (Points plus pay is not an Any Seat Award.)

 

[The man with no name]

Awesome information. Thank you

 

[Sprucegoose]

Does the special phone number switch through to premium?

 

[CaviAck]

Does the special phone number switch through to premium?

In my experience it just diverts you back to the main QFF number... And a desk of even more incompetent CSAs. But that's just me as a lowly SG.

It'll pretty much take you through the same steps as if you rang up the normal desk and then sort your call priority based on FF#, so a plat would be transfered to the premium desk and every one else sorted by status.