Getting Frequent Flyer Flights.
Getting a round world flight with Qantas is ‘just’ 140,000 points. Compared to say a return to LA for 90,000 points the round the world is very good value. If you plan several years ahead for a big trip then this can be doable.
You don’t get points from flying, well you do, but unless you fly a lot with just the one airline it would take an eternity to get anywhere fast. You need a credit card to start with to get points ticking over regularly.
American Express cards have traditionally had the best conversion rate from dollars spent to points. The ratios changed recently (May 2019) but still has the best value from what I understand.
We have had an Amex card for years and accumulated points for the express purpose of converting them directly to Qantas Frequent Flyer points for free flights.
So we make sure all food, petrol, utilities etc are paid for by our Amex. Plus now you can use them in most places in Australia with no additional penalty.
However, the real points are in the ever growing number of Qantas FF partner bonuses. The best to date has been signing up for a new Amex card. Even if you have one, you can actually get another just for the bonus. The sign up bonuses can be as high as 120,000 Qantas points, which is almost one round the world trip right there! Many deals are being offered by various banks but check the terms as there are some that will even waive the annual fee for the first year. Get that one, then spend the required minimum amount of usually around $5000 in the first three months. Wait til your points are credited then ring up and cancel the card! Voila ~100,000 points.
No reason to not do this a couple of times, but perhaps not if you are thinking of getting a loan for a house as it could play havoc with your credit score for a year or two.
Make sure you pay the card off before it is due each month so you are not paying the super high interest rates on the purchases!
Health insurance with Qantas is another great way to get bonus points for signing up and then each time you pay using your credit card.
PLUS If you have health insurance with the Qantas they even pay you extra points to walk and sleep. True story!
We have each earned over 25,000 Qantas Points for our walking each day!!
Recently they added an extra five points a night when you sleep at least 6 hours and not touch your phone!! This is a fun app (Qantas Wellbeing) and we have a competition each week to see who walks the most and the winner gets a further bonus 100 points. Even if you don’t have health insurance they offer points but substantially reduced. But any free points are good points.
There are all sorts of everyday purchases that you can do with a credit card. All just waiting to add to your round the world jaunt! And signing up with partners of Qantas is a push they currently have and you can really stack them on if you are clever.
Booking that trip.
So you have been planning for four years for your epic round the world trip and now it is time to book. Remember that there are taxes and fees to be paid when booking and this could be $700+ but even so around the world for $800!!
You can’t just go online a week before you leave and book. Ain’t gonna happen. If there are two of you wanting to go on the same flights you need to book as soon as the fights are released. Which is about 9 months beforehand. With Qantas they have a fixed number of ‘classic rewards’ seats on each flight and it is first come first served, but that also means there is a fixed number of points for each type of flight. They don’t change. But make sure you are checking the classic rewards redemptions.
Obviously you have an idea of where you are going., Africa? Europe? USA? South America or a mix. And relative dates in each place. You can have a play on the Qantas online planner but this is limited to Qantas only flights. FF points can be redeemed on any of the many partners and these can only be accessed by their staff over the phone.
So get ready for a long phone call, but they are there 24/7 and they can guide you through each and every flight and book it.
Note… this will cost you 5000 points and a small booking fee I think. They have to book it then, can’t ‘hold’ it for you. And any changes will also incur change fees of points. So best to have some extra points up your sleeve.
You can only book the whole round world trip at once so you need to wait until 9 months prior to the last flight.
Which for our current epic 60 day trip meant we had two months of flights being taken up by others before we could book anything. However with some fang dangling and adjusting dates we made it. We had 15 flights on the one booking!
Once it is done, you are off! Well 8-9 months from now.
And keep an eye on your email as you will have changes to times of flights. But hopefully not changes to dates! But if so the helpdesk will sort something out for you and because it was an airline instituted change they will do it without penalty.
Bottom line. Plan a long way ahead, scout out the points bonuses, be flexible in your plans. Enjoy the trip!
Btw none of this is financial advice it is just our own experience that we have learned over the last decade or more.
#travelroundwithus #roundtheworldin60days
