New - have no idea and willing to learn from you all!

[melissal281]

Hi everyone,

Another ‘newbie’ here! And have NO idea what I’m doing. All I know is - we have been accumulating QFF for a couple of years - currently have 335,000. Finally talked my husband into going overseas next year & wish to utilise these points for Business Class seats. Realise we are a bit short - so investigating signing up for a new credit card that has a better earning (and uncapped) reward rate (looking at the Westpac Altitude Black). And changing the way that we pay for things to maximize our earn rate (we currently put approx $10,000 per month on the card - fully paid for at the end of each month. Would love to learn how to do this properly - plus....how to actually GET these flights - i playing around last night, couldn’t even get a business return flight for 1 person flying MELB-LONDON/BARCELONA/ROME/DUBLIN.....for May 31 2019 (so literally the 355 days out) - tried them all. Was ok flying out, but not return (either some or all would be in Economy). Looking forward to learning from you all

 

[TomVexille]

Welcome aboard!

You've come to the right place. Start reading and then ask questions and I'm sure someone will help you out.

 

[Dr Ralph]

Welcome to AFF.

I thought I had some idea what I was doing before I joined AFF. Once I joined and started reading the various threads it became apparent just how wrong I was!

With 2 people spending $10,000 a month I'd be very surprised if you couldn't earn in excess of 500,000 points a year.

 

[melissal281]

Welcome to AFF.

I thought I had some idea what I was doing before I joined AFF. Once I joined and started reading the various threads it became apparent just how wrong I was!

With 2 people spending $10,000 a month I'd be very surprised if you couldn't earn in excess of 500,000 points a year.

Obviously we aren’t doing it right though - just checked our statements - the card we are currently using has obviously changed to capped, as we are now only getting around 3000 points per month. I have about 4 months to accumulate approx another 200,000 points (if I am calculating correctly....who knows! - think we need approx 480,000 for a classic reward with Qantas - Melb - either London/rome/barcelona/dublin - IF we can even get them! Only way I will gethubby to Europe is with Business class

 

[JohnM]

Welcome aboard. Your objectives are a perfect fit around here!

Award availability in premium cabins on QF metal can be hard to obtain. However, I find that the partnership with EK is a massive blessing as availability on EK using QF points can be good and EK has two flights/day between PER and DXB.

And DXB is a natural hub into and out of Europe.

Hint: Be prepared to think laterally - eg. maybe search for availability out of ADL or PER and position there on paid el cheapos. Availability may be better from the smaller ports. Also, think of getting to London by train or el cheapo flight from Europe.

EK premium availability supposedly opens at about 333 days out, but I have a suspicion they may do it in weekly tranches, so start searching early to figure it out. Don't despair if you only see whY as I think they release those a little earlier. Just play around with it a month or so before it should open for your dates just to gauge how it seems to work and be ready to pounce with an instant decision. Oh, and being flexible with your dates is also a key to nirvana.

It may also be prudent to do it as two one-way bookings. If you wait to do it as a return, availability outbound may have vanished. There are upsides and downsides; check this recent thread if you've not seen it: Booking Outward and Inward on separate Reward Bookings

Have fun!

 

[Dr Ralph]

Obviously we aren’t doing it right though - just checked our statements - the card we are currently using has obviously changed to capped, as we are now only getting around 3000 points per month. I have about 4 months to accumulate approx another 200,000 points (if I am calculating correctly....who knows! - think we need approx 480,000 for a classic reward with Qantas - Melb - either London/rome/barcelona/dublin - IF we can even get them! Only way I will gethubby to Europe is with Business class

Churn a few cards and you should be well on your way to 200,000 in 4 months. But you need to start immediately.

 

[melissal281]

Welcome aboard. Your objectives are a perfect fit around here!

Award availability in premium cabins on QF metal can be hard to obtain. However, I find that the partnership with EK is a massive blessing as availability on EK using QF points can be good and EK has two flights/day between PER and DXB.

And DXB is a natural hub into and out of Europe.

Hint: Be prepared to think laterally - eg. maybe search for availability out of ADL or PER and position there on paid el cheapos. Availability may be better from the smaller ports. Also, think of getting to London by train or el cheapo flight from Europe.

EK premium availability supposedly opens at about 333 days out, but I have a suspicion they may do it in weekly tranches, so start searching early to figure it out. Don't despair if you only see whY as I think they release those a little earlier. Just play around with it a month or so before it should open for your dates just to gauge how it seems to work and be ready to pounce with an instant decision. Oh, and being flexible with your dates is also a key to nirvana.

It may also be prudent to do it as two one-way bookings. If you wait to do it as a return, availability outbound may have vanished. There are upsides and downsides; check this recent thread if you've not seen it: Booking Outward and Inward on separate Reward Bookings

Have fun!

