Help please. PER-LHR-PER and PER-LHR in cattle.

[4lex]

Hello wise travellers. Struggling to make the best choice here. Wife and I have to go to a wedding in the UK - don't want to, but yeah.

Also I have to go to Manhattan with work shortly thereafter. Work will have to pick up the flights to get me from London to NYC and back home.

So we find ourselves needing a two seats LHR-PER and one return. We have about 200k QF miles between us, which seem precious little value out of PER, but there may be an upgrade opportunity DXB-LHR or return.

Also I've justed signed up that Westpac black CC and I'm sure the guy said there were free lounge passes to be had somehow.

Only proviso is that we need to land in the afternoon or evening at either end. I've looked at QF and SQ flights which are comparable costs, with a 50% loading on the outbound for the single. We're looking mid September.

Any tips gratefully received.

Cheers
Alex

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I would be looking in to flights ex SIN. Fly cheaply to SIN ex PER (even take QF on points) and pick up a business class from there if your budget can stretch.

Sri Lankan airlines has a one way special ex SIN in business class for AUD1158. The return is AUD2547 - which is a little on the expensive side but accounts for the UK luxury departure tax (the fare drops $200 or so if you depart from Paris etc).

Sri Lankan has several flights ex SIN. The evening 1950 departure requires an overnight in Colombo (paid for by UL). The morning departure at 0945 from SIN is straight through, but you'd need your own accommodation in SIN (perhaps even at the airport hotel).

If you wanted to travel more cheaply, you could each take the one way Sir Lankan business class fare, and fly back economy from Europe fairly cheaply on a one way. Singapore Airlines or Eitihad will do it for about $1000 all the way from London to Perth.

 

[4lex]

Thanks mate, good tip on the Sri Lankan flights, will investigate. There were no international QF out of Perth any more, not even SIN, but a quick check suggests QF315 has resumed. Cheers.

 

[Mattg]

If I were paying for PER-LHR-NYC-PER out of my own pocket, and had 200K points at my disposal, I would seriously be looking at a oneworld award. They cost 140K points plus taxes in economy and for that price you can take up to 16 flights on oneworld airlines, with 5 stopovers and maximum 35,000 miles. So, if you were inclined to add on a few more destinations and have a few holidays along the way, it would be very good value. Out of Perth, for example, you could fly PER-KUL-HKG (stopover in Hong Kong) - LHR (stopover in London) - Paris (stopover in Paris) - New York (stopover) - DFW - HNL (stopover in Hawaii) - SYD-PER. That's just an example. Actually, you could go pretty much anywhere in the world with that ticket.

Otherwise if looking for a cash fare, QF usually have semi-reasonably priced tickets if you book a multi-city ticket Australia-London-USA-Australia.

 

[4lex]

If I were paying for PER-LHR-NYC-PER out of my own pocket, and had 200K points at my disposal, I would seriously be looking at a oneworld award.

Thanks for the thought, and so would I. But I'm not

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Hello wise travellers. Struggling to make the best choice here. Wife and I have to go to a wedding in the UK - don't want to, but yeah.

Also I have to go to Manhattan with work shortly thereafter. Work will have to pick up the flights to get me from London to NYC and back home.

So we find ourselves needing a two seats LHR-PER and one return. We have about 200k QF miles between us, which seem precious little value out of PER, but there may be an upgrade opportunity DXB-LHR or return.

Also I've justed signed up that Westpac black CC and I'm sure the guy said there were free lounge passes to be had somehow.

Only proviso is that we need to land in the afternoon or evening at either end. I've looked at QF and SQ flights which are comparable costs, with a 50% loading on the outbound for the single. We're looking mid September.

Any tips gratefully received.

Cheers
Alex

Why not both go via NYC as your company will obviously pay PER/NYC/PER then all you have to do is either buy a cheap NYC/LON/NYC or use your QF points for a Partner award on BA or AA non-stop or AY via HEL pr AB via TXL or DUS?

Your wife could do the same although I imagine it would need to be a separate pnr if your company's TA is booking your ticket & you are booking your wife's ticket separately.

It's still probably worth comparing the above option (for your wife) with a ticket PER/NYC/LON/PER so you could at least maybe to half the journey together then you fly back LON/NYC while she flies LON/PER.

