Best routes to Australia?
 

Hi All

I may be picking up some consultancy work in Australia later this year. Obviously, I will be holding out for J travel but would probably would accept Y/W if the consultancy fees are reasonable (allowing some upgrade/self purchase of J).

Looking back over the threads on AF/KLM flights to Aus, the situation seems rather complicated so I am looking for recommendations for the best XP-earning routes MAN-(CDG/AMS)-XXX-Australia. I know that I can expect XP and FB miles on all AF/KLM coded tickets with the majority (all?) of operators, but what are the best options for Y/W and J travel that would give the best combinations of Priority, Lounge access, FB miles earning and reasonable travel times?

TIA!

I travelled last year on China Airlines A350 (all segments) from LGW to Sydney and back from Brisbane in Y and absolutely loved it. The miles earning was also great with a fare around 800£ (the lowest class earning miles -> something to be careful of) which gave me ~ 22k miles.

Their W/J product looked pretty nice but haven't tried.

XP-wise, don't connect at AUH (Etihad's hub). You get a few more XP connecting in South-Eastern Asia, such as SIN or PVG.

Isn't the highest XP route going to be MAN-CDG-ICN-SYD (AF/KE) as CDG-ICN and ICN-SYD are both Long 3? Excluding some long routed daftness going over North America.

If you took something like MAN-AMS-XMN-SYD (KL/MF) the AMS-XMN is Long 3 but XMN-SYD is Long 2. The same goes with via PVG (MU), TPE (CI) and CAN (CZ for now), SGN (VN) and DPS (GA).

Zarmakuizz: Who's going to give XP between SIN and Australia direct? I can only see GA via CGK or DPS.

siw: any Skyteam coded flight will do, even if they are not Skyteam-operated. AF/KL has codeshares with QF from SIN to a few Australian destinations.

Indeed, I forgot that ST airlines have a limitation on their code-share flights. Sorry for the confusion.

Last year it did (but that was before the Qantas tie-up). I flew AMS SIN SYD return in J. AMS SIN was KL and SIN SYD on SQ (the newest A380!). All of the flights were AF coded and the XP 's totaled 132 (2x30 and 2x36). The flights came up as an option on KLM.com and I jumped at the chance to fly the AF coded Singapore A380 as that was something I wouldn't otherwise be inclined to do.

Thanks everyone!

It is good to know that the AFKLM-coded SQ and QF flights are XP-earning. The route via ICN would be interesting more for the chance of a stop-over in Korea (a country I have not so far visited) than the extra XP, although they are always welcome. A couple more questions:
I assume that AFKLM-coded CZ flights later this year would still earn XP despite them leaving ST?
Does the Plat Service Line accurately confirm XP-earning on flights/fare classes booked through AF or KLM websites?
Am I right to state that AFKLM-coded Y/W flights would not give me lounge access at AUH despite Plat status?

What city in Australia? Can make a difference
A lot of possible airlines/routes Eu - Australia with the 3 major alliances/non aligned.

SYD/MEL/BNE
I probably won't travel there often enough to pick up status with another airline and don't yet know what class of travel would be paid for. If all J, then it does not matter too much which alliance is used but it would be nice to a) stick to SkyTeam for maintenance of my current status, and b) use my current status to maximise travel perks (priority/lounge access) if travel is in Y/W.

I got in the Al Dhabi lounge in AUH when travelling on a KL coded EY flight in November as Plat in Y. May or may not work for AF coded flights.

As a guide the 5000mi (Long 3) extents from AMS,CDG and BNE,MEL,SYD are here. So stopping anywhere in East and North East Asia for BNE is Long 2 but ICN to MEL and SYD is Long 3, unlike PVG, TPE etc. How about LHR-MEX-ICN-SYD for maxing out those XP!

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...611e6043c2.jpg

What about China Southern via Guangzhou? They have a lot of flights to Australia. Obviously, they will be leaving SkyTeam but it seems you will still get XP and miles in 2019.