Ahhhhh - THANK YOU so much!! This is the kind of info I’m after........and yes, going to think laterally! Just a quick one - should I redeem classic reward, or buy the correct class Econ & upgrade with points? Looking at travelling Oct 2019, so not really in a peak time - everything I’ve read indicates the chances of getting the upgrade are minimal, but as I have no experience, not sure if I’m just seeing all the downside.

 

[melissal281]

Churn a few cards and you should be well on your way to 200,000 in 4 months. But you need to start immediately.

Yeah - that’s why I’m looking at Altitude Black - 120,000 bonus sign up - spend over 3 months is what we do in a month. Just hope I’m correct in what I’ve been looking at (480,000pts for 2 x BC melb-to anywhere in Europe )

 

[JohnM]

Ahhhhh - THANK YOU so much!! This is the kind of info I’m after........and yes, going to think laterally! Just a quick one - should I redeem classic reward, or buy the correct class Econ & upgrade with points? Looking at travelling Oct 2019, so not really in a peak time - everything I’ve read indicates the chances of getting the upgrade are minimal, but as I have no experience, not sure if I’m just seeing all the downside.

A few things to bear in mind in trying to get international upgrades:

1. Only flex fares are upgradeable, so up-front cost is fairly high.
2. Upgrades are unpredictable and generally hard to get.
3. Upgrades are especially hard to get if you have no status.
4. Unlike domestic, INT upgrades cannot be 'bought' at the time of booking. You can only make a request, success of which will only be advised a short time before travel.

If you have set your heart on going J, forget the idea of an UPG is my suggestion.

 

[JohnM]

Just hope I’m correct in what I’ve been looking at (480,000pts for 2 x BC melb-to anywhere in Europe )

That's for the so-called 'OneWorld RTW award' where the 280K points is a ceiling 'price' for a J itinerary up to 35K miles (plus some other conditions): Wiki - "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Bear in mind that punting for that excludes EK, as it is solely a OneWorld product.

 

[melissal281]

Oh god......I have so much to learn......in such a short time!

 

[TomVexille]

Oh god......I have so much to learn......in such a short time!

It's worth it

 

[straitman]

Hi everyone,

Another ‘newbie’ here! And have NO idea what I’m doing. All I know is - we have been accumulating QFF for a couple of years - currently have 335,000. Finally talked my husband into going overseas next year & wish to utilise these points for Business Class seats. Realise we are a bit short - so investigating signing up for a new credit card that has a better earning (and uncapped) reward rate (looking at the Westpac Altitude Black). And changing the way that we pay for things to maximize our earn rate (we currently put approx $10,000 per month on the card - fully paid for at the end of each month. Would love to learn how to do this properly - plus....how to actually GET these flights - i playing around last night, couldn’t even get a business return flight for 1 person flying MELB-LONDON/BARCELONA/ROME/DUBLIN.....for May 31 2019 (so literally the 355 days out) - tried them all. Was ok flying out, but not return (either some or all would be in Economy). Looking forward to learning from you all

Hi melissal281,

Welcome to AFF.

Go through the CC threads as there are plenty out there. I'd also look at the Amex Platinum Charge card. Sounds expensive but when you look it really pays for itself.

 

[JohnK]

Welcome to AFF @melissal281.

 

[LadyC]

Welcome to AFF!

 

[BriarFlyer]

Welcome, Melissa. I joined in a similar position, feeling that I had too much to learn in too little time, and afraid I had but a slim chance of achieving my objective. Since then, with everything I've learned from the AFF community -- and with many, many credit card sign-up bonuses -- we've done 3 J returns to America, 2 J returns to Europe and an F return to London. That last was supposed to be a oncer but I've created a monster. My hubby now wants to travel F all the time.

Good luck with your goal. In your favour, you're giving yourself time to learn the ropes and to gather the necessary points. And you're prepared to think laterally to give yourself the best chance of finding award seats.

 

[BettyB]

Welcome

 

[kermatu]

Welcome aboard.

 

[Jacques Vert]

Welcome,

Yet another thing to keep in mind is that QF release award seats to platinum & gold members first. So unless you have status, you won't see seats on QF until 308 days out; by which time most seats to London on QF will be gone.

You need to look at all alternatives. Be flexible with both date and route.

BTW, if you are going to use a Oneworld award you will need 560,000 points (2 x 280k).

 

[melissal281]

Welcome,

Yet another thing to keep in mind is that QF release award seats to platinum & gold members first. So unless you have status, you won't see seats on QF until 308 days out; by which time most seats to London on QF will be gone.

You need to look at all alternatives. Be flexible with both date and route.

BTW, if you are going to use a Oneworld award you will need 560,000 points (2 x 280k).

Thanks for that!! I’ve taken the ‘little’ that I know so far - prepared to be flexible with dates - potentially fly to Adelaide first etc. Also looking to fly in to either Gatwick or Dublin & out of Rome. I’ve been playing with ‘dummy’ bookings so far - I know April/May is not as popular time as late July/August - but so far have been able to get all legs so far with Emirates leaving from Melbourne. Fingers crossed it continues that way!!