We're planning a trip to Europe next year, and have 200K points each of QFF and Velocity points. I'm having a hard time finding any worthwhile flights or upgrades using the points. I was wondering if anybody here had any good ideas on how to use the points? We're open to all options - points + pay, upgrades, flying in/out of different cities, layovers, etc.
200K Qantas FF + 200K Velocity Points - Travel to Europe?
LoungeLizard on 29/10/2018 - 08:36
Last edited 29/10/2018 - 08:37
Last edited 29/10/2018 - 08:37
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Travel Mar - Jun next year (flexible), 2 people. As for class, as I said we're looking for the best use of the points. I know it's not enough for premium economy or business class for all flights but was hoping to at least get some of the legs upgraded, or economy with low additional $$. Best option so far is Qantas economy return is 120K points + $600 pp while a outright return ticket is ~$1200. So effectively you're getting 0.5c per point. Not great IMO
What city are you departing Aust from?
Brissy, but can also do Sydney if worth it overall (starting off in rural QLD)
@LoungeLizard: Brisbane to Dubai direct on Emirates business class is 192,000 Qantas points one way for two people. This is a 15 hour flight so a good use of the points in my opinion - a great way to start the trip!. You can book a separate flight from there to wherever in Europe you want to go.
There is definitely some availability - e.g EK431 on the 8th of March 2019 - 192k points plus $823 in taxes all up. I know the taxes are expensive but if you were to book the same two seats and pay normal price for these flights it would cost you $7,000!
Do a search for classic reward flights in March from Brisbane to Dubai and you will see the available dates - there are a few in early March.
Best bang for buck is buying an upgradeable economy ticket then using points to get into Premium Economy or Business. Given the cost of straight up taxes using the Classic Rewards on Qantas it actually doesn't cost that much more than getting a normal economy flight on points alone.
In general avoid Heathrow as airport taxes are some of the highest in Europe. Far cheaper places to fly into.
Thanks. Since the upgrade-able tickets are a fair bit more expensive, is it possible to guarantee the upgrade? I'll look at a few other cities as well - which have you found to be the best option?
Not possible to guarantee upgrades - it's a lottery, and people with higher status will get preference.
Best combination of value and guaranteed business class is to book a business reward seat.
As pantsparty suggests, your Qantas points can get you to Dubai for two, which is the longer leg anyway (192,000 Qantas Points + $823).
Coming home, you can use your Velocity points to book Singapore Airlines business class from Europe (e.g. London) to Singapore. You can search seats on the VA website. The cost is 92,000 points + $394pp, so overall 184,000 points + $788. As singue mentions, London has the highest airport taxes, so other cities like Paris may be cheaper.
The Dubai to Europe and Singapore to Australia legs can be bought in economy.
Best bang for buck buying an upgradeable economy ticket? Definitely not the case. You aren't guaranteed an upgrade because that brings status into the equation. The cost of paying full flexible fare economy is never worth it imo.
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Last year I booked a one way business to UK on Etihad through Velocity, 139000 points plus bout $460 tax.
Economy is about half the points and was around $175 in taxes.
Velocity are about to add extra fees that increase the $ you have to pay on those reward flights.The Velocity website showed no availability or crazy stuff like a million points one way. Called the contact centre and they booked the flights at normal rewards point redemption level and didnt charge the booking fee cos the velocity site wasnt showing the flights.
Came back economy class from Spain on Cathay Pacific using Qantas points, I think 68000points plus $100 taxes.
Never book Qantas flights with Qantas points, the taxes kill the deal, you got to use a One World partner.If you can, avoid departing from UK because of the UK passenger charge.
You can buy a ticket and use the points to upgrade the class but be careful. Not all tickets are eligible for upgrade and if you dont know the rules its easy to get caught out.
Have a look at these sites for tips
https://www.pointhacks.com.au/
https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/Thank you, lot of useful info there. I'll have a chat to Virgin customer service
taxes are much easier of SQ, but you check on the SQ website then call for availability. VA doesn't display all their SQ availability on their website
This review of a Virgin partner mentions 78k point one way business to Europe. Not sure if still valid, but worth looking into.
https://flighthacks.com.au/hainan-airlines-review-a330-busin…
If you’re happy book virgin or qantas return to Hong Kong in economy on cheap economy tickets ($400pp return). Do Emirates business class from Hong Kong to Europe for 86000qff points one way. Do Singapore airlines on the way back to Hong Kong with virgin points in business.
If you book before November 1 fees out of Hong Kong will only be $75pp for emirates which is incredibly cheap.
Did nearly exactly this for my folks last night before the loophole closes. Goes from costing $160 in taxes to possibly $800+. Topped them up with a few extra points to jag Emirates first class from HK to London.
Any experience on where to fly back from in Europe to HK using Velocity/Krisflyer business redemption? Thinking maybe Amsterdam/Brussels to minimise taxes vs UK.
No sorry, had enough virgin points that I booked Singapore business all the way back to Sydney.
Would also like to know this. I'm having a hard time finding business reward flights from ANY of the major European cities to Hong Kong.
I did a few searches Brisbane <-> Dubai and Hong Kong <-> Europe and looks like business class for 2 is definitely doable. I have noticed though that there seems to be a lot more availability in Feb/Mar than Apr/May. Is this due to the business class seats being sold out, or award seats not released yet? (>6 months out)
Booked out, flights are released around 1 year out.
If there are two of you I would look at flying one way with one mob and back with the other. You want to try to build up to business class flights, getting credit cards if you have to.
Just an update: Managed to get 2 x business class Hong Kong -> London (QFF) and 2 x business class Paris -> Singapore (VFF), total cash $220. Thanks a lot to everyone for the info/tips
How are you doing to Hong Kong and back from Singapore?
I'll have to get one way tickets. Unfortunately I couldn't find any business class award seats from Europe to Hong Kong in the time frame I needed. It will cost more than a return ticket but there are regularly sales for Singapore and Hong Kong so hopefully won't be too bad
Just wondering because when I've looked at one way tickets back from Europe they have been the same, if not more expensive, than a return ticket. That is why we are looking at splitting the points there and back across two schemes. Points is just based on sectors so a single is, usually, about 1/2 of a return in points.
You really are asking for a lot, without much detail. If you want help provide things like approx date of travel, what class you are looking for, how many people, where you are flying from etc