Hi there

A newbie here who's mind is going and hasn't learnt all your lingo yet!

I need help and advice on an issue:

I am a Platinum Qantas FF and have around 500,000 points. I've accumulated them mainly from work travel in the last couple of years and never had a chance to spend them until now as I've just retired (early- I am a mere slip of a lad). Now when I try to spend them I strike what I now see is a problem. No flights are available at times when I want to go where I want to go. I live in Cairns so it looks like my only real option is to use them for domestic travel. The first class trip to London on Qantas looks a bit unlikely.

That's background. For various reasons I am about to close an Amex card with 160,000 Membership miles on it (including 20,,000 Qantas bonus miles).

My question:
apart from the Qantas miles which I think I have to transfer to Qantas, should I open a new airline FF account for the balance, and if so who with?

Options are Cathay, Singapore, Thai really. I'd use it for travel to Asia. I'll have my Platinum until May 2006 then it will be Gold at best.,unless Qantas is generous.

Looking at the schemes Asia Miles looks best (half the rate of some of the new Qantas redemptions to Asia eg Business class Bne-HKG return)

Any help/advice appreciated.

Thanks

Michael

Welcome turtlemichael. I am sure you will pick up on the lingo pretty fast!

For First class awards, you really have to plan as close to the 355 day lead as you can. That is when Qantas load the flight availability into the system, and as Qantas FF members we get access to the award inventory at that time, while other airline programs (like AA, BA etc) have to wait a bit longer (330 days out I think). So if you can plan 11 months ahead, you have best chance of getting seats.

Don't just rely on the on-line QF web site for availability. You can use your points for F seats on BA and CX going to London as well.

If you are happy to go in Business class, look for more exotic routings to get you there, say via JNB, NRT, BOM etc using a combination of carriers. It might make for an interesting stopover along the way. To get these options, you have to call Qantas and talk to them about the options. Just keep asking to check all sorts of different routings until you find something that works close to your prefered dates.

As a platinum FF member (we are called WP status around here) you get access to more availability in economy class, and should be able to get seats to pretty much anywhere you like.

Also note that with the program changes coming into play in May, many people have been exchanging their points for award flights before the May 25th deadline (flights can be up to 355 days beyong that), so availability for premium seats and popular destinations is tight as a result. If you are not too adversely affected by the points requiment increase after May, you may find better availability in the months after that.

Good luck!

NM, thanks for that welcome and the reply. I guess I am a WP though having now found the meaning of it I see it is Aussie humour! I am actually a left handed WP which is pretty special.

Thanks for the advice on award bookings via telephone. I have to admit that I had been wedded to the website and taken that as gospel.

But my question still stands. If you were in my position with half a million points already and you were about to get another 140,000 which you had the option of putting into the QF scheme or Cathay, Singapore or Thai, what would you do? The attraction of other schemes, notably Asia Miles which I have looked most closely at, is the greater availability of award flights plus less points to get somewhere from where I am! You tell me that I am not right in terms of availability of award flights to O/S destinations on QF so should I put them there?

I know only I can decide in the end but opinions do no harm.

No point to this post other than to welcome you to FT, turtlemichael! Good to see you over here.

Globaliser! Cruiser?

Yup! I fly, too - as you can see.

Hi, turtlemichael, from another fellow Qld left-handed (and originally named) WP.

On your question about tranferring the miles, I can understand that you are concerned about the devaluation post 25 May 2005 if you post them to QF (if you are looking to use on long-haul flights like SYD/LHR).

However, it's important to note that some Award Flight points aren't changing too much...I'm no expert on the matter, but looking at the different Asian flights you might do; you might find better value in J flights.

Also, putting them into another program (one that you have nil status to start), are you going to be able to find award availability with them?? Assuming they are OW, you would be able to use your WP card to get access to J/F line, QP or similar. However, what happens if you can't find availability there...

At least being WP, you can obtain preferrential treatment when it comes to open up more award inventory from QF. The other option is of course to credit the points to QF, but ensure that if you are going to spend them, do so before 25 May (but for forward flights up to 355 days ahead).

On finding the seats, etc - I wouldn't go past the Premium Desk to find availability. Most that I have spoken to over the past 3 years I've had access, are used to some different routings being tried to simply use points.

Thanks very much QF WP!

I am in much the same position. I have about 180K in Amex and another 80K in Diners Club cards. These are in addition to alomost 400K in QF. I am still expecting to eventually transfer all the Amex and DC points into QF. But they will remain in CC accounts until I need them or close out the CC account.

You don't mention your reasons for closing your Amex card. Assuming this is due to your mentioned retirement (and it was a company/business card), you could continue to hold and use an Amex card such as the Rewards Maximiser card (which is what I now have) and earn more points at 1.5 per dollar, which is a better earning rate than most.

But if the Amex closure is non-negotiable, then if it was me I would be sticking with sending the points to QF. Mainly since you have top tier status with Qantas and will have no status with any other program you send to. My feeling is better to pool the points into one program where you hold status rather than spread them to other programs.

But I do not always think like other people, and others may have different advice or may do different things in your situation.

Your guess is right NM. It is a business card and about to be chopped up!

I transferred the points to QF this morning and I'll be very point rich when they get there in a couple of days. I checked out a couple of J tickets to Mumbai and will book a trip tomorrow for early next year.

India? hmm I guess you have ot be adventureous or you are dead!

Thanks for the advice all.

Sounds like you made your decision. Congratulations. Are you stopping in Mumbai, or going to continue on to London with BA?

Enjoy your trip, and we expect a trip report when you get back .

Hi turtlemichael, and can I add my welcome too. From CNS, there's usually good availability on Cathay (CX) via Hong Kong (HKG). Sure you only get the regional business class (roughly equivalent to QF Dreamtime) to HKG, but it would be flat NBC (CX) or Skybed (QF) HKG-LHR for a J oneworld award. There's been plenty of discussion here about the merits of Skybed (QF) v NBC (CX), but I've found both to be very comfortable. I do prefer the Skybed slightly...

Thanks for welcome, guys. We left-handed WP's from Qld need all the love we can get!

Going to stay in India for two weeks. Not thought out detail yet but maybe Delhi, Agra and Goa. Be a tourist for a while. It's a good time of year there. Warm-hot and not monsoon season. Delhi belly still holds though! Booked this morning - 170K points in J with stopover in Sydney for New Year so it has made a bit of a hole in the points bank.

Have done CX J CNS-HKG a few times. It's good but I think QF J is better overall (not CNS-HKG of course). When you get CX F to Europe from HKG that beats QF imho. Have been upped to F on flight to Rome so love CX even more. Never happened on QF.

Had difficulty getting a points J CNS-HKG at time that suited. I'll wait another month or two for things to maybe open up on CNS-HKK-Europe for J or J/F points bookings in Feb-April next year. I now have more time and flexibility.

I'm not left handed - but I would give me right arm to be ambidextrous .

Must ... resist ... smart ... comment .... :burstingsmilie: