QR seems to have locked out the cheap flight to Asia option.

[OZDUCK]

What I am getting at is the option I, and others, have used in taking a "cheap" flight to an Asian airport, flying QR J to our destination and then flying back into Australia on them. For example,this year we flew to Singapore on ScootBiz and then flew QR J SIN-BCN-DOH-PER and saved about $2,000 each by not flying QR out of Perth.

There is a current QR sale on, ex Singapore, and I tried to see what prices I could get for a multiple city fare. The interesting thing is whenever I used Perth, or Sydney, as the final destination port there were suddenly no seats/fares available. The seats are there for flights originating from Australia, at the full price, or for open-jaw flights to/from Singapore etc.

It would appear that someone in QR has woken up to our avoiding the price gouging most airlines use on flights ex-Australia and have tweaked their internal processes. It of course possible that it is simply a product of QR's notoriously bad office capabilities but I doubt it.

 

[GoldCanyon340]

Cheap QR ex-CGK too. Yesterday I found CGK-DOH-LHR/LGW return J on QR and BA from AUD2800. Tried pricing with an Australia tag at the end but the price was prohibitive.

 

[futaris]

Take Finnair.

AY (Finnair) BKK-AMS Business 51565 THB (~2150 AUD) return

 

[OZDUCK]

Take Finnair.

AY (Finnair) BKK-AMS Business 51565 THB (~2150 AUD) return

Yes, I have contributed to the thread you kindly started about the AY sale. I have been pricing them and you can get a the sort of trip I want e.g. BKK-Europe-SIN-PER for about $3,700. But I was hoping to avoid the pretty average "Euro-Business" type flights on AY from Helsinki to Oslo etc. Personally, I found AY to be fine in the air but not in the same class as QR.

I was just amused, I guess, that QR seemed to have picked up that some in Australia had used a "cunning plan" to get a good price.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

What I am getting at is the option I, and others, have used in taking a "cheap" flight to an Asian airport, flying QR J to our destination and then flying back into Australia on them. For example,this year we flew to Singapore on ScootBiz and then flew QR J SIN-BCN-DOH-PER and saved about $2,000 each by not flying QR out of Perth.

There is a current QR sale on, ex Singapore, and I tried to see what prices I could get for a multiple city fare. The interesting thing is whenever I used Perth, or Sydney, as the final destination port there were suddenly no seats/fares available. The seats are there for flights originating from Australia, at the full price, or for open-jaw flights to/from Singapore etc.

It would appear that someone in QR has woken up to our avoiding the price gouging most airlines use on flights ex-Australia and have tweaked their internal processes. It of course possible that it is simply a product of QR's notoriously bad office capabilities but I doubt it.

If you're doing SIN-DOH-BCN-DOH-PER then I wouldn't expect the system to show anything super cheap as it's two one way fares to/from different countries ie SIN-BCN & BCN-PER. Were you using the QR website or an OTA?

Have you tried browing incognito and/or using a VPN and select Singapore as the country.

Alternatively use an aggregator such as Momondo, ITA/Matrix or Skyscanner and see what they come up with.

 

[OZDUCK]

If you're doing SIN-DOH-BCN-DOH-PER then I wouldn't expect the system to show anything super cheap as it's two one way fares to/from different countries ie SIN-BCN & BCN-PER. Were you using the QR website or an OTA?

Have you tried browing incognito and/or using a VPN and select Singapore as the country.

Alternatively use an aggregator such as Momondo, ITA/Matrix or Skyscanner and see what they come up with.

That is all good advice, however late last year during a similar sale I was able to book exactly that trip on QR's own website for about half the fare that I can find this year. The sale fares and conditions are otherwise about the same as last year. Others were able to get even better fares ex Jakarta etc. In other words we were able to get a sale fare all the way back to Australia as long as our first flight from one country to another was from outside Australia. This year it doesn't seem possible to do that. And I have never seen a tempting sale fare ex Australia on QR.

I didn't have to use incognito mode, or a VPN. I just selected Singapore as the place the flights began and Perth as the final destination. I then used the multiple destinations option - and I eve got a subsided 2 night stopover in Doha.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

That is all good advice, however late last year during a similar sale I was able to book exactly that trip on QR's own website for about half the fare that I can find this year. The sale fares and conditions are otherwise about the same as last year. Others were able to get even better fares ex Jakarta etc. In other words we were able to get a sale fare all the way back to Australia as long as our first flight from one country to another was from outside Australia. This year it doesn't seem possible to do that. And I have never seen a tempting sale fare ex Australia on QR.

