Round the world in 2023

[celsioraus]

Being QFF Gold and churning 6 cards a year I have been accustomed to flying business only for the last several years and with enough persistence i generally get the flights in after (SYD - BKK and back).

With an upcoming family trip it took all my effort to navigate a business class around the world trip with Qantas limited seat availability.

SYD - BKK Business on Qantas (Late August ~68K Points) - This actually was the last one i booked, searching from october last year these only came online in the latest promo qantas did last month.
BKK - Rome via Helsinki Business on Finnair (Early September ~100k points) - These were booked late last year and there were many when i booked, there have been no availability recently.

I had booked back the same route but due to changes in time staying in Italy i was unable to find any replacement. I tried every capital city out of europe back to any city in asia without success). In the end i found a suitable workaround

I ended up booking Amsterdam - Florida on Holland Cruises (Early October) for a 15 day cruise. $3500pp inclusive of drinks / wifi package and balcony room seemed very suitable. I was also looking at Queen Elizabeth 27 day cruise from Spain - Singapore but the cost was $5000aud without drinks pack and what really turned me off was that every youtube video i watched of the boat, everyone was in a suit.

Unfortunately the i could not get was Rewards booking from Miami - Vegas so i ended up paying $600pp for AA Main cabin plus using the hints i got here to book on the USA Site. Super expensive but it had to be done.

Coming to the reason for this divert there are hundreds of business rewards on China Air out of LAX, SFO and Ontario early November hence my next booking was

LAS - SFO Economy (10K Points on Alaska Airlines)
SFO - Taiwan Business (100k points on China Air)
Taiwan - BKK (20k points on China air in economy)
BKK - Syd (early december) in business for 68k

Total QFF Points: 380k points + fees + $600 for MIA - LAS flight

Stroke of brilliance or madness?

 

[LostRedditor]

You mentioned it's a family trip, but seems like only two seats. Are you travelling with an infant on lap? Or family of two?

We are also going round the world later this year, with two months in Norway. Flying SIN-HEL-OSL, then OSL-HEL-SEA-LAX-SYD with a few days in LA. We're travelling with a lap infant which will be interesting. We've made the journey to and from Norway several times but never with kids.

I like your itinerary,the cruise sounds lovely. Big plans for Vegas?

 

[levelnine]

If you are a regular credit card churner & only QFF Gold, I'd honestly be looking to shift a lot of my points earning away from Qantas to VA/SQ/etc.

Especially if you are mostly doing point to point award bookings and therefore not making use of QFF's only real sweet spot: the oneworld award.

Diversifying your points programs opens up more availability and, if you're planning to fly business class, you'll get access to business class lounges just like you do with QFF Gold (it would be different if you were Platinum and would be stepping down from first to business lounges).

 

[celsioraus]

I will be cruising and flying with my better half once we leave the europe family trip. I did edit the booking to fly direct back to Sydney from USA now. There is my updated trip below.

SYD-BKK Qantas Business Rewards (5 days in BKK)
BKK - HEL- ROM Finnair Business Rewards (30 days in Europe)
CRUISE SHIP - Amsterdam to Miami (15 days on cruise, 3 nights in miami)
MIA - LAS AA Economy rewards (these were 18000points + $6 compared to $1000 retail) 17 days in Vegas
LAS - DFW AA Economy rewards (2 nights in DFW)
DFW - SYD Qantas Business rewards (This is a change of plans from the air china business to taiwan, I will probably be dying for my sydney bed by this time)

17 days in Vegas maybe extreme but its locked in now and we will spend some proper time pampering ourselves in luxury. At an average of $305AUD per night for an Ultra Resort room at Planet Hollywood which will suffice.

@LostRedditor how did you find the hotel prices or are you staying airbnb? Im averaging $250AUD+ for all of the states, all i can say is thankfully we are from Oz where these amounts sound semi reasonable. I was unable to find any Business rewards out of LA so will suffice with the 17 hour trip from DFW.

@levelnine I did look into this however i really only fly SYD-BKK and have been able to use that route with J seat availability quite frequently hence Qantas does suffice and trying to hit LTG by the time I stop accruing points.

 

[LostRedditor]

Luckily we're only two days in thw US, so we're looking at $600/night hotel.
Most of our trip is spent in Norway where we have 2 months AirBnB booked.

We're still deciding whether to spend the two days in Seattle of Los Angeles