Redeeming Qantas Frequent Flyer points to get to South America is hard enough at normal times, but it’s even more difficult when all direct flights between the two continents have been suspended!

Gus Higgins flew from Australia to Argentina in February 2022 on a Oneworld Classic Flight Reward ticket booked with Qantas points, travelling via Europe in Business Class. In this episode, he shares his experience of getting to and visiting South America in this post-pandemic era. He also explains the unique travel money situation in Argentina – a country with high inflation and two very different exchange rates.

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Opening 9 years behind schedule, the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport in Germany became the subject of many jokes due to the ridiculous problems that plagued its construction. But now that it’s open, what’s it actually like to fly out of BER Airport? Matt recently found out and shares his experience on this episode of AFF on Air.

Also in this episode: How the Ukraine war and Russian airspace closures are impacting aviation in surprising ways, Qantas’ customer service problem becomes a mainstream issue, and how to find Hawaiian Airlines award availability.

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Redeeming frequent flyer points for an international flight in Business Class can be hard enough if you just want one or two seats. But what if you want to take your whole family on holiday?

Peter Fryar is one of the award travel consultants at Frequent Flyer Solutions, AFF’s sister website. As well as an excellent knowledge of frequent flyer programs generally and experience helping Award Flight Assist clients, Peter has plenty of experience with booking award travel for his family of four. He joins Matt on this episode of AFF on Air to share his tips for families and larger groups looking for award availability on the same flights.

Also in this episode, there are two new status match opportunities with a SkyTeam and a Oneworld airline.

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So far this year on the AFF on Air podcast, Matt has spoken to Australians who recently travelled to Canada, Fiji and the UK during this post-COVID era of international travel. In this episode, Matt talks to Ben Bartlett, an Australian who recently visited Thailand and the Philippines for a business trip.

Thailand began reopening to tourists in late 2021, with entry to Thailand available via either the Test & Go or Sandbox programs. The Philippines just reopened to tourists in February 2022. So, what’s involved in travelling to these countries right now, and what’s it like once you get there?

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Phil Hawkins has worked in loyalty programs for 25 years, and was most recently the Chief Operating Officer at Flybuys in Australia.

In this episode, Matt chats to Phil about some of the things he’s learned during his career in loyalty. Find out what happens behind the scenes, what makes a good (or bad) loyalty program, and why elite status tiers wouldn’t work for a retail loyalty program like Flybuys.

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AFF on Air continues with its series of podcasts looking at what it’s like travelling to different destinations around the world as international borders open up again.

In this episode, Matt speaks to two Australian frequent flyers who recently travelled to the UK. One of them flew to London with Qantas via Darwin, while the other flew with Japan Airlines via Tokyo. Unfortunately, one of this episode’s guests did get COVID-19 while in the UK, but this person still doesn’t regret going for a second!

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Many Australians are understandably a bit wary of travelling overseas at the moment in case they catch COVID-19 while they’re away.

Unfortunately, this is exactly what happened to Australian Frequent Flyer forum moderator Bill MacCubbin (whose AFF username is “straitman”) on a recent trip to Fiji. But it wasn’t really a horror story at all – Bill recovered quickly, was looked after very well and didn’t have too much trouble eventually coming home. In fact, even with the benefit of hindsight, Bill says he would do the trip again.

In this episode of the AFF on Air podcast, hear first-hand from Bill about his experience travelling to Fiji in January 2022.

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Although many Australians would like to travel overseas over the coming year, many are holding off for now. That’s totally understandable – there are still so many unknowns and risks involved with overseas travel in 2022. But is it really that scary out there?

For those who’ve been stuck inside Australia for the past two years, it can be difficult to imagine what life is actually like outside the country at the moment. So over the coming months, Matt will be chatting on the podcast to Australians who’ve recently returned from different parts of the world about their travel experiences.

In this episode, Matt speaks to Daniel Kavan who recently returned from Canada. Daniel and his family had a bit of a disastrous trip home, although thankfully, that wasn’t directly due to COVID!

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In the final AFF on Air podcast episode for 2021, Matt is joined by the owner of Australian Frequent Flyer Clifford Reichlin for a chat about the challenges of running a travel website during a pandemic – when nobody can travel.

Also in this episode, how to get an upgrade when flying with Qantas or Virgin Australia, and a potentially clever hack to get two free nights at Accor hotels.

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As the international border reopens, some Australians are starting to book overseas trips using their frequent flyer points. But post-pandemic award travel is a bit different – the pandemic has turned award availability on its head, and Australians are also using their points to travel to different places than before.

In this episode, Matt chats to James Green from Frequent Flyer Solutions about what’s changed for people using their points to book international flights in and out of Australia. Matt also takes a deep dive into some of the arbitrage opportunities to save significant amounts of points by using alternative frequent flyer programs to book Qantas and Virgin flights.

Plus, Matt provides an overview of which Australian states & territories are now open, when the rest are expected to open, and the current COVID-19 requirements for interstate travel.

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