Mel lhr Mel cost and availability

[willjd]

Have searched recent posts and can't seem to find an answer so here goes....

looking at heading home to uk for my parents 50th wedding anniversary next July. Will be first time I have been back since my brain bleed, but get to bring my new son /daughter due in October this year so very much looking forward to it.

firstly I have around 500k points but redemption on qantas site for June July is 0. (I am silver) Not even other one worlds are appearing... so was going to use cash but...what at is the go with Mel lhr like Mel prices next year when qf9/10 goes via Perth? Almost $3000 return for next June /July

looking at emirates it's less than $2000 each, for family of 4 it's almost $3000 saving for flying economy.

anyone know why one worlds no longer appear in flight search? Feels like they hide them so people don't see how much QF are charging....

anyone have any tips how I can book a one world on qf site so I can use my qantas club? Not going to pay the premium to fly after so trying to find the best option.

sorry for the long post.

 

[Jack_OC]

One thing to bear in mind - some airlines have yet to release any seats that far out, and in the case of Qantas, I believe they currently only have tickets available as far out as something like 19 July 2018. I believe Emirates only have flights available out to 25 June 2018 as things stand, so I'm not sure how you have got Emirates fares for next July?

As for Oneworld partner fares via QF - do you mean cash fares? As far as I know, the QF website has only ever offered QF coded fares (i.e. QF operated flights, or QF codeshare flights operated by partners). The only exception is in some cases, connecting flights operated by partners as part of an itinerary starting in Australia on a QF coded flight.

Getting back to award flights - as far as I know, when the seats are first released, they are only visible to people with higher status. If you wait a while, you will probably find seats available in Y, although probably not in premium cabins, especially if you want the family of 4 on the same flights. There is often good availability with Emirates, but getting out of Australia on award flights during the Northern summer is notoriously difficult. You might have to get creative if you really want to use points - e.g. look at awards from Asia to London, and buy cash fares from MEL-Asia-MEL.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Qantas doesn't show a lot of partner airlines, even harder if you are looking for connections. QF may show MEL-HKG on cathay, and Hong Kong-London, but if you search MEL-KHR nothing might come up. You can find availability through various methods, the call centre can help you book.

Bear in mind that for economy awards your savings might be negligible... you might find a fully paid economy fare on another airline for just a few hundred dollars more than the fuel surcharges qantas will ask from you (on top of your points!). And paid tickets will give you full flexibility to travel when you want. Not QF or EK, but fares on other airlines can be as low as $1100 in economy to Europe... and that's for major carriers.

 

[BD1959]

Further to MEL_Traveller's advice using paid rather than award Y tickets due to negligible cost differentials, also look out for Qantas Y Sale fares. Using the Points+Pay option, these can sometimes work out cheaper than an actual award flight. Two bonuses: greater availability (when they are available, whereas you might only see the 1 seat as an award); they earn SCs & points!!

Regards,

BD