Home to tropical weather, beautiful beaches and rich culture, Indonesia is one of the most popular travel destinations for Australians. Flight fares to Indonesia aren’t usually too expensive, but using your points to cover the cost could get you there for free.
The number of points you’ll need to fly to Indonesia will depend on your loyalty program, the fare class and flight time plus which airports you’re flying between. To help weigh up your options, we’ve looked at how many points you’ll need for reward flights to Indonesia with six of Australia’s favourite loyalty programs.
As destinations also vary the cost, we’ve based our guide on flights leaving Australian capital cities that land in one of Indonesia’s most popular tourist populations: Denpasar, the capital city of Bali.
How to fly to Indonesia with Qantas Points
Qantas Frequent Flyers have the option to redeem their Qantas Points for reward flights with the airline and its partners. There are many options available and the number of points you’ll need will depend on the specifics in your booking. However, you can use the table below to get an idea of how many Qantas Points you’ll need for a one-way or return flight in economy or business class to Denpasar.
Reward seat
| Departure city | One-way economy flight | Return economy flight | One-way business class flight | Return business class flight |
|---|
| Sydney, Canberra | 20,300 points | 40,600 points | 57,000 points | 114,000 points |
| Brisbane | 18,000 points | 36,000 points | 42,200 points | 84,400 points |
| Adelaide, Perth | 14,400 points | 28,800 points | 31,000 points | 62,000 points |
| Darwin | 9,600 points | 19,200 points | 20,600 points | 41,400 points |
*Points prices accurate as of 27 July 2017
What else should I remember before booking a flight with Qantas Points?
Make sure to consider these factors before using your Qantas Points to book a flight:
- Fees and taxes. Additional airport and airfare fees, charges and taxes may apply to your booking.
- Booking fee. If you make your booking through a Qantas Contact Centre, you’ll be charged a booking fee of 6,000 Qantas Points or $40 per passenger.
- Limited availability. Any flights you book through Classic Flight Rewards are subject to availability. So make sure you plan ahead to find flight options that suit your travel plans.
- Points-plus-pay. If you don’t have enough Qantas Points to redeem a Classic Flight Reward, you can use cash to cover the rest of the cost.
- Flight upgrades. If you’ve already booked your flight to Indonesia, you could also think about using your points for a flight upgrade. These rewards can offer great value for your points and added luxuries for your flights, but they are also subject to availability.
For more tips and tricks for earning and redeeming your Qantas Points, check out our Qantas Frequent Flyer guide for some more inspiration.
Compare Qantas Frequent Flyer credit cards
Back to topHow to fly to Indonesia using Velocity Points
Velocity frequent flyers can redeem their points for flights in two ways:
- Reward Seats. These seats are available exclusively for Velocity members who want to fly using points, and they offer the highest redemption value. Reward Seats are limited and subject to availability.
- Any Seat. You can use your points to pay for any seat booked with Virgin Australia. This option costs more but can offer more flexibility when booking.
We’ve compared how many Velocity Points you’ll need for either option below:
Reward seats
| Departure city | One-way economy flight | Return economy flight | One-way business class flight | Return business class flight |
|---|
| Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, | 22,300 points | 44,600 points | 49,500 points | 99,000 points |
| Adelaide, Perth | 17,800 points | 25,600 points | 35,500 points | 71,000 points |
| Darwin | 11,800 points | 23,600 points | 15,500 points | 31,000 points |
*Please note that these calculations are based on the minimum points requirements detailed on the Velocity points table and mileage calculators on 27 July 2017.
Any seat
The number of points you’ll need for an Any Seat reward will vary on the commercial cost and the fare class of the flight.
For example, when comparing bookings on 27 July 2017, an Economy one-way flight from Brisbane to Denpasar for 16 October 2017 at 10am will cost you 75,800 Velocity Points. Meanwhile the same flight taken at 7:05am will cost 71,100 points. These were flights with Virgin Australia, but if you’re redeeming your Velocity Points for flights with Virgin’s partner Singapore Airlines, the cost could be even higher.
If you want to redeem your Velocity Points for an Any Seat ticket to Bali, you can opt to view the cost in Velocity Points when making your booking.
What else should I remember before booking a flight with Velocity Points?
From fees to other rewards options, here’s what you should consider before you splurge your Qantas Points on flights to Indonesia:
- Fees and taxes. Additional airport and airfare fees, charges and taxes may apply to your tickets. When these costs apply, they will be shown before you confirm your booking.
- Booking fee. If you make your booking by calling the Guest Contact Centre, you’ll be charged a booking fee of $70.
