I was talking to my sister Pam the other morning and she was telling me how she and her partner James were looking at the Qantas Frequent Flyer site. They wanted to see what the cost was to fly to Honolulu using frequent flyer points. What she said made my ears prick up. Pam said they were looking on the Qantas site and return flights were 309,00 points. Firstly I said she was looking in the wrong spot and secondly, it made me think how many other people probably do the same thing, so I thought i’d give a quick lesson on how to use the Qantas sight and your Qantas frequent flyer points to it’s maximum potential.
In regards to the example of Honolulu, the maximum amount of points to fly return from Melbourne to Honolulu is 72,000 points but if you’re savvy, you can get the flights as low as 57,600 points. You will pay fees of around $450. It’s rippin’ value for an Aussie carrier i reckon! The trick is to use only Jetstar to fly and if you’re really good, you can get a direct flight to Honolulu from Melbourne which is a shorter trip than going via Brisbane if you live in Melbourne which I do! Doing some further research, you can get the cost of the flights as low as $390 return so it does pay to spend time searching and that’s the key when you are looking at flights, spend time and check every flight and see what is available. You’ll be more educated and you’ll be able to make better decisions about your trip to the US!
The diagrams below show the different steps when booking flights using your frequent flyer points.
STEP 1
Once you have logged into your Qantas frequent Flyer Account, fill in the search airfares box as per diagram 1. It is very important to check both the ‘flexible with dates’ and the ‘search classic flight rewards’ boxes. Then hit the ‘search flights’ button.
STEP 2
Because we have checked the ‘flexible with dates’ box, we can now see what days are available to fly using points. If you didn’t check the box, 1 of 2 things would of happened. Firstly, the flight day you picked will appear and you can then pick what flight you want, or it would say that nothing is available on the date you have chosen. That’s why i always check the ‘flexible with dates’ box. It gives you a good understanding of what flights are available for that month. Refer to the diagrams opposite. It could be that the particular time you are wanting to fly doesn’t have many or any flights. If this is the case, there will be no ‘seated person icon’ on the date. Obviously, if there is a ‘seated person icon’ in the date, that means that there are flights available. Another important point; looking at the diagram, you will notice the search travel class section at the top. Clicking on any or all of the icons allows you to have more flexibility in finding flights but the higher the class, the more points are needed.
What you need to do now is pick the days you want to fly out and back. If you select the days and find you are not happy with the selection, you can always click the ‘change’ button and select an alternate date.
STEP 3
You will now need to select the particular flight you want. There can be many combinations of flights to get to your destination. In the examples below, you will see that your flight to Honolulu from Brisbane is leaving at 7.55pm. That won’t change but your flight from Melbourne to Brisbane has a few different options. You just need to pick the time that best suits your circumstance.
The important detail is whether you want to save points. Using Jetstar only flights, you will fly for 28,800 points one way but if it has a Qantas leg, you will need 36,000 points. There is an example of both the Qantas/Jetstar and Jetstar only flights in the diagrams below. You may not have known this but it’s less points flying Jetstar. Remember you also get what you pay for so don’t expect Qantas service i.e. free meals and soft drinks. On Jetstar, it’s user pays!!
STEP 4
The final step is to see what costs are involved and make sure you are happy with your selection. The ‘your flights’ page has the flight out and back details as well as travel times, baggage allowance, points needed and the final cost of your flight. You will notice that although you are using less points using the Jetstar only flights, there is only a small saving in cost.
My Don’ts!
- Don’t use frequent flyer points to travel within Australia
- Don’t use frequent flyer points in the Qantas store
- Don’t use frequent flyer points to fly direct to Mainland US!
My Do’s!
- Fly to Honolulu using frequent flyer points
- Use points for flights within the US
I have put together a couple of travel scenarios to show you why!
Here’s the deal. If you fly direct to the US using Qantas as the carrier (They can also use other airlines to fly you there depending on what’s available), you will be using 96,000 points and will cost you around $780. If you fly to Honolulu using points, it can cost as low as 57,600 points and will cost you a little over $450 (But can cost less). It will cost 50,000 points and approximately $6 AU to fly From Honolulu to Los Angeles and back again using a Qantas partner airline. In this instance, it would be American Airlines.
So to make it a little easier to follow see below.
(Travel plan A) Qantas direct to Los Angeles return would cost you 96,000 points and approximately $780 AU
(Travel plan B) Flying to Honolulu using Jetstar flights only would cost you 57,600 points and approximately $450 AU. Flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles return would cost you 50,000 points and approximately $6 AU
Using travel plan B, you would be using slightly more points (11,600) than travel plan A but you would be saving over $330 and have a fantastic place to rest up before you head to the mainland and also before you fly back home and even better news, it’s only a 10 hour flight to Honolulu and about a 5 hour flight to LA!
Want another hot tip? Why not spend 10,000 more points and fly all the way across the other side of the country to Orlando! Yep for 60,000 points, you get a return trip from Honolulu to Orlando and…… wait for it…….. it will only cost you…………$12 AU! Crazy stuff!
So there you go. Hopefully this has got you excited and started you planning your trip to the US!