Using Qantas points to book Emirates Business Class with a few days stopover in Dubai - Do I need to book separate tickets?

Flights & Airfares
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Hi All,

Hope you can help with the below. Here’s my situation:

I currently have 450,000 QF points (more to come) that I want to use to fly to London (via Dubai), J Class, 2 x pax, next year circa June/July. On the return journey, I want a stopover in Dubai for 3-4 days.

I really don’t care how I secure J class, or even if the way I redeem points may not be that economical (although I’m open to suggestions that help me save points). What really matters is that we fly J Class there and back, and can stopover in Dubai on the return journey. I also DON’T want to purchase an economy ticket with QF and hope for an international upgrade (if I want to gamble I’ll buy a lotto ticket).

My questions:

  1. Should I use expertflyer to create alerts for the dates I want to secure? AND
  2. Do I need to book separate tickets if I want that stop over in Dubai; e.g., one ticket from MEL - DXB, then another DXB to LHR, etc…?

Cheers,

WWW

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Hi

firstly I would book your flights ASAP for that time of year to avoid disappointment. On the qantas site use the multi-city search for your stop over in Dubai. You don't need to book separate tickets, so for example MEL - LHR / LHR - DBX / DBX - MEL.

 

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I think Mrmembership confuses a cash paid booking as opposed to rewards booking. Qantas doesn’t permit stopovers on rewards bookings. so yes you have to book separately: LHX-DXB (not DBX) and DXB-MEL.

 

compare: MEL-LHR - 128,000 points (no stopover)

LHX-DXB plus DXB-MEL =   50,000 +  96,000 = 146,000 points. effectively you’re paying 18,000 points (+ any extra tax) for the stop over.

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