Plan to use points to fly international business

[greyyy]

Apologies if this has already been covered - I did a brief search and wasn't able to find much to help me out.

I'm relocating to New York in a couple of months, and I want to treat myself to flying business, and take advantage of the 100k or so points I've accumulated. What would be the best strategy to achieve this?

I would by flying on QF11 SYD-JFK and my new employer will pay for an economy flight, so I was thinking I'll book economy flexi (to get a receipt for that) and then request the points upgrade to go to Business. As I can only book this after I get my visa, I can only really book the flight one or two weeks before which pretty much rules out getting a reward flight ticket using just points.

For what it's worth, I'm only bronze status frequent flyer, so I guess I'll be a lower priority for requesting upgrades. My dad (who isn't flying with me) is gold or platinum - maybe if he makes the booking/upgrade it will improve chances?

What do you think my chances of success would be? Would there be another approach I could use to get my business seat? As I'm not paying for the base flight, I'm willing to fork out a bit of cash if that would help with securing a business seat.

 

[aussiel]

Your dad's status won't be much use to you, as the upgrade request will be at your level. Given that your chances of a points upgrade is unlikely (timing of request, status level), and that you're willing to financially contribute, perhaps a Bid Now upgrade may be your best option: http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ram/successful-qf-bid-now-upgrades-66119.html

 

[greyyy]

Hmmm. Maybe I'll just buy PE and request/bid for the upgrade, so if that fails then at least I have PE. Or maybe I'll just skip having furniture for a couple of months and buy a business ticket using my signing bonus

Wish there was more data on the bid now upgrades on QF11 though. I'm pretty excited for the move and want to 'treat yo self' (tried to post youtube vid but i guess I'm too pleb) and not be stuck in economy. I'll see how I go.

 

[VPS]

good luck and hope it all works out for you - you do realise it's very hard to go back once you've done business

 

[juddles]

joshh, are you getting a one-way ticket or return?

The reason I ask is that a great way to get to the States one-way is using a combo of SYD-HNL on Jetstar business and American "first" from HNL-JFK. I know it is not like full Qantas business, but it will earn you over 450 status credits. If you did this route returning within your QF membership year, you would qualify for Gold membership!

Return would cost about $5500AUD, or $3000 one way.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

joshh, are you getting a one-way ticket or return?

The reason I ask is that a great way to get to the States one-way is using a combo of SYD-HNL on Jetstar business and American "first" from HNL-JFK. I know it is not like full Qantas business, but it will earn you over 450 status credits. If you did this route returning within your QF membership year, you would qualify for Gold membership!

Return would cost about $5500AUD, or $3000 one way.

You could fly HNL/LAX/MIA/xx_ on a KUPP for USD900.00ish that would nett you 360SC. We used a TA to book a KUPP and she didn't charge us the XP or US taxes as she cross referenced the AA ticket with our QF ticket to HNL.

I think you earn 140SC for SYD/HNL provided you purchase the JQ plus bundle at the time of booking. If you purchase a cheap fare in whY then get an offer to upgrade to J you can add it then.

We received an offer to upgrade BNE/HNL last year which was AUD300.00 for J or AUD400.00 for SC, points, lounge access (we had that already as WP).

You could then get from the Caribbean to JFK on a cheap ticket in whY eg on Jet Blue or use QF points on AA or VA points on DL.