GCab

Hello

I have a conference in March and as I will have lost my Silver after (this) Dec I'm keen to use this trip to help regain it with a J trip.

What are the best options, for Mar 22 - 30th 2019, in terms of price and TP gain?

I like CX, so this via HKG is the obvious one. Business Class International (who were good for me before) have it for £3600ish, with the A350 from LGW. Expedia has this plus Hilton bundled with a small discount, so tempted to go with this (I have Hilton Gold via Amex and have so far been upgraded every time).

The AY polar route to HKG followed by QF is slightly cheaper at £3300 but I've tried the J on the A350 and although the hard product has less tatty finishes than CX, the latter gives me a warm fuzzier feeling over all with the food and service. I know everyone raves about QR but it comes in quite a bit more expensive (>£4K) and I'm a bit of a Sinophile when it comes to food etc. so I'm torn between repeating a recent happy CX experience (LON-HKG-HND, same LON-HKG flight), and having a new experience on QR. Happy to be convinced though.

In short, I'm currently thinking CX, LGW-HKG-SYD out and back.

Questions:

1. Should I be thinking of more creative route options? Different route? Imminent sales? All help very welcome!
2. Should I be booking via BA with hotel etc.?
3. If I use Avios toward part of it will it still earn TP? (sorry for the noob question) [Edit: just found answer is yes]
4. One of the CX options is for a 50 min changeover in HKG - is this just too tight?

lcylocal

GCab

Thanks - yes, and they don't give points either for TA bookings, I understand. However it has so far worked out quite well, so fingers crossed. I take your point though, so perhaps I shouldn't let the hotel status influence my thinking too much - thank you.

nei1c

If you want to maximise TP's then position to OSL and go OSL-LHR-SIN/HKG-PER-SYD. Depending on whether you go through HKG or SIN you're looking at 920/960 TP's. Around £2.5k looks possible

GCab

Thank you! How/where would I find that?

nei1c

You'll find it on ITA Matrix. Should be possible to book direct through BA if you phone them up and give them the flight numbers.

Multiple flight options, this is just one. Ideally you want the A330 rather than the 737 on the PER-SYD legs.

SIN both ways looks more expensive so you're looking at HKG both on the way back or both ways. Also if you're really wanting to chase the TP's you could get it up to 1040 by going for OSL-LHR-SIN-HKG-PER-SYD

orbitmic

Phorbas

GCab

Thanks very much for the time put into this - gives me a few options ^

Marschel

BA Tier Point Runs | 2018 master thread it's not that hard to miss this thread.

Gig103

You're 3.5 hours too late for your eyeroll emoji to carry any gravitas. Move on next time.

Marschel

No it's not.