MEL to Europe (LHR/CDG/AMS/?) in F - which OW/QF partner?

[theevilmuppet]

Hi all,

My partner and I are planning a trip to Europe at some point next year and we have enough points to fly in First to LHR via any of the options we can find via the search Qantas so graciously provide. We'd be looking at outright award seat redemptions when booking.

That said, we've got a few questions for members who have done this before:

1. Would you start your international leg from MEL, or does flying to another city first make for better options (disregarding the awful domestic-international transitions in some cities)?
2. Which city in Europe would you ideally choose to fly into?
3. Of EK, QF, CX, QR, BA, etc, which carrier/s would you favour?

Thanks to all who reply.

 

[kody]

Will be interested to see the comments on this one, as I'm also looking into F redemptions for next year. My 2 cents is most EK options I've searched out of MEL or SYD are transiting via Asia (BKK or SIN) and then DXB which is a tad annoying. I'm keen to try EK F as I found their business class A380 quite good not a big drinker but loved the bar area to stretch out. Have flown QF and BA F and can say BA is better for couples as QF is very private you can dine together but most the journey is spent alone (some people may like this other like to interact with their partner during the flight) but loved QF. From my understanding flying into LHR is ok but I think I read somewhere it's cheaper taxes to flow out of another port. EK has flights from most European cities just make sure it's the A380. CX options will require a transit in SIN or BKK for F from Australia otherwise you could do J then F... hope this info is helpful I'm using the app so can't tell if it makes sense probably a bit all over the place ð

 

[RichardMEL]

OPINION ONLY:

You're probably going to be far more limited by availability than choice - even booking a year out and one would suggest if you can find F avail you should grab it!!

That said, everyone has different opinions on which is the "best" and it probably also depends on what each traveler values in an experience - things like lounges, on board catering, hard product, availability of stuff like the shower or inflight bar on EK, and so on. Many have their own preferences.

The other thing to note is that if you picked a partner that does not fly a F cabin to Australia (eg CX which has a top notch F product IMHO) you'd have to get to a port with a F cabin in J most likely, and that is a different value proposal for some.

Leaving from MEL will be perfectly acceptable assuming access to the QF F lounge which offers an offering very similar to the SYD experience and would be available if flying EK or QF F.

As for where to go in Europe? I think this would again depend on availability and what your plans would be, but you may find better options trying to look to redeem for destinations that may be less popular for awards (eg: maybe look at EK to LGW or MAN or secondary european cities)

good luck with finding options that suit

 

[BriarFlyer]

We have just been through this process and second RichardMEL's comment re availability limiting the choices. We were searching for an early-mid September flight and two choices seemed readily available. QR 1-stop: SYD-CDG and others but not LHR. EK: SYD or MEL to LHR, 1 stop on a 6am or 5am departure, or 2 stop via BKK or SIN respectively, evening departure. We ended up booking EK despite the 2 stops as we preferred flying into LHR and the evening departure time (plus I want to try the shower.) Note: the QR flights appeared as bookable a week or two earlier than EK.

We booked our return flight with SQ but availability with QF points seemed limited to the EK 2-stop option for the dates we were searching in late Sept-early Oct.

P.S. I believe BA was available but we didn't look at them.