Velocity Overseas Destinations on Points?

[BudgetFly]

I just got BDB - BNE - PER for 17,500 Qantas points + $125 during the 25% sale. That's good use of points domestically.

 

[JohnMcC]

Firstly, I am aware this is about Velocity points, and I am focused on Qantas - SORRY! I have given up trying to redeem by hundreds of thousands of Qantas points for long distance business class seats. The lack of seats, the amount of time it takes, the outrageous number of points it now requires and then the cash charges have killed off my interest in loyalty. Please don't reply and post about how you managed to score 20 seats for your family flying to London in first class, you're a unicorn. And Qantas knows it. Trying to get the right flight out, at a reasonable price and then somehow the right flight back and then trying to book for your partner – Qantas knows you will give up. So much for my long term Qantas loyalty, my points and lifetime gold status come from flights not paying power bills, but Qantas doesn't care because the FF program is so profitable. Fortunately, I have two children studying in another state and there is no problems booking tickets for them to regularly travel back-and-forth in economy.

 

[Happy Dude]

Out of CBR, and the fact that I rarely book more than a month or so ahead, I often find that rewards are taken for the flight I would like and the cash fare reflects that. If the cash fare is low, there'll be reward availability. If there's reward availability, it's usually an undesirable flight time.

So I pretty much never get more value than the minimum, but that's fine if the points come cheap. I don't think I've ever seen flights where the cash fare is high and rewards seats are available.

 

[Jac123]

I lived in Alice Springs for years and other remote locations in Australia. For me it made sense to use points domestically when the cost to travel to the eastern states or Darwin was consistently $1000+ return. International fares were almost always cheaper and pulled in more points and status. This is the sad reality when Qantas has the monopoly on small towns and it can cost more for a 2.5 hour flight than a 13 hour flight.