Points or Cash - what would you do?

[nickfromeastryde]

Hi everyone,

I booked 2 x J return SYD to DFW for later in the year. 448K in points and approx $1,730 in fees and charges. Not unexpectedly, I now see they have these flights on sale for $6,500 pp meaning:

1. I would now be getting less than the often quoted and mythical 3c per point in value and
2. No points or status credits for the actual flights

It will cost me 10K in points to cancel but then we would gain about 75K in points from the flights and credit card spend plus more importantly the 400 status credits each. That is important to me as it will, together with some other flights get us back to Gold until July 2018.

Another option would be to take advantage of the even cheaper flights to LAX currently 5K per person. These flights appears to be on the 777 rather than the 380 so wondering what people think about that, I can't really see any real difference being in J. LAX or DFW doesn't make much difference, our plan is to do a road trip through southern USA to Miami before picking up a flight to Sth America to visit our son. Obviously a much longer drive from LA but we could mix it up by flying part of the way.

So, I am leaning towards cancelling my points booking and taking one of the cash options but just interested in what others think and what they would do

Nick

 

[coriander]

The $1500 difference may buy you a fair bit of travel on AA in F (status runs for SC accumulation).

 

[andye]

I'm sure there will be more experienced Qantas heads than mine but I think you've got a pretty good deal with the reward seats.

Do you have time to do some trips in AA F to make up some cheap SCs?

 

[nickfromeastryde]

I'm sure there will be more experienced Qantas heads than mine but I think you've got a pretty good deal with the reward seats.

Do you have time to do some trips in AA F to make up some cheap SCs?

We will be doing J to and from Sth America and a couple of F flights in U.S. to get us back to DFW or LAX when it's time to come home. About 500 SC's worth so far for each of us

 

[lovetravellingoz]

:

1. I would now be getting less than the often quoted and mythical 3c per point in value and

Personally I think many over value points by comparing the redemption with full-cost airfares.

Not that I buy long haul airfares for leasure travel, but if I did I would buy specials or points through specials and so would value any Award Flight Redemption againts that.

However there is some extra value in buying too in able to get what you want when you want, perhaps more directly and not having to do it 13 months in advance!!

If you have ample points I would be keeping the redemption. If you struggle to aquire enough points with rsepect to the amount of travel that you would like to do then yes you may wish to cancel. But in that case too perhaps you should also look to buy points more often via the point sales even tough they are not as attractive as they one were.

 

[Flying mermaid]

I have a fairly different attitude to most here, as I view my points as "free" or a bonus. Similar to buying a loaf of bread and getting a stamp and then getting a free something after 10 purchases. . I did have a period where I was paying my business tax on my Cc (came into that very late unfortunately!) and then I did assign a monetary value to the points and was a bit more careful how I spent them. These days I don't think I do anything special to get points so back to viewing them as free. Yes I do pay to use my CC at a hotel or restaurant, but I wouldn't pay cash anyway, so I view that as a convenience charge rather than a FF point cost.

So this is a lengthy way of saying if using points saves me money then I do it. Quite often I will use points instead of paying the fuel fines on domestic awards even though it is probably a bad value. I never use points for overseas awards as it is too much hassle, but if you have got suitable awards then I would use them and not worry about the point value. A dollar saved is a dollar that can be used on other travel. .

 

[Dr Ralph]

I'd keep the flights you have. You never know what will happen to the points system in the future.

 

[Shan Man]

I'd cancel the points booking, take the 75k you'll earn from the flights in paid J and book 2x RTW J Redemptions later on.

 

[cove]

There are status runs in the US if you look up that helpful thread. MIA is often included in those runs.

 

[CaptJCool]

There's another thread on here that talks about getting SCs on classic awards. - apparently something was offered for a week in Oct but that said I had the same issue. I have redeemed points for Int Y Twice before when I was cashflow poor and did this during a year I didn't need to earn SCs meaning I had already qualified for the coming year so didn't need the credits To do so and with the 3 year rolling average and the soft landing, it didn't matter.
Also on J tics you don't need status level to access the lounges the ticket comes with that.
I do find it frustrating in the earn and burn that unless u keep earning, when you burn points you get NO CREDITS for them unless special deals happen. But that's how the system is.
I agree the Current damn cheap specials to SFO or LAX are handy but to some degree dampened by QF being upto $2,000 more expensive than competitors to start with
conclusion: do what's best for you.
I note SYD-DFW is 224,000 return. SYD-LAX or SFO Is 192,000 return.
Did a quick little search and SFO Even has a few Bus classic award seats in July

 

[offshore171]

Hi everyone,

I booked 2 x J return SYD to DFW for later in the year. 448K in points and approx $1,730 in fees and charges. Not unexpectedly, I now see they have these flights on sale for $6,500 pp meaning:

1. I would now be getting less than the often quoted and mythical 3c per point in value and

Stick with the award flights. You're getting 2 J seats, on an in-demand route, where and when you want to go. As redemptions go, this is well above average value.

Don't make the mistake of thinking your FF points resemble anything remotely like cash. It's monopoly money. I'm surprised you'd even consider blowing $11K in real cash, simply because you aren't getting a mythical 3c per point. That's a lot of real cash, just to save some pretend money.

 

[DaveB]

I like the analogy between real money and monopoly.
Ultimately, it comes down to whether the points burn will leave you short for future trips away. I focus on minimising personal cash burn whilst ensuring always able to fly J/F on points.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Stick with the award flights. You're getting 2 J seats, on an in-demand route, where and when you want to go. As redemptions go, this is well above average value.

Don't make the mistake of thinking your FF points resemble anything remotely like cash. It's monopoly money. I'm surprised you'd even consider blowing $11K in real cash, simply because you aren't getting a mythical 3c per point. That's a lot of real cash, just to save some pretend money.

I have to agree.

Your future flights that might get you to gold are in J/F - so Gold is of no value from a benefits perspective. In fact, status is not worthwhile unless you have flights that are consistently not in the highest cabin available.

As someone else said - you could put that $11K difference into buying miles on another program and get WAYYY more bang for your buck.

However in saying that - I'm surprised nobody from Qantas has called you to talk you into it and waive the 10K fee. If they do - you know it's a bad deal for you! ;-)

 

[Mattg]

3 cents per point is really quite good for Qantas points. Unless you are short on points to get a particular redemption where you know you'll get even more value for those points, I'd stick with your current booking.

The only logical reason I can see for cancelling is if you were planning to book 2x J oneworld awards with those points (plus the extra you would earn for flying paid J to the USA).

That said, if you were to cancel those rewards, I'm sure you would make someone very happy (presuming the seats are returned to award inventory).

 

[Deleted member]

I like the analogy between real money and monopoly.
Ultimately, it comes down to whether the points burn will leave you short for future trips away. I focus on minimising personal cash burn whilst ensuring always able to fly J/F on points.

And when the future trip comes around, you will still potentially be faced with the same conundrum, do I spend $ or points.
Spend the points I reckon

 

[cove]

Many folks have low cash and high points so it is not unusual to go points regardless of the low value achieved. I don't ever use points for economy travel.

 

[cove]

We paid for 2 J tickets in the sale to go to the US in February as $4999 is pretty good. I had more difficulty getting from Perth to Sydney business class to tie in the trip. I ended up using points for that.
Mrscove gets a 50% SC bonus.