PER-TXL Jul, MUC-PER Aug. Go with easy Lufthansa L or is there a paid points option?

[Glider_]

Hi everyone,

Mr Glider and I are headed to lovely Deutschland for a wedding and some alpine motorcycling this summer. As a newcomer to AFF forums, I'm still trolling through the library of old threads and starting to form a strategy for future flights, but I think it may be too late (and me too naive) to find a great deal for our upcoming summer trip. Nonetheless, I thought it worth asking the AFF hive mind for some expert opinion.

Our dates are 22 July Perth to Berlin, then 27 August from Munich to Perth. The dates are flexible by about a day both sides.

Last trip to London was with SQ in Y; short flight to Singapore on old plane, then the long sector in their A380 in the upper deck economy section. Best flight ever, would do again. Unfortunately SQ have priced themselves out of the market right now at $3k return in Y.

Lufthansa currently has sale fares, $1900pp return in L; SQ codeshare PER-SIN then LH SIN-FRA in their own A380, and short LH hops to and from FRA. These flights can be booked in one go direct with LH, will get us the open jaw we want within 24 hours travel time at an acceptable price and on a decent plane for the long sector. So they're ok for your average punters. Only downsides are that the flights are non-refundable and unchangeable, and the LH Miles&More scheme seems pretty useless. I haven't flown LH before but how bad can a new a380 be?

However, I'm interested in knowing if any of the current FF points-buy sales could lead to a better deal, without risk? Our current FF points balances over VA, QF and KF is essentially zero, so we'd be completely relying on joining other schemes and purchasing points. From my reading on the forum so far I get the impression that ex-Aus and European high season J award redemptions may not be easily available so relatively close to travel? I'm excited to take the plunge and give it a go if there is definitely a way to make it work, I just don't know quite which direction to go.

I haven't flown internationally from PER very often but every time it's been on the coughpiest plane the airline had kicking around, and EK still hasn't brought the a380 here yet, so ideally the trip would have a short hop to somewhere like SIN to transfer onto an a380 or 787 for the next ~12h sector. Budget for j flights is up to $3k/pax return, and I'd also be interested in mixed class with Y for the short sectors and J for the long sector.


Thanks for reading, do you have any thoughts or advice you can offer me?

Kind Regards,
Carolyn

 

[cove]

Re: PER-TXL Jul, MUC-PER Aug. Go with easy Lufthansa L or is there a paid points opti

Carolyn have a read of the Avianca Life Miles thread seeing US Dividend Miles and Star Alliance is finishing next month.

 

[Glider_]

Re: PER-TXL Jul, MUC-PER Aug. Go with easy Lufthansa L or is there a paid points opti

Thank you cove, I'd started it but not finished it yet. I'll continue and come back then.

My initial thought was that LM would be an excellent system to join, but I'm uncertain if it is wise holding off booking normal rev flights in hope that LM runs a promotion that could be useful, and that j redemptions will still be available for my high season dates if/when that happens.

Basically, I'm worried that if LM doesn't have a decent promotion in the next few months I'm going to be stuck paying top dollar for horrible Y fares.

 

[cove]

Re: PER-TXL Jul, MUC-PER Aug. Go with easy Lufthansa L or is there a paid points opti

Open two LM accounts and you will be ready.
Thai J product or their First has worked for many of our friends so going thru Thailand is a good option.
kpc knows how to use LM and could help you if you ask nicely. Sure he is based in Sydney but he has taken more than two on LM runs.