Advice for trip to Europe for 25th Wedding Anniversary in 2012

[moffat39]

Hi all. This is my first post and am still getting used to the web site so apologies in advance if my questions have been answered before on other posts that I have not found.
Around May 2012 my wife and I plan on going to Europe for the first time to celebrate our 25th Wedding Anniversary. Will be visiting France, Germany, Holland and Belgium only for about 4 weeks. Intend to travel business class ex Brisbane using points from credit cards.
Currently have about 150,000 points with Amex and about 650,000 points with Westpac Altitude. Have used points before to fly business return to KL on MH. Have read that MH fees are on the high side so looking at alternatives.
From research so far other alternatives if I join their ff prorgammes are TG and SQ.If flying SQ would have to fly in and out of Amsterdam with number of points I would have as Paris and Frankfurt are alot more.
Any sugestions or tips would be most welcome. I would prefer to fly out of Brisbane rather than having to go to Sydney or Melbourne.

 

[RB]

Just to start the ball rolling with a welcome along to the site. We are travelling to Europe in May this yr & will be spending some time in Germany. Part of what we have done is use some Amex points to get us on Virgin Atlantic J to Hong Kong. I am sure you will get more answers with different suggestions of "non prime" routes & points burning options.

 

[albatross710]

Welcome to the forum moffat39. What a nice way to spend a wedding anniversary and hopefully by planning this far out you can enjoy the marital benefits before, during and after the trip.

I am an SQ fan and I'd be using my Altitude points to get them in Krisflyer when ready to book. So what is the total KF miles that you might be able to leverage?

150,000 Amex converts to 150,000 KF
650,000 Wpac converts to 326,000 KF
Total KF miles 476,000


My dream would be
BNE-SIN J saver then SIN-FRA F Saver
2 x 87,125 miles + $371 taxes = 174,250 + $742

Return
AMS-BNE J Saver
2 x 63,750 miles + $240 taxes = 127,500 + $480


Obviously still the issue of actual availability and obtaining two 5 Savers. If you wanted and you appear to have enough miles, fo F savers on the way back as well.


My thoughts.

Alby

 

[moffat39]

Thanks for the advice and tips so far. I understand that I can book about 350 days in advance so by doing my research now I want to be ready to book by June 2011.

Love Alby's comments about the marital benefits. If I take the Paris option on the 380 then anniversary benefits may start early.

Have done a dummy booking on the routes suggested by Alby. The points that came up for AMS/BNE are as stated by Alby. However can not get the points to match for Brisbane to Paris.

If I put in Brisbane to Paris the points that are required are 127,500 less an on line discount of 15% = 108,375. It would not let me book a saver fare BNE to Singapore - only a standard redemption. I then put in for the same date two seperate bookings BNE to Singapore 31,365 after discount and Singapore to Paris 93,500 after discount which is a total of 124,865.

Alby's estimate of the Brisbane/Paris flight is 87,125. Any thoughts on how you can get it for 87,125?

 

[albatross710]

Alby's estimate of the Brisbane/Paris flight is 87,125. Any thoughts on how you can get it for 87,125?

Sorry if I misled you. I did the calculations on routes where Saver fares are still available. FRA is Frankfurt if that helps.

For FRA use the 747 service. AMS has the 772.

CDG has the A380 only so no Savers available.

 

[moffat39]

Alby my apologies as I misread your post. I am still getting used to the forum and not used to all the abbreviations.

I am embarrased that I read SIN - FRA as meaning Singapore - France!

In to AMD and out of FRA is a good suggestion. Thanks for your help Alby.

 

[albatross710]

No apology needed. I'm not an expert!

Now, back to the anniversary plans....

Looks like you will have enough points for the flights.

When I did a 20th wedding anniversary Krisflyer redemption for an Air NZ trip Brisbane to Auckland two years ago somewhere along the lines it got put as a note on our booking. We ended up being served a Happy Anniversary cake in flight after the meal. If you get that into your booking it will create a pretty good inflight surprise for Mrs moffat39.

How flexible are you with accommodation? Another good things to watch out for through the forum over the next year are accommodation offers and hotel loyalty offers.

I am a fan of Priceline.com bidding for 5* rooms. If I get them at good prices I'm happy, if not I just book what I was going to anyway. I tend to be flexible with accom expectations.

Good luck with the plans. And congratulations on making it to 23.5 years of marriage already!

Alby