Sydney to Reykjavík Iceland or Oslo June July 2020

[twilsoncrow]

Trying to work out some options for 2 PAX to go Business Class from Sydney (or Melb or Bris or Ade) to Iceland or Oslo (Norway).

Have access to 500000 Velocity points
520000 Qantas points
210000 Singapore points

Willing to purchase Alaska Points if needed.

Our dates are some what set due to having to work around cruises around Iceland then Arctic.
19th or 20th June from Australia and leaving Oslo on 24th or 25th July.

* Happy to go via USA/Canada or via Asia/Middle East
* Business class points flights to USA and then if need purchase ($) flights to Iceland

Any help is appreciated.

Willing to pay as per the guidelines of this forum if someone is able to help me narrow down some of the options to some specifics.

 

[Kerrodt]

My recommendation is to look at Finnair (AY). They are Oneworld partners so you can use/earn QF points.

Finnair usually have good sales out of Asia to Helsinki, and in your case, onward to Iceland.

Finnair do not fly out of Australia. They depart from HKG, BKK or SIN. You will need to connect from Australia but that is easy, and you can book all on the one ticket.

You can also easily connect from Helsinki to Oslo.

In general, Finnair have excellent connections from Helsinki to UK, Europe and the Nordics.

I have flown Finnair a few times and their Business Class product is excellent out of Asia on relatively new A350’s. Helsinki airport is excellent. Undergoing some renovations.

August this year I flew QF and AY to Helsinki and onward to Iceland. Could not fault any aspect of the entire flight.

 

[jase05]

Play around on the QF booking site and try multiple sectors to piece together something. Just having a quick look and in a couple of minutes I came up with this for the way over. Bear in mind this was leaving on June 18th and would cost 209,000 QFF points per person
Good availability on QR from BKK-CPH or even BKK-AMS on EK F, you just need to get a cheap flight from there to your final destination.

 

[kpc]

Your Sq / Va pts might get you to Kef via Sin and Cph. See this thread of mine:

Getting from Syd to Kef return in J using Sq pts

Just doing some forward planing for the middle of next year. Trying to get 1 (possibly 2 seats) in J from Syd to Kef next year. Can use Sq points to fly Sq to Muc, Fra then Lh to Kef but LH awards do not show up on Sq website. Do I need to ring Sq for LH awards? Another possible routing is Sq to...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[Scr77]

Your Sq / Va pts might get you to Kef via Sin and Cph. See this thread of mine:

Getting from Syd to Kef return in J using Sq pts

Just doing some forward planing for the middle of next year. Trying to get 1 (possibly 2 seats) in J from Syd to Kef next year. Can use Sq points to fly Sq to Muc, Fra then Lh to Kef but LH awards do not show up on Sq website. Do I need to ring Sq for LH awards? Another possible routing is Sq to...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

I agree. Look at Singapore to Copenhagen and then SAS Airlines to KEF. Or use points to anywhere in USA or Europe and then pay for flight with Iceland air to KEF.

 

[Borisdog]

If you do manage to get to, say, within 3 hrs flying of Reykjavík I would HIGHLY recommend NOT burning points on J. European short haul business class is generally very poor. Think 3 across 737 Y with the middle seat blocked.

I’m in the middle of a One World QF J 280000 point redemption and all of the short haul J I’ve done in Europe has been poor. I did get one leg LHR to MAD in a 772 that was “normal” J.

For the record I went to Reykjavík from Helsinki return 2 weeks ago on Icelandair, paid, in Y as a side trip to the above. Good trip, good Y seats, but not cheap and you’ll be forced into a much more expensive ticket to cope with your baggage if you have anything above HLO.

 

[pagingjoan]

My recommendation is to look at Finnair (AY). They are Oneworld partners so you can use/earn QF points.

Finnair usually have good sales out of Asia to Helsinki, and in your case, onward to Iceland.

Finnair do not fly out of Australia. They depart from HKG, BKK or SIN. You will need to connect from Australia but that is easy, and you can book all on the one ticket.

You can also easily connect from Helsinki to Oslo.

In general, Finnair have excellent connections from Helsinki to UK, Europe and the Nordics.

I have flown Finnair a few times and their Business Class product is excellent out of Asia on relatively new A350’s. Helsinki airport is excellent. Undergoing some renovations.

August this year I flew QF and AY to Helsinki and onward to Iceland. Could not fault any aspect of the entire flight.

Agree that the Finnair J product is excellent - apart from the rock hard “bed”, that is.

And, if you have access, there is a surprisingly good premium lounge at HEL.
With the current renovations, it’s not well sign posted but worth persevering to find.
A good food offering, very pleasant service, and excellent G&T.
On my two very recent visits, it has been peaceful and sparsely occupied.

 

[Borisdog]

I concur with the Finnair Lounge recommendation. Terminal 2 above gate 22.

Very nice lounge indeed.

 

[jase05]

Agree that the Finnair J product is excellent - apart from the rock hard “bed”, that is.

On their A350?
That’s not good to hear
AY are one of the options we are looking at but a comfortable bed is very high on the list of priorities for me on a overnight flight.

 

[Kerrodt]

On their A350?
That’s not good to hear
AY are one of the options we are looking at but a comfortable bed is very high on the list of priorities for me on a overnight flight.

Personally, I don't think the AY A350 J lie flat bed is "rock hard". Sure, its not a plush mattress, and doesn't have a "mattress topper" like some others, but its definitely comfortable. I've flown them 6 times and I'd use them again. I can easily sleep right through a flight from HEL to HKG or SIN or vice versa.

The only minor issue from my perspective is that the footwell becomes quite narrow when the bed is extended and my feet become a bit squished at the end of the footwell when I am sleeping. But I'm 188cm tall and have size 44 feet, so probably not designed with me in mind.

 

[pagingjoan]

On their A350?
That’s not good to hear
AY are one of the options we are looking at but a comfortable bed is very high on the list of priorities for me on a overnight flight.

Personally, I don't think the AY A350 J lie flat bed is "rock hard". Sure, its not a plush mattress, and doesn't have a "mattress topper" like some others, but its definitely comfortable. I've flown them 6 times and I'd use them again. I can easily sleep right through a flight from HEL to HKG or SIN or vice versa.

The only minor issue from my perspective is that the footwell becomes quite narrow when the bed is extended and my feet become a bit squished at the end of the footwell when I am sleeping. But I'm 188cm tall and have size 44 feet, so probably not designed with me in mind.

There you go! As always, each to their own, Kerrodt.
I am used to a firm mattress but, for me, on each of the recent flights on Finnair in J - Yes, jase05, I have just checked my records and they were the A350 - I found the bed implacably hard.
Agree that the footwell is narrow - but that didn't bother me.
So, again, the answer is "depends".

 

[Kerrodt]

There you go! As always, each to their own, Kerrodt.
I am used to a firm mattress but, for me, on each of the recent flights on Finnair in J - Yes, jase05, I have just checked my records and they were the A350 - I found the bed implacably hard.
Agree that the footwell is narrow - but that didn't bother me.
So, again, the answer is "depends".

Couldn’t agree more that’s it’s each to their own. As is often quoted on here YMMV.

 

[twilsoncrow]

Thank you to all for the suggestions

After spending hours trying to find award seats... we have purchased premium economy seats with JAL for a great price.