Nickyt13

Hi,

I am an Executive Club Gold Member and am due to fly from MAN to SYD in November for work and want to get the best possible harvest of Avios that i can. The downside is that work will be booking and paying for the flights, so it is highly likely that "affordable" will win, so with that in mind what are my options for directing them towards something that will yield a decent Avios return for me and possibly contribute to me retaining EC Gold?

I've found some sub £1000 return flights via Cathay Pacific - would they be of any use?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Nick

corporate-wage-slave

I'm guessing you are of BMI heritage.

Avios accrural won't help you to retain BA Gold, since that's Tier Point related. You'll get both with CX, same number of TPs (depending on route), but fewer Avios since BA and Qantas give an Avios bonus, but CX do not.

If your goal is Avios, then BA and Qantas (until April 2013) will be the way to go.

If it is TP related, then you can get more on that route by breaking it up into chunks. So for example going via Finnair to Hong Kong will add 160 TPs to the process. Going to HK via Amman with Royal Jordanian may add a lot more. Then there are routings involving Sri Lanka or India. If you want to do it without playing these games then broadly speaking you'll get the same TPs with BA and CX on the same route.

LostAntipod

If you can bear an extra flight leg, might be worth looking at finnair. A return flight in club will earn enough TP for silver which a one-stop flight to syd will not - plus extra avios. The fares are often amongst the cheapest to Aus (codeshare with cathay or qantas from hong kong or singapore to syd). Just make sure you allow at least an hour for connections. Finnair is not quite up there with BA,QF and most asian carriers - its not the end of the world, i did it earlier this year - but worth noting if the best inflight exerience is important to you.

Nickyt13

Yes i am from BMI Heritage.

Tier Points are important, but so is keeping the flight affordable as ultimately work are paying for it.

Thank you for the advice thus far though.

cornishsimon

Sorry oh wise one but this is not quite correct.

The avios bonus is only for BA and AA coded flights regardless of the OW operating airline, so you will get the Gold Tier bonus for flying QF but only if booked under a BA flight code.

Nickyt13 Welcome to BA from BMI. I assume from your post that your work will be booking you into Economy ?

If so, your best routing would be MAN-LHR (BA) then LHR-SIN-SYD, booking on BA codes on the QF A380 service, its possible to book one ticket MAN-LHR, LHR-SIN, SIN-SYD all as seperate flight numbers (BA coded), this way you will get the most tier points and avios

Plus if you are BA Gold you will have lounge access all along the way, with F lounge access at LHR T3 and SIN, but the rather well talked about QF F lounge at SYD.


cs

angatol

.....

dalihakk

Your company expect you to travel in economy from MAN-SYD and then work at the other end?

angatol

.....

LostAntipod

24 hours in economy for work-related travel?! I don't even fly economy to oz on my own dime - and I go every year to see my mum and relatives. It would have to be pretty dire for me to even consider it these days...when I was younger I could cope better with Y and with the jet lag, but not now. If your personal circumstances allow it then factor in some time to recover and actually enjoy being there...

paulwuk

This is quite normal. People on flyertalk (on the whole) are pampered.