The Ultimate Guide to Point Hacks Concierge

As practised point hackers, we understand the challenges of finding reward seats. There’s nothing more frustrating than spending hours sifting through various routes and airlines for award seats that may not even exist!

Our highly-rated Australian award booking service, Point Hacks Concierge, is designed to help you find the best ways to effectively redeem your frequent flyer points. Harnessing the expertise of agents who are proficient in finding reward seats and with the aid of specialised tools, we work with all frequent flyer and bank rewards programs and can find you those elusive seats in Business Class or First Class to your dream destination. From simple one-way bookings to complex round-the-world itineraries, the Point Hacks Concierge team can help you construct the perfect itinerary.

Here’s how our Concierge service works.

How Point Hacks Concierge works

In a few simple steps, you could be on your way to redeeming points for flights. Here’s a breakdown of the process.

1. Request a free quote in less than a minute by completing the questionnaire. Let us know where you’d like to go, what points you have and how many passengers are travelling.
2. Happy with the quote? Our expert agents will swing into action. We’ll notify you via SMS and email once we find a suitable flight proposal, including some details of your itinerary plus points and taxes required.
3. Review and accept the proposal, and only at this stage will you pay the Concierge service fee.
4. It’s time to get booking! We’ll send you your personalised flight report, with clear booking instructions for your award flights, plus an outline of what to expect from the cabin and lounge experiences.

And soon, you’ll be able to purchase booking support and assistance, where we help you one-on-one.

Benefits of using the Point Hacks Concierge service

• We work with any frequent flyer or bank rewards program. Our customers commonly hold points or miles with the Qantas Frequent Flyer, Velocity Frequent Flyer, KrisFlyer and American Express Membership Rewards programs. But our agents are experienced in finding reward seats to suit any program you hold points or miles with.
• We can book any cabin class. From a multi-stop Economy itinerary to the luxuries of First Class, our expert agents will do their best to find availability in your preferred cabin class to your destination.
• Save time searching for reward seats. It can take hours or even days to sift through routes and airlines to find reward seats. You’ll not only save valuable time on planning how you’re getting to your destination, but you’ll also have more time to plan the other details of your holiday.
• Save up to thousands of dollars on flights. Classic rewards seats are harder to come by than Points Plus Pay or Classic Plus seats, but you’ll get far better value from your points. With reward bookings, the points total is a fixed amount, and you’ll need to pay for the associated fees and taxes in cash in addition to the Point Hacks Concierge service fee. The fees and taxes depend on several factors, including the airline, the departure or arrival airport, the distance flown and the points program. Typically, you can expect to pay a few hundred dollars in fees and taxes per person for a rewards seat. This is often a fraction of the cash fare – think $99 in fees and taxes when using points instead of a $3,800 cash fare.

Minimum points required for a redemption

Many customers come to us for redemptions in long-haul premium cabins, such as Premium Economy, Business and First Class, though we can also assist with finding Economy Class reward seats to popular destinations.

As an example, here are some trips in various cabin classes that we’ve taken:

• Perth to Amman via Doha in Qatar Economy for 50,000 Velocity Points + fees and taxes, one way.
• Melbourne to Phuket via Singapore in Singapore Airlines Business Class for 68,500 KrisFlyer miles + fees and taxes, one way.
• Melbourne to Frankfurt via Tokyo in JAL Business Class for 159,000 Qantas Points + fees and taxes, one way.
• Perth to Vienna via Dubai in Emirates First Class for 170,800 Qantas Points + fees and taxes, one way.

There’s no minimum points requirement to use the Point Hacks Concierge service. However, to avoid disappointment, we recommend researching how many points you may need for your desired route, destination, or cabin experience. Our Experiences articles are brimming with inspiration from destinations we’ve travelled to around the globe using points from various frequent flyer programs.

Still not sure where you want to go with your points? Remember, it takes just a minute to request a free assessment. Let us know how many points you have, and we’ll provide you with an accurate overview of the total points required for a reward seat redemption.

Pricing

There are no upfront fees to use Point Hacks Concierge. It’s free to request an assessment.

Instead, we charge a Concierge service fee to unlock your flight report, after you have reviewed and accepted your flight proposal. The Concierge service fee will be presented to you as part of your free quote and is dependent on your travel request.

