What would you consider good "value" for your poin

[Dave]

Firstly, Hi all! I've been a lurker for a little while but only just registered.

I was just trying to book a one way Sydney to Coolangatta flight for 8,000 QFF points. This is a Jetstar flight, which costs $79 on the Jetstar website.

Then, we get to the "fees and Charges" bit and they want to charge me $47.09. :shock:

spending 8000 points for a $31 saving works out to 0.4 cents per point "value".

At that rate I think I'll just pay the full $79 and save my points - but what for? I can never seem to get award bookings when I need them anyway (hence the one-way award booking).

So, what do you think is a good "value" for points? At what stage do you think it's better just to buy a ticket?

And to make me jealous, what's the maximum value per point you have ever got on an award booking?

(Edit: Typo)

 

[QFTravel]

Re: What would you consider good "value" for your

Firstly, Hi all! I've been a lurker for a little while but only just registered.

I was just trying to book a one way Sydney to Coolangatta flight for 8,000 QFF points. This is a Jetstar flight, which costs $79 on the Jetstar website.

Then, we get to the "fees and Charges" bit and they want to charge me $47.09. :shock:

spending 8000 points for a $31 saving works out to 0.4 cents per point "value".

At that rate I think I'll just pay the full $79 and save my points - but what for? I can never seem to get award bookings when I need them anyway (hence the one-way award booking).

So, what do you think is a good "value" for points? At what stage do you think it's better just to buy a ticket?

And to make me jealous, what's the maximum value per point you have ever got on an award booking?

(Edit: Typo)

Welcome to AFF Dave.

There are more flyers that travel alot more frequently than I do, so they might be better to answer your question. But, for a domestic flight between eastern cities I always pay the fare and never use my points.

With the last series of changes to the program, I've now decided to use my points for international travel in J. Looked at using 120,000 points for a $5000 return fare (MEL-SIN) so would use one point per 4.16 cents. Seems much better value to me than the 0.4 cents per point value you get with domestic travel.

 

[dajop]

Dave,

I certainly wouldn't bother redeeming points on anything where the value of those points in less than 1 per point. So for 8,000 pts you'd want commercial fares (excluding tax) to be more than $100. I generally look for achieving at least 1.5c per point.

My best redemption is RTW on one world in J class (booked pre May 2005 rule changes) for 240,000 pts, that works out to be around 4c per point. Also had a similar value in Y- 20,000 pts flying Chicago-Boston-Toronto-Chicago where a commercial ticket was going to be around $800AUD ie 4c per point.

Which brings us to the old debate about how much points are really worth - and where best to use them. That is really for an individual to decide on their circumstances.

Many would not waste points on anything other than J (or F) class fares, as that is usually where the best value is. That is fine if you have a big balance or steady stream of points to replenish the ones you use, if not you may get more benefit from economy awards (eg. if points are limited - instead of redeeming points for a business class seat and paying for a fare for a partner/spouse, two economy fares can be redeemed for the same amount, and no need to argue about who gets the J seat!). Also Y award seats are generally easier to find than J class.

The other good use of points is on the more expensive regional sectors that don't have the competition to keep commercial fares down.

 

[icarus]

I'm doing exactly the same thing - using my FF points only for J class international travel.

192 000 points for a return flight SYD - SFO, which costs around $12 000 (maybe a bit more or less depending on timing), translates to a value of 6.25 cents per point.

On the other hand, using 8000 points for a return domestic fare costing around $80 gives you a return of only one cent per point, fees and charges aside.

BTW does the $79 definitely include the taxes etc? Often it doesn't (though I've never used JetStar so I wouldn't know.)

My view is that cheap domestic travel is not worth burning points for - especially when the minimum points guarantee means you can probably earn about five points per dollar spend if you pay for the flight.

PS, back after a hiatus, so a Happy New Year to all the regulars!

