Which is best status points option for business class to London

[holo]

Hi Guys

I need head to London in a couple of weeks, will pay for business class as it is partly subsidised.
Am a silver Velocity member, but am ramping up travel and will be travelling a bit in AUS moving forward.

Obviously this is a good chance to bump up status points to Gold and beyond.

So, Skyscanner has an Etihad seat at$6491 as per below, it seems really cheap for Etihad ?[TABLE="class: inbound updated"]
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1. HR21:50 03 October 2013
2. LHR-SYD09:15 10 October 2013

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[TD="class: price"]$6,491.06

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[TD="class: moreinfo"]Or book with

[TD="class: operator"] travel.com.au [/TD]
[TD="class: price"] $7,563.33 [/TD]
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[TD="class: operator"] lastminute.com.au [/TD]
[TD="class: price"] $7,563.33 [/TD]
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[TD="class: operator"] Wotif.com [/TD]
[TD="class: price"] $7,565.33 [/TD]
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[TD="class: operator"] Skiddoo [/TD]
[TD="class: price"] $7,687.76 [/TD]
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[TD="class: icon"]or Best Flights has a Virgin Atlantic fare at $6729 for 29 Sep-31 Dec.

So, QUes 1) is byo jet a decent way to book, seems heaps cheaper and 2) Will both flights give me the same status points ? I think it should be 400 points, which gets me a long way to Platinum.

Thanks for reading and any help Ladies and Gents [/TD]
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Actually, researching byojet and they get shocking reviews. I will steer clear of their prices perhaps.

 

[notzac]

I would book the EY fare, as it will give you a bunch more Status Credits (640 vs 400) -- the downside is that you miss out on using the VS lounges (especially the one at LHR!)

If you can stomach a domestic connection at each end, chances are you could turn a SYD-AUH-LHR-AUH-SYD in to SYD-MEL-AUH-LHR-AUH-MEL-SYD for very little extra $$ and it will net you an extra 80 Status Credits.

 

[holo]

thanks very much for your kind reply.

Wow, how come so many more status credit points on EY ?
Also, if I got 640 points, I'd almost become Platinum ff , when combined with a flight I have next week. Also, will adding a stopover add to my points, either in Hong Kong with Virgin or Abu Dhabi with EY ?

Finally, assuming I ignore byojet as the reviews are cough, its another $800 or so.

Thanks for your help.

 

[holo]

sorry, can't for the life of me see why Etihad gives 240 more status points than VS ? Have checked the calculator on Virgin, it seems to say 280 points each way, ie 160 to Abu Dhabi and 120 from ABU to LHR ?
I realise it's a very noob question so any help appreciated as I need book something.

Cheers

 

[Fruitcake]

sorry, can't for the life of me see why Etihad gives 240 more status points than VS ?

The Virgin Atlantic flight has the same flight number (VS200 / 201) all the way from Sydney to London and vice versa. This means that SCs are calculated on the basis of a single 10,500mi flight (ie 200 SCs each way) rather than a 4,500mi flight (SYD-HKG) and a 6,000mi flight (HKG-LHR).

The EY flight changes flight numbers at AUH, and thus is two separate sectors for SC calculation - 160 + 120 SCs each way.

 

[holo]

The Virgin Atlantic flight has the same flight number (VS200 / 201) all the way from Sydney to London and vice versa. This means that SCs are calculated on the basis of a single 10,500mi flight (ie 200 SCs each way) rather than a 4,500mi flight (SYD-HKG) and a 6,000mi flight (HKG-LHR).

The EY flight changes flight numbers at AUH, and thus is two separate sectors for SC calculation - 160 + 120 SCs each way.

thanks, so, I get 580 SC points (not 640) for Etihad and 400 SC points for VS ?

No extra benefit for stopping in Abu Dhabi then as I already have the benefit of 2 flight numbers ?

If I stay over night in Hong Kong via VS then I presume I get the benefit of the extra flight, ie 120 points to Hong Kong then 160 points HK to LHR. So, 280 each way again like Etihad ? This is also $800 cheaper

Thanks heaps.

 

[notzac]

Apologies - the 640 figure came from a recent trip of mine that had a MEL-SYD domestic connection at each end. Without that domestic connection you're looking at 560 SCs.

Getting in an overnight at HK in each direction with VS should have a similar result.

Also, I've just checked my VFF account and SYD-HKG in J on VS is 120, HKG-LHR in J on VS is 160.

 

[holo]

Apologies - the 640 figure came from a recent trip of mine that had a MEL-SYD domestic connection at each end. Without that domestic connection you're looking at 560 SCs.

Getting in an overnight at HK in each direction with VS should have a similar result.

Also, I've just checked my VFF account and SYD-HKG in J on VS is 120, HKG-LHR in J on VS is 160.

thanks for the info mate