HI All, I have quite a few FF points with QF but I am still Bronze in status.

HI All, I have quite a few FF points with QF but I am still Bronze in status. I wish to travel business to London with a points upgrade. How likely is it if I purchase a higher grade economy tkt and use points for my partner and I? Or am I better spending much less on business with MAS? Please help

Highly unlikely on that route. Qantas have so many high status members, you'd probably find up to 100 pax wielding Gold or higher on a typical QF1/QF2.

IMO you;re best purchasing a reward fare or trying your luck on a more obsure route.

If you really wish to go in Business then the cheaper MH option may suit best. Upgrades as a Bronze wil be highly unlikely.Even as Sapphire Gold I strike out often...

A very expensive way, but at least you know you have gotten the J seats for ADL - DXB - LHR and back is to go Points + Pay.

Flying EK metal with a QF code, you earn the most QF FF points and the most QF SC, ADL - DXB - LHR on 20 Aug and back 02 Sep totals, Aud$8819.  Credit card fees exclued, have to add this on, for Points + Pay, I seem to remember it does not accept bpay in that instance.

If you have a lot of/quite a number of QF FF points, you can reduce this down by a few hundred $.

As I mentioned, very expensive, but you do guarantee yourself a seat in J.

Flying MH from ADL - KUL - LHR as a QF FF member, you will never climb status, since Jul 14, flying any OW partner will earn less QF FF points and QF SC than flying with a QF flight number, but if you fly EK metal with a QF code as I mention above, you could get the chance to get at least QF PS or QF SG after a few more trips.

37200 QF FF points and 560 QF SC points if you follow my tip.

Thats QF PS straight away.

Reduce the cost by your current QF FF points balance, but you still earn 37200 QF FF points and 560 QF SCs.

I repeat, (If you want to earn max QF FF points and QF SC) don't tick the box for classic flight rewards.

Worst thing is that it will put you as QF ADL - PER, then CX PER - HKG - LHR and back, needing 186,000 QF FF points, but the seat PER - HKG - LHR and back, will be in Y, your only J will be ADL - PER and PER - ADL.

Ok, thats it from me on this.  I apologise for the waffle.

worst

Firstly, i can thoroughly recommend MAS as an option and they used to offer some exceptional return fares in both economy and business.

However, consider this very affordable mixed-class trick: pay to fly QF into BKK in Economy (or even redeem on classic points or points plus pay) then pay, on a separate ticket, into LHR with Finnair (AY) in Business.  You still get to arrive in comfort, do the longest leg in Business, access Business lounges etc, connections through Helsinki are super quick and efficient.  If you redeem into BKK you'll most likely be on an EK 777 which leaves SYD at 1845 and arrives into BKK at 0145. The AY service departs at 0845 so there's around 7 hours between flights - there's an excellent Novotel literally at BKK connected to the airport. The Cathay lounge opens at 0400 which you'd have access to. You should be able to do a mixed fare itinerary for around $3.5k.

There's other combinations of this you could look at eg: JQ into BKK in Starclass (about $2200), JQ into SIN in Starclass then hop over to BKK in JQ Economy (about $2000) or even JQ via HKT then into BKK with Bangkok Air (about $2500). AY also fly from SIN and HKG but flying from BKK is by far the most affordable. You'll earn full SC's on JQ, not so much on AY but - depending on which mix you choose - you'll easily get Silver and be nudging Gold if you play around a little - use the QFF calculator to work out the points and SC's.

Another thing to look at is intra-Europe redemptions - this will mostly be on BA, Iberia, Finair, Air Berlin and Niki - but they are plentiful (in Eco) and easily booked on the QF website - only as a classic redemption though.

The other thing is - if you don't have to be in London then avoid it and fly to another airport in the UK or Europe as the taxes at LHR are killer (especially if redeeming).  If paying J eg: AY fare BKK-LHR-BKK is about $3k but BKK-CDG-BKK is about $2.5k - I don't know when you're travelling - this is based on mid-Sept to early Oct.

The other advantage with the Finnair option is you can fly into one city and out of another.  Eg: i'm flying shortly BKK-HEL-MLA/BER-HEL-BKK in J on AY for $2600, my AU connections are CBR-SYD-BKK/BKK-SIN-MEL-CBR on a QF tkt in J for $3300 - that's $5900 return in J all the way (except BKK-SIN) - exceptional value plus I can see all my bookings on the QF app and website. Using the JQ option into/out of Asia you can get this below $5k return ex SYD or MEL.

Btw - I don't work for Finnair :-)

Good plan nixjet, well done...