- Limited availability. Reward Seats are subject to availability. If you’re flexible with your dates, it may be worth searching for flights across a range of days to find one that works for you. Otherwise, you can consider the Any Seat option.
- Points+Pay. If you don’t have enough Velocity Points for your chosen reward, you can use cash to make up the difference.
- Flight upgrades. If you already have your tickets to Bali, you could also look at using points to upgrade to a higher fare class. Flight upgrades are subject to availability, but they can offer you competitive value for your points.
Check out our Velocity Frequent Flyer guide for more ways to earn and redeem your Velocity Points.
Compare Velocity Frequent Flyer credit cards
Back to topHow to fly to Indonesia with American Express Membership Rewards
If you have an Amex credit card that is linked to the Membership Rewards program , you can redeem your points for a trip to Indonesia through Amex Travel or by transferring your points to a partnered frequent flyer program.
Using points for direct bookings
You can use your Membership Rewards to book flights through American Express Travel Online, Webjet or at selected helloworld locations. The number of points you’ll need will depend on the retail cost of your flight fare.
How far your points can get you can also vary depending on the Membership Rewards stream you’re enrolled in. For this example, we’ve looked at the American Express Membership Rewards Gateway stream, which is available on the American Express Essential and Amex Explorer cards.
The Gateway Membership Rewards terms and conditions explain that 13,500 Membership Rewards points equals $100 of your travel booking. The table below shows how many points you’d need based on examples of the prices you might pay for one-way and return fares from Sydney to Denpasar:
| Fare cost | Number of Membership Rewards points needed |
|---|
| $700 | 94,500 points |
| $900 | 121,500 points |
| $1,000 | 135,000 points |
*Costs are accurate as of 27 July 2017
How to transfer your Membership Rewards to a partnered frequent flyer program
If you’re already a member, you can transfer your Membership Rewards points to partnered frequent flyer programs including Velocity, Emirates Skywards, Etihad Guest and Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer. There are specific exchange rates for each program.
The number of frequent flyer points you’ll get per Membership Rewards point will also vary depending on the Membership Rewards stream you belong to and the partnered program. For example, Ascent or Ascent Premium Membership Rewards members can usually get a 1:1 exchange rate when transferring with partnered programs. However, the Gateway program will often get you 0.75 frequent flyer points for every 1 Membership Reward you exchange.
So, let’s say you have 100,000 Membership Rewards from the bonus points offer on the Amex Explorer credit card. Because this card is linked to the Gateway program, you’ll receive 0.75 Velocity Points per 1 Membership Reward or 75,000 Velocity Points if you transferred your entire balance. 75,000 Velocity Points is enough to redeem a return Business Class flight from Adelaide to Denpasar (71,000 points).
What else should I know before redeeming my Membership Rewards for a trip to Indonesia?
Before using your points to book your flights, consider the following factors:
- Additional fees. Booking sites and services may add extra fees which could increase the cost of your flights.
- Transfer times. If you transfer Membership Rewards points to a frequent flyer program, it could take 1-5 business days for the points to appear in your account.
- Points-plus-pay. If you don’t have enough Membership Rewards points to redeem your reward, you can use a combination of points and cash, or buy more points.
- Complimentary insurance. If your Amex card also comes with complimentary credit card travel insurance, you can activate the insurance cover when you use your Membership Rewards points to pay for some or all of your flight.
How to transfer credit card points to a partnered frequent flyer program
Compare American Express Membership Rewards cards
Back to topHow to fly to Indonesia with CommBank Awards points
If you have a CommBank Awards credit card, you can redeem flights to Bali by using them to book with partnered travel agencies or by transferring them to either Qantas or Velocity Points.
How to use CommBank Awards to book flights with Flight Centre
You can use your CommBank Awards to book flights through travel agencies including Flight Centre, Escape Travel, Student Flights and Travel Associates. You can also choose to use a combination of cash and points, but you must use a minimum of 2,500 points.
CommBank doesn’t openly link the number of points you’ll need to book specific flights through partnered agencies. So, to give you an example, we’ve looked at the number of points required to redeem a Flight Centre gift card. A $100 gift card costs 20,000 Award points.
We’ve calculated how many points you’d need to redeem enough gift vouchers to cover a flight from Sydney to Denpasar in Bali. We’ve included different costs to account for one-way or return and different fare classes.
| Fare cost | Number of Awards points needed |
|---|
| $300 | 60,000 points |
| $400 | 80,000 points |
| $700 | 140,000 points |
| $900 | 160,000 points |
| $1,000 | 260,000 points |
How to transfer CommBank Awards points to partner frequent flyer programs
If you already belong to the Qantas or Velocity frequent flyer program, you can transfer your CommBank Awards to your frequent flyer account to book flights.
