Singapore Airlines or Thai J?

[MEL_Traveller]

That's definitely quicker (which was the original attraction to SQ). The weird thing is, if I read the United points website correctly, I can do MEL-BKK-MNL-ROR on TG (using United) for 80,000 points pp??? That seems cheap, given economy MNL-ROR is a minimum of 45,000 plus the cost to get to MNL on another carrier...Am I wrong?

Correct! 40K is the business class award from Australia to Asia. But the flight times are long - anywhere from 27 hours to 36 or even 40+ hours.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

given one of the shorter options out of Melbourne involved flying via Seoul, you could look at getting yourself to sydney and picking up Asiana from sydney. UA should offer that and would get you straight to Seoul rather than having to connect via bangkok or China, saving plenty of hours.

If you want to fly from Melbourne, definitely consider the air China flight. Very comfortable full flat beds. With long flight times and connections, being able to get a solid 7-8 hours sleep on the MEL-China sector would be a huge advantage. While Thai says they will have the A350 by then, it's common for them to move aircraft around, so you might end up with the old 777s with angled beds. TG either substitutes aircraft in the day of departure, or can just remove the whole aircraft type when they update their timetables twice a year. Lots of folk have been 'TG'ed' in this way.

 

[travelislife]

Correct! 40K is the business class award from Australia to Asia. But the flight times are long - anywhere from 27 hours to 36 or even 40+ hours.

Straight to BKK or SIN is only 30k in business which is crazy value, just wish I could earn United miles in Aus somehow!

Could break up the trip with some 23 hour transits if you have time on your side and enjoy those cities.