Advice for booking to Japan for two adults and one infant

[paultiffen]

Hi guys,

Looking for some general advice here. We are looking to fly to Japan from Sydney and return to our home in Melbourne later on travelling with our son who will be 16 months old. He is already too big for a bassinet and might be walking by that stage.

For flights there we have found two seats in JAL J however:
1) If we use Asia miles to book then we need to pay 10% of the adult ticket which is a $480 surcharge. Cost is 45K miles one way
2) If we use QF points then cost is 72K which seems to include one adult ticket
3) SYD TYO is just under 5000 miles distance which puts it in a cheaper band and MEL is just over

For the return we will be coming back from Hiroshima on either Shinkansen or
1) There is no space back on JAL which means we can't use Asia miles return award chart and would need to book one ways
2) There is no space in J on the NRT MEL flight but there is via SYD or MEL
3) All the internal flights go into HND and we would then need to transfer on a bus

Questions are:
1) Does QF not charge the 10% of full fare for infant when using points? Good value if so.
2) If I book an award with Asia miles and get a QF booking reference could I then try to add a lap infant to it?
3) QF26 to SYD is on a 747. Are the seats still angle flat? If so it might be worth going to NRT to get on the A330
4) Is transferring at BNE better than SYD?
5) Any other tips for lap infant? He is about 80 cm long already so thinking he won't fit in bassinet

Thanks,
Paul

 

[futaris]

Infant fares are free on Qantas.

Not sure. You'd have to check with QANTAS.

747 is better than the A330, in my experience.

Brisbane has less traffic than Sydney. Makes transferring quicker and easier.

Tire the infant out before the flight, with playgrounds or physical activity.

 

[travelislife]

Quick question. You have posted this in the Qantas forum but are talking about using Asia Miles (I.e. Cathay Pacifics FF program). Which one will you be using?

 

[paultiffen]

travelislife - Not sure yet. Probably a mixture of both - it could be moved to a different forum category if needed. If I book an award on Qantas metal using Asia Miles I was wondering if Qantas could modify it to add an infant to the booking?

futaris - Great news that infant fees are free on Qantas that makes up for a lot of the higher redemption rates! Do all the 747s have lie flat seats now in J?

 

[sudoer]

All the internal flights go into HND and we would then need to transfer on a bus

This is true for JAL but not ANA. If you decide to go for QF62 (NRT-BNE), ANA have a single daily HIJ-NRT which lines up quite nicely.



This would be quicker and cheaper than the shinkansen, unless you have JR passes - in which case you will need to assess time v cost. Keep in mind luggage space on the shinkansen is quite limited also.

You could also look at ANA's Experience Japan fare to bring the price down by 30%, but I'm not sure if there are any restrictions around the infant.

 

[kamchatsky]

Hi guys,

Questions are:
1) Does QF not charge the 10% of full fare for infant when using points? Good value if so.
2) If I book an award with Asia miles and get a QF booking reference could I then try to add a lap infant to it?
3) QF26 to SYD is on a 747. Are the seats still angle flat? If so it might be worth going to NRT to get on the A330
4) Is transferring at BNE better than SYD?
5) Any other tips for lap infant? He is about 80 cm long already so thinking he won't fit in bassinet

Thanks,
Paul

1) infant fare is 0 points + taxes if ticketed with adult award using QF.
CX: 10% of full fare
AA: 10% of full fare
SQ: 10% of full fare
BA: 10% of points required for award + taxes.

2) No, given the ticket is ticketed by CX, you are bound by CX rules.

3) Not sure someone can answer you on this.

4) Not sure. Also depends on which lounge you want to go to. SYD one should be better in general.

5) Book 1 adult award ticket on CX, another adult award ticket (with infant) with QF. Then get the carrier reference and link them and book seats together in advance. I let my baby sleep on my tummy when flying in J with seats on lie flat configuration.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

When infants are involved, use QFF points for economy travel. They represent the best value compared to any other program. It's one of the best uses of QFF points IMO.

