I travel to the east coast of the USA several times per year from Adelaide, typically on Qantas (Platinum). I'm looking for some suggestions to use some accumulated points for business class awards. I've never flown Qantas A380 business, but the sky beds look outdated, especially compared to the A350/787 business flights on Qatar for example. I also fly Qantas quite a bit so I'm happy to try something else out even if it does take longer in transit. I'm curious if anybody has any ideas?
Naturally, one of the big things I'll be giving up is time-to-destination, as the Qantas options are the most direct. So far, the only ones that come to mind is flying Cathay or (longer) Japan Airlines (which I am a huge fan of) albeit transiting through Tokyo. Just want to see if anybody else has any creative ideas?
The Qantas Skybed II is now totally outdated when compared to basically any business class of any reputable airline.
Qatar's 787 and A350 business class seat is great. They are identical on the 787 and A350. There's no mattress placed on the seat but it is already very comfortable.
I flew recently from London to Singapore return and chose Qatar (one stop via Doha) to Qantas because: (1) a proper business class seat and (ii) wifi.
How many points do you have? Just note that when it comes award redemptions, availability is another factor that you need to consider not just the airline product.
Good luck finding an award seat on QR and JL to east coast US. Not saying there isn't any but you need to be super flexible and start planning early. CX used to be the most generous but they've been cutting back on award availability.
If you've got enough points, I would seriously recommend try out EK first class. They even offer that out of ADL directly. But even if you can't, you can easily transit in one of the Australian capital cities, usually SYD/MEL/PER has plenty of awards. You can easily tag on a domestic QF flights for the same amount of miles as QF and EK are all on table 1. I have done ORF-JFK-DXB-ADL-BNE for 192k QF points in mixed AA/EK/QF with EK in first class.
Of course there is nothing to stop you from flying EK in business class if you just want to spend 128k points. Just make sure you pick EK A380 not 77W as the latter has 2-3-2 angles seats which are worse than QF's skybed 2.
Likely to be underwhelmed with an american airline (particularly United). Could try the new Singapore extra long haul flight to New York when it becomes available but its on Star Alliance.
Have been doing some research on Perth to US ( East Coast) award availability . Going to US seems CX has the most availability with QR coming home from East Coast ( to Perth) .
Hi Guest, join in the discussion on
Creative trips to USA East Coast
czechwonder
czechwonder
Member since 22 Feb 2017
Total posts 10
I travel to the east coast of the USA several times per year from Adelaide, typically on Qantas (Platinum). I'm looking for some suggestions to use some accumulated points for business class awards. I've never flown Qantas A380 business, but the sky beds look outdated, especially compared to the A350/787 business flights on Qatar for example. I also fly Qantas quite a bit so I'm happy to try something else out even if it does take longer in transit. I'm curious if anybody has any ideas?
sid
sid
Member since 07 Jan 2011
Total posts 206
Have a read of this article - https://www.ausbt.com.au/here-are-the-best-flights-to-new-york-which-skip-that-lax-stopover
traveller99
traveller99
Member since 18 Nov 2015
Total posts 117
The Qantas Skybed II is now totally outdated when compared to basically any business class of any reputable airline.
I flew recently from London to Singapore return and chose Qatar (one stop via Doha) to Qantas because: (1) a proper business class seat and (ii) wifi.
Michael Kao
Michael Kao
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 06 Nov 2014
Total posts 163
How many points do you have? Just note that when it comes award redemptions, availability is another factor that you need to consider not just the airline product.
jch
jch
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
Member since 15 Nov 2017
Total posts 143
Likely to be underwhelmed with an american airline (particularly United). Could try the new Singapore extra long haul flight to New York when it becomes available but its on Star Alliance.
sanj747
sanj747
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 01 Nov 2016
Total posts 146
Why not try Qantas from BNE to JFK via LAX on the 787 which starts next month.
Eagles94
Eagles94
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 02 Jul 2018
Total posts 9
Have been doing some research on Perth to US ( East Coast) award availability . Going to US seems CX has the most availability with QR coming home from East Coast ( to Perth) .