Overseas Flights. Which Card, Airline and frequent flyer Membership?

Smaland on 02/06/2018 - 14:57

I am planning travel to America (LA, NY etc) and later Europe in next 1-2 years for the First time.

To reduce the travel fares (for 4 adults), my partner and I would like to sign up Credit card with a lot of flight points.

I got lost which frequent flyer program to join?
Because flight points is only for certain flight, which airline is better for economy seat? We are average in weight and height.

And is it usually possible to book flights with points during high season?
Also I imagine my partner needs to book separately or is it possible to pool the points and book tickets together?

Thanks all

Travel

Comments

  • vee124 on 02/06/2018 - 15:31

    I personally recommend Qantas FF over Virgin, it has the best connections currently. For flights to Europe you've got their flights to London, Emirates, and oneworld members to earn points and status credits. For USA you've got oneworld again, American Airlines and Alaska. Which FF you join doesn't really change what seat you get, because the aviation industry has a huge variance in seating between carriers and routes.

    It is possible to book point flights during peak however your chances are reduced substantially as its based on free seats and your FF status.

    Lastly, IMO flight points are usually a bad way to use your points, especially after any taxes, with them being better spent on upgrades.

    • wantitforless on 06/06/2018 - 11:22
      -1

      qantas ff program is a rip off if trying to use on flights to USA.

      Classic reward is 96,000 pts for say SYD/LAX/SYD flying Qantas + $400-$500 in dodgy qantas fees + taxes & you will only get them when fares are cheap, like $800 return.

      Virgin require same number of points but only $200 in taxes, no fuel surcharges at moment.

      Virgin also much better airline than poor old Qantas, who crash to often for me.

  • carlJack on 02/06/2018 - 16:02

    I Kinda prefer velocity over Qantas FF. Rewards seat availability is more with velocity than Qantas FF. Also taxes are less. If I was looking at a credit card with bonus points then I would go with Amex Membership rewards Ascent where 1 membership reward point = 1 frequent flyer point for most of the airlines except for Emirates Skywards. Have a look at Pointhacks.Plenty of info there. Also check out the credit card offers.

  • try2bhelpful on 02/06/2018 - 17:05

    Look into velocity pooling as well, if you have a few family members.

  • donbot on 02/06/2018 - 17:50

    In 1-2 years time? I'd divide and conquer between Qantas and velocity, particularly if your not fussed with economy. Should be plenty of time if can both do a few credit cards in planning.

    That way availability should be a lesser issue between the two programs and their partners

  • Georgevic on 02/06/2018 - 20:11
    +1

    Would never go with velocity unless you only fly to and from Australia, no alliance and not lots of/great partners.

  • Smaland on 03/06/2018 - 00:04

    Thanks all for quick response.

    If I remember correctly, if I fly in Oct to LA, Qantas cost about 7K and United about 5K for 4A. So I am not sure if it is still worth to join FF program? Is United really bad?

    If my partner and I have 90K points each (eq. from wstpac offer), By How much the fare will be reduced? Or Will it be enough for upgrade to business seats for 4A?

  • blutek on 07/06/2018 - 18:24
    +1

    "Will it be enough for upgrade to business seats for 4A?"
    With no status the probability of a QF upgrade for one passenger is extremely minimal to zero (no chance for 4). There are 11 million members structured in a status system.
    However, QFF is great for collecting large credit card bonuses (eg: 200k annually each): https://www.qantas.com/au/en/frequent-flyer/earning-points/c…
    Checkout the QF OneWorld Classic Award (the only thing I use points for bi-annually): https://thehighlife.com.au/ultimate-use-qantas-points-busine…

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