Premium Economy With Points - There or Back?

[crazy Cat Lady]

As the title suggests, we have enough QF FF points to fly Melbourne return to WDW standard economy no probs in Oct 14.

However, we were thinking of booking Premium Economy on one leg and standard economy the other (We won't have quite enough points to do both legs Premium by the time we book, but both flights will be booked on FF points).

My question is, faced with this choice, which leg would you do Premium? Over or back and why...

Thanks in advance O wise Dis boarders!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Assuming that you're catching a daytime flight from Melbourne to the US and that the way home is the standard night time flight, I would take PE on the way home. More room to spread out and maybe get some sleep.

 

[crazy Cat Lady]

Assuming that you're catching a daytime flight from Melbourne to the US and that the way home is the standard night time flight, I would take PE on the way home. More room to spread out and maybe get some sleep.

Thanks PIO, that is great advice.

 

[gogo65]

Agree, do it on the way back as it is a nighttime flight. You will also by tired and cranky by then so something to look forward to. On the way there it won't matter cause you will be all excited!
Worse thing about using QF points for that route is fees and taxes around $400 each way. Sometimes it can be nearly as cheap to buy a return economy ticket!

 

[gogo65]

Just another bit of advice!
The difference between economy and prem economy is 24000 points one way, depending on how short you are it's could be worthwhile signing up for a new credit card just for the bonuses. I recently got the David jones Amex for $99 and 22500 sign up bonus points. Jetstar recently had a 30000 sign up bonus for $69 fee. Literally sign up get the bonus points then cancel
You have time to keep an eye out for any sign up bonuses!

 

[ssour]

Just another bit of advice!
The difference between economy and prem economy is 24000 points one way, depending on how short you are it's could be worthwhile signing up for a new credit card just for the bonuses. I recently got the David jones Amex for $99 and 22500 sign up bonus points. Jetstar recently had a 30000 sign up bonus for $69 fee. Literally sign up get the bonus points then cancel
You have time to keep an eye out for any sign up bonuses!

We've done the same thing, applied for a card, paid for a tank of petrol to be eligible for the points and then cancelled once the points were added to our FF account. It did take over a month for our points to be transferred, so definitely not a last minute thing but as gogo65 said you have plenty of time.

I'd definitely upgrade for the flight home too, it's always so much worse coming home.

 

[crazy Cat Lady]

Thanks for the tips on the Credit Cards team! Looks like coming home has the nod for the extra leg room at this point.

 

[ky71]

Forget PE! Go business!

Pay for return economy tix then upgrade to business using FF points.
Remember even if you use FF points to "buy" an economy seat, you will still need to pay the taxes each way.

Even if you have only enough points for one way business, it's still a great experience AFTER your vacation is over. Best wishes!

 

[FireflyFi]

Ssour and gogo65 - do you not worry about multiple credit card applications appearing on your credit report? I've been tempted by those deals (they sound so easy!) but I'm always too scared to take advantage of them.

 

[gogo65]

Ssour and gogo65 - do you not worry about multiple credit card applications appearing on your credit report? I've been tempted by those deals (they sound so easy!) but I'm always too scared to take advantage of them.

I have applied for two this year, one to replace my ANZ qantas visa and I stated I would close that on the application, the DJ Amex was an extra purely for points.
I will probably get my DH to Apply for the Macquarie visa plat for 40k bonus points.
Other than that we only have one other Amex we use all the time.
We pay our cards off in full each month and have relatively low credit limits,
I believe it you an pretty much apply for 3-4/year without causing any questions, however apart from the above two we had the same two credit cards for years.
Don't worry, just make sure there is value in the bonus points.

 

[FireflyFi]

Thanks for the response! Seems I need to think about this some more.

 

[ssour]

Ssour and gogo65 - do you not worry about multiple credit card applications appearing on your credit report? I've been tempted by those deals (they sound so easy!) but I'm always too scared to take advantage of them.

