Maximum number of J or F reward seats on a single flight

[Atleastonce]

Hi, I am planning a holiday with friends for our 50th birthdays. It will be about 3-4 years out and am planning now. There are four of us going and we will go on either purchased points or credit card points. Not sure which airline, depending upon responses here. Don't know if would all get reward points on the same flight (J or F). Look like going Alaska for a cruise, but really that's the only specific thing of the trip, may even do Europe as well, depending on planning and flight availability. So pretty well open to any ideas.

 

[Pushka]

We found it easy to get two tickets J to Europe via Cathay on Qantas searches and return using SQ on Kris Flyer points.

The USA is tricky. We are flying through Honolulu to Anchorage for an Alaskan cruise next year. Searched a year out on Jetstar for points flights and secured just 1 of their 'business' seats Syd-Hon. The day June 2016 points bookings opened up I couldn't get my preferred date just for 1 seat but got 1 a couple of days later. Ended up paying a return J ticket for the other ticket we needed.

We based it around Hawaii as a break before the cruise and to warm up afterwards and visit Kona and the volcano/mantas.

We then purchased AA points and redeemed those to get flights Hon-Anchorage via Seattle. One direct flight and one via Seattle from Vancouver. Expensive with falling AUD.

One thing we are doing is a Princess Cruises Land Tour of Alaska going into Denali National Park and a flight to land on a Glacier near Denali (formerly MtMcInley). Might be a bit Butlins but apparently scenery is amazing. That then hooks into our cruise.

 

[JohnM]

We found it easy to get two tickets J to Europe via Cathay on Qantas searches and return using SQ on Kris Flyer points.

The USA is tricky. We are flying through Honolulu to Anchorage for an Alaskan cruise next year. Searched a year out on Jetstar for points flights and secured just 1 of their 'business' seats Syd-Hon. The day June 2016 points bookings opened up I couldn't get my preferred date just for 1 seat but got 1 a couple of days later. Ended up paying a return J ticket for the other ticket we needed.

We based it around Hawaii as a break before the cruise and to warm up afterwards and visit Kona and the volcano/mantas.

We then purchased AA points and redeemed those to get flights Hon-Anchorage via Seattle. One direct flight and one via Seattle from Vancouver. Expensive with falling AUD.

One thing we are doing is a Princess Cruises Land Tour of Alaska going into Denali National Park and a flight to land on a Glacier near Denali (formerly MtMcInley). Might be a bit Butlins but apparently scenery is amazing. That then hooks into our cruise.

OT, but I can highly recommend flying up onto a glacier there.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Hi, I am planning a holiday with friends for our 50th birthdays. It will be about 3-4 years out and am planning now. There are four of us going and we will go on either purchased points or credit card points. Not sure which airline, depending upon responses here. Don't know if would all get reward points on the same flight (J or F). Look like going Alaska for a cruise, but really that's the only specific thing of the trip, may even do Europe as well, depending on planning and flight availability. So pretty well open to any ideas.

4 together on exactly the same flights in the same cabin will be hard or impossible to USA or Europe in J or F on many airlines.

You will need to plan to either fly:
* on different days (still difficult on popular routes to secure consecutive flights as others will be looking too)
* and/or by redeeming through different programs and on different routings.
* in different cabin classes (ie 2 in J and 2 in F..which in say SQ to Europe is quite feasible)

To Asia I have redeemed up to 5 at one in J on both Thai and SQ (was a glitch in their system as should have been 4).

I have not done an Asian flight for a while (excepting as part of a longer flight to elsewhere) but SQ used to allow 4 in J. But Europe tends to be capped at 2 per booking. Though I have gained 3 when a glitch was on including in F.

Once we decided to go to Europe about 5 months out as a family of 3 (other 2 daughters stayed home) and were looking to fly into CDG and out of somewhere like Frankfurt. SQ were not possible online in J. But *A via SQ showed some possibilities but with long layovers. You book *A via SQ by calling up. I was very friendly and chatty with the CSR who after going through the options volunteered off her own bat to see what she could do and promised to call back. Six hours later she rang back with 3 J seats on SQ with the most direct routings and also gave me the 15% online redemption rate. So sometimes it pays to be nice to CSRs

 

[amaroo]

QF agent told me that CX release 8 x J and 2 x F ... I've done some random testing and found it to be correct - most of the time. We've certainly had no issues booking 4/5 x J (Europe/Asia return) and 4/5 X F (SIN/(BKK, now dead) return) with CX/BA.

We're doing a Euro trip over Xmas on points with CX, it was very easy to book all four on the same plane in J with one F sector for the parents FWIW you can see my booking experience/tips here - http://www.australianfrequentflyer....p-split-bookings-worth-65358.html#post1184828

Can't imagine going CX to USA would be that much different.

For OW - I'd forget about QF and focus on CX or BA.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

QF agent told me that CX release 8 x J and 2 x F ... I've done some random testing and found it to be correct - most of the time. We've certainly had no issues booking 4/5 x J (Europe/Asia return) and 4/5 X F (SIN/(BKK, now dead) return) with CX/BA.

We're doing a Euro trip over Xmas on points with CX, it was very easy to book all four on the same plane in J with one F sector for the parents FWIW you can see my booking experience/tips here - http://www.australianfrequentflyer....p-split-bookings-worth-65358.html#post1184828

Can't imagine going CX to USA would be that much different.

For OW - I'd forget about QF and focus on CX or BA.

Thanks I missed your earlierl thread.

But yikes: All up = 1,248,000p + $2,642, pp = 312,000p + $661.
So point wise is almost double that of SQ, but about $300 cheaper on the fuel fines.

While it is good when travelling with others and in particular with kids as you did for that to all be on the one plane, I personally would be still plumbing for say SQ on two separate flights if the limit of 2 comes up.
* sometimes this is just on the SIN-Europe leg where there are 2 seats with 4 on the Aust_SIN leg. So with 3 connections per day it may only be hours different.
* In my case when we did have to split when there were 4 it was one adult and one child on each flight. Eldest daughter sometimes on another flight as se would do her own thing for a bit.

Each to their own, but in my case I would be sacricficing chumminess on the flight for the benefit of a large point saving. I tend to find that once one is on the flight that everyone tends to tune-out indulging in their own films, games reading anyway.

Though I must admit that whem my wife and I have down the Suites that we we interacted more. Mind you it probably also helped that on both occassions there was only 1 or 2 others there and so we had a cabin for our double bed, and another to chat in.

 

[JohnM]

Though I must admit that whem my wife and I have down the Suites that we we interacted more.

:shock: Do you wish to elaborate on this?

 

[andye]

Not relevant to your plans but MH usually has good avilability when redeeming Enrich miles.

 

[amaroo]

Each to their own, but in my case I would be sacricficing chumminess on the flight for the benefit of a large point saving. I tend to find that once one is on the flight that everyone tends to tune-out indulging in their own films, games reading anyway.

Very true. Our kids are getting older now (14/12) ... this upcoming trip will be our first where we've split up in terms of cabin class - these things take time

TBH I had planned to ditch QFF when I reached LTG however, ASA's has seen us stay the course. Our last few ASA's delivered OWE until MAR 17 ... around this time I'll probably plot a different course and see what all this SQ fuss is about.

 

[Atleastonce]

Thanks for all the info, at least I have a few years to plan this. I am leaning towards separate flights on separate days, and considering we live in different cites that will work out well.