jilltravelq

Hi -

I am trying to fly from Adelaide, Australia to Alice Springs, Australia, and then from either Alice Springs or Uluru, Australia to Sydney, Australia. I see direct flights on Qantas. I have Chase Ultimate Rewards Points. My first thought for this itinerary was to transfer the Chase points to British Airways Avios. BA and Qantas are both in the OneWorld alliance, so I should be able to book Qantas with Avios. I went to the Avios page to search rewards options (including partner airlines) and it wouldn't let me select Alice Springs or Uluru as the destination but I know Qantas goes there. I then went on the Qantas site but they're only showing me how to book with Qantas points, and I don't know how to transfer to Qantas points!

Does anyone know if my idea for this booking is possible and if so, how to execute it? If not possible, does anyone know another way to pay for these flights using points? I have Chase Ultimate Rewards, Alaska Airlines and AMEX Starwood points.

Thanks so much for your time!

All the best,
Jill

jerry a. laska

Your question is probably best answered in the BA forum here:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/brit...tive-club-446/
A moderator will probably move your thread there at some point.

In that forum there is a helpful thread for spending avios that you will find helpful:
Your guide to spending Avios | 2017 edition

The BA reward booking engine often has trouble with some QF destinations that are operated by Jetconnect. As a result you must often call to be able to book. See:
QantasLink Avios Redemption
Avios 'down under'

ajeleonard

Search on the American site for availability then call BA. BA can book anything that comes up at saver level on American.

Mwenenzi

jilltravelq Welcome to FT

Are award flights available at the time you want?
Just because a flight is for cash sale, does not mean an award is available.
When do you want to travel?

From your profile you are in USA.
AA (Oneworld) is also partner. so can get awards flights on QF.
Alaska AS is also a QF ff partner, but you need to study the AS award chart & rules carefully.
Do not join the QF ffp:- its a poor freq flyer program.

For unknown (IT?) reasons BA avios seems to have trouble booking QF award flights on Qantaslink & QF New Zealand (Jetconnect).
QF New Zealand (Jetconnect) and most QFlink are 100% QF owned. Cobham (B717 flights) is not QF owned, but awards can be booked.
Many threads on the BA forum on issues booking award flights on QF
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...own-under.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...-us-nz-oz.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...os-qantas.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...os-points.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...edemption.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...award-tkt.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...os-qantas.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...nd-hobart.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...tralia-nz.html

Frequent Flyer Award assistance tools
Use at your own risk. (These are not recommendations)
These links give a guide of ff miles needed. These may not be up to date.
Some FFP's now have “saver/standard/off peak*” (lower cost) and "anytime/peak"(higher cost) awards. If wanting to fly on a ff partner, usually only “saver/standard/off peak” can be booked, if available. Awards that are "anytime/peak" are usually only available to members of that ffp. {* = name varies by ffp}.
Award flights are never guaranteed. You need to be flexible with date and route.
Availability is from the airline ffp web sites/phone.
Frequent flyer miles/points are not equal to or burn. They are not 1 to 1
If a multi segment award check the rules/cost carefully. With some ffp’s it can be 2 or more awards or cost more ff miles/points than a direct flight.
If the award is on partner airline it may cost more miles/points than an award on the ffp airline.
Some ffps/airlines/routes can have cash surcharges on award flight, in addition to real taxes.

-AwardAce: Compare Award Redemptions Across Airlines In Seconds --> http://www.awardace.com/ Has surcharge indication
-Economical Excursionist's Tools to compare Frequent Flyer Mile Redemptions --> http://www.flyermiler.com/
-http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...ast-miles.html --> http://www.awardhacker.com/

Gardyloo

Moving this to the BA board.

Gardyloo
Oneworld moderator

Globaliser

It's not only Jetconnect, but also many Qantaslink destinations. However, if the flight is operated by either Jetconnect or Qantaslink (both Qantas subsidiaries), then award seats are bookable using Avios.

One of the other possible difficulties may simply be the BA website not recognising the destination as a destination.

In either case, phoning to book should do the job. I have no difficulty when I phone BA to book award tickets for either Jetconnect or Qantaslink flights.

deeruck

It's interesting, there's quite a few QF destinations that aren't recognized by the BA website. The AA website does a better job here.

Schwann

Actually, the BA website will find them.. you need to use the three letter airport codes, i.e ASP for Alice Springs.

deeruck

Oh ok, I was using the codes and it wasn't doing the auto-complete thing that it does.

Mwenenzi

Or maybe there is no award flights are available. ADL-ASP-AYQ-SYD
From the profile jilltravelq has not logged into FT since post 1 was made.