bibbju

I did BA OSL-LHR-SIN-SYD-MEL return in J last year and it was £1.7k. I really enjoyed the SYD-MEL leg in J with QF (it was my first ever flight with them). Got some great photos as we flew over Sydney harbour. I've been very happy with QF domestic flights ever since, whether in J or Y.

tomparskate

Globaliser

At a guess, that's likely to be because of CX's married sector logic. ITA pulls availability sector-by-sector, but when you come to try to book, you need the married sector availability. ITA may see I9 and I9 when asking for the flights separately, but if you ask for LHR-HKG-MEL as one journey it may be I0 on both flights.

ExpertFlyer sees the married sector results better. See this recent post for an example on another airline: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trav...l#post29598902.

GlasgowCyclops

the link doesn't work because there is a stop at the end. I've edited it so the link works.

Forever in Seattle

I was going to say the same. Loads of points availability between SYD-MEL, and the taxes are very low.

As a regular on this route, I usually fly to MEL via SIN in one direction and HKG doing a stopover in each way.

SaraJH

Not OW and in no way related to BA but what about EY?

CHCflyer

You should try looking at fares on the new CX services from Europe. Though they are not daily, they are offering some decent fares from DUB/BRU and CPH without the ex-EU bit. I have booked an AKL-DUB with HKG stopover and CAN side trip on KA for about GBP3,000 - a pretty good deal down here. I can see an ex-CPH for about GBP2,900 to MEL.

orbitmic

Up to you but quite frankly, given the costs etc involved, I personally could not care less whether to book OW or not. The likes of VN, KE, Chinese airlines, and Middle Eastern competitors like EY often have excellent (much cheaper) deals with excellent products. the cheapest OW are tyoically QR during sales but the itinerary via South East or East Asia are actually far more pleasant (note: I do returns between Europe and Oz/NZ at least 3-4 times a year so have almost tried them all).

CHCflyer

That probably works for you as you seem to have status with all three alliances, so can afford to be airline indifferent. I am fortunate to have status with *A and OW as SkyTeam has poor representation down here in AKL, let alone the spending options (a weekend in Noumea or Brisbane is the cheapest options) so I can understand that on a trip to Australia from the UK one would want to maximize one's earning ability if the OP has status with just one of the alliances.

orbitmic

Very true, but it is worth pointing out that on that sort of distance from Europe, we might be talking at a price difference of €1,000-2,00 on the cheapest fares, ie even up t doubling. Moreover the OP seems to ideally want to go from the UK and the cheapest VN fares (and frequently the cheapest CI, GA, and various Chinese airlines fares) are typically from London, so for instance, LGW-MEL for £1,500 in J with fully flat product throughout, good times, excellent services, and the option of a free stopover in lovely Ho Chi Minh or Hanoi is not an infrequent occurrence at all.

This means that in effect whilst the ideal of maximising TP collection is understandable, this may well come at the cost of doubling the cheapest travel cost available to the OP as well as making his/her trip more risky (ex-third country meaning no protection between separate bookings) and significantly less convenient. He/she is obviously able to decide fro him/herself what to do in the end but I thought it was important to mention that those airlines can often offer much better value than OW so that he/she can check them and decide whether the TP/avios value is or is not worth it on a case by case basis.

CHCflyer

Quite right and a fair point, and additionally the differential could almost justify taking a partner (I think CZ offers 50% off partner fares in J). But I would prefer to take a Vietnamese, a Pudong or even a Taoyuan option with status knowing that they may have more motivation to help me out in the event of a misconn than without.

orbitmic

very true. to me, the no1 point of status is better protection for IRROPS. That said, in my experience, this mostly applies to 'own' frequent flyers rather than in alliance so arguably this may mean coughing up for BA rather than partners. I've had appalling experiences with QR and LX for instance, despite OWE and *AG. I've known CI to be great even with non FF members. VN I only experienced as STE+ (they were great) so can't say how they are with non status pax. Chinese airlines, however, as you point out, I would recommend having very low expectations... However, class of travel matters a lot in IRROPS handling and the op would be flying J.

Additionally, I would point out that the fewer flights let alone itineraries, the lower the risk and the lower the need for good irrops handling. I would personally feel much more secure and likely to be helped flying LON-XXX-MEL on one ticket in J in an airline with which I have zero status (say, EY) than flying on two separate tickets BA LHR-ARN then QR ARN-DOH-MEL even if both in J and as OWE and GGL/CCR. In case 1, the airline has a clear obligation to help. In case 2, they owe you nothing and good luck to you (and tales of problems and horror stories and stressful near disasters are numerous).

Globaliser

OT, but thank you.

That is odd, because I deliberately posted the code so that the full stop was outside the [url] and [/url] tags, so that it isn't part of the hyperlink - which it isn't when I look at the post.

trolleymusic

I usually book an open-jaw to/from MEL/BNE/SYD, pick whatever is cheapest/works best for the holiday plans and fill in the gaps with Qantas flights purchased with Avios. Eg: SYD - MEL is 4500 Avios economy / 9000 business + £7 tax. Availability is very good and flights usually go every hour if not more frequently sometimes.

ukgooner

Oslo is your friend. I prefer BA A380 to HKG, then CX down.

SIN is OK but the 2nd leg isn't so good for me.

I did Ex OSL on SQ all the way last month via CPH, and arriving at night was better for me than the morning. I wasn't jet lagged at all. Coming back I broke in SIN and did the day flight back to London. Id do this again.

My target price is £2k, and I've had it as low as £1,600