Platinum one status reached

[learningman]

Hi all, first post as I just came across this excellent site !

Just waiting for my last trip to be credited on site to reach Platinum One with Qantas woo hoo !

Looking to go to US with family (2 kids and wife) business class to LA and back via Hawaii next year in Sept. Hearing lots about high taxes, fuel surchages etc and also that you can only book 1 year in advance.

I have over slightly over 1 million ff points so wanted to hear what others think the best way to go is here with this big trip or experiences booking with Qantas as a Platinum or Platinum 1 member.

Book directly with Qantas ? I cannot afford the $2,500 fee for iflyflat.

Or are there others on this forum that can work out best route for a small fee ???

Thanks all !!!!

 

[boomy]

Welcome to AFF learningman and welcome to the P1 club
I'm in the same boat with also just over 1M QFFP. The taxes QF charge are absolutely ridiculous. I did, quite foolishly, booked one return FASA (just before QF scraped it) to LHR which costed $2,000 only in taxes!
There are still some good ways to use the points like booking QF on EK metal, OW RTW in J or F and off course upgrades.

 

[learningman]

Welcome to AFF learningman and welcome to the P1 club
I'm in the same boat with also just over 1M QFFP. The taxes QF charge are absolutely ridiculous. I did, quite foolishly, booked one return FASA (just before QF scraped it) to LHR which costed $2,000 only in taxes!
There are still some good ways to use the points like booking QF on EK metal, OW RTW in J or F and off course upgrades.

Thanks boomy !

Can I ask a silly question ... how do I get up to speed with all the acronyms ???

FASA ?
EK metal ?
J or F (assume there are seat classes ???)
LHR = London Heathrow ?

 

[boomy]

Thanks boomy !

Can I ask a silly question ... how do I get up to speed with all the acronyms ???

FASA ?
EK metal ?
J or F (assume there are seat classes ???)
LHR = London Heathrow ?

Not silly question at all, we were all new to this site once, feel free to ask anything
You may find some useful information here:
http://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/introductions/a-note-our-new-members-23237.html
Meanwhile,
FASA - First class (marginal) Any Seat Awards, not existing anymore.
EK metal - Emirates plane. I meant that you can book Emirates on QF flight number using points, save some fuel surcharges and fly on a better product.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Looking to go to US with family (2 kids and wife) business class to LA and back via Hawaii next year in Sept. Hearing lots about high taxes, fuel surchages etc and also that you can only book 1 year in advance.

As a Plat1 you have several options in getting award seats to Hawaii by asking the SST to release seats for you on Qantas flights.
Surcharges are expensive - but that's kinda what you get hen you send points to QFF.

Book directly with Qantas ? I cannot afford the $2,500 fee for iflyflat.
Or are there others on this forum that can work out best route for a small fee ???

There's no shortage of sites that will book flights award flights for you - anywhere from USD $100 - $300 per trip/segment per person depending on the airline.
For a family of 4 with multi segment you will easily blow $1000 just on booking seats by paying others!

As for iflyflat and other businesses that educate (including the AFF knowledge base) - you will spend well over 20 hours on this site and others just understanding the basics and even then the information you learn may be months/years old and no longer valid to the way in which you want to apply it to your travel. $2500 / 20 hours = $125/hr and it's a great way to fast-track your knowledge to bring you up to speed. My time is worth more than $125/hour so a similar investment makes sense - especially when it can be applied over and over. I have zero financial interest in these companies but if you're new to the game it sure makes sense rather than trawling through 10000000000 pages on frequent flyer sites.

 

[serfty]

...

Or are there others on this forum that can work out best route for a small fee ???

Thanks all !!!!

welcome to AFF

The introductory thread as posted by boomy is a good start.

As for the above, there is a flight search assistance forum here that may meet you needs (no gaurantees):

http://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/flight-search-assistance/

 

[footy99]

Hi all, first post as I just came across this excellent site !

Just waiting for my last trip to be credited on site to reach Platinum One with Qantas woo hoo !

Looking to go to US with family (2 kids and wife) business class to LA and back via Hawaii next year in Sept. Hearing lots about high taxes, fuel surchages etc and also that you can only book 1 year in advance.

I have over slightly over 1 million ff points so wanted to hear what others think the best way to go is here with this big trip or experiences booking with Qantas as a Platinum or Platinum 1 member.

Book directly with Qantas ? I cannot afford the $2,500 fee for iflyflat.