The Concierge service fee does not include any costs associated with booking the reward seat. All airlines impose taxes and carrier charges when redeeming points for reward seats. These charges are dependent on a range of factors, including but not limited to cabin class and destination, and some airlines have lower carrier charges than others. We will outline the taxes and carrier charges payable, as well as the total points required, in our flight report. Our agents always strive to keep these charges to a minimum.

Good and bad times to secure reward seats

The demand for travel is at its peak during periods like Easter, Christmas, and school holidays. Flights fill quickly, and cash fares are often at a premium, prompting savvy points collectors to search for reward seats.

Global events like the Olympics, sporting world cups, and destination-specific events can also impact flight prices and award seat availability. If you’ve ever wanted to travel to Japan in April to see the cherry blossoms or experience a balmy European summer, it’s likely that many others are travelling for the same reasons.

Finding reward seats during peak travel periods can be like searching for a needle in a haystack. But it doesn’t have to be.

The Point Hacks Concierge team understands the challenges behind finding availability to popular destinations. We know that many customers save their points to minimise travel costs at the busiest times of the year. And finding reward seats – particularly if you’ve got a preferred cabin experience in mind – can be the deciding factor when it comes to booking a holiday.

Reward seats are often snatched up quickly. If you’re planning a round trip, there’s a chance that waiting to book your entire trip when reward seats are released for all of your flights will result in your outbound flights being unavailable! For this reason, it can sometimes be better to book one-way flights as they’re released, especially on popular routes. Our Concierge team can assist you with finding reward seats on one-way itineraries, too.

There’s no guarantee exactly when airlines will release reward seats, but the sooner you get planning, the more time you’ll have up your sleeve to craft your dream getaway on points.

How far in advance to search for reward seats

Airlines typically begin releasing reward seat availability 11-12 months in advance. This means that our agents cannot assist with finding reward seats beyond 12 months from today’s date.

If your outbound flights are less than 12 months away but your return flights are more than a year away, we can assist with finding your outbound flights only. It’s not uncommon for reward seats to be snapped up as soon as they’re released, so you may want to consider looking for outbound flights if you’re planning to fly during peak periods.

Alternatively, you may wish to wait until all your flights are less than 12 months away and request assistance for your return trip in one go. This allows our agents to check real-time award availability and confirm that the recommended flights are available to book.

Mitigating challenges around finding reward seat availability

Being flexible is crucial when it comes to finding reward seats. Our agents will guide you through the process and ask questions to increase your chances. Here are our top tips to increase your chances of finding award seat availability.

Date flexibility

Being flexible with your travel dates can greatly increase your chances of finding reward seats. This can open up more routes, alternative airlines, or reward seats that are unavailable on other days.

Route flexibility

While you may have a preference for direct flights, often availability on these routes can disappear quickly. If you’re flexible with routes, our agents can get creative and find flights that you may not have thought of searching for. Additionally, being flexible with your departure and arrival airports can also improve your chances of finding reward seats. We may recommend a cash fare or another mode of transport to connect you to your booking.

Cabin class flexibility

Flying in mixed cabin classes can help you maximise the value of your points and improve the chances of finding reward seats. But it’s important to remember that not all cabin classes are available on all flights, and we may need to mix cabins to get you to your destination.

Holding points with multiple programs

Having points or miles with multiple frequent flyer or bank rewards programs opens up a greater network of airlines. Our expert agents can advise on the best program to use to drive your points further.

But remember…

While our agents do their absolute best to meet your preferences, there may be instances where we are unable to find reward seats.

Sometimes it comes down to the airline not releasing any award seats, or all reward seats on your route being exhausted.

In rare instances, our agents may find reward seats that are no longer available when it comes time for the customer to book. If this happens within 24 hours after the customer has received the details, our agents will continue the research if timing allows, or share an alternative option.

Similarly, in the rare instance that our agents are unable to find reward seats, you’ll receive a credit voucher that’s valid for 12 months to use on your next enquiry with Point Hacks Concierge.

Summary

Point Hacks Concierge takes the hard work out of redeeming your frequent flyer points for travel. Our expert agents can help you find reward seats and provide a detailed guide on how to book them, as well as cabin and lounge experiences.

Best of all, our Concierge service offers a free assessment. So, if you’re struggling to redeem your frequent flyer points or unsure how to search for your desired reward seats, request an assessment from one of our expert agents below.