Any tips in using Qantas points for Business Class to Europe?

I would like to travel to Athens and then Spain next June (2018) from Sydney.

As my husband and I have only 300K atm Qantas ff points we are wondering the best way to use these to fly business.

We are considering using points from Sydney to Beijing return in Business and then purchasing economy tickets for the remainder of the journey. Or Sydney Dubai which uses alot more points but would get the majority of the journey done in comfort.

Can you suggest a more effective way of utilising the points for an upgrade. Happy to book this June or July for next year.

Hi,

SYD-DXB-ATH costs 121k QFF in business per person.

SYD-DXB-MAD costs 139k QFF in business per person.

HKG-DXB-MAD costs 104k QFF in business per person.

HKG-HEL-MAD costs 92k QFF in business per person.

HKG-DXB-ATH costs 78k QFF in business per person.

BKK-DXB-ATH costs 78k QFF in business per person.

BKK/PEK-DXB/HEL/DOH-MAD costs 92k QFF in business per person.

In general (AFAIK), the hardest leg to redeem is the leg ex-Aus, so if you are happy to position yourself to HKG/BKK/PEK, it increases your chances of a redemption being available.

HKG has a benefit of having low/no surcharge, this I believe makes Emirates redemption very cheap (cash portion).

BKK has low surcharges too from memory.

Of course, if you intend to spend some time in PEK, it may be worth paying the surcharge for departing from PEK. However, I am not very familiar with the quality of product AU-PEK, I do know the EK flies SYD-BKK and plenty of options to get to HKG too.

Good luck. Planning well ahead, you shouldn’t have too much problem with redemption availabilities.

You could get yourself an Economy ticket (excluding Discount Economy E, N, O and Q class) through to destination then upgrade that to Business using your points? QF upgrades are (frustratingly) not confirmed until nearer the time (often at the gate as I found out recently) but would mean that you could easily do the return trip for both of you in Business. You’ll also earn status on the Economy ticket which you wouldn’t if you booked a classic reward ticket.

Isn’t it near impossible to get an upgrade using points on an international flight with Qantas frequent flyer?  I belive there are no guarantees.

I thought they only guaranteed option would be to get an awards business class ticket?

 

 

How likely is it to redeem an upgrade on an international economy class ticket using Qantas FF Points if I am only a bronze member.

Are there better times of day ie early morning or late evening that increase chances of an upgrade?

 

thanx

Shauna