Now here is a crazy situation. Due to the way our corp discount works on oneWorld Explorer fares, I can actually save A$120 by changing my final return of LHR-SIN-MEL-BNE to LHR-SIN-MEL-PER-BNE. I still get home on the same day, albeit afternoon instead of morning. I earn an additional 90 SC's and 6900 QFF points. All while SAVING A$120 on the airfare ^ .

I can also drop the airfare slightly (ie increase my doscount) by starting BNE-MEL-LAX instead of BNE-SYD-LAX. And since my SYD-LAX has been changed back to a dreamtime seat config and not a skybed aircraft, I might as well go via MEL. Its the same number of SC's, but a few more FF points and about $20 cheaper fare.

So, who ever thought I could fly more sectors, longer distance, earn more FF points and SC's and have it result in a cheaper airfare! Amazing. Even after considering the taxes and fuel surcharges, its still a matter of earning more by spending less :cool: .

My TA is not going to believe what I am thinking of asking her to book :p .

Well, it looks like I am going to have to cut back on some of the SC earning opportunity. I had a call today asking me to be in DFW for 2 days before going to SFO and then again for the 2 days after, then to ORD. So that means I don't have the spare US segments to do DFW-ANC-ORD and will have to go DFW-ORD direct.

Yes, I know I can purchase additional segments for A$500, but I am soending enough of my own cash on this trip already and can't justify another A$500 for the extra SC's since I will still requalify for QF Platinum status during the trip. The extra SC's will only go towards my Lifetime Gold goal.

So the route is now BNE-LAX-DFW-SFO-DFW-ORD-LAX-JFK-LHR-HEL-LHR-FRA-LHR-SIN-MEL-BNE.

I decided not to do the MEL-PER-BNE return. That was going to add 9 hours to my return trip. Even though it would save me money, my sanity and family time is more important just now (sad really).

I also decided to take the non-stop BNE-LAX since I am departing on a day that it operates, rather the BNE-SYD-LAX. I checked and found there are no skybed aircraft scheduled to operate any Australia-LAX flights that day. BUT the QF175 BNE-LAX is a 3-class sold as 2-class service, and I have secured a seat in zone 1, so I thought an 11am departure is better than 7am, and am willing to forego the 30 extra SC's to get a F seat rather than a dreamtime seat for a 12 hour flight :cool: .

I have timed my two connects thtrough LHR to be less than 24 hours to avoid the high arrivals taxes for J pax. But I will still be spending two consecutive nights in London :p . That worked out well.

So its not quite the earner it might have been. It should be 34,276 miles flown, 1060 SC's, and 79,046 QF FF points in 15 sectors with all intercontinental flights in sleeper seats (QF F seat BNE-LAX, BA NCW JFK-LHR, QF Skybeds LHR-SIN-MEL). My personal contribution to the airfare will be about A$3700, or A$1757 after tax, so that is A$1.66/SC and $0.022/point.

I would have routed ORD-MIA-LAX-LHR or via one of the other west coast cities (SFO, SEA, YVR) instead of ORD-LAX-JFK-LHR. The longer flight to LHR from the west coast makes a huge difference in the amount of sleep you get. But by going BA from JFK you do get to have dinner in the Concorde room (now the BA dining room) and use the sleeper service on board which does make it a bit more tolerable (just barely, winds were good last week so JFK-LHR is well under 7 hours).

And remember I have a QF codeshare ORD-LAX and QF107 LAX-JFK, so combined with the shorted BA flight, that increases my QF mileage content and increases my discount. So it is cheaper for me to go ORD-LAX-JFK-LHR than anything else I could find.

I already have dinner plans with a LA collegue. And I am certainly planning on using the pre-flight dining option at JFK. So, as a OneWorld Emerald (QF WP) traveling on J, do I get to use the Concorde Room or just the F side of the EC lounge?

As it turns out, I will have about 5 hours in the JFK lounge (that's a whole other story of my persuite of lower London taxes ;) ), so I hope they have some decent food and scotch on offer! Or perhaps I should take a flask into the LAX FL and fill it with JW Gold before boarding QF107 :D .

QF Europe codeshares
 

Good splitting on the QF 10. I prefer staying up the night before and QF 32 sleeping to SIN, but we are all different.

The best "value" for a QF codeshare, given that you want day trips only from LHR is probably the Warsaw rather than FRA in that you get the same status points but the mileage is 912 each way, just short of the magic 1000 but you did ask for QF only. (calculated on another website and not by QF!)

QF codeshares out of FRA are pretty useless for mileage and nothing comes close to the 1000 mark. Same for Paris. There is the slightly obscure London-Bahrain-Athens-London possibility with the nightstop on the Saturday with Bahrain to Athens being a QF codeshare. Wow, are we getting obscure here or what.

