So I got the bonus 10,000 points from Bankwest and the 50,000 from ANZ today. I'm sure theirs a lot of people that would of got both as well. What is everyone using their points on? I heard upgrades are often the best value but I don't fly first or business class, and with all the the cheap budget flights in Asia you can often get a ticket for cheaper then the extra taxes Qantas charge.
What's everyone using their points on?
harper on 06/08/2014 - 21:45
Comments
Im gunna do a once in a lifetime round the world in First class flight. 420000 points gets you a 5 destination 35000km OneWorld explorer First Class fare. as the above person said, each to their own!!! I was gunna use my points for a business class fare to USA or Europe, but Ive now scabbed so many Bonus signup points that Im within a whim of the required points.
lol are you going alone?..
yes, unless a fellow ozbarganer has scabbed alot of points also to come with!!
What's the availability like of such a fare? I imagine you'd have to book a LONG time in advance?
And what are the taxes? 5 destinations seems like there'd be a lot of tax.
well its not a classic award, so not competing with that award space as far as I know, its like an any seat award. taxes are around the 1-1.5k mark
well its not a classic award
What type of reward is it then? I thought there were only two: Classic (good value, hard to get, must pay taxes) and Any Seat (poor value, easy to get, includes taxes)?
Is there a third option I don't know about?
Its an any seat I think. If its classic Im screwed…they are as rare as hens teeth. Must find out! or else im sitting on a mountain of points that i cant use to redeem this elusive first class
Ok the penny has just dropped….alarm bells are ringing…There is a tax component…..OH NO This is Classic award….IM SCREWED. There goes that fantasy
I thought all the Any Seat Awards had been deleted in the latest round of Qantas enhancements.
what type of $$$ are we talking for tax?
have you checked if you can book a series of partner airline awards? you may find better availability on partner airlines than on QF.
I've just booked this RTW award (it's a classic oneworld award) in J for 2 x pax (280,000 points each). With some flexibility around dates and partner airlines and a heap of research, I've managed to get a fabulous itinerary AND avoid heft taxes by avoiding the London departure tax as well as airline partners who charge through the nose for fuel fines (BA and Qantas come to mind). PM me if you want more info.
I personally use my points on domestic qantas upgrades on cheap bought or work paid flights.
Domestic you say? What a waste you say?
Well I find them a) very easy to get (most of the time an instant upgrade online) and b) reasonable cost considering the fare difference is massive.
Domestic business class still is good - especially if you get a plane that has been refitted recently.
The food is great, the service is very personable and most of the time it is empty so you have it all to yourself (sometimes they put qantas pilots returning home etc in business).
You also get access to the business lounges (better than qantas club).
I understand most people find this a waste of points but I would rather it than either using for woolworths cards which basically gives you very little value or forever waiting/being declined international upgrades.
I only use my QFF points for long haul find that best value, been using them for about 10 years, its finding the award flights these days, its getting harder and harder, especially J seats.
use Qantas ff pts on USA domestic flights.
eg. LA/Colorado 12,000 pts + $2 (no fuel surcharge) 3 airports in winter nonstop, one rest of year.
Vegas/East Coast 18,000 pts + $2
LA/Vancouver 14,000 pts + taxes as crossing border
If eg. flying into LAX & spending less than 24 hours there b4 connecting onto a ff ticket, international baggage rules apply. If spend 1 minute more than 24 hours, AMerican Airlines will charge u USD$25/checked bag. We carried some of our smaller bags(ski boots) on aircraft to avoid USD$25 x 6 (6 people flying with ski gear)
They look pretty good compared to Australia, but Domestic US flights are pretty cheap to begin with, and at 1.5c/point, those fares aren't really that cheap.
You could probably get SouthWest, JetBlue or Virgin America fares cheaper paying cash which are better airlines IMO.fares in USA are on the increase + ever tried buying seats anywhere near Xmas ?
Also, there are 3 airports in Colorado where you can fly nonstop from LAX using Qantas points.
Denver is one, Aspen is another.
There are never ever cheap seats to Aspen, cos biggest jet these days is around 60-70 seats, therefore economies of scale & Aspen is an expensive resort, BUT it's the same number of points to fly LAX/ASE as LAX/DEN. Other ski airports in Colorado where you can get Qantas ff tix to almost anyday in winter & pay same as if flying to Denver, but much more convenient.
Denver is a massive airport, one of the busiest in USA. But no car hire at actual airport, like LAX.
So you have ot get in a bus & go about I don't know 5 miles or more to massive depots.
Great for airport operator, but not very customer friendly. Other smaller airports have rental cars literally parked 50 metres from baggage claim.
QAN domestic flights offer the best value IMHO.
Generally good availabilty and after taxes you get about a 1% retun.
Compare that to a Amex card and converting to SIA and using Business class internationally….around a 4 to 5% return
Gift cards are a wasteful spend…now down to under .5% return.
If you are game enough to use Malaysia Air the spend value reaches around 7% with heaps of seats in Business.
Converting to Virgin points then using Hawaiian Air the spend again can get around 4%
Can I use my Qantas miles on another airline that departs from Sydney and gives better value?
