PER to Croatia Slovenia and Return using QFF points

[jennyspring]

2 of us going to Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary in April/May from Perth.

I have 360000 Qantas miles, but can’t work out best use do them.

Want to fly Per to ? (Zagreb/Budapest/?) April 12/13, and back to Perth May 10/11. I have flexibility with dates and where we fly in and out of.

Any suggestions on how to maximise our miles? And not pay too much cash to get the right flights?

 

[JohnM]

1. Look at redeeming your QF points on EK. EK flies direct to ZAG and BUD from DXB.

2. Be flexible in looking for EK flights out of Australia to DXB (eg. it may be easier ex PER, ADL, BNE than ex SYD or MEL), so worth an el-cheapo positioning flight.

3. Get cracking. Booking 300++ days out is best, especially if chasing J or above awards.

 

[jennyspring]

Hi John

Thanks!

What do you mean by a Positoning flight?

I’ve looked and can only find 1st class Qatar, so does that mean all others are gone?

Is it possible to use FF Return to Dubai and then pay for Dubai Zagreb return? Would that be better?

Thanks for your help.

1. Look at redeeming your QF points on EK. EK flies direct to ZAG and BUD from DXB.

2. Be flexible in looking for EK flights out of Australia to DXB (eg. it may be easier ex PER, ADL, BNE than ex SYD or MEL), so worth an el-cheapo positioning flight.

3. Get cracking. Booking 300++ days out is best, especially if chasing J or above awards.

hnhn

 

[JohnM]

Positioning flight is simply a domestic flight to position to a port where you have found Award availability.

What I am saying is, if you can't find appropriate award availability from PER, don't omit to search from ADL, BNE, SYD, MEL. You may just snare what you want and a Red-E Deal positioning flight may be money well spent.

Look at all options. So, Aus-DXB-Aus as an award and buy DXB-ZAG-DXB may be the best bangs for the points and the buck.

Flexibility is key.

QR is, of course, the other option. They fly DOH-SJJ (Sarajevo) but not to ZAG.

 

[dajop]

A couple of other considerations:

1) Look at getting to Singapore or Kuala Lumpur on cheap fares as well, unlike MEL/SYD/BNE at least you are heading in the right direction - and the points will be less not more
2) Consider QF 9 to London if you can get it - although you will need to change airports, London’s Gatwick BA operate various flights to Croatia, Slovenia and/or Hungary, depending on time of year (actually London Heathrow to Budapest I think). Taking QF out of London though will be more costly due to UK air passenger duty.
3) Venice and Vienna are also not far by trains from where you want to go
4) Turkish airlines have reasonable fares from Istanbul to the Balkans - various destinations, so getting to Istanbul and paying for flight from there might also be an option
5) If all else fails look at getting to Low cost carrier hub - spend a night there and take LCC to where you want to go. Such hubs would include Paris, London, Rome, Milan, Geneva, Manchester, Barcelona, Dublin and others.

Oh Finnair also operates seasonal services to Ljubljana and Dubrovnik from Helsinki.

 

[astrosly]

QR is, of course, the other option. They fly DOH-SJJ (Sarajevo) but not to ZAG.

QR do fly to ZAG, I'm returning one stop ZAG to PER next July with them.

Note that EK fly the B777 to ZAG whereas QR use an A320 but some aircraft have lie flat business class seats.

 

[astrosly]

A couple of other considerations:

1) Look at getting to Singapore or Kuala Lumpur on cheap fares as well, unlike MEL/SYD/BNE at least you are heading in the right direction - and the points will be less not more
2) Consider QF 9 to London if you can get it - although you will need to change airports, London’s Gatwick BA operate various flights to Croatia, Slovenia and/or Hungary, depending on time of year (actually London Heathrow to Budapest I think). Taking QF out of London though will be more costly due to UK air passenger duty.
3) Venice and Vienna are also not far by trains from where you want to go
4) Turkish airlines have reasonable fares from Istanbul to the Balkans - various destinations, so getting to Istanbul and paying for flight from there might also be an option
5) If all else fails look at getting to Low cost carrier hub - spend a night there and take LCC to where you want to go. Such hubs would include Paris, London, Rome, Milan, Geneva, Manchester, Barcelona, Dublin and others.

Oh Finnair also operates seasonal services to Ljubljana and Dubrovnik from Helsinki.

BA operate daily flights from LHR to ZAG year round and 3/4 weekly to SPU (Split) during May-Sep which leave around 8am and connect nicely with the early AM arrival of QF9. Maybe look at connecting a EU flight to QF10 to save the UK air passenger duty.

Finnair also operate seasonal services HEL to SPU.

 

[JohnM]

QR do fly to ZAG, I'm returning one stop ZAG to PER next July with them.

Oops, my bad. I accidentally got Zagreda when I had a quick look.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Is it possible to use FF Return to Dubai and then pay for Dubai Zagreb return? Would that be better?

yes, you can do this, but not on the same ticket. An award ticket and paid ticket will have to be separate, and therfore you need to allow sufficient connecting time to pass through immigration, collect your bags, head back to check-in for your next flight, and then exit formalities. And you need to factor in a margin for delys.

 

[jase05]

Have you looked at cheap flights to CGK or SIN from PER?
Normally good award availability to/from both.
I did see some availability on QR for BUD-PER on May 9th