Hi guys,

need to start looking for my next flights to Germany end of April next year and really hope someone can help me in finding a reasonable business class fare based on following:

1) Depart Brisbane April 30, 2015 in to Hamburg
2) Return from Munich May 8, 2015 back to Brisbane
3) Must be with OW airlines as I want to retain my QF Platinum Status

So far cheapest option I have found directly on the AY website for A$ 6,950.00 (BNE-SIN-HEL-HAM & MUC-HEL-HKG-BNE) Have flown via HEL the last 4 times and was hoping someone can find a more exciting routing at a similar price or even cheaper.

If the price is right have no problems to fly in to/out of FRA and just book domestic flights in Germany myself or take the train.

Just got back from Germany last week flying AY in business class. Trip went very well and have no complaints about AY but am looking for something different this time.

Cheers from Brisbane,

pswissoz

Wait for a sale. I bought a return CDG-KUL-AKL in Jan. on MH for 3,000 Euros during MH's last fare sale. FRA was about the same price, but I wanted the superior A380 business class product which they only offer to LHR and CDG (FRA gets a 772 with an older seat).
QR has frequent fare sales as well - just stay alert and monitor prices.
Also, watch the mileage run deals forum, especially the "Good Deal Premium Fares 2014" thread.

Fly QF (probably in economy) to SIN one way.

UL has even better J fares to Europe (including FRA) than MH.
On return buy an even less expensive round trip ticket exSIN.

Happy wandering

Fred

Really for that kind of route, your best bet is to go through a TA. TAs in Oz have fares that no online GDS can show. So that limits our ability to find fares for you as we have no access to the Australian GDS fares. Do you want service over fares or the other way around? Fares first and then service?
Besides you're travelling in APRIL 2015. There's lots of time. But you're also travelling in sort of peak period where sales usually end in March. For example, QR has a fare now for A$4150 before taxes. But nothing after 1 Apr. Same with MH.

Thanks for your replies. My preference for this trip would be Qatar Airways and Cathay Pacific. Will continue to monitor their websites but also check with a local travel agent.

Cheers from Brisbane,

pswissoz

You can look for an AB codeshare on Etihad and fly via Abu Dhabi. I had very good connections on the route Oz-Germany with Etihad/AB

While this is a very decent option in general, it will NOT help to maintain the OP's QF status. While AB is Oneworld (and eligible for QF status), EY is not. And AB only covers the Europe to AUH sectors with their own metal, the longer sectors to Oz are all EY metal.

correct me if I�m wrong, but for Oneworld the marketing carrier is relevant, not the operating carrier. So when the OP buys an Airberlin-Ticket, operated by EY, it should be eligible for miles at Oneworld-Partner programs (provided an eligible booking class)

It's up to each of the *O members.

QF, for example, don't generally allow earn on *O flight numbers when operated by non *O carriers whilst AA generally do.