Hoping to pick the brains of the more experienced travellers on this forum if possible.
In May next year for our anniversary husband and I have redeemed QFF points to fly J to CDG on CX returning two weeks later on EK 12 and EK 430. It was only some time after booking that I realised that EK430 (our longest leg at nearly 14 hours) is scheduled to be a 777-200LR and angled flat, and had read some negative comments to that regard.
To that end I have found an alternative. For an extra 26000 points plus 5000 each change fee I could change the Ek leg of our trip into a round the world fare. Meaning we could stop in Moscow (24 hrs) and Tokyo (12hrs) on our way home. The available flights I found coming home were LHR-DME BA235, DME-NRT JL422 and NRT-BNE QF62. This way adds only 1.5 hours to our flight time and it's mostly at night with all fully flat beds.
Moscow could be a lengthy hassle, the visa nonsense, if you plan to leave the airport (which you'd probably want to do in 24 hours), you're looking at somewhere around $150 just for the visa, plus the invite letter, I question the value of that for 24 hours.
Could be worth it for the better experience onboard, but it's your call.
I have done whatever i can to avoid angled seats, if it means moscow, go for it. I would rather spend $150+ to get a visa and spend a day in another country than struggle to sleep well or keep sliding down!
FYI, you don't have to go round the world - a oneworld award ticket allows 6 stops anywhere flying oneworld airlines. There are other restrictions too (mileage, segment count, etc) but it doesn't sound like they would affect your quick trip. Actually, just re-read your itinerary and you're not going RTW anyway :)
Probably a stupid question, but there's no availability on EK434 or to SYD/MEL? Though to answer my own question, if you've found seats on the new EK430, that means 434 may not have seats.
Would you consider doing DXB-SIN on an A380 then SIN-BNE on 77W? At least that way you're in 1-2-1 J (and have the bar) for half the journey home.
I have done whatever i can to avoid angled seats, if it means moscow, go for it. I would rather spend $150+ to get a visa and spend a day in another country than struggle to sleep well or keep sliding down!
Thanks for confirming my efforts to find new flights are not without good reason :)
FYI, you don't have to go round the world - a oneworld award ticket allows 6 stops anywhere flying oneworld airlines. There are other restrictions too (mileage, segment count, etc) but it doesn't sound like they would affect your quick trip. Actually, just re-read your itinerary and you're not going RTW anyway :)
Thanks for the reply flychrisfly. Was hoping to turn my two one way trips into a RTW to save points. As my options are so limited this late after reward seats have been made available (and I am lowly bronze) there is no direct LHR to BNE left. Hoping if I cancel my LHR-DXB-BNE and then amend my booking for my existing BNE-HKG-CDG to BNE-HKG-CDG-LHR-NRT-BNE I should be able to do that for 560 000pts as a RTW. Any other way seems to burn points I don't have. Or have I missed something?
Probably a stupid question, but there's no availability on EK434 or to SYD/MEL? Though to answer my own question, if you've found seats on the new EK430, that means 434 may not have seats.
Would you consider doing DXB-SIN on an A380 then SIN-BNE on 77W? At least that way you're in 1-2-1 J (and have the bar) for half the journey home.
Thanks nix584. Sadly no way to get home on points from SIN or HKG on the dates I need this late in the game. And SYD MEL availability seems even more scarce. NRT is it.
Thanks for the comments everyone. I have since found availability getting to NRT from LHR on BA but not sure if this is much of an improvement given some reviews I've read???
kctoo
kctoo
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 18 May 2016
Total posts 9
Hoping to pick the brains of the more experienced travellers on this forum if possible.
To that end I have found an alternative. For an extra 26000 points plus 5000 each change fee I could change the Ek leg of our trip into a round the world fare. Meaning we could stop in Moscow (24 hrs) and Tokyo (12hrs) on our way home. The available flights I found coming home were LHR-DME BA235, DME-NRT JL422 and NRT-BNE QF62. This way adds only 1.5 hours to our flight time and it's mostly at night with all fully flat beds.
Which would you do?
Many thanks for your input
MRYJDrake
MRYJDrake
Air New Zealand - Airpoints
Member since 31 Oct 2016
Total posts 206
Moscow could be a lengthy hassle, the visa nonsense, if you plan to leave the airport (which you'd probably want to do in 24 hours), you're looking at somewhere around $150 just for the visa, plus the invite letter, I question the value of that for 24 hours.
kctoo
kctoo
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 18 May 2016
Total posts 9
Thanks so much for this. Definitely something to weigh up.
mspcooper
mspcooper
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 09 May 2013
Total posts 442
I have done whatever i can to avoid angled seats, if it means moscow, go for it. I would rather spend $150+ to get a visa and spend a day in another country than struggle to sleep well or keep sliding down!
flychrisfly
flychrisfly
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 09 Jun 2011
Total posts 40
FYI, you don't have to go round the world - a oneworld award ticket allows 6 stops anywhere flying oneworld airlines. There are other restrictions too (mileage, segment count, etc) but it doesn't sound like they would affect your quick trip. Actually, just re-read your itinerary and you're not going RTW anyway :)
nix584
nix584
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
Member since 10 Jan 2012
Total posts 108
Probably a stupid question, but there's no availability on EK434 or to SYD/MEL? Though to answer my own question, if you've found seats on the new EK430, that means 434 may not have seats.
kctoo
kctoo
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 18 May 2016
Total posts 9
Thanks for confirming my efforts to find new flights are not without good reason :)
kctoo
kctoo
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 18 May 2016
Total posts 9
Thanks for the reply flychrisfly. Was hoping to turn my two one way trips into a RTW to save points. As my options are so limited this late after reward seats have been made available (and I am lowly bronze) there is no direct LHR to BNE left. Hoping if I cancel my LHR-DXB-BNE and then amend my booking for my existing BNE-HKG-CDG to BNE-HKG-CDG-LHR-NRT-BNE I should be able to do that for 560 000pts as a RTW. Any other way seems to burn points I don't have. Or have I missed something?
kctoo
kctoo
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 18 May 2016
Total posts 9
Thanks nix584. Sadly no way to get home on points from SIN or HKG on the dates I need this late in the game. And SYD MEL availability seems even more scarce. NRT is it.
kctoo
kctoo
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 18 May 2016
Total posts 9
Thanks for the comments everyone. I have since found availability getting to NRT from LHR on BA but not sure if this is much of an improvement given some reviews I've read???
Georg
Georg
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 16 Oct 2015
Total posts 14
What about CX 344 - London(Gatwick) to HKG (there are 2 available on 25 May 2018 arriving 07:20 on 26th)?