Is the Qantas 50% bonus top up deal good value?

I received an email offer from QFF today. If I buy 150,000 QFF points they give me 50% bonus for free i.e. 75,000 free points. Total cost is AUD$3999 for a total of 225,000 points. Is this a deal or am I paying too much?

Thanks.

You are paying $50 per 1000 points and an economy fare costs paid by points is $20 per 1000 points. So maybe not such a good deal.

Thanks, patrickk. I was thinking of whether I could use these points plus my own 330,000 points to help me to get two business class multi-city award flights from MEL- HND-LHR-MUC-DOH-KUL-MEL (total of 2 x 318K points). Is this a better proposition?

Thanks.

Not sure how that calculation is made to conclude $50 per 1000 pt

I calculate (4000/225000)x1000 = $17.7 per 1000 pt.

Since the point redemption is largely pegged to the cheapest fare, the calculation for buying excursion seats is about $20 per 1000 pt plus tax paid in cash or credit $30-50. Hence buying to redeem for economy class seats is not much of a deal.

IMO it depends what you are buying the points for.

It may be helpful trying to get to qualify Qantas Point Plus for the year but definitely have to look at the T & C.

Also may be cheaper upgrade via points but YMMV

Buying points is risky in any rewards scheme, questionable value and then the possibility of restrictions when redeeming them makes it even more so, you are effectively exchanging cash for another currency, and that currency is controlled by the issuer, it can be devalued at anytime without warning.

As a general rule, I personally would not pay more than 1 cent per point.

Even if you are satisfied that the cost is reasonable for the multi-city award that you are planning, keep in mind that you still have to pay taxes and surcharges on top which can be significant, plus there may not be seats available for the route and dates that you want. If the award that you want turns out to be unobtainable then do you still value the points as highly?

Thanks, everyone, for your helpful insights.

Cheers.

I would suggest if you are thinking of buying points buy Qantas wine instead. Just bought a box of 12 red’s for $307.80 which netted 15,923 points (including 15,000 bonus points).

14 cartons would get 222,922 points at a cost of $4,309 plus assuming a qantas points earning card paid for it another 4,309 points.

For $310 more you get the same number of points but also 168 bottles of wine. At $20 a bottle assumed value that is $3,360 worth of wine. If you have a use for that much wine you are almost getting the points for free.

Or you could sign up for 2 credit cards for approx 600 in fees and get the same amount?