Or are there others on this forum that can work out best route for a small fee ???

Thanks all !!!!

If you want to significantly reduce taxes and don't mind an extra stop, I'd look into Fiji Airways via Nadi. Ie. SYD-NAN-LAX-HNL-NAN-SYD

 

[amaroo]

I don't waste time worrying about taxes, fees, surcharges .... hit the QFF site and repeat dummy bookings until you get a feel for the game. The points are free/cheap and need to be burnt. A subscription with ExpertFlyer (EF) will speed the process up by a considerable margin.

I've been re-deeming F/J (first and business) award bookings for 4 (5 when the MIL tags along) for OS destinations every year for 10 years. Unfortunately, for 4+ seats your best bet will be with other OW carriers e.g. CX/BA ex OZ ... (P1 "may" be different)

It's frustrating - like all learning processes. Good luck

 

[learningman]

Wow ! THanks so much everyone for your quick replies.

I am not after any short cuts and don't mind paying if I see value. Just new to this and have only ever booked 1 other flight in the past with QFF points.

Keep replies coming ... I will begin the education process !

 

[ReLoad]

Welcome to the site and also welcome to the P1 club.

If you are the type of person that enjoys learning new things and challenging yourself, then forget using a points service, you will learn much more here.

Now for HNL ( Honolulu that is - you will need to learn lots of airport codes!) is a tough one with QF points, I as a P1 gave them a 6 week window for 4x J (business class seats) and was denied.

You need to look creatively and think outside the square, AFF will certainly help you

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

And if you are in Melbourne (Au), it will be coded as MEL and not MLB, MLB is in Florida, US.
PER, MEL and SYD are the only major cities in Australia that have the first 3 alphabet in capital cities in Australia for airport names.
And that it all for my waffle on this thread.

 

[jackthomas]

Welcome to the Forums learningman,

I'm sure however that being a P1 you are certainly going to be able to contribute to the forums and doubt you are learning in many regards to the FF Game.

(Congrats on the P1 also as a lowly gold member I must just say #LifeGoals)

 

[Alanslegal]

I will be watching this thread like a hawk to see the outcome because I am a Nothing Bronze frequent flyer and if Qantas can't make available 4 business seats to a Platinum One frequent flyer, then what hope does anyone else have

 

[Hvr]

Welcome aboard learningman and congrats on the new WP1 status. Been there done that and loved it.

 

[TheRealTMA]

I will be watching this thread like a hawk to see the outcome because I am a Nothing Bronze frequent flyer and if Qantas can't make available 4 business seats to a Platinum One frequent flyer, then what hope does anyone else have

Seems a very fair comment indeed.

 

[boomy]

Seems a very fair comment indeed.

I don't know the whole story behind but getting 4xJ award seats to HNL is very hard, especially during holiday season. I reckon P1 would get one or two seats released quite easily but four is a big ask when requesting only six weeks ahead.

 

[Alanslegal]

I don't know the whole story behind but getting 4xJ award seats to HNL is very hard, especially during holiday season. I reckon P1 would get one or two seats released quite easily but four is a big ask when requesting only six weeks ahead.

I think the OP wants to travel "next year in September" but anyway Qantas should be bending over backwards to approve any of your P1 reasonable requests. If there are 4 spare seats, you P1 guys should be getting it.

 

[TheRealTMA]

I don't know the whole story behind but getting 4xJ award seats to HNL is very hard, especially during holiday season. I reckon P1 would get one or two seats released quite easily but four is a big ask when requesting only six weeks ahead.

If Qantas can't support their P1s, what's the point of loyalty? Agree 4 seats is pushing things but still seems fair for DW such as P1.

 

[Deleted member]

I'm not a fan of iflyflat , and frankly the relationships that I have developed via AFF are worth ( to me) more that a transaction to save $.
There is some discussion elsewhere on this site about iflyflat, it's a bit of a polariser.

 

[boomy]

I think the OP wants to travel "next year in September" but anyway Qantas should be bending over backwards to approve any of your P1 reasonable requests. If there are 4 spare seats, you P1 guys should be getting it.

I was referring to post #10 where a request was made only six weeks in advance. It's hard to define what a reasonable request is. For example, if P1 has a family of six and EF shows ten seats available on that flight, should they get all six seats released just because there is availability? The answer is not a simple Yes or No. There are other factors involved such as the time of request, the route etc.