Hi, we have 340k qantas points but when I try to book with points, it makes me pay $1800 in taxes later. It’s cheaper to buy with cash then with points. How do I learn to use points only . Our trip is from Gold Coast to Hong Kong in October
Thanks
Jasmine
Firstly make sure you are redeeming for ‘Classic Flight Rewards’. When you are searching for your flights on qantas.com make sure you are clicking the ‘Use Points’ radio button instead of the Points+Pay button.
Second, all flights redeemed using points will have some amount of cash co-pay because you need to pay cash for the taxes and fees of the ticket. On qantas this should only be about a hundred dollars at most for your flights.
Third, it is better value to redeem for business class flights because as you said, sometimes the cash component is equivalent to the price of an economy ticket and more.
Use Classic rewards search. I’ve never flown Qantas from the Gold Coast, but Brisbane to Hong Kong is only 60,000 points one way in business class plus about $250 in taxes…
When I search Qantas for one way business class Bris - HK they all seem to be come back at a minimum of 478,000+ points one way which is crazy. 60,000 points sounds much better!..any ideas what I might be doing wrong here?
Edit, now I just checked again and it’s taken me to a different looking section, with cheaper points approximately in line with what you said, however availability is very restrictive - I’m new to this so assuming different rules apply to those using points ie ‘full fare paying customers get priority’
The earlier you book the better. I just booked business class to the UK next March. It required 179000 points and $500 in taxes.