Best way to Italy from SYD?

[Wozz]

Greetings AFF gurus!

I am new here and first of all just wanted to say how excited I am to have found the holy grail of flying! Really looking forward to the new way (the AFF way) of F/J travels!

Currently planning a 3 week trip to Italy with missus at the end of Sept/early Oct 14 -originally plan to fly into Milan (MXP) and out from Athens. Though I noticed that OW doesnt really have much availability out of ATH so probably have to fly out from MXP again for best F/J availability. At the moment looking at 3-weeks, flying out from SYD any time between 26 Sept and 6 Oct 14, and back in SYD 3 weeks after. We have a slight preference to fly in and out on Fri-Suns.

After reading the AFF forums with regards to using Alaska miles for CX to Europe via HKG, I thought the best way to do this is SYD-HKG-MXP-HKG-SYD, with HKG-MXP-HKG in F with CX and Y with QF from SYD-HKG-SYD (and use points to upgrade to J). I have been checking availability on Marco Polo and found 2 seats on F for HKG-MXP-HKG on quite a few days, but was told by Alaska that they cant see those seats in their system. I looked at AA/BA sites and couldn't see those CX F seats either - are those seats just for Macro Polo members?

I do have over 250k points on QF (Bronze) but as usual QF has no availability in J/F from SYD to MXP. I've signed up to AA/US Dividend/Alaska FF programs last week so I am happy to buy miles for the tickets.

Now that the CX F idea doesn't quite work, I am a bit lost. Any thoughts / suggestions on how best I should go about booking the flights?

Thanks
Wozz

 

[RB]

I guess you are not a member of Lifemiles? We have used Thai for SYD-MXP via LM & have enjoyed the service.

 

[Limewood]

Welcome Wozz.

its a big ask finding J/F international award seats anywhere these days just 3 months out.

AS only have a very limited No. of CX J/F award seats, if you can get to Hong Kong you may have a better chance.

From memory 240K QFF points would be enough for 2 return HKG to MIL or the like.

 

[Wozz]

Thanks for that - I have just checked LM but no availability on TK either for the dates I want.

My original plan was to buy QF economy for SYD-HKG-SYD and then use AS to redeem HKG-MXP-HKG on CX F.

Does CX normally only release award flights at the very last minute?

 

[knightman7]

Lifemiles is the best for MXP imo. I fly TG F SYD via BKK to MXP 4-5 times a year using Lifemiles. Just have to be flexible and sometimes book last minute.

 

[Wozz]

Thanks Knightman7 - how do you find TG F (both in hard and soft product)?

I checked that they only fly A388 to LHR/Paris so I presume it would be the old 747 config?

I also notice that there is a cap of 150k points per year - any tips in acquiring points quickly given that I will need 420k points in total?

 

[knightman7]

It's the new F from SYD to BKK and the old F from BKK to MXP. I actually prefer the old F tbh, as even though it's in an open cabin, I feel the older F seat is more comfortable.

As to how to accumulate more LM points, get creative with refunds

 

[RB]

It's the new F from SYD to BKK and the old F from BKK to MXP. I actually prefer the old F tbh, as even though it's in an open cabin, I feel the older F seat is more comfortable.

As to how to accumulate more LM points, get creative with refunds

I don't know that many people want to be bothered going down that track! As per yours and other posts in the refund thread there is not much fun to be had there.

 

[knightman7]

You are probably right

 

[Wozz]

After spending 4 hrs on the phone with LM due to various issues (e.g. share miles transaction didnt go through..), finally managed to book my flights for SYD-BKK-MXP in Sept with TG in F (found 2 seats!) - my first ever booking so very please with that. Just want to thank everyone for your help on this! (including all the PMs)

Now I need to find the return leg as MXP-BKK-SYD is all out for the dates I wanted - looks like I will need to use a bit of creativity!