 

[Maca44]

I prefer to fly QF whenever possible, but just purchased a "return" ticket with Virgin Blue from Sydney to Coolangatta in May for $102.00 all inclusive. It was a $15 fare, and the rest was tax etc. So much for QF when I can fly for that price.

I too would not use points for domestic flights, and have booked an award J class seat SYD-SFO in August 06, which is much better value.

 

[Dave Noble]

Re: What would you consider good "value" for your

And to make me jealous, what's the maximum value per point you have ever got on an award booking?

My best redemption was 125,000 points for a roundtrip LHR-JFK on Concorde ( value GBP7000 approx AUD17,000 ) so approx 13.6c value per point

 

[Mal]

I tend to use my points on J upgrades longhaul overseas now. Decent value for me when I buy el cheapo econ fares. Being a Plat the upgrades have a high chance of coming through and I'm normally organised enough to book my flights early enough to get a good ranking on the waitlist.

Once I get to my SC's I want for the year I am a lot more flexible. I'm yet to actually do a full points purchase for a flight but I'm sure I will one day.

I miss the Concorde. Wish it was still around. To redeem points on that would have been an amazing experience.

 

[serfty]

One way for 60,000 in 2001 in F class MEL-SYD-SIN & returned one way SIN-MEL for 40,000 in J. Not sure about the going paid rates back then

However, these days F fare is $3900 & the J fare is $3250.

 

[tuapekastar]

Best use of points used to be for international upgrades, and may still be, but since the FF changes, they cannot be guaranteed so I wouldn't risk trying to use them for it.

Have used points twice for international J flights: (pre FF changes, points figures accurate, $ figures approximate).

MEL-SYD-CHC-MEL: 45K points, $1800 - about 4c per point
SYD-NRT-SYD: 100K points, $5000 - about 5c per point

Definitely, as a general rule, much better value than short domestic flights.

 

[Skyring]

You know, all this talk of how much a point will buy is pretty academic. It's not real money we're talking about, and while seat upgrades work out to be the best value, on paper, I must ask whether if you had the thousands of dollars for an upgrade on (say) SYD-LHR, you'd actually spend it on a better seat for 24 hours, or on several days in a decent London hotel. Or on a decent laptop.

You can also use points to buy QC membership and that works out to be incredibly poor value if you look at it in terms of dollar value per point.

To my mind, the best use of points is on RTW trips in the back of the bus, but then again, I'm paying for my own travel, I do two or three of these a year, and if I pay for the trips on the right cards it's pretty much a case of buy two, get the third one free, more so as I make my way up the status ladder and get more miles per flight.

 

[JohnK]

I must ask whether if you had the thousands of dollars for an upgrade on (say) SYD-LHR, you'd actually spend it on a better seat for 24 hours, or on several days in a decent London hotel. Or on a decent laptop.

I tend to agree with you there. SYD-LHR (return) in J must be around A$10,000. I certainly would not spend that much on an airline seat. Admittedly the people spending points on upgrades would be earning around 30,000 points/month from credit cards and flights, so spending 144,000 on an upgrade for 2 people is not that much. I struggle to earn 1.500 points/month from credit card so I need to use them more wisely. Not sure if it was here or FT but I heard someone accumulated over 1,000,000 in points from work travel and let them expire as the last thing they wanted to do was to be on an airplane for their holidays.

To my mind, the best use of points is on RTW trips in the back of the bus, but then again, I'm paying for my own travel, I do two or three of these a year, and if I pay for the trips on the right cards it's pretty much a case of buy two, get the third one free, more so as I make my way up the status ladder and get more miles per flight.

Sounds logical to me.

 

[oz_mark]

The value is a bit of a horses for courses thing, and I agree trying to break it down into a $ figure is rather academic, although one could ask why there are such anomolies.

Mostly I use my points for economy seat redemptions, and for upgrades on some flights.

 

[Skyring]

The value is a bit of a horses for courses thing, and I agree trying to break it down into a $ figure is rather academic, although one could ask why there are such anomolies.

