Best use of points to achieve a family holiday to Egypt/Greece/Turkiye in 2027?!?!

Frequent Flyer Programs
, , , , ,
1

I have a cunning plan - and the theory looks good… but i defer to the greater knowledge of the group, and would appreciate any advice/thoughts re my plan.

I have a variety of points collected - I’ve got over 800k in amex, about 170k in Qantas, and around 450k in citibank points, and all continuing to accrue monthly

Courtesy of changes to Citibank to mycard in Nov (and not knowing if rewards will change… let’s presume they will, and it’s never for the better); and Amex changing their rate for exchange to FF points in Dec, I thought it might be time to move them somewhere and try and do something with them - and finally fly business like i have always planned to do with points.

So we’re thinking a trip in April 2027 to Egypt, Greece and Turkiye for the family - 2 adults, and 2 teens.

After much chatGPT research/calculating, I’m thinking:

Amex → Qatar Avios - 4 business flights Sydney to Cairo in early April (not easter).

Citibank → Kris Flyer → use on Turkish airlines for 2 x business and 2 x economy seats from Istanbul to Singapore (late April)

Qantas → Singapore to Sydney on QF- 2 x business and 2 x economy seats.

Would look at non peak days where ever it made a difference to points calculations.

I will also work out my ideal dates for flights, and then try and work out when seats will be released for the different airlines, and book as soon as released.

Well - that’s the plan. Am i kidding myself and my theory is just that, and reality will be a different story/huge disappointment? Is there a better way to achieve the same goal? Any tips and tricks to help it all happen!?!?!?

Thanks in advance for any help!

2

Hello and welcome @squiggle2410 !

Your plan is definitely not ridiculous and, broadly speaking, it might just work particularly if you’re willing to fly 2 or more members of your family in Economy. It almost certainly won’t go exactly according to plan and you’ll undoubtedly need to make some (probably many) compromises.

As I’ve said many times, the big bottleneck is getting business class flights out of Australia. You might need to be content with Economy or Premium Economy as a more realistic option. Also I wouldn’t think it’s likely that you’ll find 4 Business class seats on any Qatar flight.

Of course, seats will be easier to come by outside of school holidays and you’ll have to think about the educational cost of taking teenagers out of school.

As you know, the seats haven’t been released yet and things can change very quickly in the FF world. But as a general strategy, converting your points to Qatar Avios and Singapore Airlines Krisflyer is probably the best option at this stage. It’s unlikely, but not impossible, that you’ll be able to get Business class seats into and out of Australia on a Qantas flight if you don’t have Gold or Platinum status with Qantas FF.

Using points to fly in premium cabins is really a game for solo travellers or couples. For a family of 4, it can theoretically be done, but expect to be tearing your hair out in frustration at times. KrisFlyer is probably the best programme for flying families as Singapore Airlines does tend to release more seats per flight to KrisFlyer members.

I’d be very interested to hear how you go – please update us as things progress!

3

Thanks for your feedback @sixtyeight - It feels daunting to transfer so many points to an airline, but, I’m going to have to do it soon. If I can’t get Qatar as business, going economy with them could still be a good option. It’s still a few months before I’ll know, but I’ll update my success or frustrations when I start booking!