Here’s How: Knowing Partner Availability
Qantas’ First Class is the last option most people think of. Why? It’s expensive (easily $12,900+) because Qantas pretty much has a monopoly on the route from the U.S. year-round. (At times, American and United offer an aircraft with a First Class cabin, but not currently.)
Using miles is not the solution, as the Qantas program is if-you-have-to-ask: 288,000 miles (Los Angeles-Melbourne) to 336,000 (Dallas-Sydney) round-trip. The big drawback: Qantas has only one credit-card transfer partner, the Citi ThankYou program, which has an annual purchase limit of 100,000 miles, which is not enough to buy the miles needed for an award ticket.
But, in character with FCF’s contrary thinking, here’s why you should look at Qantas’ First Class first, if saving $6,500 even while paying $6,400, is ok with you.
As FCF’s Sweet Redeems alerts have found over the last five months, Qantas often has good First Class mileage award availability on Los Angeles-Melbourne and Dallas-Sydney for at least two months of the year.
But what if you could buy all the miles needed through another credit card, and what if this credit card had an airline transfer partner that has the same First Class award availability that Qantas offers. This would enable you to buy Qantas First Class starting at $6,400, a savings of up to 50%.
Enter the world of American Express and Cathay Pacific (a Qantas partner).
Cathay Pacific partner-award space has been identical to Qantas own space in our research, and Cathay is a point-transfer partner with American Express Membership Rewards, which allows members to buy up to 500,000 miles annually. Moreover, Cathay requires fewer miles (220,000) than Qantas on these routes, a savings of up to 34%.
The $6,400 First Class ticket math
How the “Buy Miles to Fly in Style” Strategy Can Save Up to 50%: Simply purchase Amex Rewards points. They cost 2.5¢ each. That brings the cost of a First Class ticket on the Dallas-Sydney route down to $6,400 round-trip (including about $900 in award taxes, which vary slightly by route) for a seat that otherwise goes for $12,900.
Sweet Redeem Survey: First Class to Australia for at Least One Person Flying Qantas and Using Cathay Pacific Miles
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A survey of past alerts shows the two-month trend in First Class for both routes as far back as a May 2017 alert, when FCF found award space for travel in February and March, 2018, in June for travel in March and April, 2018, and in August for travel in May and June, 2018.
Lower Mileage Partner Rates?
Yes, FCF research does show that Japan Airlines (JAL) charges 155,000 miles round-trip for the same routes, and it costs even less if you have a Starwood account: only 125,000 Starpoints. The downside is that JAL’s Qantas award inventory is much less than Qantas offers using Qantas miles.
How to Work It:
First: If you are very flexible and you have Starwood points, check availability using Japan Airlines miles—this can be done online here, account log-in is required to check for award space. If you are able to find space, great, transfer points, and book using JAL miles—FCF’s last transfer to JAL took seven days, so, keep in mind that the seat may disappear. More here on that.
Second: If there is no availability on Qantas via JAL miles, check award space with Cathay Pacific for Qantas flights; this can be done online here (account log-in is required). If yes, then transfer Amex Reward points to Cathay—FCF’s last transfer to Cathay took two days, so, again, be careful. Be flexible about dates—look for different travel days that could work for you to increase the likelihood of no award space being available once your points have transferred.
Transfer Points to Cathay Pacific
Cathay Pacific is a transfer partner with Amex Rewards, Citi ThankYou, and Starwood. Getting the 220,000 Cathy miles takes only 180,000 Starpoints.
HAVE AMERICAN MILES?
FCF has found a few dates also for Qantas First Class Award space (see screenshot below). While AA has much less award availability than Qantas offers using Qantas miles, AA does allow you to buy miles as low as 1.8¢ when on sale, which means you can buy your way into Qantas First Class’ $13k ticket for just $4,860.
American Miles screenshot.