I was asking myself the same question, and I think it works out to the cost to the airline. Maybe they charge Joe Public several thousand dollars for a J seat over a Y, but it certainly doesn't cost them that much. A few hundred dollars, maybe, about the same as a QC membership. Which is why I think that 98500 points for RTW is good value

Mostly I use my points for economy seat redemptions, and for upgrades on some flights.

When it comes down to it, you've got to use them for something. At the moment I'm looking for uses that save me the most money, and while I wouldn't mind being upgraded for a long haul sector or two, my best use is economy RTW. This may well change in years to come!

 

[JohnK]

Which is why I think that 98500 points for RTW is good value

Is this figure correct. I thought it was 142,500 points for a 1world RTW.

 

[NM]

The best value use of FF points is to get to places where you would otherwise be paying to go. Then you are exchanging points for a real cash saving. If you use you points to take a trip you would otherwise not be taking, you are spending money for the benefit of using your points (taxes etc). Now that may still be a god thing in that you get a trip you would otherwise not have taken.

So I chose to use FF points to fly Mrs NM and two minis to PER for a week. She was going anyway and we would otherwise have paid $$$ for the tickets. So the FF points saved us money, which is a good thing at this time of year). We could have used the points for all sorts of other things (upgrades, trips etc) but as none was planned it would have been a case of spending money to save money.

 

[FF Wannabe]

I use my points to pay for flights for my family of 4 for holidays once or twice a year. As we are in Perth everywhere nice is along way away (read: expensive to travel to ). I never hoard my points to save up for a long haul trip that may make more sense $$$$ wise as I got burnt when Ansett went down so now I 'burn em as soon as I earn em' and enjoy the family holidays. To me this is ultimate FF value.

 

[Skyring]

I never hoard my points to save up for a long haul trip that may make more sense $$$$ wise as I got burnt when Ansett went down so now I 'burn em as soon as I earn em' and enjoy the family holidays. To me this is ultimate FF value.

Fair enough.

Ansett (and Virgin and OzJet) are one thing, but I'd find it hard to imagine that the Commonwealth would let Qantas go down and leave Australia without a flag-carrier airline.

 

[vt01]

I use my points to pay for flights for my family of 4 for holidays once or twice a year. As we are in Perth everywhere nice is along way away (read: expensive to travel to ). I never hoard my points to save up for a long haul trip that may make more sense $$$$ wise as I got burnt when Ansett went down so now I 'burn em as soon as I earn em' and enjoy the family holidays. To me this is ultimate FF value.

I'm with you.. With a growing family, anything for free is good value to me especially if you can get free flights and then just pay for accommodation and car hire.

I still use the occasional points for upgrade coming home from trips in Melbourne especially if I've missed dinner and I'm on an early evening flight - at least I get a dinner.

Although I was pretty happy when my wife and I (and 3 month old)travelled to LHR in J after buying one cheapo economy ticket and upgrading plus one full award J class.

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

I never hoard my points to save up for a long haul trip that may make more sense $$$$ wise as I got burnt when Ansett went down so now I 'burn em as soon as I earn em' and enjoy the family holidays. To me this is ultimate FF value.

Fair enough.

Ansett (and Virgin and OzJet) are one thing, but I'd find it hard to imagine that the Commonwealth would let Qantas go down and leave Australia without a flag-carrier airline.

Agree - QF unlikely to disappear any time soon. More than can be said for some struggling airlines.

 

[Skyring]

I still use the occasional points for upgrade coming home from trips in Melbourne especially if I've missed dinner and I'm on an early evening flight - at least I get a dinner.

Although I was pretty happy when my wife and I (and 3 month old)travelled to LHR in J after buying one cheapo economy ticket and upgrading plus one full award J class.

It seems that what people consider to be the best value differs according to their circumstances and desires. "Free" flights and upgrades look to be the best value, especially if you are looking at retail value per point, but what about the worst value?

I've mentioned using points to buy QC membership, a particularly unattractive option IMHO.