What is the best way to book a Qantas award and a revenue flight on same itinerary?

Frequent Flyer Programs
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1

Hi,

Hoping you can help.

What’s the best and simplest way to book one trip for two people, one on points one on cash?

I’d like to book a trip for my wife and I to Western Europe sometime next year (anywhere, anytime) in business class using points for her ticket and cash for mine, because I can business expense mine.

Happy
Started following PointHacks a year ago, got focused, got 850k QF Points. Yay. But still Bronze.
After much effort, I booked her Classic Rewards MEL HKG on QF and HKG to AMS on CX in J

Sad
Went to book the same itinerary for myself Qantas’ website, learnt I can’t book the CX flights there. OK, fine. Booking the QF and CX on their respective websites was around $4k more than a straight QF flight MEL AMS MEL in J. Ouch. If I stick to one carrier or code-share, much more affordable but they don’t align with Classic Reward availability, like I can’t even see those paid flights in the ‘points only’ search.

Confused
Can you help give me some broad advice on how best to book a flight to Europe for two people, one on points, one with cash?

I’d be greatly appreciative.

2

Hi there,

I had a quick look on Qantas, Cathay Pacific and Skyscanner.

The issue seems to be that the flights are not codeshare between the two airlines and have to be priced separately. One way bookings are commonly very expensive when compared to a return booking. I’m not sure whether a travel agent would be able to assist in this to get a better pricing.

Personally, I would change the redemption if at all possible because of the large cash outlay involved with your cash booking. However, seeing as you have more than enough points and still only booked one passenger on points, you may be struggling to find award availability.

Hope that is of some help. Good luck.

3

Thanks Hiew.

I’ve taken your advice and cancelled the reward flights. There was no cost as I did it within 24 hours.

Regardless of destination, it sounds like I need to book a reward ticket that is also available for cash purchase on Qantas or QF codeshare or same Partner airline for all segments. Avoid multiple carriers (assuming no codeshare) and avoid one-way ticket purchases. Sound about right?

There’s an irony here that booking reward tickets is harder but actually appears to offer more flexibility/value than cash purchase tickets.

I’m going to call a local travel agent too and see if I can just pay to have them find this magical combination.

Thanks mate

4

I think it’s tricky because you want to business expense one ticket.

Best value in my books is always going to be outright redemption with points. But everyone’s circumstances are different.

If you are up for paying, periodic EU sale fares like this might be palatable if award space becomes too hard.

5

Yep, that need to pay for one and redeem for the other does seem to be at the heart of the problem.

I think my best bet is to keep these combo redemption bookings simple, single return segments or at least single carrier.

Hey point hacks, might be worth an article on this?

Thanks for link Hiew.