Like many people I have some qantas flight credits up my sleeve that I accepted for an international flight that I couldn't take last year.
I have looked a few times at options for redeeming these internationally, and have found that the options that come up on searches are significantly more expensive than the standard fares available for the exact same flights, and for the same ticket type.
E.g. Syd-Mel on 09/03 shows the cheapest Red e-Deal through the credit is $383. The same red e-deal tickets are $200 to buy outright.
Syd-Bnk (Ballina) on the same day shows the cheapest qantas ticket through the flight credit is $425 for a flex fair, red-e deal not available. Outright red e-deal is available for the same flight for $160, while a flex fair is $351.
This seems pretty outrageous to me, I get that perhaps there are different buckets that these fairs are coming from, but why don't credits have access to the same cheaper buckets? I am not happy to throw this credit away like it is play money on a flight that is inflated, because it was real money that I spent on it!
I have looked a few times at options for redeeming these internationally, and have found that the options that come up on searches are significantly more expensive than the standard fares available for the exact same flights, and for the same ticket type.
E.g. Syd-Mel on 09/03 shows the cheapest Red e-Deal through the credit is $383. The same red e-deal tickets are $200 to buy outright.
Syd-Bnk (Ballina) on the same day shows the cheapest qantas ticket through the flight credit is $425 for a flex fair, red-e deal not available. Outright red e-deal is available for the same flight for $160, while a flex fair is $351.
This seems pretty outrageous to me, I get that perhaps there are different buckets that these fairs are coming from, but why don't credits have access to the same cheaper buckets? I am not happy to throw this credit away like it is play money on a flight that is inflated, because it was real money that I spent on it!