One World Award in Sep/Oct 2018 in Business (4 pax)

[MrHyde]

Hi,

I would like some help in finding a feasible itinerary for a One World Award in Business. The dates of travel are between 15 September 2018 and 14 October 2018. The travel is for 2 adults and 2 children (10 & 7).

The places we must have in the itinerary are Rome and Paris. Places we would like to go include in the itinerary are South India (say Kochi), Bahrain, Moscow or somewhere in Eastern Europe. Other than that, we are open to suggestions. I wouldn't mind going to London, New York or Los Angeles - but think availability could be a bit of a problem. I am also open to going to Malaysia or SE Asia (Vietnam/Cambodia). I am also open to going somewhere and then taking another cheapo flight to another location. For example, get to KUL and then take a cheap return flight from there to HCM.

I have enough points to cover the redemption. Atleast all long flights (> 4 hours) must be in Business class.

Since the One World Award is basically 5 stops, and we want to go for about 4 weeks, we are looking at about 5-6 days per stop. We are a little bit flexible in our dates; but basically are looking at around the school holidays so that the kids are only away from school for 2 weeks.

Open to ideas and suggestions. I am looking now as the seats may be more easily available being a year ahead.

Cheers,
MrHyde

Update: I have Gold status with QF. We are also open to exploiting the 24 hour rule to break up journeys and even do short half day trips of cities or overnight rest stops where we transit.

 

[jetpack]

I've never used professional award assistance services like the one AFF offers but this one is probably worth the $225 fee.

 

[MrHyde]

Do you mean the Frequent Flyer Solutions Centre? I had a look; but was not sure how the Award Flight Assist actually worked. Have not seen much talk about it anywhere.

The other option was to just ring Qantas and see what we come up with. The last time I did this, it took hours and hours on the phone with them - but the outcome was good. Only thing, this time round, I don't have hours to spend on the phone with them as I am on the road for most of the next two week and would like to lock in the major flights soon before they disappear.

 

[bsb]

I’d pick my non negotiable ports, then Call QF. Depending on your status, be prepared to wait, but once you get through,in my experience, they will be very helpful and keep going until you get something reasonable. But don’t call unless you have a good idea of what you want to do.

I’d aim for MH to KL, fly from there to wherever you feel like in SE Asia, then get back to BKK and ask for AY from there to Europe or HKG and CX, both give variety of options. Next choice QR. I find ex BKK on J easiest as it’s primarily a leisure destination.

India will be a hard ask as OW has no presence there. UL or MH will get you in and QR out, but it’ll be a points hungry exercise.

Once you’re in Europe, do open jaw and either train or cheap local flights to get around. Then AY to US and then AA (or if you’re lucky, QF back).

The other option is it pay for a cheap flight to DPS and pick up QR from there as there are good redemptions out of there.

The four seats will be your major challenge so be prepared to split up to achieve this. The QF seats x 4 will be well and likely a no go, people book these the day they become available which was about a month ago based on your dates. If you have WP status you’ll get to request on QF, but don’t hold your breath. But never say never, I’ve pulled a J redemption off for two, four months out (but about my least desirable date).

Ultimately, the more flexible you are, the easier it will be. AY, AA, BA, QR all seem easy to redeem on in my experience. Don’t dawdle, you’ll need to get a move on.

Good luck and let us know how you went.

 

[MrHyde]

I used the Award Flight Assist service and it was brilliant. They provided me with three options based on my criteria - I picked one - called Qantas and the whole booking was done in less than 10 minutes.

The itinerary I ended up going with was as follows:

6/09: MEL - HKG - SGN,
surface sector: SGN - HKG by budget airline like VietJet or add to itinerary if award seats appear.
11/09: HKG - BAH
15/09: BAH - LHR - FCO
surface sector: FCO - CDG by train with a possibility of another stop on the way
26/09: ORY - LCY - JFK
surface sector: JFK - IAD by train
surface sector: IAD - RDU by car (got family in RDU that we want to visit now)
surface sector: RDU - LAX by plane
09/10: LAX - BNE - MEL

Once AA award seats are released (at 330 days); I'll look at adding RDU-LAX to the itinerary.

The other two options were just as good with one even taking us to Santiago and Tokyo.

This was the best $225 I've spent this year. Definately recommend the service. Matt was very responsive and the turnaround time to finding the flights was amazing.

 

[support]

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