To book or not to book, that is the question, whether tis nobler...

[ffhound]

Hi

As you know today is the last day of the Qantas 15% off points redemption sale. I am tempted to book my trip to Europe (MEL-LHR) for 108,000 points vs the usual 128,000 points.

However I have noted that Virgin have just slashed their fuel surcharges and that the ACCC is investigating the issue of fuel surcharges. It seems only a matter of time before Qantas have to at least reduce theirs.

So what should one do - take advantage of the points sale but pay Qantas's usurious fuel surcharges or wait a bit longer and hope that the fuel surcharges are reduced?

Thoughts?

cheers Peter

 

[medhead]

Virgin have reduced prices by $50. I don't share your confidence that Qantas are going to be forced to change. Even if they are forced to change $50 would be about all I would expect for a reduction. Only you can decide if the 15% extra points is worth $50.

 

[vitagen]

Why not just buy revenue fare? It wouldn't be much more than the cost component of reward fare

 

[ffhound]

Why not just buy revenue fare? It wouldn't be much more than the cost component of reward fare

One could, but it would be nicer to be able to redeem the points for a fare with little cash cost on top of it, if a way can be worked out.

 

[Mattg]

A couple of points:
1. I don't expect Qantas to significantly reduce its fuel surcharge anytime soon. So if you can save 20,000 points on the cost of the redemption now, and you want to take the trip anyway, I'd say book now.
2. Virgin wasn't charging a fuel surcharge on flights to Europe anyway. (Only to the USA, but this wasn't levied additionally on points bookings in any case.)