Hi all! I have about 300k QFF points and I was of the opinion that I could fly to Europe and back on business class on this.
However having a look at tickets for points they are all around 900k to 1Mil points. Am I missing something here?
QFF Points for Business Class to Europe
pixpotato on 08/08/2022 - 08:43
Last edited 08/08/2022 - 09:50 by 1 other user
Last edited 08/08/2022 - 09:50 by 1 other user
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^This. To increase your chances you want to be looking 297 days in advance and be flexible in what European city you fly into. For searching business I find it best to do a normal cash search for a business fare (not "using points") and then it will highlight the times with a red logo when there's classic seats available. This avoids having a million economy classic reward seats crowd out the results…
Give up on anything in the next 6 months or any peak periods (school hols, xmas etc.) right now, points tickets are never available for regular people at these times.
Provided you get onto them when they first hit, which is roughly a year in advance, you have a decent shot at them. We’ve used these in the past. Be aware there is a pretty hefty payment that comes with it as well.
This is very dependent on your status.
Platinum you can find seats pretty quickly (at least you used to be able to prior to COVID).
Covid.
Super high demand after 2 years of not travelling plus shortage of airline staff means limited services.
Why accept points when people are willing to pay crazy cash prices?I've in the past had a lot of luck with classic flight rewards. This year, not so much. Managed to get return to Bali by booking the earliest I could.
Managed to get to Singapore (again booking the earliest I could).
No chance in hell of getting a points flight back so I've paid for an economy seat on the way back from Singapore.
I've got a friend who is platinum (compared to my lowly silver). Even she is not able to find good classic flight reward availability at the moment. We have no proof but do wonder if Qantas is releasing a lot less of the flights than they used to?
Your only chance is to look at Oneworld partner redemptions and call up to book manually. With the added bonus you don't have to fly Qantas.
Just to add to other comments which are correct on finding classic flight rewards - the reason you're seeing such high prices is because you are looking at points plus pay tickets -which literally just converts your points balance into the equivalent cash cost - that's why the redemptions look poor
So what would the best method be for finding these tickets in just points?
297 days advanced isnt an issue tbh. Happy to book for next year.What I wrote above. Search for regular business class fares for the days/routes you want and then hope you see the rewards logo there…
Thanks! Is it best to search on the qantas app or elsewhere?
The actual Qantas website on a computer is a lot easier to navigate than the app for classic rewards.
You can try to find flights by doing a booking on the Qantas website, select a points booking and then use the Rewards only filter.
As others have said it can be very difficult to actually find availability. Higher status QFF members will be able to book before you.
Higher status QFF members will be able to book before you.
This is only for QF metal. For booking seats on other OW airlines, your QF status doesn't matter.
I've used IFLYflat in the past for point redemption of business class seats.
OP, I suggest you also reach out to them to see what they can do for you.
Did you pay the $850 per flight ($1700 rtn) fee for them to find you return tickets to Europe? And did you feel they provided options you couldn't have found yourself?
I must admit (from someone who offers a similar service) I was surprised some people pay those prices!
It's really aimed at business owners who are points rich but time poor so why not outsource
Frequent flyer solutions does the same thing albeit cheaper
It's much easier to redeem flights that begin and end outside of Australia. I'm a lowly Bronze member but I just booked first class on Emirates from Europe to Singapore (stopover in Dubai) followed by economy on Qantas for the final Singapore to Melbourne leg. If you don't mind flying economy for part of your trip it's worth looking into. Play around with the multi-city search tool on the Qantas website you should be able to find a combination that works.
That's a great tip! Thanks!
Second that. It's what I usually do.
Also if going to the UK, don't only look at Heathrow, check flights in and out of Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham etc.
On my last trip before Covid in 2019, I got a business class flight home with QFF points on Qatar/Qantas flying Birmingham-Doha-Adelaide-Melbourne. Was booked only a few months prior.
I've got 300k worth of QFF points, and can get a one way fare from SIN-LHR with velocity points in business on SQ. I'm fine with flying the SIN-SYD leg in economy, but I can't seem to find any combinations that work for Aug 2023 to fly back from Europe with a oneworld partner in business using the qantas website… any ideas/suggestions ?
Try ports such as paris/amsterdam etc to smaller Aus cities such as Canberra. I can see some availability on business Aug 13 with Cathay.
I was lucky enough to find QR seats MEL to LHR and Doha to Canberra as soon as they were announced.
I managed to snag J class seats from Helsinki to Sydney via Tokyo with JAL. Only one downside is a 10 hour stopover in Haneda but not the worst place to be stuck.
You need to search for a "classic reward" to get the cheap business class which is 289,200 points return on Qantas flights to London or 318,000 points on flights to Europe flying partner airlines.
Classic reward seats are rare and you are probably more likely to win lotto than find these seats. You are also competing with hundreds of thousands if not millions of people like yourself with plenty of points to spend and constantly searching and waiting for seats to become available.