 

[Sparra]

Thanks mate, good tip on the Sri Lankan flights, will investigate. There were no international QF out of Perth any more, not even SIN, but a quick check suggests QF315 has resumed. Cheers.

QFA resume PER-SIN 26th June, five days week, QF71/72.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

QFA resume PER-SIN 26th June, five days week, QF71/72.

Indeed - with a base fare of just $200 return ($325 including government taxes and fees).

Oh... just gotta add fuel surcharges on top of that for $200 to get the advertised $525.

Award booking is 50k points and $327. Points plus pay is 50K points and just $220 cash.

 

[4lex]

Good to know QF putting on at least some flights out of PER. Not much keen on the idea of PER-NYC-LON-NYC-PER, sounds like an awful lot of time in the old pressurised tube, I'm really all about minimising that. I do like the Oneworld rtw idea, will have to see if I can come to some agreement with my employer, that allows me to also fly with my o/h per-lon at a realistic cost.

It did occur to me that I could book the EK metal on a QF ticket with the black CC to score lounge passes to use in dxb, going to have a look to see if we could hang on there a few hours and get a QF aircraft dxb-lon with the possibility of a points upgrade... Damn this is complicated.

 

[greenfish]

Good to know QF putting on at least some flights out of PER. Not much keen on the idea of PER-NYC-LON-NYC-PER, sounds like an awful lot of time in the old pressurised tube, I'm really all about minimising that. I do like the Oneworld rtw idea, will have to see if I can come to some agreement with my employer, that allows me to also fly with my o/h per-lon at a realistic cost.

It did occur to me that I could book the EK metal on a QF ticket with the black CC to score lounge passes to use in dxb, going to have a look to see if we could hang on there a few hours and get a QF aircraft dxb-lon with the possibility of a points upgrade... Damn this is complicated.

If the lounge passes are QF Lounge passes they won't work in Dubai - they usually are for QF operated lounges only.

Why not look for a reward ticket for the single - avoiding the one-way loading? Looks like you can go for 56000 points PER->LHR and vv. in Y on QF or EK. Seem to be quite a few options - QR, CX, EK (and perhaps MH too)?

You might get lucky and find a pair of J reward tickets (you're only about 24000 points short, so stock up on some wine from Epiqure)...

 

[4lex]

If the lounge passes are QF Lounge passes they won't work in Dubai - they usually are for QF operated lounges only.

Good spot, thanks. That would've been annoying.

Why not look for a reward ticket for the single - avoiding the one-way loading? Looks like you can go for 56000 points PER->LHR and vv. in Y on QF or EK. Seem to be quite a few options - QR, CX, EK (and perhaps MH too)?

Like that as an idea, in fact that's the best one yet, cheers.

You might get lucky and find a pair of J reward tickets (you're only about 24000 points short, so stock up on some wine from Epiqure)...

Eight grand on wine? Think I'd opt to pay cash for the return and keep the points for another wedding mission looming next year. Cheers.

 

[greenfish]

Eight grand on wine? Think I'd opt to pay cash for the return and keep the points for another wedding mission looming next year. Cheers.

These ones with a 7500 point bonus for $294 - 3 cases and you'll be close to be able to go one way in business class (or at least some mixture of economy, PE and business)....

https://www.qantasepiqure.com.au/Wine/Mixed-Winter-Warmer-Red-Dozen/p/MIXWINDOZNV

There's a few other bonus point offers on the site too.

 

[4lex]

Nice. Tempting too, thanks.

 

[4lex]

Damn. No award flights around then.

Has it been known for more award flights to become available, or is it invariably fewer as time goes on?

 

[greenfish]

Damn. No award flights around then.

Has it been known for more award flights to become available, or is it invariably fewer as time goes on?

They often do become available, but you can't count on it. What are your approx dates? Also, you might need to think laterally e.g. fly into / out of a different airport. I'm having to go to the UK on short notice in a few weeks, and am flying into Manchester and taking the train back to London. May fly home again from Amsterdam or Paris...all depends what I can find..

Are you trying to minimse cost or maximise comfort? Some of the assymetric (e.g. SIN->LHR, DUB->BNE) revenue Etihad fares can be fantastic value. The earlier suggestions of Sri Lankan for J are good if you'd like a little more comfort.