I didn't have to use incognito mode, or a VPN. I just selected Singapore as the place the flights began and Perth as the final destination. I then used the multiple destinations option - and I eve got a subsided 2 night stopover in Doha.

Maybe they have tweaked the system in the their favour, however would be interesting to see if the fare results are any different ie less if you do now browse incognito or with a VPN even though you didn't need to do that previously. If you don't get any joy with that the less convenient option would be two separate tickets PER to Asia vv then QR ex Asia to Europe return.

 

[OZDUCK]

Maybe they have tweaked the system in the their favour, however would be interesting to see if the fare results are any different ie less if you do now browse incognito or with a VPN even though you didn't need to do that previously. If you don't get any joy with that the less convenient option would be two separate tickets PER to Asia vv then QR ex Asia to Europe return.

I have put thoughts about an European trip on the backburner for the moment. I am now trying to work out the best way to get to Bandar Seri Begawan (Brunei) as my wife wants to catch up with some cousins - a couple she has seen only once and others she has never met. It would have been much simpler when Royal Brunei flew to Perth. At the moment it looks like it would be cheaper to fly to Europe rather than Brunei.

 

[AIRwin]

It would have been much simpler when Royal Brunei flew to Perth.

SQ via SIN? Or PER-BKI (Kota Kinabalu) on MH?

 

[OZDUCK]

SQ via SIN? Or PER-BKI (Kota Kinabalu) on MH?

Yes SQ was the first thought but I am having a bit of a problem getting the Per-SIn flights and the Silkair ones to connect within a reasonable time and for a reasonable price. Thanks for reminding me about the MH flights. I had thought about that option and then forgotten it. The prices are certainly better.

 

[OZDUCK]

I was just looking through the QR Forum in FlyerTalk and someone had the same experience as me - not able to get prices for multi- destination flights they have done previously. The answer to their question was, unfortunately, that QR have indeed changed their fare rules to stop such flights being booked.

 

[Pushka]

I was just looking through the QR Forum in FlyerTalk and someone had the same experience as me - not able to get prices for multi- destination flights they have done previously. The answer to their question was, unfortunately, that QR have indeed changed their fare rules to stop such flights being booked.

Oh well, we did have fun for a bit I guess.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

There will always be something else around the corner. If you get a great deal, think of it as a one-off then a bonus if you get it a second time.

In terms of earning status, remember JASA's & how everyone was gutted when they were abolished? Then there were KUPPs on AA LAX to PTY etc then AA changed the booking class from P to I meaning the earn on QF would drop from F to J and the shine wore off. Then a special J fare to NOU came along with a DSC etc.

One door closes and another one usually opens however for the cynics amongst us "one door closes then another one slams in your face" as Derryn Hinch once said.

 

[Pushka]

There will always be something else around the corner. If you get a great deal, think of it as a one-off then a bonus if you get it a second time.

In terms of earning status, remember JASA's & how everyone was gutted when they were abolished? Then there were KUPPs on AA LAX to PTY etc then AA changed the booking class from P to I meaning the earn on QF would drop from F to J and the shine wore off. Then a special J fare to NOU came along with a DSC etc.

One door closes and another one usually opens however for the cynics amongst us "one door closes then another one slams in your face" as Derryn Hinch once said.

I was thinking exactly the same re JASA.

 

[amaroo]

Is that BA fare ex Norway still around?

 

[wandering_fred]

Round trip OZ to SE Asia, then use QR round trip.
There certainly are many options that would be far worse when wandering
Fred

 

[OZDUCK]

Round trip OZ to SE Asia, then use QR round trip.
There certainly are many options that would be far worse when wandering
Fred

That is the option we used for our trip on AY to Ireland.

 

[Pushka]

Round trip OZ to SE Asia, then use QR round trip.
There certainly are many options that would be far worse when wandering
Fred

Our time isn’t that generous currently but maybe when we are retired.

 

[GoldCanyon340]

Round trip OZ to SE Asia, then use QR round trip.
There certainly are many options that would be far worse when wandering
Fred

And if time and willingness permit you can sneak in excellent runs on the side originating from that part of the world.

 

[kermatu]

Our time isn’t that generous currently but maybe when we are retired.

Agree. The great thing about xASAs was the easy and broad availability. No scope for me at least to take advantage of more recent quirky routes.