Qantas Frequent Flyer
If you want to transfer your CommBank Awards points to your Qantas account, you’ll need to opt into the CommBank Awards Qantas Frequent Flyer Direct program. This program has an annual fee of $30.
You can then exchange your points at a rate of 2.5 Commbank Awards points for 1 Qantas Frequent Flyer point.
This means you’d need 100,000 CommBank Awards to get the 40,000 Qantas Points you’d require for a return Economy flight from Brisbane to Denpasar.
Velocity
Velocity members can redeem CommBank Awards for Velocity Points in minimum transfers of 3,600 Awards points. The transfer rate is different depending on your CommBank Awards account level (standard, gold, platinum or diamond), with the following exchange rates:
Awards and Gold. 2.5 CommBank Awards points = 1 Velocity Point
Platinum and Diamond. 2 CommBank Awards points = 1 Velocity Point
If you have a CommBank Platinum or Diamond card, you’d need 90,000 CommBank Awards points for the 45,000 Velocity Points necessary for a return business trip from Sydney to Denpasar.
Depending on the cost of the specific flight you’re taking and your points balance, you should consider whether exchanging your CommBank Awards to your frequent flyer partner or using them to purchase a Flight Centre voucher offers better value.
What should I consider before using CommBank Awards for travel?
Make sure to consider the following factors before using your points to book flights to Indonesia:
- Additional fees. Booking sites and services may charge extra fees.
- Points-plus-pay. If you don’t have enough CommBank Awards points for a travel booking, you can pay for the difference with cash. This isn’t available with all partnered frequent flyer programs, though.
- Subject to availability. All travel products and offers from Flight Centre are subject to availability, as are any flights you book through a frequent flyer rewards program after transferring your points. You may need to be flexible with the date and time of your flights.
- Frequent flyer point transfers. Once you’ve exchanged your CommBank Awards for Qantas or Velocity Frequent Flyer, the transaction cannot be reversed. You can also only transfer CommBank Awards points to a frequent flyer account that matches the name on your CommBank credit card.
- Complimentary insurance. If you have a CommBank Awards card that also includes travel insurance, you can take advantage of this cover by logging into your NetBank account and activating it before your trip to the Bali. No minimum spend is required, but make sure to read the insurance policy document first.
Back to topHow to fly to Indonesia with NAB Rewards
If you have a NAB Rewards credit card, you can redeem your points for flight bookings through Webjet or transfer them to a frequent flyer account with Velocity, Asia Miles or Air New Zealand Airpoints. These cards include the NAB Rewards Signature card and NAB Rewards Platinum card.
Using NAB Rewards to book flights with Webjet
NAB doesn’t openly list the number of points you’ll need to book flights through Webjet. So we’ve based the following examples on the knowledge that a $100 Webjet gift card costs 19,230 NAB Rewards.
| Fare cost | Number of NAB Rewards points needed |
|---|
| $250 | 48,075 points |
| $400 | 76,920 points |
| $700 | 134,610 points |
| $900 | 173,070 points |
| $1,300 | 249,990 points |
*Costs are accurate as of 27 July 2017
Transferring NAB Rewards to a frequent flyer program
You can also transfer a minimum of 3,000 NAB Rewards to partnered frequent flyer accounts, but the following exchange rates apply.
| Partnered frequent flyer program | Exchange rate |
|---|
| Velocity | 3,000 NAB Rewards points = 1,500 Velocity Points |
| Asia Miles | 3,000 NAB Rewards points = 1,000 Asia Miles |
| Air New Zealand Airpoints | 3,000 NAB Rewards points = 45 Airpoints Dollars |
*Exchange rates are accurate as of 27 July 2017
Considering these exchange rates, you’d need 62,000 NAB Rewards points to redeem a return business flight from Darwin to Denpasar for 31,000 Velocity Points.
What else do I need to know before redeeming my NAB Rewards for a trip to Indonesia?
Before you splurge your NAB Rewards points on your Indonesian adventure, consider these factors:
- Points-plus-pay. If you don’t have enough NAB Rewards points to cover your flights via Webjet, you can use cash to make up the difference.
- Additional fees. You could be charged additional fees when you’re using NAB Rewards points to make bookings through Webjet or when you’ve transferred them to your frequent flyer account.
- Point transfers. If you’re transferring your NAB Rewards points to Velocity, Asia Miles or Air New Zealand Airpoints, it could take several business days before the points appear in your frequent flyer account. You also need to transfer a minimum of 3,000 NAB Rewards points at a time.