As for general infant advice in economy - I've found where there is a spare seat next to you is better than a bassinet. Gives you more room to move, and armrests will fold up so the little one gets a chance to enjoy the flatbed ;-)

 

[kamchatsky]

When infants are involved, use QFF points for economy travel. They represent the best value compared to any other program. It's one of the best uses of QFF points IMO.

As for general infant advice in economy - I've found where there is a spare seat next to you is better than a bassinet. Gives you more room to move, and armrests will fold up so the little one gets a chance to enjoy the flatbed ;-)

I would say use QFF points for J award travel that involves an infant, as the infant is "free", and can share the bed with the adult.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

In my point of view (some will not agree), transferring SYD is easier.
You clear dom security at the int terminal, far right of the int terminal, and then the QF transfer bus takes you to the secure zone at QF dom T3, gate 15, where you go straight to the lounge, or to the gate to wait for your flight to MEL.
While BNE might have less int flight traffic, you have to clear dom security at the dom terminal, the transfer bus does take time, though it will be a bus only travelling between BNE int and BNE dom terminals, the train does carry all pax from BNE city to BNE dom airport.
Personally, I would transit SYD. Also, its a shorter flight, and you might nab a 330 than a 737, which is what QF usually uses between BNE and MEL. Some times during the day, QF will use the wide body between SYD and MEL.
SYD also has good views as the tranfer bus does the route/round on the inside of the airport security fence.
4.5 hours should be enough, I have done an int to dom transfer in 30 mins, CHC - SYD - ADL coming in at 19.00 (express path card into Aust) and getting to dom by 20.15, few mins in the lounge before my 20.35 flight to ADL.
This was when EK flew a bit earlier out of CHC - SYD

 

[trippin_the_rift]

I would say use QFF points for J award travel that involves an infant, as the infant is "free", and can share the bed with the adult.

Come on Lewis, you know as well as I do that Qantas has no J award seats anymore

 

[kamchatsky]

Come on Lewis, you know as well as I do that Qantas has no J award seats anymore

Harvey, surely you should know that you can use QFF points for booking awards all the OW carriers, and is STILL 0 points + taxes for infants! I have done it for CX! Best value for QFF!

Now where is Mike Ross?

 

[Matt_01]

QF26 to SYD is on a 747. Are the seats still angle flat? If so it might be worth going to NRT to get on the A330
4) Is transferring at BNE better than SYD?

I travel this route a bit, both via BNE and SYD leaving and arriving at both often in a combination. This is my view on flights:

QF 25/26 - You may be lucky and get a re configured 747 but most of the Japan runs are on the old 747's, unless you have status and can snare to old first class seats you will be on the sky bed 1 (sloping seats). Lounge in Sydney is either F or J depending on status. In Japan I personally prefer flying out of NRT as I think both the JAL F and J lounges are better than those at HND. Also there are JAL satellite lounges at NRT near the QF Lounge. I would use JAL any day over the QF lounge at NRT. The JAL lounges at HND also are quite nice.

QF 61/62 - Much better product in every way, new J suites are comfortable. The lounge in BNE is new however I have not had the opportunity to visit the new lounge so can not comment.

Flying back to MEL, have you considered QF 80, there would be no requirement to transfer.

Transfer at BNE or SYD - to me it is 6 of 1, half a dozen of the other.

 

[paultiffen]

Hi all,

Thanks a lot for the feedback. I'm booking on points so constrained by what Qantas and JAL opens up. We wanted to book mainly day time flights which is the JAL one there and ideally would get JAL back in but there is no space at all (SYD HND return is 80K Asia miles in J). There are 4 seats available in JAL J on the date I'm looking at will book one using QFF to avoid infant surcharge (78 QFF) and one using Asia Miles 45K

We are finishing our trip at Hiroshima and interestingly a lot of the fast ways to get back to Melbourne don't go through Tokyo.

in the end to maximise day time flying we will do a 3h 30 min flight from cough to HKG and stay overnight. Then CX PE daytime flight the next day (30K Asia miles) into MEL.

Thanks all for the advice

 

[paultiffen]

Actually has anyone booked an infant usong Alaska miles? Apparently its taxes only