Perth to Europe reward seats for 6 people in economy - unrealistic?

[RDtravel]

Hi all,

An excited beginner here and I'm hoping to make my first Krisflyer redemption in the next couple of months but I'm worried that after building up enough points to get my husband and four children over there, there may not be any availability for 6 seats, even in economy?

I have a mixture of Velocity and Krisflyer miles which should be enough to get us all there and was going to transfer Velocity points over to Krisflyer closer to the time. I was then going to use Qantas points to get us back home in January from Finland.

We're heading off mid-August, 2024. Our first destination from Perth is The Faroe Islands, so I'm hoping to get to Copenhagen or Edinburgh to then fly to The FI from there. I was playing around in the Singapore Airlines booking page and it seems all saver reward bookings are already gone as far ahead as possible - so am I dreaming thinking I can get 6 economy seats to Europe?

Thanks for any guidance or advice!

 

[luxury-lizard]

Since you are 2 adults and 4 children you could consider separating onto 2 flights (with one adult and 2 children on each) - this will give you a greater chance to getting award seats. Right now at the edge of the SQ booking window (July 11,2024) there are 4 award seats inn Y and 4 in J. (Not sure if you have sufficient points for J). You need to be ready to book as soon as your date(s) open on th SQ site.

 

[BriarFlyer]

I'm not sure that KF releases 6 x Savers on Perth flights. You may have more luck with 6 from the eastern capitals (e.g. today's release MEL-CPH has 6 x Savers available and MEL-FRA or MEL-LHR has 6 x Savers on multiple flights. Note that SQ doesn't fly to Edinburgh.

 

[Human]

Note that SQ doesn't fly to Edinburgh.

... but it does fly into Manchester, where there's generally more award seat availability than to some of Singapore's other European destinations. From there it's a 3-ish hour train trip to Edinburgh, and I think there are flights as well.

 

[Mwenenzi]

An excited beginner here and I'm hoping to make my first Krisflyer redemption in the next couple of months but I'm worried that after building up enough points to get my husband and four children over there, there may not be any availability for 6 seats, even in economy?

I have a mixture of Velocity and Krisflyer miles which should be enough to get us all there and was going to transfer Velocity points over to Krisflyer closer to the time. I was then going to use Qantas points to get us back home in January from Finland.

We're heading off mid-August, 2024. Our first destination from Perth is The Faroe Islands, so I'm hoping to get to Copenhagen or Edinburgh to then fly to The FI from there. I was playing around in the Singapore Airlines booking page and it seems all saver reward bookings are already gone as far ahead as possible - so am I dreaming thinking I can get 6 economy seats to Europe?

Getting 6 (or 3 +3) PER to EU in mid Aug 2024 is one challenge (~13 months away)

But I suspect getting 6 (or 3 + 3) from Finland to PER with QF points in January 2025 will be a bigger challenge. A lot of personal (non work) travel AU<-->EU/UK in January. Will need to be very flexible with route/dates/airlines. Getting to Asia and paid flights to PER an option

All the best for the searches

A map from the Great Circle Mapper

A map from the Great Circle Mapper

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[RDtravel]

Really helpful insights @luxury-lizard @BriarFlyer @Human @Mwenenzi thank you!

Looks like I've got a problem-solving challenge ahead of me!

Yikes, as a beginner I didn't even consider getting 6 reward seats in economy being an issue, so if 6 x savers from PER-SIN aren't an option, then I will need to consider either leaving from the east coast with the added cost of getting from PER-MEL, split up taking 2 flights departing the same day from PER-SIN and then try to meet up in SIN to fly together as a family to CPH, pay cash to get out of Australia, or maybe even pay half cash half reward seats to get on the same flight.

I will keep working on it and take it one step at a time! It may even be worth me investing some money into having a professional take the bookings on for me as it seems getting home will be a bit tricky too.

Thanks so much for your time and suggestions, I really appreciate it!

 

[Mwenenzi]

or maybe even pay half cash half reward seats to get on the same flight.

The flight with award seats may not be the best for cash tickets. May be other flights/routes/airlines with far better cash fares.
Long haul one way cash fares can be expensive. So look at all options.

