I always see on your website a business class return flight from perth to auckland for say APPROXIMATELY 60000 to 90000 points but whenever i search on the online qantas redeem flights calculator it becomes much more than that say 150,000 points BUT when i actually go on the qantas app the prices goes to an astronomical amount like 500,000 points so i really dont get how you get amazing deals like that.
it could be because you use qantas’ partners like asia miles which i understand. But when i called asia miles they told me i cant book it with my qantas points so i just cant get my head around this !!
Yes, it’s confusing! The good news is that it does get much easier as you go along.
The trick is to understand that there are two types of Qantas flight awards – “Classic Flight Rewards” and “Points Plus Pay” (otherwise known as “any seat” awards). It’s the “Classic Flight Rewards” that are by far the best value and almost always require far fewer points.
When you’re searching for flights on the Qantas website, click on “use points” rather than “Use money, points or both”. That will take show you what, if any, Classic Flight Rewards for the lower number of points are available.
The Qantas Classic Flight Reward Tables are here. They tell you that, as of 18 September, a one-way Classic Flight Reward from Perth to Auckland costs 57000 Qantas points.
I just managed to figure out the classic flight rewards but the availability is so poor and it’s always a flight that take so much longer through a long stopover.
Also the points are so much different from what I sometimes see on point hacks and champagne mile.
Just as an example I went on the Asia miles calculator to see the points needed from on biz class return from Perth to Tokyo Narita and it came up with 100,000 points but I just can’t seem to be able to get it for 100k points !
I don’t understand where Asia Miles is getting that 50,000 points (one-way) figure from either.
Each airline and FF programme sets its own number of points required for a redemption. That can result in some serious differences when it comes to points redemptions. For example, that same points redemption for a Business class booking from Perth to Tokyo on Cathay Pacific costs (as far as I can see) 65,000 Asia Miles or 78,000 Qantas points. A more extreme example can be found from flights from the east coast of Australia to Europe. The very same redemption on Cathay Pacific costs 85,000 Asia Miles or (as of 18 Sept) 159,000 Qantas points!
Re availability: yes, availability of Classic Flight Rewards can be very poor, depending on the time of year and the route. This article, as well as this one, will give you some clarity as far as Qantas is concerned. Finding redemptions with Asia Miles can be even harder.
I really appreciate your help. I still have soooo many questions and I’m not even confident the qantas FF helpline can help much. I reckon KrisFlyer is so much better though. Regardless thanks for everything !
Since you are familiar with Krisflyer program, I will try to focus on the differences that I notice between the two programs.
Krisflyer award chart is based on region-region and have ~3 award charts (Singapore Airlines, Star Alliance, Round the World). E.g. it cost X amount of miles to get from Region A to Region B ; regardless of whether you have to fly A-C-D-B or A-B, it is the same mile costs.
Whereas, Qantas award chart is distance based and there are ~4 different charts. E.g. flying from City A to City B directly would be the lowest distance and will costs the least amount of points; compared to City A to City B via City C.
The point costs quoted on articles are usually the most direct and on Qantas metal (aircraft). This would usually mean the optimum (lowest distance, least stops, on Qantas/Emirates aircraft.
Thanks w.hiew , this was helpful. For a start at least I now know how the points work lol. I guess even though I have like 500k points because I’m still a lowly bronze member I don’t get the choice pickings of award seats. Would love to exploit the Asia miles option though but can’t figure out how to. It’s really cheap with Asia miles !
With regards to low award availability, there are usually about 2 business class award seats per flight. Combined with the high number of Qantas members and the large amounts of different avenues for earning Qantas points (e.g. large credit card signup bonus being thrown left right and centre; don’t get me wrong - I am a collector via this avenue too) means that a large group of Australians have overinflated Qantas pt balance gunning for limited award seats. Especially for ever popular routes to USA/EU.
My advice to most people is to try and book early ( 10-12 mths in advance ) and be flexible with your routings. Not possible for most people in most circumstance but you have to work around the system. You can never expect to get seats redeeming “late” for peak season like school holidays, Easter, Xmas.
Good luck. First half of the challenge is collecting enough points. The second half of the challenge is redeeming seats.