Originally Posted by
Happy
No tips. The HKG-Australia routes are extremely tough to get.
If you have UA miles you would be far better to spring up 30K / 40K to fly TG in J/F one way - as HKG-BKK-SYD. Availability is excellent (daily in J and almost daily in F) on both direction.
Between SYD and MEL, plenty of cheap paid options from both Qantas or Virgin. Sign up their newsletters so you would get sale alerts which are PLENTY.
If you only want to use CX to Australia - then downgrade the HKG-Australia segment but DONT expect you would be able to find J seat to go back to Biz. Personally I would go the UA route to fly on TG, especially in F.
Thank you for your help Happy.
I decided AS redemption on CX to Australia would be too hard so I've instead routed to JNB. Fewer AS, more time to enjoy CX J, and a little more exotic. I've changed my farther out plans of an Aeroplan mini rtw in F to include SYD so I can then do TG F at no additional cost. Within Aus I agree and I'll try to find some cheap flights between cities.
Luckily I was finally able to find NA-HKG and HKG-JNB (took me an incredibly long time) rt in F and J respectively. On the phone right now. 140k points (20k less than AUS
) and 207$ in fees/taxes.