Originally Posted by
Foulsham
The surcharges and fees on those flights from the US end up costing so much that the benefit of the avios starts to get eaten up. It'd be close to US $4k in fees and surcharges on those flights, for example, but still cost 100k avios per ticket...
I think your biggest challenge will be the timing. It might be too late to find the lower cost award seats in Jul/Aug. If you were willing to travel later in the year you would have more choice
Try Aer Lingus or Iberia if you want to reduce junk fees. I would suggest reading UK blog HeadforPoints posts on redeeming/transferring avios. There is a ton of great info there.
There is also the ability to transfer avios to QR. I believe US to DOH is 70k in arguably the best biz class out there. From DOH continue on to Oman, Dubai or further afield.
The main issue is finding 4x QR award seats. I think QR now only open 2x biz seats on US flights, but maybe you can make it work if you are willing to split the party for the long haul leg. Of course middle east would not be ideal in Jul/Aug, so we are back to the timing again.