Take 80 yr old Gran to Scotland!?

[scratch950]

Hi,
I would like to take my Mum to Scotland & Paris on the return (on her & my Bucketlist!)
I have 2.5 million Westpac Altitude Points (I know its a lot - been saving business points for years to surprise her - so grateful these points don't expire!)
Could you please suggest how we use the points (which airline etc) - I'd like to go Business Class but have no idea where to even start?
Looking at going early May 2018 for approx 3 weeks (10 days in Scotland & 10 days in Paris/surrounds.)
Thank you so much in advance.
P.S. Mum can walk by herself - just slowly (carefully) however steps give her grief!
P.P.S. was looking at Emirates (if possible), Etihad, Qatar...

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Hi,
I would like to take my Mum to Scotland & Paris on the return (on her & my Bucketlist!)
I have 2.5 million Westpac Altitude Points (I know its a lot - been saving business points for years to surprise her - so grateful these points don't expire!)
Could you please suggest how we use the points (which airline etc) - I'd like to go Business Class but have no idea where to even start?
Looking at going early May 2018 for approx 3 weeks (10 days in Scotland & 10 days in Paris/surrounds.)
Thank you so much in advance.
P.S. Mum can walk by herself - just slowly (carefully) however steps give her grief!
P.P.S. was looking at Emirates (if possible), Etihad, Qatar...

With that many points you can pretty much take your pick of partner airlines that associate with Altitude. These partners are currently Virgin Velocity, Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Airlines or Asia Miles (Cathay Pacific) or Air New Zealand.

your points transfer from Altitude to partner airline programs at different rates. For Singapore airlines and Asia Miles 1 altitude point = 0.4 krisflyer points. For other programs such as velocity it is 2 to 1.

2.5m altitude points would translate to 1 million Singapore Airlines points, enough for more than three return first class tickets to Europe! (Each way is 148,000 kris flyer points per person, business is cheaper at 105,000 per person each way). Your total altitude points needed to get 2 First tickets to Europe would be 1.48 million. Or for business class 1.05million. (yes, it is absolutely worth the difference to fly First)

Availability will be the issue. Transferring points to Asia Miles (Cathay) opens up all of oneworld including Qantas, Qatar and of course Cathay Pacific. But trying to find availability for those carriers can be very difficult. Cathay Pacific releases award availability close to departure (within 14 days) but of course it's a big risk.

Singapore Airlines usually has much better availability in premium cabins, mostly because they limit the redemption of their ultra-premium products to their own members (you would need to join KrisFlyer before transferring your altitude points).

You could claim Etihad through Velocity. You need 139,000 velocity points to fly from Australia to London, or a total of 556,000 for the two of you return. Altitude points transfer to Velocity at a rate of 2-1, so you'd need 1.1m altitude points to get the flights. But again you need availability, and for the same price you could get singapore airlines business class anyway.

Hopefully this is a starting point to help you think about class of travel and the airline you might want to take. Then it's a matter of finding availability. But that's a whole other story, with literally dozens of potential routes and carrier connections to get you there.

 

[scratch950]

Thank you so much Mel. I will start working on this ASAP - as I am not a member (Mum is with Kris - so may look at that first.)
Really appreciate your info - good to have somewhere to start! Thank you again!

 

[RooFlyer]

Great advice from MEL_Traveller.

I'd like to re-iterate that availability will be the main issue. So before you transfer your Altitude points anywhere, join ALL the FF programs you are able to transfer the points to.

Have a look at routings of the various airlines; some will be better than others; for instance, Etihad flies direct into Edinburgh from Abu Dhabi (and of course back from Paris) whereas Singapore Airlines flies onto London and you'll have to transfer up to Scotland.

Then, when logged in to your account, start some dummy bookings for the various airlines to see where two J or F seats appear, around the dates you want. You should then get a feel for the availabilities and what might be possible.

Don't dawdle on this though - May isn't far off and as they say, 'seats are limited'. If SQ looks a good choice for you, you'll probably come across their 'Waitlist'. Then go to the SQ forum here and ask how that works if needs be.

if you don't want to blow the max points, how about F for mum and J for yourself? I think she should then be able to guest you into the First Class lounges along the way, which would be fun.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Have a look at routings of the various airlines; some will be better than others; for instance, Etihad flies direct into Edinburgh from Abu Dhabi (and of course back from Paris) whereas Singapore Airlines flies onto London and you'll have to transfer up to Scotland.

