Hello all
As a first time poster I'm hoping I can tap into the knowledge and experience without wasting anyone's time. My work is about to book travel for me from Canberra to Amsterdam in May 2013 on a discount economy fare and they've come to me with quotes from Qantas (on Emirates planes flying S class), Cathay Pacific (V class), and Singapore Airlines (E class) which meet our travel policy, and I can chose the one I want. I've only recently been paying greater attention to the intricacies of flying, but I'm starting to get the impression that there's probably a best option between the three which would make a big difference to some 60hrs of economy flying, but I just don't know enough to choose it.
What's important to me is, in order of priority:
Chance of an upgrade to business (obviously, but I realise from a discount seat this is pretty unlikely);
Ability to pre-select (pre-purchase, if necessary) an exit row seat in economy (I'm 6'5" so every inch of space counts for me) - it appears this is available with Cathay, but Qantas said it's not an option on EK planes even with QF flight numbers;
General in-flight facilities - age of planes, movie options, customer service, seat comfort, quality of food. I've had a look at seat pitch on seat guru and they all seem to be pretty much of a muchness;
Lounge access (much lower priority, but still nice) - I have QFF Gold so I'm covered with the Cathay and Qantas;
Status credits / points (even lower priority - I'm probably going to fall short of Gold again so I'll just purchase Qantas Club when the time comes).
I also have a few hundred thousand QFF points which I would use for an upgrade if I could, but I don't think I can; and I have 80,000 Amex Ascent Premium points which I think I could put into Marco Polo or KrisFlyer points if an upgrade was available (but have no status advantages with either of these programs). I am waiting on hearing back from Amex whether their complimentary Gold enrolment into the Marco Polo club is still available to me or not (on their application form it has a cut-off date of 15/2/2013, and even if it does go through it might not be processed in time, so I'm not making plans on that basis) and whether it would even make any difference.
Can you please let me know which of these flight options you would choose, and why? It would be greatly appreciated by someone who is, frankly, dreading spending this much time cramped up the back of the plane!
As a first time poster I'm hoping I can tap into the knowledge and experience without wasting anyone's time. My work is about to book travel for me from Canberra to Amsterdam in May 2013 on a discount economy fare and they've come to me with quotes from Qantas (on Emirates planes flying S class), Cathay Pacific (V class), and Singapore Airlines (E class) which meet our travel policy, and I can chose the one I want. I've only recently been paying greater attention to the intricacies of flying, but I'm starting to get the impression that there's probably a best option between the three which would make a big difference to some 60hrs of economy flying, but I just don't know enough to choose it.
What's important to me is, in order of priority:
Chance of an upgrade to business (obviously, but I realise from a discount seat this is pretty unlikely);
Ability to pre-select (pre-purchase, if necessary) an exit row seat in economy (I'm 6'5" so every inch of space counts for me) - it appears this is available with Cathay, but Qantas said it's not an option on EK planes even with QF flight numbers;
General in-flight facilities - age of planes, movie options, customer service, seat comfort, quality of food. I've had a look at seat pitch on seat guru and they all seem to be pretty much of a muchness;
Lounge access (much lower priority, but still nice) - I have QFF Gold so I'm covered with the Cathay and Qantas;
Status credits / points (even lower priority - I'm probably going to fall short of Gold again so I'll just purchase Qantas Club when the time comes).
I also have a few hundred thousand QFF points which I would use for an upgrade if I could, but I don't think I can; and I have 80,000 Amex Ascent Premium points which I think I could put into Marco Polo or KrisFlyer points if an upgrade was available (but have no status advantages with either of these programs). I am waiting on hearing back from Amex whether their complimentary Gold enrolment into the Marco Polo club is still available to me or not (on their application form it has a cut-off date of 15/2/2013, and even if it does go through it might not be processed in time, so I'm not making plans on that basis) and whether it would even make any difference.
Can you please let me know which of these flight options you would choose, and why? It would be greatly appreciated by someone who is, frankly, dreading spending this much time cramped up the back of the plane!