DXB has the advantage that you can do it in two day flights with a nightstop if you want to avoid the practice of sleeping on board. However, if you do not need the mileage, go for a day Europe or North Africa 1000 plus. I will see if I can think of a 2701+ long day return from LHR on BA but nothing springs to mind immediately. There are lots of 1000+ available.

As for coming in or out of EU, sorry we do not distinguish for Australian passport holders. Unless you come in from domestic UK or Ireland, you are in for the full passport check as the UK is not a Schengen agreement country. Once you get onto the mainland then you are in free circulation with your passport. Here, we like to check and ensure that you practice the great British art of queuing. The other thing is that turnarounds can sometimes see you just stay on the aircraft as you should get an out and back boarding card at the London end. This should then be given to the ground staff at the "airbridge" and you should be able to stay on.

For an all day extravaganza on BA, try the 0850 to Larnaca in Cyprus. Returns at 1950 for about 2000 miles each way and a day flight at that. You could punt down to the Canaries or North Africa from Gatwick day return and they usually have loads of D class availability and no takers but you will be on an A320/321 and not the 767 for Cyprus (Europe config and not long haul Club seats). The British Medi codeshares tend to go slightly further (for remote Europe) but are overnight for the 2700 consideration and not with sleeper seats.

You could do a LON-MAN-FRA if you went out of LHR and that would stay in your QF only coupon eating criteria as it is codeshare all the way with you still ending up in FRA. Oh for the days when QF used to run a 747-400 on the LHR to MAN. The MAN lounge is good with all the facilities and a good view over the runways. Usually not too busy at weekends.

If you get stuck in London hotels, give me a shout and we can raise hell somewhere in the countryside at my expense.

May the status points be with you.. (grief, getting lifetime gold would have happened already if I was not running a BA Gold at the same time for all those years...)

Unfortunately I have some meetings in FRA, so if I were to take QF32, I would need to stay another night in London or Frankfurt. So I hope to sleep on the fist leg (LHR-SIN) and rest and watch movies on the shorter SIN-MEL leg.

I was hoping to get the 7:30am flight up to HEL, but it does not operate on the day I would be travelling. That would have given me 5.5 hours in HEL which is plenty of time to get into the city for a good walk around. But instead I will only have 2h20m, so I hope they have an "in-transit" area so I don't have to go through PP control and can just find my way to the BA lounge for the duration. My passport is running out of blank pages so I don't need to fill it up in HEL :p .

I'll be at the "other" London airport to the one you work at. Looks like there may be a few of us around LHR on the afternoon/evening of 7th. Have a look at ozzie's thread in the QF forum.

"..and can just find my way to the BA lounge for the duration."

Sorry NM, the BA lounge is the actually AY lounge - one on either side of the immigration counter. At least they have a nice view over the runway and gates. No showers. Even the check-in staff are wearing AY uniforms and are amused when you ask "where is the BA check-in counter".. No BA OLCI option for HEL either. At least the seriously unhumorous immigration people will stamp your passport exactly where you ask them to stamp it. ATMs are called OTTO - same brand as our wheelie bins but different shape.

The Concorde Room at JFK is no longer a lounge, it is strictly a dining room. So you will get to see it when you do the pre-flight dining, but not before. The F lounge is miserable -- mediocre food and drinks. Better fill that flask in LAX!!! JFK typically stocks JW Black on the F side but I've seen it be JW RED only (really). Other choices are similarly cheap. Sometimes the J lounge is better stocked for food and drink, so be sure to check both sides (also the J side has better furniture and facilities, for example the showers are on the J side). You may want to smuggle food from the LAX FL to JFK with you if you can't wait for dinner (no idea when they start to serve the meal).
As for the HEL lounge, it is spartan with little food and few drinks ... they aren't spending much money on operating those lounges! But nothing better at or near the airport.

Due to the inability to have my ticket issued as an e-ticket, I had a few last minute changes. The agent thought the e-ticket problem was that the BA flight LHR-HEL was a codeshare operated by AY. So we changed the plans slightly to connect to to HEL at LHR on an BA operated flight. That also moved my JFK-LAX forward from the 11pm service to the 8pm service. So that reduces my time the JFK.

This also means I will not overnight in HEL and leave the following afternoon, so I won't be spending hour in the "Lounge from HEL" either. But enjoying my day wandering the streets of the Finnish capital.

Thanks for the info on the JFK lounges, number_6. I assume I can dine any time I want and not when the BA lounge dragons think I might be hungry.

I wonder if I will be conspicuous consuming the JW Gold at 7:30am in LAX FL :cool: . I suppose I could place an opened bottle of apple juice next to my glass and people might think I am being healthy :p .