Asia Miles + Qantas Point Redemptions - Any Tips of How to Snag a European Flight?

gym on 25/08/2022 - 16:41
Last edited 30/08/2022 - 17:32

Hey everyone,

I am fully aware that it is tough to try and get any redemption of points at the moment for most frequent flyer programs for long haul flights but I thought maybe some of ozbargainers might have some tricks up their sleeves that you are willing to share on how to snag some of these flights. I have attempted to search 350 ish days in advance and I can never see any availability on both Qantas FF and Asia miles redemption for business class awards. It is my first time attempting to book award flights so bear with me.

Does anyone have any tips of how to get a business class ticket if we can't seem to get them this way?
Is there a time of day that these awards tickets are released? like 12am? whatever time?
What about buying economy tickets and upgrading? what are my chances?
Should I consider paying to extend my asia miles points? Have a few hundred thousand expiring early 2023.
Once booked - are these award tickets generally flexible with changing of dates/destinations?

The only thing remotely business class that I have found I can get are to Asia as long as I book a few months in advance which isn't the best deal but potentially better than nothing.

I have no special tier on either Asia miles or Qantas if that helps (or not help). Looking at Qatar flights to Doha but open to other airlines like Emirates to Dubai for example. It doesn't seem possible for me to look for flight awards from AUS to say Geneva directly I can only book to Doha if I searched on Asia Miles.

Edited 30th Aug:
Thanks for the tips everyone, I've gotten a bit better by using the multi city tool, also ITA matrix website to check availability of flights. If you book these 1 year in advance - how difficult is it to change dates closer to the time (say 3 months out?)? Yes understand there is a change fee but if there are no reward seats available (most likely since most of these reward tickets are booked almost a year in advance) does that mean you are stuffed or are the availabilities just dependent on whether there are business class tickets full stop?

Thanks in advance !

Travel Airfare Reward Points

Comments

  • capslock on 25/08/2022 - 17:36

    Keep checking. Check after every meal. Search from all cities in Australia to/from all cities in Europe or wherever your destination is.

    Airlines can release seats at random times for random periods. People may cancel their seats and the seats become available again. It will be a time consuming exercise and it comes down to how badly you want it. Remember that you are competing with other people who are doing the same thing.

    Also one seat will be easier than two.

  • Stewardo on 25/08/2022 - 21:01

    Get an expert flyer subscription
    Use alternate airports like Zurich
    Consider a positioning flight.

  • Pcoder on 25/08/2022 - 21:09

    Firstly look at various Australian ports and check just the flights to Oneworld/Partner hubs like Singapore Changi, Hong Kong, Tokyo Haneda, Doha and Dubai. It's usually finding the out of Australian leg that it's hard to find flights for. Then use the Multi city tool as I've had more success with it.

  • Autonomic on 27/08/2022 - 00:37

    Look for CGK/BKK/SIN/KUL to Europe. It's relatively easy to get award seats to KUL/CGK and then get a cheap connecting flight. I can see plenty of availability in first class from KUL to AMS on Emirates (EK). There are also some business seats too (9/5/23 for example).

    There's also availability from CGK to AMS via KLM in business. SYD to CGK has generally got decent availability too.

  • gym on 30/08/2022 - 17:32

    Thanks for the tips everyone, I've gotten a bit better by using the multi city tool, also ITA matrix website to check availability of flights. If you book these 1 year in advance - how difficult is it to change dates closer to the time (say 3 months out?)? Yes understand there is a change fee but if there are no reward seats available (most likely since most of these reward tickets are booked almost a year in advance) does that mean you are stuffed or are the availabilities just dependent on whether there are business class tickets full stop?

    • djkelly69 on 31/08/2022 - 16:44

      does that mean you are stuffed or are the availabilities just dependent on whether there are business class tickets full stop?

      If it is a reward booking, there needs to be award seats available for you to change to. So date changes 3 months out are going to be very tough.

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