Family Holiday Using QFF Points for Booking / Upgrades

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  pantsparty on 17/07/2017 - 13:36

  How many points do you have? The best way to get value out of them is to use them to book classic award flights. You will get poor value if you use them to book hotels.

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    agrima350z on 17/07/2017 - 13:40

    Approx 650k qff points.

    Would you suggest booking economy / business directly via qantas using classic award flights, or do they have a partner airline that can be booked using another method?

    Would be nice to travel premium economy / business.

    Cheers

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      pantsparty on 17/07/2017 - 15:16

      I personally would book business class because you get the most value for your points this way, but saying that booking economy reward flights is half the price in points of business, so it depends how far you want to stretch your points. Any idea where you would like to go?

      You can go to Asia (e.g HK, Japan) for 120,000 or 130,000 points return per person in business class on Cathay Pacific or Qantas. Premium economy would be around 90k points per person, and economy 60k per person.

      As someone else mentioned reward flights to Honolulu are very hard to find - a bit easier if you are happy flying Jetstar but if you do that you may as well wait for a sale and pay $$.

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  Skramit on 17/07/2017 - 13:41

  1) Unless you are platinum frequent flyer status, which it doesn't sound like you are, you can be fairly sure a family of 4 will miss out on the seat upgrades on the A330 QF3/4. So I wouldn't bet on getting upgrades at all. If you were a single flyer or a couple, a much better chance. But the chances of 4 Business seats being available are very very slim.

  It's 60,000 points from Economy to Business each way per person. So that's 480,000 points if you were lucky enough to all score upgrades. Good use of points IMO if you can actually score the seats… but then again 3/4 y.o in business class is a fair waste of points in my humble opinion :)

  2) You can certainly use QFF points for hotel rooms but it's usually poor value (point per dollar) verses redeeming them for business class upgrades. But up to you how you want to use the points.

  3) I'd go with using the points for classic award seats. Will save you a couple grand on economy seats at least.

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  donbot on 17/07/2017 - 14:46

  Good luck getting business class award seats to Hawaii direct from Aus with QFF points… rare as hens teeth!

  There may be options if you have Velocity points available (can book with Hawaiian airlines direct SYD-HNL, and can see some availability for 4 on aa.com using points for Hawaiian Airlines).. but sounds like you're stuffed if you've only got QFF.

  Alternatives - could go to Hawaii via Japan flying Japan Airlines which you can book using QFF Points. 650k QFF wont be enough for all 4 of you to go in business class the whole way, but maybe 2 business class, 2 economy, or a mix of flights. Eg. Business Class SYD-NRT, Economy NRT-HNL-NRT, Business Class NRT-SYD?

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  djkelly69 on 17/07/2017 - 15:36

  Premium reward seats in particular move very quick, so ideally you want to be booking a year out from your travel date, which is when the seats are released (varies slightly depending on the airline).

  Also the Qantas RTW award for 140k each (plus taxes) in economy could be an idea - then you could go to beaches in lots of different places! Plus a bit more interesting than just sitting on a beach.

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  Cheapskate Paul on 17/07/2017 - 20:55

  @agrima350z

  It’s not impossible for the four of you to go to Hawaii in business class. You will most likey be limited to Jetstar but it’s not a bad way to get to HNL, certainly much better than being stuck down the back!

  The good things you have going for you are that you are planning early and you are very flexible (March-July).

  I did a search and found availability for four pax in J from SYD-HNL on 9 April and HNL-SYD on 20 April on Jetstar direct flights. Cost for four pax is 460,000 QFF points and $1512 fuel fines etc. The cash price for these flights is currently $10,112 so you would be getting $8600 “value” for your 460,000 points. That’s 1.87 cents per point.

  If you did this in Y it would cost 230,000 QFF points and $1512. The cash price is currently $2436 so that’s only 0.42 cents per point for a saving of just $924. As you can see, you should NOT use QFF points for economy flights!

  The other great thing about award flights is that they are fully flexible. Cancellation will cost you only 24,000 points.

  Personally, I think this would be a great use of your points given your current situation and preferences. If you are going to do this, you need to do it quickly as seats can disappear at any time.

  I have posted this example to show that it is possible for people to travel to HNL in J on QFF points (even if it is JetStar!) given enough flexibility. Having all your kids under school age makes it infinitely easier. This may be your last chance OP! There are quite a few available dates during your timeframe.

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  Stewardo on 18/07/2017 - 09:41

  I'd fly to lax with points, business for you, economy for kids. upstairs on a380 kids one row back in economy
  Pay for flights to Cabo San Lucas
  Forget hawaii

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    Cheapskate Paul on 18/07/2017 - 12:59

    Which airline/s allow 3 and 4 year old children to sit in a different class from their parents?