QF award on BA; date change problem
 

I mistakenly booked a LHR/WAW trip on BA in business class (U) using QF points on the wrong date. Now I need to change the date. For this, QF requires a 2,500 point fine but as I have only 1,500 points left in my account they refuse to change the date even though there is availability at the moment.

I have sent already 1,000 more miles from my SPG account to QF Frequent Flyer, but Starwood states that it can take up to a month for the transfer and by that time there may well be no availability. QF will not allow me to buy points, presumably due to my low balance, and I have no Australian credit card that might allow transfers (nor could I get one since I do not have Australian residence). I have no family or friends with a QF account to lend me the points.

I spoke to QF Frequent Flyer in Melbourne by phone for nearly an hour yesterday (from Brazil), but the very well intentioned person to whom I spoke could come up with no solution. Does anyone have any ideas as to how to get the date changed before availability disappears?

I presume you have read the rules for buying ("top-up") points:

18.1 If Members do not have sufficient Points to redeem a particular Award Flight, they may purchase additional Points towards that Award Flight at the rates specified by Qantas from time to time, subject to the following:
(a) the purchased Points may only be credited to that Member's account;
(b) the Points may be purchased only to redeem a specific Award Flight;
(c) each purchase must be for a minimum of 500 Points and a maximum of 20,000 Points, and in such blocks of Points as Qantas may specify from time to time;
(d) the number of Points purchased must not exceed 15% of the number of Points required for that Award Flight, rounded up to the closest multiple of 500 points;
(e) each Member may purchase additional Points only once in each twelve consecutive month period; and
(f) once Points have been purchased, they cannot be refunded.

If you do not fit any of the above categories, it might be worth questioning why QF won't let you buy points.

Of course there are car rental, hotel stay, airline (AA?) flight options but the latter is probably not an easy option from GIG. If you have a family member with QF points you can ask them to transfer to your account.

If you read the rules that you posted, it is clear that he is not entitled to purchase points for it.

He fails on (b) since the points are not to buy a flight. Also if paying change fees counted and (b) was passed, then he would fail on (d) since 1000 points is 40% of 2500 so exceeds the 15% allowance

From what I have seen of point purchase, you can have to have the remaining 85% of the required points in order to purchase the 15%. The cheapest award seat is too expensive for purchase of miles to be allowed

Dave

I suggest you have a look around this forum.

There are some suggestion in this Purchasing QF miles ?? thread. Read carefully. There is some useful information here. ;)

Other that that "Useful" information, do you hire cares or stay in hotels often? (e.g. A Qantas Frequent Flyer can get 1000 points per stay at Hilton and Hilton Garden Inn properties.)

Also do note that once you start the award you will NOT be able to change the inbound sector date. This applies to all NON QF flights.

Starwood processing points transfers quite quickly
 

I'm not sure who you spoke to from Starwood, but you may be pleasantly surprised at how quickly the points transfer. Mine processed within a week!

The solution
 

A kind friend (and former FTer) transferred the minimum allowed of 5,000 miles to my QF Frequent Flyer account and I made the date change while availability was still there. This left me with slightly over 4,000 miles in my QF account. When the 1,000 miles from SPG arrive I will have the minimum required 5,000 miles and will transfer them back to the donor.

However...

Say, using post 25 May changes - a ticket LHR-WAW at 916 miles would be 24,000 miles each way = 48,000.

If you cancel the whole ticket, there is a 5,000 point penalty. This then leaves you with 43,000 miles in the account.

You can then purchase the additional miles to repurchase the ticket. Comes within the 15%.

Regards

WG

(above not taking into account any assisted booking fees... so the above would work for QF flights and some BA flights)

QF iniquity
 

I got my tickets on 14 June 2005, so post 25 May. They were for business class, as stated in the first post in this thread. The main fact that motivated me to get out of Qantas Frequent Flyer was precisely the fact that QF charges far more than BA for the same seat (in business class LHR/WAW/LHR is 40,000 with BA, 50,000 with QF; in economy 20,000 with BA, 24,000 with QF according to the post immediately above). I suppose this sort of iniquity is well known to loyal QF flyers, but I find it absurd. I will still fly QF, of course, but the miles/points will go to AA or BA.

TravelTil is absolutely right. The SPG points have already found their way to my QF account.