With a million QFF points up my sleeve (amassed from expenditure as we’re not in a position to fly frequently), I stumbled across this great forum on how best to spend them. After a few months of research on this site, I booked the trip of a lifetime to Canada/USA for my husband and I. All in J – oneworld 280K each. Additional charges amounted to $1221, plus I had to ring the Qantas call centre to book the JL segment, thus incurring a fee of 7000 points. The BA Avios, JL and AA sites were a big help in searching for availability of award flights.
We returned recently from our ten week holiday, so I'd like do a brief trip report and say a huge thanks to everyone who contributes on here. As there is no way it would have happened without the help of this forum. I did find Canada a bit tricky to get to with Qantas/Oneworld but managed to pull together an itinerary that covered the areas we most wanted to see, plus Alaska and a bit of the USA. The 280K award flights were:
PER – HK – ORD (CX)
ORD - YYZ (AA)
JFK – YVR (CX)
YVR – NRT – HK (JL)
HK – PER (CX)
Started in Chicago and worked our way north and in a loop of the east coast of the Maritimes by train, bus and car. Highlights were Niagara Falls, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Hired a car in New Brunswick and dropped it in Halifax. Flew Delta to New York (not an award flight).
A few days in NY was not long enough, but we had to get to Vancouver where we headed to Victoria on Vancouver Island. From there to Seattle by Clipper Ferry and flew to Juneau in Alaska with AS. Another award flight, but separate to our 280K oneworld. From Juneau to Bellingham by Alaska State Maritime Ferry (awesome). Back to Vancouver by bus where we joined a Moose bus tour of the Rockies. This finished in Banff, and we stayed for an extra week with a hire car and re-visited our favourite Rockies sites. Flew Calgary to Vancouver (Westjet). And then home to Perth with a stopover in HK to adjust to the time zone difference and “wind down”.
A few notes. Halifax airport was awesome and by far the best entry point to the States we experienced in several border crossings. The award flight from Chicago to Toronto was a waste of precious points. For such a short leg we should have caught a bus. Our incoming plane was delayed and we had the joy of sitting at the departure gate at ORD with no wi fi for five hours (groan.....). By contrast our flight from JFK to YVR was also delayed, but sitting in the J lounge sipping gin and tonic was no hardship. CX J class and lounges were top notch. JL service was outstanding but the seats weren’t as comfortable as CX, especially on the change of plane to Boeing 767 at NRT. However we thoroughly enjoyed the luxury of being J passengers on all our flights, and Canada was a stunning destination.
So that is a brief summary of the most wonderful ten weeks full of adventures and amazing scenery. It was such a success I’m planning another 280K award trip for 2016 to UK, via Amsterdam or Helsinki and returning via Santiago .
We returned recently from our ten week holiday, so I'd like do a brief trip report and say a huge thanks to everyone who contributes on here. As there is no way it would have happened without the help of this forum. I did find Canada a bit tricky to get to with Qantas/Oneworld but managed to pull together an itinerary that covered the areas we most wanted to see, plus Alaska and a bit of the USA. The 280K award flights were:
PER – HK – ORD (CX)
ORD - YYZ (AA)
JFK – YVR (CX)
YVR – NRT – HK (JL)
HK – PER (CX)
Started in Chicago and worked our way north and in a loop of the east coast of the Maritimes by train, bus and car. Highlights were Niagara Falls, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Hired a car in New Brunswick and dropped it in Halifax. Flew Delta to New York (not an award flight).
A few days in NY was not long enough, but we had to get to Vancouver where we headed to Victoria on Vancouver Island. From there to Seattle by Clipper Ferry and flew to Juneau in Alaska with AS. Another award flight, but separate to our 280K oneworld. From Juneau to Bellingham by Alaska State Maritime Ferry (awesome). Back to Vancouver by bus where we joined a Moose bus tour of the Rockies. This finished in Banff, and we stayed for an extra week with a hire car and re-visited our favourite Rockies sites. Flew Calgary to Vancouver (Westjet). And then home to Perth with a stopover in HK to adjust to the time zone difference and “wind down”.
A few notes. Halifax airport was awesome and by far the best entry point to the States we experienced in several border crossings. The award flight from Chicago to Toronto was a waste of precious points. For such a short leg we should have caught a bus. Our incoming plane was delayed and we had the joy of sitting at the departure gate at ORD with no wi fi for five hours (groan.....). By contrast our flight from JFK to YVR was also delayed, but sitting in the J lounge sipping gin and tonic was no hardship. CX J class and lounges were top notch. JL service was outstanding but the seats weren’t as comfortable as CX, especially on the change of plane to Boeing 767 at NRT. However we thoroughly enjoyed the luxury of being J passengers on all our flights, and Canada was a stunning destination.
So that is a brief summary of the most wonderful ten weeks full of adventures and amazing scenery. It was such a success I’m planning another 280K award trip for 2016 to UK, via Amsterdam or Helsinki and returning via Santiago .
