Originally Posted by
number_6
The QF/AY joint fare is QF to Asia/AY to HEL and back
Can get 1 leg Asia-Europe on QF for a modest surcharge (under $1K) but other leg must be on AY Europe-Asia or vv. Still a good fare on QF. Otherwise sometimes BA J fares are available on QF codeshares (and often half the QF price), but I suspect those require BA code on all sectors which you might not be able to do ex-PER.
I am not sure if we are talking about the same apples here but there is a long-standing AY/QF/BA/CX fare which is actually sold by AY, rather than QF. We use this fare frequently for business travel to Europe. It has been around for several years and at the moment the only qualifier is that you must fly at least one long haul sector (Asia-Europe or vv) on AY. The fare is also good for flights on into AY European ports and back.
I am using it next month for MEL-HKG (on CX), HKG-HEL-FRA (AY), then BUD-LHR (BA) and LHR-SIN-MEL (QF on A380). The all up cost is about AUD $7.6k, which is far cheaper than anything sold by QF for such an itinerary, even though 3 out of 4 long-haul sectors can be on QF metal and flight numbers. The fare is sold in I and D class, so availability in those classes determines the end cost.
HEL airport is also efficient for onward transfers within Europe.
However, a point of difference with the OP is that as far as I am aware this particular fare is not marketed / sold directly by QF.
tb