New Member dazed and confused

[liebs]

Ok folks further to a post in January I have taken out QFF Membership…remember back then my goal was to be able to upgrade two discount economy fares to business class within 18 months (I feel I may have bee naïve)

So heres my progress to date, and ALSO a few things I’m hoping other can clarify – as there’s a fair bit of Frequent Flyer jargon that escapes me.

FACTS:
Joined the program using Earth + (Westpac) and received 10,000 points
Received credit for a flight last month (worth about 16000 points)
Thought about applying for Qantas Ultimate and attempting the 40,000 point chase – but not sure if its worth the fee?




QUESTIONS:
Can anyone suggest any ways for me to speed up this process, I’m not even sure how many points would be required for an upgrade to on for example a Melb – London flight. When I use the points calculator on the Qantas website I’m unsure if the amount quoted is one-way or return?

Really need some other ways to speed up my accumulation of points

Do I enrol the Mrs in the program and get her a particular card?
Do I keep spending …and wait
Do I ????


Many thanks

 

[serfty]

All upgrades are one-way, per segment.

Use the Great Circle Mapper to find the distance (MEL-LHR is 10,503 miles)

Then use the "Upgrade Award Table" to find how many points are required for a one-way upgrade. (10,503 miles is in zone 10 - 96,000 QFF points required per person)

 

[NM]

And do keep in mind that international upgrades are not guaranteed. They can only be requested and you end up on a wait-list. The wait-list is serviced in the 24 hours before the flight based on the Qantas FF status of the passenger. So if you have no FF status (i.e. Bronze membership) then you are at the bottom of the wait-list pecking order, behind all the Platinum, Gold and Silver members who may have submitted upgrade requests even just the day before.

So its quite probable that you will go through the exercise of earning enough points for he upgrade, and still not be able to use them and travel in economy anyway.

Note that to upgrade two people both ways will require 384,000 points.

Perhaps rather than spending money to earn QF FF points, you may be better off saving the money, accepting that you will travel in economy, and spend the saved money on a nice hotel and/or meal during the vacation. At least that way you can be assured of receiving some value for your saving effort.

 

[wandering_fred]

Consider flying to SGN, NRT, CMB or JNB and buying a DONEx round the world ticket......... Where the total outlay is largish (but a lot less than Australia) you fly in business class and end up with enough frequent flyer status to "possibly" be able to use the miles with QF.

DONEx fares are exaplained at the following oneworld - FlyerTalk Forums


Alternatively purchase a ticket to SIN and use the miles to fly on a partner airline..... Though I think QF would prefer you used the miles to fly domestically.....

Happy wandering


Fred