It actually depends on which domestic Australia route you're flying. In markets w/little to no competition, I assure you, between AAdvantage miles & Avios, 18k Avios + $235 in taxes/fuel surcharges was BY FAR the cheapest I could get my R/T routing for 2 people.

No it does not, and perhaps you should re-read my post as I am not saying one is better than the other. Avios allows for redemption of domestic australian itineraries at circa 1cpm versus a paid ticket on a LCC. That is rubbish.

No, you're just saying one is rubbish. :rolleyes:

Every FFP allows incredibly bad redemption values on some routes. You cite SYD-MEL? Let me cite DFW-IAH. I could spend 25k (or even 50k) AA miles on a RT coach ticket from Dallas to Houston, when the flights often sell for $49 each way. That's a 0.1 or 0.2 cpm value. That doesn't mean there are no good redemption values on AA, or that AA domestic redemptions are rubbish. It just means you have to be intelligent enough to figure out when to pay and when to redeem.

I think you need to re-read the posts. FOEDogg clearly mentioned Australian domestic routes with little or no competition, saying that in these markets, point redemptions are a good value. I find that totally believable, your single example of an extremely competitive market notwithstanding.

Are you absolutely certain that there is no domestic Australian itineraries that have redemption values of greater than 1 cpm?

If he can give an example for flights to Alice Spring that is cheap then I am convinced. :D

Some of those Australia domestic routes are incredibly expensive.

But who in their right mind would willingly schedule themselves for a Jetstar or Tiger Airways flight that may or may not leave. Jetstar recently cancelled a Darwin to Bali flight. Didn't pre notify the passengers, let them all turn up at the airport and their response was well you can go on the Sunday flight. This was a Friday when this happened. If either of these airlines cancel a flight you are screwed, totally hung out to dry. You will not be accommodated on other flights. Does that $44 Jetstar tix include baggage?

I think Avios redemptions can be good value for domestic Australian flights. I regularly fly between Darwin and Canberra. I have seen this flight advertised for anywhere between $199 and $850 one way.

I just did a dummy booking and if I used Avios on 2 April my cost would be 14.5k Avios + $46.51. The cost to buy would be $339 from Qantas plus I would have to pay whatever fee they add for the use of my credit card.

I prefer Avios to AA Miles for Australian domestic flights because I can do it all online without having to waste any time making a call.

I just booked SYD-CNS-MEL with AA miles. It was 20k miles plus $81 ($56 taxes and $25 phone fee). The cheapest flights were were $482 on Virgin Australia, so this redemption was worth 1.77 cpm.

That would have also been 20k Avios miles. I value AA miles a bit above Avios, but not much, because LAX-HNL for 12.5k is awesome. I chose AA miles because my brother booked the flights and he owed me some miles that I wanted to get back.

Thinking of going to Hobart (from Sydney) for Christmas. Out 21 Dec, back 29 Dec. Direct flights are available using Avios for 9,000 Avios + £16.40 (sterling cost). But my plans may come to nothing.

If I don't use Avios, cheapest non-flexible fares I can find are $409; cheapest refundable ones are $938 (or $630 with a $120 cancellation fee).

I agree, Avios are worthless for domestic in Australia ;)

So this is what I came up with:

Itinerary is SYS - CNS - POM - CNS - ROK - CNS

On Qantas website it shows total points needed for my itinerary: 76000 total for 2 pax, of course couldn't book without points in the account.

Called AA and was quoted 60000 per pax plus $ 242.90 each

Called Avios and was quoted 71000 total for 2 pax plus $ 608.50 each! That is nuts! Why is it so much more than AA? Maybe because of the international portion?

Have you tried a segment by segment booking on the BA website to see where the fuel surcharges are coming from? My first guess would be the POM leg as it is international rather than domestic. Even when I price Darwin to Canberra on Avios the surcharge is less than $50 so I would assume it is that pesky POM flight.

Also Avios would be charging by segment whereas AA might be mileage based.

I tried to cost out the leg CNS to POM on BA website to see what the fuel surcharges were but was not able to as according to their online system BA and their partners do not fly to POM. Who is the flight actually with?

The flight to POM is actually on Qantas. Not a code share. But then again, the BA website couldn't find Rockhampton either....Meanwhile the snippy rep had no problems finding and booking all segments....

I find that the BA web site doesn't offer Qantaslink flights for award booking, even though they're coded QF. IME no turboprop flights ever appear among the available awards even if availability is clearly there when you check with QF award booking engine.

My final results:

I dropped the international legs (CNS - POM - CNS) from the itinerary.

The actual travel is CNS - POM - HKN - POM - CNS. With the POM - HKN portion not bookable on award travel I decided not to have an 8 hour layover in Port Moresby or some other drama and I did shell out $ 1100 per person for a 4.5 hour flight...ouch......

Now it's SYD - CNS - ROK - MKY - CNS

AA - 30K miles per person and $ 86.70 plus the $ 25 booking fee

Avios - 23.5k miles per person and $ 137.69 per person (before 50% amex transfer bonus)

Did they charge you the call center fees?