best route to Manchester for QFF-ers

[pcrosby]

I've been chatting to Flight Centre about a planned trip to Manchester in late September. They keep steering me to the QANTAS/Emirates routes, but I wnat to buy Economy, then upgrade to PE using points - at leats for the long legs. Seems that means I need to to stage through LHR - which is fine - done it plenty of times before but it does mean 2 stops. Anyone got any better ideas, or ways of working with Emirates using QFF points?

 

[TheInsider]

Melbourne to Dubai on the QF9
Dubai to Manchester on EK

Although if you did do that you wouldn't be able to upgrade in the DXB-MAN leg though. But that is quite short and not too bad down the back.

 

[pcrosby]

Thanks Insider. Actually I'm flying out of Sydney, but I get your point. The stopovers are often big hours for MAN connections. Actually some flights that FC offered would have been quicker via LHR. Remember when o'night stopovers automatically included a hotel room?

 

[TheInsider]

Economy passengers get a hotel room at the 8hr mark. But the connecting time is actually very minimal, the EK flight departs at 0300. QF1 arrives at 0035, QF9 arrives at 2325.

 

[TheInsider]

Also don't book through Flight Centre, just do it your self on the website.

 

[Mal]

EK will definitely be the quicker and less messy route. But unless you fly Qantas into Heathrow and then either a) fly British Airways/other carrier to MAN or b) transfer to train/bus there really isn't any other way to use Qantas points to upgrade.

 

[tdimdad]

As routing you could also consider HEL, and the final leg is just 2 hours. That would mean SIN/HKG or China/Japan on the way out. Finnair provides J as their pointy end, but I have no recollection how easy the upgrade would be with them.

 

[Robert Qld]

I flew MEL-SIN-HEL-MAN last year and while it was okay, there is no PE product on AY (not that you could upgrade anyway) and those economy seats don't have a great amount of padding. My bum was quiet sore at the end.

 

[Hvr]

I flew MEL-SIN-HEL-MAN last year and while it was okay, there is no PE product on AY (not that you could upgrade anyway) and those economy seats don't have a great amount of padding. My bum was quiet sore at the end.

I'm sure your neighbours were glad it was quiet, :mrgreen: and if they'd known, sorry it was sore.

 

[Isochronous]

There's always BA SYD-SIN(or HKG or BKK)-LHR-MAN

 

[pcrosby]

Thanks everyone - I think i'll probably just stick with the SYD-SIN-LHR-MAN routing for maximum chance of PE upgrades. Flight Centre quote was 3134, QANTAS Sales $3133 incl fee. BA have a webprice of $3443 with PE seats for the long legs - so worth considering, but as we know, BA PE seats are basically Econ with a little extra legroom. Q are so much more.

 

[Mal]

Seeing there are no Qf metal flights ex SIN to LHR, maybe DBX is the better route if you care about the chance to upgrade.

I just can't see how its possible ex SIN.

 

[pcrosby]

Yes, just discovered that -all changed since April!. I'll shoot for an upgrade SYD-DBX, the DBX-LHR leg doesn't matter much. I've found you really have to watch the agents and double check that they are selling you an upgradable ticket, and also one that details the two legs and both are coded QF. So often they just say SYD-LHR, then you get slogged for the upgrade points for the whole way, even though you only got the upgrade for part of it. Looks like $3K is the best fare without awful connections. C'est la vie.