Help booking my Family for a trip to Europe.

[barneynorman]

Sorry, not relevant to this thread but you all seem to be in here.
I'm a new member who would like to book some flights to Europe, but apparently I can't ask for help until I've been here 30 days. Is that right?
I'd like to book this week for a family of 5. If anyone can point me in the right direction, that would be great.
Sorry to interrupt, as you were..

 

[barneynorman]

Oh, look! Someone moved my post to its own thread. Thank you mystery mover! Shall I post all the details in here? It's a little complicated.

 

[ketsuzei]

Go for it. You're talking about a booking on Qantas?

 

[Mwenenzi]

From where to where ?
Class of travel?
Approximate what date/month?
Cash or award with QF points?

Getting 5 awards on 1 flight will be close to impossible. You need to split your party to different days/routes.
Trains in Europe can get you to many places

 

[barneynorman]

Well, I was about to but maybe not now, hey? To be honest, there are five of us and so our main motivation is price. A $300 difference in fare is $1500 overall for us, so I'm keen to find the best fare I can. Here's the deal..

2 adults, 3 children (10, 8 and 3)
Brisbane - Zurich (Paris and Geneva are also okay if need be)

Ideal dates are 31Dec BNE-ZRH and 24Jan ZRH-BNE, stopping the night anywhere on the way would be great, not so important on the way back.
Second option is to go 28Nov BNE-ZRH and 23Dec ZRH-BNE with same stopping options.

I've trawled skyscanner and ITA Matrix and goodness knows where else for the last couple of weeks. I did think of doing the Citibank credit card with the 80,000 QFF points, but it doesn't seem to be available anymore and now this other issue anyway. Any and all suggestions are most welcome. Thanks a million, guys!

 

[barneynorman]

I have Emirates Skywards but only about 750 points as I used them all for a J upgrade a few years back. No loyalty otherwise, I am free to flit around as I like!

 

[Mwenenzi]

Ideal dates are 31Dec BNE-ZRH and 24Jan ZRH-BNE, stopping the night anywhere on the way would be great, not so important on the way back.
Second option is to go 28Nov BNE-ZRH and 23Dec ZRH-BNE with same stopping options.

Your return options are at peak travel dates. Many people would have booked these dates now.

 

[barneynorman]

So just go with whatever I can find on ITA Matrix then? Sounds like I need to get a move on!

 

[greenfish]

You've left your run quite late. You might need to be creative to find something cheap - this probably belongs in the Flight Assistance category. I'm travelling at a similar time, also family of 5, have 5 x oneways back from PRG booked for under $800 each on QF and using 300000 points up to the UK. All up cost for 5 is less than $5000 + a load of points, going up mid Dec, back early Jan.

You'll almost certainly find your option 2 will be cheaper - up in late November, back circa Xmas.

Don't forget to check out MUC, and even PRG for some cheaper fares.

Forget about points, you simply don't have enough to make a difference.

The QF scheme changes will have minimal impact on you, but the best scheme for a family travelling is Virgin, as with family pooling you can get one person to gold quite easily. There are some interesting bookings you can do ex SIN but returning to BNE that can be cheap on Etihad.

 

[RooFlyer]

You've left your run quite late. You might need to be creative to find something cheap - this probably belongs in the Flight Assistance category. <snip>.

Unfortunately OP can't use that due to '30 days' qualification rule.

 

[smit0847]

As others have said, peak travel period so prices are going to be high.

For Option 1 dates I'm seeing various fares around $2100/$2200 pp on various combos of CX, SQ, LX etc.

For Option 2 dates I'm seeing various EY options for $1700/$1800 pp.

I would be going with option 2 and family pooling.

 

[RooFlyer]

Still not sure if this is a specific Qantas query. Thread might need to be moved again to 'Your Questions' as its not just about QF (mods?).

But assuming is a general question (Qantas would almost never be in the 'cheap category!), then for the OP:

I suggest you go to a good travel agent. It shouldn't cost any more and they have quick access to lots of alternatives. I will PM you my TA in Melbourne, but you should try to get one local to you if you aren't in Melbourne. Flight Centre type of TA MIGHT be OK - never used them. TAs should get their commission from the airline, not the customer, so it shouldn't be any more expensive. Don't be afraid to ask the question directly.

Suggest you ask the TA about LH or AY fares which include an intra-Europe return flight (eg fly to Frankfurt or Helsinki respectively, and then fly FRA or HEL to Zurich for no additional cost). Not always offered. But you might be lucky.

Otherwise, there are zillions of combos, but at the time of travel unlikely to be any stand out cheapies. Worth asking a TA - for 5 pax it'll be worth their while.

 

[casanovawa]

Is there an option to get a cheap Scoot or J* or some flight up to Asia and then a cheaper return flight to Europe from one of those cities???

You won't be able to find 5 J class fares and so if you want to sit together it will have to be Y and usually award redemptions in Y aren't that much better than paying for economy...

Last year I met up with a friend who had flown to Brussels out of Jakarta and she got her return flights for about US$700 or something ridiculous on Etihad...

 

[barneynorman]

Hmm nothing too interesting around. Thanks everyone!

 

[smit0847]

Hmm nothing too interesting around. Thanks everyone!

What were you expecting to find? 5 x J reward seats on QF leaving NYE?!?

 

[barneynorman]

What were you expecting to find? 5 x J reward seats on QF leaving NYE?!?

Not at all. I mentioned I wasn't using rewards and I'm not after J tickets. I never said that. Just an honest person looking for some good advice on some economy fares. Is that a problem?

 

[greenfish]

So what is interesting?

Using the advice in this tread, I've found return to Europe (into ZRH, out of DUB) on your dates, for about $1350 each, or into ZRH out of FRA for $1600.

Either option will make one person in the group gold.

 

[barneynorman]

Wow! How did you find $1350?
I was saying there's not much interesting out there in airfare land in the way of a bargain. I know it's peak but if you don't ask, you don't know!

 

[Mumfreqflyer]

Looking at your 2nd date,

Flying Scoot from the Gold Coast to SIN return is around $2700 AUD

Then from sin to zur it's around $6600AUD on LX direct so only 2 flights to get to Zurich.

All up for 5 is around $9300 or $1860 each which is about as good as you can get!

 

[Mumfreqflyer]

Going by your 1st dates around NYE and back end Jan it is actually cheaper.

Scoot again return OOL - SIN $3125

Finnair - SIN - HEL - ZUR - $5338 return

All up for 5 adults ~$8400 so $1680 each

Scoot is $429 one way each OOL to Sin around NYE so if you can be a bit flexible or find a cheaper way to Sin then it will be even cheaper!

Coming home SIN to OOL it is $229....

**edited to change BNE to Gold Coast as scoot only fly from OOL