101 combinations on this. SQ will fly to Frankfurt where you can take Lufthansa to EDI, included in the fare. Through Asia Miles (and this is a huge 'depending on availability') you could take British Airways first or business class to London with a connecting flight to EDI. And the list goes on.

FWIW I'd only recommend the OP signs up to Velocity and Singapore Airlines. Asia Miles possibly... but I'd be searching for availability via Qantas or American Airlines first.

 

[cgichard]

I'm only 3 years younger but more mobile - no problem with steps, and I travel alone. I chose a while back to travel only with Singapore Air and via Singapore. I did one transit years ago through Dubai and decided never again: hated the airport, very crowded, nowhere to sit except on the floor, and women with many children were changing babies' nappies etc. in what was supposed to be the quiet prayer room. With enough status for a lounge, things might be different. Changi is an oasis of calm by comparison.

It would be good to avoid Heathrow, so Lufthansa via Germany is a good idea, but I would prefer Munich to Frankfurt if possible - making a connection there is said to be much easier.

 

[BriarFlyer]

And if this all becomes too much, there is Frequent Flyer Solutions. For a fee they will do the research and provide a report with options and easy-to-follow instructions on how to book. Depending on how much you enjoy the research, how much time you have to do said research, and how confident you are in following through, this may or may not be an option for you.

 

[scratch950]

Great advice from MEL_Traveller.

I'd like to re-iterate that availability will be the main issue. So before you transfer your Altitude points anywhere, join ALL the FF programs you are able to transfer the points to.

Have a look at routings of the various airlines; some will be better than others; for instance, Etihad flies direct into Edinburgh from Abu Dhabi (and of course back from Paris) whereas Singapore Airlines flies onto London and you'll have to transfer up to Scotland.

Then, when logged in to your account, start some dummy bookings for the various airlines to see where two J or F seats appear, around the dates you want. You should then get a feel for the availabilities and what might be possible.

Don't dawdle on this though - May isn't far off and as they say, 'seats are limited'. If SQ looks a good choice for you, you'll probably come across their 'Waitlist'. Then go to the SQ forum here and ask how that works if needs be.

if you don't want to blow the max points, how about F for mum and J for yourself? I think she should then be able to guest you into the First Class lounges along the way, which would be fun.

Thanks Roo - I will print all this off and go and surprise Gran (Mum) today! Will start the FF program search today as well - as we are flexible with our travel, I'm hoping we can get the best points transfers to work for us as per your and Mel_Travellers suggestions

 

[scratch950]

101 combinations on this. SQ will fly to Frankfurt where you can take Lufthansa to EDI, included in the fare. Through Asia Miles (and this is a huge 'depending on availability') you could take British Airways first or business class to London with a connecting flight to EDI. And the list goes on.

FWIW I'd only recommend the OP signs up to Velocity and Singapore Airlines. Asia Miles possibly... but I'd be searching for availability via Qantas or American Airlines first.

Thanks Mel_Traveller - as mentioned just then, we can be flexible with our travel time if it means we can get better value for the points. We'll start the FF process today!

 

[scratch950]

I'm only 3 years younger but more mobile - no problem with steps, and I travel alone. I chose a while back to travel only with Singapore Air and via Singapore. I did one transit years ago through Dubai and decided never again: hated the airport, very crowded, nowhere to sit except on the floor, and women with many children were changing babies' nappies etc. in what was supposed to be the quiet prayer room. With enough status for a lounge, things might be different. Changi is an oasis of calm by comparison.

It would be good to avoid Heathrow, so Lufthansa via Germany is a good idea, but I would prefer Munich to Frankfurt if possible - making a connection there is said to be much easier.

Great info thanks cgichard - will make sure I can plonk Mum down somewhere nappy free & with seats! When Itook a quick look at flights - there appeared to be fairly short layovers (1.5 hrs). Am not sure if this makes me nervous re connections or glad that its not too long on the ground in between destinations!? Thanks again...

 

[scratch950]

And if this all becomes too much, there is Frequent Flyer Solutions. For a fee they will do the research and provide a report with options and easy-to-follow instructions on how to book. Depending on how much you enjoy the research, how much time you have to do said research, and how confident you are in following through, this may or may not be an option for you.

Thanks Briar1078 - I was wondering if there was something like this? I will take a look with Mum today and if we get close to a plan, I think I may go down this line! Thanks heaps!