We have only had one credit card in my name for years and DH applied for this one in his name. DH is very particular about not paying a cent of interest so his credit record couldn't get any cleaner I don't think. I wouldn't do it regularly, but once in a blue moon can't hurt, especially if you don't have much credit to begin with.

 

[Sugarglider]

Ssour and gogo65 - do you not worry about multiple credit card applications appearing on your credit report? I've been tempted by those deals (they sound so easy!) but I'm always too scared to take advantage of them.

Ummm ... nope! So the problem comes if you apply for a home loan and you have all these cards and they will deem the cards as if they were maxed out. And I think the only problem for your credit report is if you default. I spent years chasing all those 0% and 1.5% interest deals. Everyone still keeps giving me cards. I close them down as soon as I am finished with them. if you make regular payments you demonstrate that you are low risk but HIGH VALUE to the bank - they like steady cash flow and interest payments!

someone may be able to tell me more - I had HSBC write to me and say because the card had not been used for over (say) a year, they were obliged by law to close it. And I thought - GREAT!

NOW - FLIGHTS - If flying to LAX, I prefer to take the morning flight and it is only 13 hours. I can entertain myself and stay awake. The 6+ hour flight LAX-MCO becomes difficult. I want to sleep and they are all awake! AND I want to get stuck straight into my holiday when i arrive.

So flying business and PE overnight via DFW was more refreshing and easier for me, and I limited the jet lag.

Flying home, no matter from where, is always overnight. But I figure i get home and take a few days to recover.

 

[SnowWhite09]

I would definitely take PE on the way home. Reason being that on the way there you are excited and the economy flight (smaller space etc) doesn't bother you so much. However, on the way home you are tired and the flights normally leave the US late at night so you should be able to get a better sleep - at least that is what I would do. Have a great trip!

 

[crazy Cat Lady]

Forget PE! Go business!

Pay for return economy tix then upgrade to business using FF points.
Remember even if you use FF points to "buy" an economy seat, you will still need to pay the taxes each way.

Even if you have only enough points for one way business, it's still a great experience AFTER your vacation is over. Best wishes!

LOL, a person after my own heart! Business would be lovely. A bit out of the price range on this trip unfortunately.

Yes, the taxes are a pain, but hopefully I'll be able to claim some of that back as I am attending an industry event during the trip. In an ideal world, I'd use cash to buy the tickets and claim a bigger deduction, but in an ideal world, I'd also have the cash to do that! LOL

 

[crazy Cat Lady]

someone may be able to tell me more - I had HSBC write to me and say because the card had not been used for over (say) a year, they were obliged by law to close it. And I thought - GREAT!

NOW - FLIGHTS - If flying to LAX, I prefer to take the morning flight and it is only 13 hours. I can entertain myself and stay awake. The 6+ hour flight LAX-MCO becomes difficult. I want to sleep and they are all awake! AND I want to get stuck straight into my holiday when i arrive.

So flying business and PE overnight via DFW was more refreshing and easier for me, and I limited the jet lag.

Flying home, no matter from where, is always overnight. But I figure i get home and take a few days to recover.

LOL, a bank actually closing an account? Wow, perhaps they can speak to ANZ and show them how to do this for a CC account that we've asked them to close a number of times over the past 2 years!

We were leaning to the flight over at first, but as you said, it might depend on when we actually fly. I do have a few days factored in for recovery when we return home.

 

[zanzibar138]

I'd definitely upgrade on the way home. Going home is hard enough, may as well make it as comfy as possible

DH and I are fans of the old buy the economy fare and upgrade using points (although we haven't used it yet, but have requested one for our upcoming Singapore flights ). It does seem to be a good value way to use points if you can get cheap enough flights as your base. The only problem is you don't find out whether your upgrade has gone through until 24 hours prior to departure.

Doesn't really matter if you're not counting on it though. We're prepared to go economy class - an upgrade to business would just be an amazing bonus! And if we don't get the upgrade, we'll save the points and one day be able to claim a business flight outright