- Complimentary insurance. If you have a NAB Rewards credit card that offers complimentary travel insurance, any reward points you use to pay for travel won’t count towards activating the cover. This means you’ll still have to use your card to spend at least $500 on eligible prepaid travel costs to access the cover.
If you want to earn and redeem NAB Rewards, you can compare NAB credit cards to weigh up your options.
Compare NAB Rewards cards
Back to topHow to fly to Indonesia with flybuys
If you belong to the flybuys program, you can use your flybuys points to book flights via flybuys travel or transfer them to either Velocity or Etihad Guest.
Using points to pay for flights to Indonesia via flybuys travel
After launching in April 2016, flybuys members can use flybuys travel to earn points on travel bookings or redeem their points for flights, hotels, holiday packages and car rentals.
If you want to redeem your flybuys points for travel to Indonesia, flybuys offers flights to Bali with Jetstar, Virgin Australia, Qantas, Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines. With this option, each flybuys point you redeem is worth 0.5 cents towards the dollar value of your flight booking.
The retail cost of flights to Denpasar varies depending on the airline you choose, dates and fare class you choose. We’ve included some examples of how many points you’ll need to cover a return flight from Sydney to Denpasar as an example below.
| Fare cost | flybuys points needed |
|---|
| $414 | 82,800 points |
| $518 | 103,600 points |
| $878 | 175,600 points |
| $1,068 | 213,600 points |
| $1,340 | 268,000 points |
*Costs accurate on 27 July 2017
Transferring flybuys points to Velocity or Etihad Guest
You can also transfer your flybuys points for Velocity Points or Etihad Guest miles. The following exchange rates apply when you transfer your flybuys:
| Partnered frequent flyer program | Exchange rate |
|---|
| Velocity | A minimum transfer of 2,000 flybuys points equals 870 Velocity Points. |
| Etihad Guest | A minimum transfer of 10,000 flybuys points equals 4,000 Etihad Guest Miles. |
*Exchange rates are accurate as of 27 July 2017
To show you how far you flybuys could take you with a frequent flyer program, we’ve used Velocity as an example.
If you take an economy return trip from Perth to Denpasar, you’d need to exchange approximately 58,864 flybuys points to get the 25,600 points Velocity Points you’d need to cover the fare. If you’d prefer to fly in business class, you’d need approximately 163,228 flybuys points to redeem a return on the same route for 71,000 Velocity Points.
Want to know your points potential? You can use our calculator to see how many Velocity Points you could earn on your weekly Coles shopping trip.
If you haven’t redeemed flybuys points for frequent flyer rewards before, you may also need to link your accounts by entering your frequent flyer membership details.
What else should I consider before using my flybuys points for travel?
If you want to redeem your flybuys points to for your flights to Bali, consider these factors beforehand:
- Points plus pay. If you don’t have enough flybuys points to redeem your flights with flybuys travel, you can use a combination of cash and points to make up for it.
- Additional fees. You may be charged additional fees when you’re using flybuys points to make bookings through flybuys travel or when you redeem them after transferring to a frequent flyer rewards program.
- Point transfers. If you’ve decided to transfer your flybuys points to Velocity or Etihad Guest, remember that minimum transfer amounts apply. It could also take up to five business days for points to appear in your Etihad Guest account. However, transfers to Velocity are instant.
Compare credit cards that earn flybuys rewards
How to use a credit card bonus points offer to pay for flights to Bali
Many rewards and frequent flyer credit cards offer introductory bonus points offers that could cover the cost of your flights to Bali. For example, a card that offers 50,000 bonus Qantas or Velocity Points could be more than enough for a return Economy flight from most Australian capital cities to Bali. If you prefer flying in business class, a card with a bonus points offer of 80,000 or 100,000 points could be better suited.
You’ll be required to meet a spend threshold to access the points, so make sure this suits your budget first. These cards also often come with high annual fees and interest rates, so you should ensure that the value of the flight and other card features outweigh the annual fee before applying.
You can compare frequent flyer and rewards credit cards with bonus points here to see if any could help you get to your Bali holiday more quickly.
If you have enough points and plan a strategy, using your points can be a cheap (or free) way to get your holiday to Bali. While there are many rewarding options, remember to weigh up your choices before bookings your flights with points.
If you’ve saved up enough points to head to Bali, you can use our Indonesia travel money guide to organise how you’ll spend on your holiday. Plus, you’ll want to check out our Bali travel guide the best places to visit plus tips on organising accommodation, travel and food on the cheap.
Pictures: Shutterstock
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