Originally Posted by
taliesin
I don't like your chances of finding five seats on the same flights in business class on the TPACs, even booking a long way in advance.
That said, I would take a look at SQ. You would need to pay for or otherwise book a ticket to one of their west coast gateways (SFO or LAX), but the one-way business class from SFO-SIN or CGK on Singapore metal is 68k (or about 91k in first), and they have very good availability through Krisflyer. Be prepared for very steep fuel charges, but they do allow one stopover on a roundtrip. I priced LAX-NRT-SIN-CGK(dest)-SIN(stop)-NRT-LAX at 136k and ~$800 per person, and I found two business class seats on the first dates I tried in November.
One other nice thing about SQ is that they are a transfer partner of everyone (MR, UR, SPG, TYP), so you can combine your points easily.
If you want to fly around Asia once you are over there, BA Avios are a pretty good deal for short flights, and their fuel surcharges on CX and JL generally are not that bad.
I should have thought of the difficulty of 5x. Last Sept I booked 5x biz to JNB without any problem (DL/AF) and so I guess I was thinking if I'm on top of it and book the minute the window opens, I'd be okay. But you are right. I just looked at ANA and see 5x for outbound but not inbound. I could put the 13 and 16 year olds in economy (or "cockroach class" as their uncle calls it), but half the fun is being in biz.
I did peruse SQ earlier and was thinking it could be a good option, but the hassle of positioning with 3 kids in tow and risking a missed flight is more than I can handle. As I type this, I remember my sister lives in SFO (so maybe!). I'll keep looking. Thanks for the tip. Gah those fuel charges are sick!