Qantas Business reward flight asking for a huge amount of points

[Jemm82]

Hi everyone,

I apologise for asking this basic question but after ages of trying to get the answer I have given up.
When booking a reward flight on Qantas website I am being told that flights to USA are around 1 million points or half this to Hong Kong. Can anyone explain why they are quoted so much higher than they should be?

Is it like velocity and these flights are just way over priced and finding seats for the Correct amount of points can be quite difficult?

Thanks.

 

[Sdtravel]

Could be related to the site upgrade that didn't go so well..

See Qantas Overcharging for Reward Flights

 

[Steady]

Are you looking at classic awards or changing from $ to view/pay in points?

 

[Jemm82]

Are you looking at classic awards or changing from $ to view/pay in points?

Thanks for the replies.

Sdtravel thank you for that article. Can’t believe I couldn’t find it when doing searches in this forum. Appreciate it.

Steady- I was using $ to view/pay in points as I couldn’t work out how to select business class when using classic awards. Is there a difference. Sorry, I’ve been with velocity for so many years that I have no idea with qantas.

 

[offshore171]

Sydney to Honkers in J should be 60K points. LA about 90K.

Points Plus Pay is far more expensive in points terms.

 

[cjd600]

Thanks for the replies.

Sdtravel thank you for that article. Can’t believe I couldn’t find it when doing searches in this forum. Appreciate it.

Steady- I was using $ to view/pay in points as I couldn’t work out how to select business class when using classic awards. Is there a difference. Sorry, I’ve been with velocity for so many years that I have no idea with qantas.

You need to search "Use points - Classic Flight Rewards Only".
Enter your from/to airports, and select flexible dates on the calendar for departure/return.
Then search to bring up the availability calendar.
This will show Economy availability, with red icon on available dates.
Check the Business Class box alongside Travel Class, and hit Go.
This will refresh the search and indicate Business Class (at classic award points cost) on the calendar.

 

[mannej]

Thanks for the replies.

Sdtravel thank you for that article. Can’t believe I couldn’t find it when doing searches in this forum. Appreciate it.

Steady- I was using $ to view/pay in points as I couldn’t work out how to select business class when using classic awards. Is there a difference. Sorry, I’ve been with velocity for so many years that I have no idea with qantas.

What you are doing is selecting normal flights, but getting them priced in points.

This is different to a Classic award, as the prices for those are set.

 

[bernardblack]

You need to search "Use points - Classic Flight Rewards Only".
Check the Business Class box alongside Travel Class, and hit Go.
This will refresh the search and indicate Business Class (at classic award points cost) on the calendar.

Double-check that the result you get has the long-haul sector(s) in business. Qantas' award searches will routinely return "business" results that have only one sector in business and are, say, business SYD-MEL then economy MEL-LAX.

 

[Jemm82]

What you are doing is selecting normal flights, but getting them priced in points.

This is different to a Classic award, as the prices for those are set.

Thank you! I did some dummy searches last night and noticed this is a common thing. Appreciate the tip.

Thank you! I tried this again last night and it worked. It came up with a completely different view than when I tried the other day. Before it would only show a column of economy flight (no the calendar view) and had no option to select class.

Thanks also to cjd600.

 

[love_the_life]

Thank you! I did some dummy searches last night and noticed this is a common thing. Appreciate the tip.

Thank you! I tried this again last night and it worked. It came up with a completely different view than when I tried the other day. Before it would only show a column of economy flight (no the calendar view) and had no option to select class.

Thanks also to cjd600.

To get the calendar you need to check the box ‘flexible with date’ (or similar) when you choose the date from the drop down calendar - it’s in the top corner.

 

[Haplo]

Another piece of advice is that unless you have status with Qantas your chance of finding Business Class ticket is not great. Book ahead is the key and I think you can book up to 353 days ahead on Qantas flights. If you are going to HK then Cathay usually release a whole batch of seats at Monday morning for the upcoming week so check Monday lunchtime and you might belucky.

 

[Jemm82]

Thanks everyone