Mel - LAX. They have to be joking!

[mickeyd]

Just did a dummy classic awards booking for Melb - LAX (economy) for Aug 2013. Qantas want 96,000 + $822 in card charges (Fees, taxes etc). They have to be joking, I can buy a return fare on Virgin for $1076!! Even Qantas has fares for $1380 for those dates. Seems like Classic Awards are no longer worth very much.

 

[mannej]

Just did a dummy classic awards booking for Melb - LAX (economy) for Aug 2013. Qantas want 96,000 + $822 in card charges (Fees, taxes etc). They have to be joking, I can buy a return fare on Virgin for $1076!! Even Qantas has fares for $1380 for those dates. Seems like Classic Awards are no longer worth very much.

Have you tried booking the same with Virgin using points? You get a similar situation.

Classic awards in Economy may not be the best use of points

 

[Sprucegoose]

Agree. If you feel strongly about it go Virgin.

 

[markis10]

MEL LAX should be 72000, and in that case an ASA would be a no brainer as the net cost would be 41000 and $800.

 

[Alanslegal]

Just did a dummy classic awards booking for Melb - LAX (economy) for Aug 2013. Qantas want 96,000 + $822 in card charges (Fees, taxes etc). They have to be joking, I can buy a return fare on Virgin for $1076!! Even Qantas has fares for $1380 for those dates. Seems like Classic Awards are no longer worth very much.

Genereally economy awards aren't great value, however there are some instances where it can be a little more worthwhile, for example (if you're early or lucky enough) booking awards in very peak periods eg Christmas where 96,000 points + $822 could be equivalent of a $2,500 revenue fare, so 96K points ~ $1500.

Ok there are much better value redemptions out there eg. One World Awards, long haul business/first class redepmtions.

 

[Simo]

Sometimes it just doesn't add up.

 

[Limewood]

Long haul depends on time of booking, best if 12 months out for best redemptions. We booked last Nov. for BNE/LAX/DFW/BNE as a JASA departed AUG 2012 was 192K points each and $1200, normally if paid cash would have been about about $9K each.

 

[madrooster]

MEL LAX should be 72000, and in that case an ASA would be a no brainer as the net cost would be 41000 and $800.

96000 for a return in Y is correct, along with the $800 or so in taxes.

 

[markis10]

96000 for a return in Y is correct, along with the $800 or so in taxes.

I was referring to the the YASA, why would you go classic when a YASA is less:

 

[casanovawa]

Very few Y flights stack up on the classic awards if you value your points at even 1 cent each... The only ones i am really interested in are the OW awards...

 

[madrooster]

I was referring to the the YASA, why would you go classic when a YASA is less:

That's interesting - didn't realise YASAs (for international at least) had a lower points cost vs. classic. That really makes the classic award a farce.

 

[markis10]

That's interesting - didn't realise YASAs (for international at least) had a lower points cost vs. classic. That really makes the classic award a farce.

ASAs can be less for domestic or international

 

[mannej]

That's interesting - didn't realise YASAs (for international at least) had a lower points cost vs. classic. That really makes the classic award a farce.

Yes and no - the classics have a fixed point price where are the ASA's do not.

 

[madrooster]

Yes and no - the classics have a fixed point price where are the ASA's do not.

Well yes, though I'm assuming here (in the context that we are on AFF) that the ASAs in question would be booking into P, U, Z and X buckets and not into revenue buckets.

 

[Sprucegoose]

I was referring to the the YASA, why would you go classic when a YASA is less:

View attachment 12047

And earns more!!

 

[Sprucegoose]

That's interesting - didn't realise YASAs (for international at least) had a lower points cost vs. classic. That really makes the classic award a farce.

Not really look at the supply side of the equation

 

[AVC]

I just booked 3 x Premium Economy SYD-DFW for 137K points each. Total of 252K points and $1600 (using the slider back to minimum points). That's December. As I was booking the Wednesday, got most way through and seats were then unavailable, so I changed the flight to the Tuesday. All the other days were like 375K points per PAX.

But that's any seat awards, not classic.

 

[froggerADL]

That's interesting - didn't realise YASAs (for international at least) had a lower points cost vs. classic. That really makes the classic award a farce.

The one benefit of a YASA over a classic Y is that you can cancel a classic Y for just 5000 points. But I agree that classic Ys are very poor value other than the OneWorld 140,000 point variety.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Found Classic Partner awards quite good in the US for DFW/CUN or DFW/YYZ for about 12,000 QF points plus USD2.50.

I was looking at LAX/OGG tickets on AA in 'discount Y' & AA.com came up with USD1200.00 however did a Class partner award for 25,000 points plus USD2.50pp. Was also able to allocated first row on whY in the 757 in the exit 9DE. VA were quoting 40,000 points for same sector on HA via HNL & that does not include any checked luggage.

A good reason to credit some points to the AAdvantage ff program as their award tickets have very low taxes.

 

[stomplad]

The one benefit of a YASA over a classic Y is that you can cancel a classic Y for just 5000 points. But I agree that classic Ys are very poor value other than the OneWorld 140,000 point variety.

Would like to know more about the great value OW points tickets please.