One way price too expensive

[Inuniform]

I am currently trying to book a trip for my wife and I to Canada next year. I am attempting to fly using QFF in J from SYD to HKG to YVR. This is proving troublesome in itself, however the greater problem seems to be the cost of purchasing a one way ticket on our return from YVR to SYD. Tickets are near enough to the same as return fares. I am happy to fly out of LAX, however this does not seem to make any difference. Is there something I am missing here or are these exorbitant one way prices the norm?

 

[Anna]

Exorbitant one way prices are the norm. The recommended solution is AA to HNL followed by JQ from HNL - SYD.

 

[moa999]

You will find almost all legacy carriers charge big premiums for international one-way fares..

 

[harvyk]

I take it your trying to do SYD-HGK-YVR as an award booking and YVR-SYD as a standard paid fare?

If so why not try a YVR-SYD-YVR with the SYD-YVR booking set to some very future date? I know it's not as cheap as half a return ticket, but worst case scenario you throw away the SYD-YVR sector your still ahead on your YVR-SYD sector.

 

[mannej]

It is normal practice for this to occur

 

[cmon0005]

Or if you could get yourself to LAX, Malaysia Airlines do have good prices one-way in J, I recently did HKG-KUL-SIN one way.
I picked a random date in April next year and got $3800, only disadvantage is the extra travel time, but hey it's in J and think of the QFF SC's!

 

[harvyk]

<snip> but hey it's in J and think of the QFF SC's!

Now that's the AFF way...

 

[Aussie_flyer]

Yes you should purchase frequent flyer miles on one of the programs and try for a redemption on the return leg, even if in economy class it's probably cheaper than a one way

 

[BD1959]

Dummy bookings on the QF website have YVR-SYD one-way at CAD7,524 in March, LAX-SYD at US$8,430 - these appear to be fairly consistent prices at 9 months out (assuming you're booking early due to looking for Award availability)

Have you looked at positioning for a cheaper J return. eg Instead, use your award to position yourself via a J-return redemption to MNL and pick-up CX from there.

Dummy bookings on the CX website has J promotions consistently at US$3330 return. Use your savings to enjoy some time on Boracay!!

Regards,

BD

 

[Mwenenzi]

You are probably better coming back via HKG (on Cathay)
If a mix of points/reward and cash (as suggested in post 4) try SYD-HKG / HKG-SYD cash [or reward] then HKG-YVR / YVR-HKG reward [or cash]

 

[Isochronous]

Or if you could get yourself to LAX, Malaysia Airlines do have good prices one-way in J, I recently did HKG-KUL-SIN one way.
I picked a random date in April next year and got $3800, only disadvantage is the extra travel time, but hey it's in J and think of the QFF SC's!

That's a great tip. Will keep it in mind for future!

 

[scheps]

you will get a lot of SCs with MH, it will be LAX to NRT to KUL to Oz. Just need the right J ticket to credit like a J ticket.

 

[dajop]

kayak.com is showing Air Pacific (or soon to be Fiji Airways) at around $2900 USD per passenger, although that price doesn't flow through to booking. Worth looking into, given they will be flying new A330's with very good angled lie flat product (SQ regional product).

 

[Inuniform]

Thank you all for your suggestions. Just to clarify, we were planning on returning from YVR in Y class. The outbound leg from SYD - HKG - YVR we're trying to do in J to use up the QFF points that we have accrued and this seemed to be the best way to maximise our benefit. To me, it made sense to book J at the beginning of the trip to help with jetlag as well as experiencing J for the first time. Mixing up the booking with points plus pay seems like a solution, but like I said, we were really hoping to book the outbound leg in J (with points) and return in Y (pay). Nevertheless, I will investigate the numerous suggestions, thanks again.

 

[Isochronous]

kayak.com is showing Air Pacific (or soon to be Fiji Airways) at around $2900 USD per passenger, although that price doesn't flow through to booking. Worth looking into, given they will be flying new A330's with very good angled lie flat product (SQ regional product).

I was about to make that very suggestion, dajop. Is that a J price?

 

[dajop]

I was about to make that very suggestion, dajop. Is that a J price?

That's what kayak was indicating. In Y it was ~ $800.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Thank you all for your suggestions. Just to clarify, we were planning on returning from YVR in Y class. The outbound leg from SYD - HKG - YVR we're trying to do in J to use up the QFF points that we have accrued and this seemed to be the best way to maximise our benefit. To me, it made sense to book J at the beginning of the trip to help with jetlag as well as experiencing J for the first time. Mixing up the booking with points plus pay seems like a solution, but like I said, we were really hoping to book the outbound leg in J (with points) and return in Y (pay). Nevertheless, I will investigate the numerous suggestions, thanks again.

You can try LAX-NAN with points then pay NAN-SYD.

 

[BD1959]

Thank you all for your suggestions. Just to clarify, we were planning on returning from YVR in Y class. The outbound leg from SYD - HKG - YVR we're trying to do in J to use up the QFF points that we have accrued and this seemed to be the best way to maximise our benefit. To me, it made sense to book J at the beginning of the trip to help with jetlag as well as experiencing J for the first time. Mixing up the booking with points plus pay seems like a solution, but like I said, we were really hoping to book the outbound leg in J (with points) and return in Y (pay). Nevertheless, I will investigate the numerous suggestions, thanks again.

Dangerous, very dangerous! Once you've tried J, you won't want to touch Y again if you can help it!!

Probably not relevant now, but I've done some more digging for those who may wish to avail themselves.

SYD-MNL-SYD with a JASA costs from $1,505 + 120K points, yields 240SCs and a minimum of 11,686 points.

MNL-HKG-YVR-HKG-MNL books into CX I-Class at $3330 (that Business Standard and not a promo as I previously stated). At my calcs, based on GCM, this will yield 440SCs and 17,757 points (Incl 25% Cabin bonus).

Pretty good ROI compared with standard revenue J.

Regards,

BD

 

[sanne]

Not sure if this is helpful or not....

When my husband and I are in this situation we buy one return J ticket and use points to buy 1 JASA return ( or classic award ). Has worked very well for us in the past.

 

[macrop]

I'm planning a trip very similar to yours as well but to LAX via HKG from Perth though returning via Fiji. As others have mentioned the Air pacific route seems to be a little diamond in the rough for J so far if you can score their new A330. A one way J seat LAX to NAN is just over 2k in Fiji dollars (1200 bucks Aussie) via the Air Pacific's own site. Air pacific only seem to charge a small premium for one way travel. It is around 55-60% of the cost of a return flight.

Qantas does not charge any premium on one-way flights from Fiji at all I've found It is like booking a domestic flight where return flight is basically twice the price of a one-way flight. New Zealand and New Caledonian flights to and from Australia are the same which I have tried myself.