If considering paying cash to get to the AU east coast ADL-MEL-SYD-BNE would suggest paying cash to get to/from Asia instead. Getting to/from the AU mainland seems to be hardest. Some have found awards easier to find to/fom Asia<--->EU-UK compared to AU<--->EU-UK.

Best of luck with the hunts.

 

[RDtravel]

The flight with award seats may not be the best for cash tickets. May be other flights/routes/airlines with far better cash fares.
Long haul one way cash fares can be expensive. So look at all options.

If considering paying cash to get to the AU east coast ADL-MEL-SYD-BNE would suggest paying cash to get to/from Asia instead. Getting to/from the AU mainland seems to be hardest. Some have found awards easier to find to/fom Asia<--->EU-UK compared to AU<--->EU-UK.

Best of luck with the hunts.

Yes okay thank you! That all makes sense - I'll look into getting straight to Asia from Perth if I pay cash.

 

[Mattg]

Since you're looking for economy class, I think you have a chance.

 

[RDtravel]

Since you're looking for economy class, I think you have a chance.

well that might be my favourite answer haha! Thanks everyone!

 

[RDtravel]

In case anyone was interested I thought I would share the results! We just booked our flights for 2 adults and 4 children from Perth to Copenhagen (via Singapore) and while a little stressful we did it!

- Flying Singapore Airlines (economy), for only $344 in taxes.
- We made 2 bookings, 1 x adult and 2 x children on saver awards (47,500 KF points), and because the seats were already filling up and waitlisted we had to take 1 x adult and 2 x children on the advantage award (80,000 KF points).

While I understand the advantage award was a lot more points, and obviously worse value, we are still so happy that as a family of 6 on a budget we were all able to secure seats and only pay $344 to get to Europe.

Thanks for everyone's advice which really helped during the booking process!

 

[Lost Redditor]

In case anyone was interested I thought I would share the results! We just booked our flights for 2 adults and 4 children from Perth to Copenhagen (via Singapore) and while a little stressful we did it!

- Flying Singapore Airlines (economy), for only $344 in taxes.
- We made 2 bookings, 1 x adult and 2 x children on saver awards (47,500 KF points), and because the seats were already filling up and waitlisted we had to take 1 x adult and 2 x children on the advantage award (80,000 KF points).

While I understand the advantage award was a lot more points, and obviously worse value, we are still so happy that as a family of 6 on a budget we were all able to secure seats and only pay $344 to get to Europe.

Thanks for everyone's advice which really helped during the booking process!

Nicely done! I have to ask, how is it flying with 4 kids? We flew recently with just one (toddler) and that was challenging enough Assuming it gets easier when there aren't nappies and prams involved. But you know what they say about assumptions...

 

[CaptJCool]

its great to see the reward program could actually give you 6 seats!

Bravo

at 63k per person (47kx3 and 80kx3) across the 6 of you that's not exactly breaking the bank.

https://www.singaporeair.com/saar5/pdf/ppsclub_krisflyer/charts/SQ_AwdChart.pdf

Of course, one might wish to get the cheapest for all 6 but in effect you only spent 33kx3 - 17k extra per tic - Good outcome and everyone's ON BOARD!

 

[RDtravel]

Nicely done! I have to ask, how is it flying with 4 kids? We flew recently with just one (toddler) and that was challenging enough Assuming it gets easier when there aren't nappies and prams involved. But you know what they say about assumptions...

haha it takes teamwork by my husband and I that's for sure! Our motto is 'go in prepared for the worst, and anything above that is a bonus'! And it DEFINITELY gets easier. Toddlers are hard, but we find when they are 4 years old things start to become less stressful. All the best with future travels with your little one - good on you for getting out there and just giving it a go anyway!

 

[RDtravel]

its great to see the reward program could actually give you 6 seats!

Bravo

at 63k per person (47kx3 and 80kx3) across the 6 of you that's not exactly breaking the bank.

https://www.singaporeair.com/saar5/pdf/ppsclub_krisflyer/charts/SQ_AwdChart.pdf

Of course, one might wish to get the cheapest for all 6 but in effect you only spent 33kx3 - 17k extra per tic - Good outcome and everyone's ON BOARD!

Thanks so much for the encouragement! We are so happy. It sure was a learning curve, but I feel like I might be progressing from a beginner to maybe an intermediate point collector now!