Partner rewards are much worse value
Dammit. Thought I was on to something!
nope. See above about domestic USA flights & USA/Canada flights using Qantas ff pts. No fuel surcharges or taxes just a $2 credit card fee.
What was the anz points for. My partner has anz but heard nothing about 'bonus' points
The ANZ Black bonus is still on. Even if you already have a card, you just say this is a 'new' card that you are applying for. See it here:
http://promo.anz.com/credit-cards/frequent-flyer-cards/?cid=…
Its for the ANZ frequent flyer credit cards.
all QFF ANZ cards have a free 50k promo for new customers if you spend 1500 in 3 months after the card has been approved
I always use my points for flights out of Canberra because it's so damn expensive. Went to Adelaide for a friend's thing recently. A round trip would have cost me $700 return. With points it cost me $150. Going from other cities the value isn't as good mind you but here, it works out well :)
We use ours only on long haul business class, just picked up 2 sets ANZ CC's getting 50K points each to add to the 180K we have, feel another trip coming.
I used 45k of my points last week to upgrade to First Class from SYD-LAX - well worth it as it was the best in flight experience ever (plus the Sydney International First Class Lounge was amazing)
Juice, which fare had you originally bought to qualify for the juicy upgrade?
You can only upgrade to first direct from a business fare.
Yes, what status does juice have to get that? And, what fare did juice buy - not all seats are created equally.
Any business fare is upgradable (they're all expensive) - have gold status.
The ticket was $8k return - first class is about $14k return
It was a business class ticket - for work purposes so claimable on tax
Just picked up 2 x First Class Award flights one way from MEL - DXB - LHR on the A380 suites, also travelling with an infant.
Came to 192,000 FF points per person and $600 taxes, as opposed to $10,500 when buying the fare outright with cash.
Have amassed a decent number of points, and want to use them before baby number 2 comes along, and before baby 1 turns 2 (use 'em or lose 'em!). Gping to make sure I get my money's worth from the spa treatments and ala carte menu in the MEL F lounge before departure!
What are you doing the other way?
still trying to work it out - slim J and F award pickings avail at end of Jan! May end up going Emirates code share FCO - DXB - MEL in J. Otherwise, considering CX J via Hong Kong.
If absolute worst comes to worst, will need to buy Etihad of Singapore Airlines 1 way back for ~ $1000 per person (but hoping to avoid this as want to take advantage of One World lounge access).
Yeah. Qantas one way international fares are often almost as much as return fares for some strange reason.
I was looking at booking premium one way and business the other but you can't do that on the same booking as it was going to cost me much more than business return.@juicedpixels: not strange at all for one ways to be similar cost to lowest return fares.
You're not comparing apples with apples.
Airfare deals are almost always return internationally. The cheapest return fares are restrictive or cost money to change or non-refundable.
One way fares are almost always NEVER on sale, but are less restrictive re changes etc.
One airline trick for domestic fares is to have a BIG sale on fares from A to B but not B to A.
So many people will take advantage of the special one way & pay whatever the other way, rather than book 2 separate airfares on 2 separate airlines, which usually means twice the data entry.
Per my comment above, I've recently splurged 560,000 points on 2 x J oneworld classic awards. The award allows you 35,000 miles over 16 sectors, and you can't cross back to your city/country of departure more than once. We will travel in December from ADL-HKG-HKG-JFK on Cathay, which has really minor taxes and fab business class, then JFK-MAD Iberia (no fuel fines), surface sector from MAD-AMS, then AMS-HKG-MEL Cathay again. We've then chosen to pay our fare from MEL-ADL in January, then fly MEL-BME-PER-ADL in mid June next year, as a sneakily tacked on second trip in J. All up, I've managed to squeeze the taxes down to $418 each, which is really low (avoiding QF and BA helped). Note that it's really hard to find award availability - you need to be flexible. And lots of rules to read up on to make it all work!
You sound like an expert! I am heading to London next January. I booked LAX to London already and need to book BNE to Hawaii. Hawaii to Las Vegas (will spend time there and bus to LA). Then on the way home in late 2016, I'll be going London to Chicago or Indianapolis, stopping a few weeks and then doing a few domestic US flights, heading back to Indiana and then going home to BNE.
Out of those segments, any tips on which legs might be best suited to spend my approx. 100k QFF points on, or which airlines charge less taxes and fees? Happy to fly economy.
have to fly to USA every month on my own dime, mostly to New York City.
I know the rough dates well in advance, but I don't know to which city until closer.
So I buy cheap tickets to LA & then use Qantas points for flights from LA to NY or wherever.
Apart from NY, in last 12 months had to go to Boston, Atlanta, Dallas & Denver & every time, have been able to use Qantas points.
Sometimes to east coast have had to go via Dallas, but it's a major hub for American Airlines & so have only had to wait a maximum of 2 hours there.
No fuel surcharges or baggage fees & only cash have had to pay was a $5 fee.
i will be spending my points on woolies gift cards, these will save me loads of money on grocery.. $50 = 7600 points or $250=38200 points…but each to their own….i can live with economy fares and would rather save money on bills.