London Sydney reward booking
Jan 6, 2019, 2:24 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2008
Programs: BA Executive club
Posts: 40
London Sydney reward booking
Hi all, I wonder if I could get some advice from the reward flight gurus out there? I’ve recently retired and I have a reasonable stash of Avios built up. I’d really like to celebrate with a business class flight from London to Sydney and back. However BA seem to have pretty much zero availability. I think this is a well known problem, but does anyone out there know the best way of making a reward booking on this route?
Any suggestions gratefully received.
Nick
Any suggestions gratefully received.
Nick
Jan 6, 2019, 2:27 am
#2
Join Date: May 2011
Location: CWL
Programs: BA Blue, Hilton Gold
Posts: 300
In short, you need to be looking to book your outbound as it becomes available 355 days in advance, and then hope that return seats open up a few weeks later that you can add to the booking.
Be prepared to stay up late to grab the seats as they are released (about midnight ish).
if you are tied to set dates, consider if you could use Avios to get you most of the way, such as to SIN or KUL and then purchase further tickets from there.
Be prepared to stay up late to grab the seats as they are released (about midnight ish).
if you are tied to set dates, consider if you could use Avios to get you most of the way, such as to SIN or KUL and then purchase further tickets from there.
Jan 6, 2019, 3:51 am
#4
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Surrey
Programs: BA Gold, VS Gold, Eurostar CB, IHG Spire, Hilton Diamond, Bonvoy Titanium, Hertz President Circle
Posts: 435
I'm a lucky guy, but just to give a data point that it's not totally impossible... I found LHR-SYD via HND on JL F and QF J for early Dec 2018 and MEL-LHR also via HND on JL J and BA F on New Year. Both booked in feb 2018, so well after T-355. And I even managed to swap the return to QF F and BA F on A380s via SIN when availability opened up in the last 2 weeks!
Moral of the story is be flexible with dates, carriers and connection airport (SIN, KUL, TYO, HKG, DOH). Of course, if you're trying to use a companion voucher then you're stuck with ba metal via SIN or only using the voucher for the first half of the itinerary and using a partner airline for the second half.
As I say, I'm quite lucky so YMMV!
Moral of the story is be flexible with dates, carriers and connection airport (SIN, KUL, TYO, HKG, DOH). Of course, if you're trying to use a companion voucher then you're stuck with ba metal via SIN or only using the voucher for the first half of the itinerary and using a partner airline for the second half.
As I say, I'm quite lucky so YMMV!
Jan 6, 2019, 6:26 am
#5
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 2,657
Hi all, I wonder if I could get some advice from the reward flight gurus out there? I’ve recently retired and I have a reasonable stash of Avios built up. I’d really like to celebrate with a business class flight from London to Sydney and back. However BA seem to have pretty much zero availability. I think this is a well known problem, but does anyone out there know the best way of making a reward booking on this route?
Any suggestions gratefully received.
Nick
Any suggestions gratefully received.
Nick
Jan 6, 2019, 6:45 am
#7
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Surrey
Programs: BA Gold, VS Gold, Eurostar CB, IHG Spire, Hilton Diamond, Bonvoy Titanium, Hertz President Circle
Posts: 435
Agreed that JNB is not too hard.
Jan 6, 2019, 8:02 am
#9
Join Date: May 2014
Location: GLA
Programs: I'm not that important
Posts: 84
having just booked a trip for September this year, i agree with the above comments. i was up at 0100 booking flights, but did find "plenty" of choice/reward availability. Maybe consider flying in out of BNE, and get a connecting flight!
I'm flying back out of SYD via DOH to the UK with QR
I'm flying back out of SYD via DOH to the UK with QR
Jan 6, 2019, 8:18 am
#10
Join Date: Jun 2018
Programs: BA Executive Club
Posts: 4
Not that this helps the OP but I'm very grateful for being GGL. Managed to get 2 F seats to SYD for Easter, booked yesterday, using Amex241, Gold Upgrade for 2 and a "Joker" - so came in at 275k avios (going peak and coming back off peak) plus Ł700 tax each. Which I was very pleased at! I sometimes despair at BA, but this time, I couldn't fault them!
Jan 6, 2019, 8:19 am
#11
Join Date: May 2007
Programs: BA Blue, EI Silver, Honours Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,207
I think it depends on the routing you would be prepared to take. I have booked LHR-SYD but was limited to BA metal because I needed to used a 2-4-1 voucher. It was a case of being up at 0100 on the phone to book the return at -355.
If you have more Avios or don’t intend to use a voucher there are numerous options via KUL/SIN(QF)/HKG/TYO/DOH/BKK, or even via LAX with AA. The only thing is you need to search leg-by-leg. Don’t forget the “regional” departures from the likes of Manchester, Cardiff and Edinburgh on Qatar and Manchester on Cathay. For lower taxes Cathay also fly from Dublin and Amsterdam.
If you have more Avios or don’t intend to use a voucher there are numerous options via KUL/SIN(QF)/HKG/TYO/DOH/BKK, or even via LAX with AA. The only thing is you need to search leg-by-leg. Don’t forget the “regional” departures from the likes of Manchester, Cardiff and Edinburgh on Qatar and Manchester on Cathay. For lower taxes Cathay also fly from Dublin and Amsterdam.
Jan 6, 2019, 12:00 pm
#14
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Brisbane
Programs: BAEC Blue/Bronze, Krisflyer, Qantas
Posts: 417
As others have mentioned, due to the 2-4-1 Amex voucher, it's almost impossible to get all the way to Sydney on BA. I'd check if you have enough Avios to travel with BA as far as SIN/HKG/KUL and then look to book the onwards leg using Avios on a partner airline such as Qantas, Cathay, Qatar.
In my experience BA availability to HKG is generally good and the onwards flights with Cathay are particularly enjoyable. If you wanted something unusual, SCL is also possible if you think you might enjoy splitting your journey there. There should be nothing stopping you having different outbound and inbound routes which often helps. It is time consuming doing the research though, and you will have to tell the BA website around 1000 times that you're not a robot
- get ready to have to identify an incredible number of store fronts, traffic lights, buses and road signs.
In my experience BA availability to HKG is generally good and the onwards flights with Cathay are particularly enjoyable. If you wanted something unusual, SCL is also possible if you think you might enjoy splitting your journey there. There should be nothing stopping you having different outbound and inbound routes which often helps. It is time consuming doing the research though, and you will have to tell the BA website around 1000 times that you're not a robot
- get ready to have to identify an incredible number of store fronts, traffic lights, buses and road signs.
Jan 6, 2019, 12:19 pm
#15
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: MEL CHC
Posts: 20,987
Moral of the story is be flexible with dates, carriers and connection airport (SIN, KUL, TYO, HKG, DOH). Of course, if you're trying to use a companion voucher then you're stuck with ba metal via SIN or only using the voucher for the first half of the itinerary and using a partner airline for the second half.
Just looking for LHR SYD restricts your options a lot.
And look at other UK airports, not just LHR.
Oneworld airlines UK Australia (via Asia/ME) are BA QF QR CX MH JL UL. And ex Eu offers more routes.
Australian airports BNE SYD MEL east coast, ADL and PER in the west. CNS has CX flights from HKG.
CX serves more Australian airports with international flights than QF. But QF has more flights in number.
