How to maximise my mixed points to redeem Roundtrip Business Class flights from Brisbane to Italy?

Flights & Airfares
, , ,
1

Fairly new to this, but finding it extremely interesting and fun!

Planning a trip to Europe next year (Apr 2017), specifically Italy. Originating port will be BNE.

By the middle of this year I will qualify QF Gold, and by end of this year should have about 340K QF points. I will also have about 90K Velocity Points. And finally about 160K Amex Membership Rewards.

The decision comes about how to transfer the Amex points and manage to get to Italy Business Return the whole way for two of us.

Ideally I want to get to MXP, however FCO drops a lot of the mileage back to once less zone, so it can make sense to go overland from Rome to Milan (time is not an issue).

Some options:

BNE-PER R/T 155200 Velocity Points
PER-DXB-FCO R/T 384000 QF Points (EK) or 416000 QF Points (QR)

BNE-HKG R/T 240000 QF Points (QF) 260000 QF Points (CX)
HKG-MXP R/T 240000 Asia Miles (CX)

The 2nd option looks nice, but I think I might fall short on points.

Another option is to convert Velocity Points to KrisFlyer Points (0.74 rate), along with some Amex Points to go SIN-MXP with SQ, however, their burn rate is high, and having never done it, the availability sounds like it can be difficult.

Yet a further option is to buy a Discount Y or Flex Y fare with Qantas and rely on my Gold Status in applying for a points upgrade to either HKG or SIN (how likely is a points upgrade with Gold Status? Better ex-SYD than BNE?)

So - I am wondering if anyone has any further suggestions with their wider experience?

2

Why don’t you convert some of your MR to VA points? Flying Etihad BNE-FCO/MXP (or anywhere in Europe) should be only 125k one way pp. You already have 90k, so you need an extra 160k which you have with your MR. Availability on EY is generally pretty good.

Transferring your MR to KF is another option. AMS/CPH/ATH for some bizarre reason is zoned differently and only requires 68k pp one way in J. So your 160k MR is more than enough without touching your VA. Then just buy a cheap economy ticket within Europe to get to Italy. If you book well in advance (11-12 months out), availability won’t be an issue.

Coming back you can use your QFF points. The rate would be about 132k pp so you have more than enough. Try to fly EK if you can as it minimized stopover and rate is same as QF flights.

 

3

Thanks Michael for the response.

I did have a quick look at this option, we have EY 787 service non-stop to AUH each night out of BNE. I believe their J product is fairly nice. (Good to hear that availability is good also.) Indeed a quick check shows 250K for the two of us to MXP with availability booking a fair way out - nice solution!

We have 5 months there, so maybe waiting a while to book the return separately is a good strategy.

Which carrier is KF?

 

 

 

4

Michael, where do you get 132K for QFF Italy-BNE?

 

 

5