Originally Posted by
Colossus
Thanks so much for the detailed information! I hadn’t considered Membership Rewards / AAdvantage, but will definitely look into. We currently hold neither - only Avios (just over 300K with potential to earn a bit more).
It just so happens I downgraded my BA Amex Premium card to the BA Amex classic as I didn’t see value in any more 2 for 1 vouchers (have 2 already) when we will not be in the country much longer. I was thinking to refer my wife to the BA Amex premium card for the referral and sign up bonuses, but it sounds like maybe we should consider the Amex Gold card? As a data point - when I originally called up to downgrade the BA Amex I was offered a 3 month additional Avios per £ spent (so 2.5 per £ total), so I didn’t follow through downgrading. I then considered again and called up 2 weeks later to downgrade, and for now at least I’m still earning the bonus Avios (2 per £ total).
I actually thought about it a bit more and agree the partner redemption value seems quite poor to NZ - and started looking at ex-Eu cash fares. It looks like we could get one way business on Qatar out of Stockholm for just under £2K. This obviously adds an extra variable into the mix, however I think Sweden should be ok to go to and perhaps stay overnight in before the flight, by Oct/Nov. A cash fare would obviously earn additional Avios, and we could use these on Qantas once back in NZ.
Did you suggest waiting for QR920 to resume to avoid the Brisbane technical stop and/or to get Q Suites? I was thinking about those factors too, as we found travelling in Q Suites with our infant back from South Africa recently very good with the privacy offered by the doors.
Thanks again
continentalclub !
No problem. The suggestion to look for dates when QR920 is operating is mostly for availability, but also because of journey time.
The latter has an angle on comfort, of course, but if there’s also a pre-departure PCR test requirement, this may be time limited to such an extent that lengthier routings may be impractical.
The further mention in your reply to exEU might also be a challenge in this regard; the timings might mean you’d need to be in (say) Stockholm long enough to take a PCR test and receive the result prior to departure from there.
Personally, I think that we could be moving towards a certified second vaccine dose and a negative pre-departure PCR test being a requirement for more than a few countries, and New Zealand could be one of those. It’s only a hunch, but I think that it’s worth thinking about.