Tell me where and tell me how!

[Must...Fly!]

It is one of those times where I bow down to the knowledge base that is AFF!

Having been seduced by EK's global sale (specifically in the business cabin from ATH), I now have a slight conundrum on my hands.

The problem I have is getting to and from Europe to get the flight home. Money being the issue here.

Perth-??? arrive between 22nd-28th February
Athens-Perth 1st Match
Perth-Athens 30 June
???-Perth ~23-24 July

How would you recommend I go about this? Cost is the main factor at play here, so the cheapest way is the best way. I have 31,000 QF points and 95,000 AA Miles to play with but I would like to avoid using them if I can.

The best I have come up with thus far is PER-SIN-FRA-SIN-PER on QF for $1856.

My first instinct was to go LCC to Asia then QR/EK onwards, but doing that didn't save much, only about $300 with stupidly inconvenient times. Similar with D7 via KUL, once I add on legroom and baggage, I'm barely saving $200, and same goes for DPS with any combination of 3K/D7/VA.

I'm beginning to think the QF deal is not so bad, given that I would probably be finishing up in July in Germany (Hockenheimring, anyone ), so it would be a handy way to get back home. However, if I can chop money off that, it would be of great benefit. Given cost of accommodation and things in Europe, every penny saved on flying is a penny being spent in Europe. The benefit on my side is that I have 4 months between coming home and leaving in which to earn more money!

Can anyone think of something I have not yet considered?

Thanks for reading

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Just to clarify, when you say you've been seduced by EK's Global sale in J you have in fact booked & paid for return tickets in J ATH/PER 01 Mar & PER/ATH 30 Jun so need to buy a positioning flight PER/ATH to pick up that ticket & one to fly back ATH/PER afterwards?

You must earn quite a few ff points the the J travel. Which ff program are you putting those EK flights into?

a) Use your ff points to fly QF PER/SIN there is YASA availability late Feb on QF71 or QF77 cost is 25,000 points plus AUD252.76 the sale fare column & red-e-deal column are the same price which will initiially say 51,336 points required then use the 'slider' to bring it back to the base level.

If you go PER/SIN/BKK on QF/3K it's 25,000 points plus AUD499.14 but it's cheaper to do points PER/SIN then buy a cheap 3K fare SIN/BKK which is only SGD98.00 + 17.00 for bags + 4.00 for standard seat selection otherwise 33.00 for the exit row.

b) Check out airfares ex SIN to Europe on a carrier that flies to ATH & FRA eg SIN/ATH (Feb 2012) - FRA/SIN or HKG (July 2012) compared to just a one way fare SIN/ATH. If you're not saving a huge amount of dollars then just go the one way fare SIN/ATH.

c) Once your ff points post for your EK flights in J ATH/DXB/PER would you then have enough for a redemption FRA/PER or FRA/SIN or HKG one way?

d) Just to keep your options open find out how many AA points you would need for FRA/xHKG/PER or even FRA/HKG as you belong to a lot of FF programs so might be a good time to consolidate them ie use up existing points & just focus on two programs.

As the dollars are important to you. I would burn the points if you have them as you're only young & have a lifetime ahead of you to be able to rack & stack more in the coming years.

Let us know how you go & run it by us first before you click the magic 'make this booking and charge my credit card now button'.

 

[sr81]

Sorry I can't give you a direct answer but I find kayak.com and cheapoair.com as excellent places to start searching.

Also, try various cities in Europe. FCO, MXP and ATH are usually the cheapest. Also check BRU, AMS and CDG.

If you could get a very cheap PER-DPS then maybe this would bring it down. Also think of business class from DPS as it is probably better value than economy from here.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Just to clarify, when you say you've been seduced by EK's Global sale in J you have in fact booked & paid for return tickets in J ATH/PER 01 Mar & PER/ATH 30 Jun so need to buy a positioning flight PER/ATH to pick up that ticket & one to fly back ATH/PER afterwards?

You must earn quite a few ff points the the J travel. Which ff program are you putting those EK flights into?

Well I haven't quite booked but I really want to! I hadn't thought that far ahead, I don't have any skywards miles to use at the moment unfortunately, so wouldn't have enough to redeem after my first flight.

a) Use your ff points to fly QF PER/SIN there is YASA availability late Feb on QF71 or QF77 cost is 25,000 points plus AUD252.76 the sale fare column & red-e-deal column are the same price which will initiially say 51,336 points required then use the 'slider' to bring it back to the base level.

If you go PER/SIN/BKK on QF/3K it's 25,000 points plus AUD499.14 but it's cheaper to do points PER/SIN then buy a cheap 3K fare SIN/BKK which is only SGD98.00 + 17.00 for bags + 4.00 for standard seat selection otherwise 33.00 for the exit row.

Interesting consideration, I had looked in to it briefly, might have to go in to more detail, but then I would have to get back from BKK which would cost extra $$.

b) Check out airfares ex SIN to Europe on a carrier that flies to ATH & FRA eg SIN/ATH (Feb 2012) - FRA/SIN or HKG (July 2012) compared to just a one way fare SIN/ATH. If you're not saving a huge amount of dollars then just go the one way fare SIN/ATH.

That's what I've been trying to do, but adding on positioning and it's not a big enough difference in cost unfortunately.

c) Once your ff points post for your EK flights in J ATH/DXB/PER would you then have enough for a redemption FRA/PER or FRA/SIN or HKG one way?

Nope!

d) Just to keep your options open find out how many AA points you would need for FRA/xHKG/PER or even FRA/HKG as you belong to a lot of FF programs so might be a good time to consolidate them ie use up existing points & just focus on two programs.

I pretty much only have miles in QF and AA. I'm saving the AA ones for an F redemption at some stage in the future preferably...

As the dollars are important to you. I would burn the points if you have them as you're only young & have a lifetime ahead of you to be able to rack & stack more in the coming years.

Let us know how you go & run it by us first before you click the magic 'make this booking and charge my credit card now button'.

Will do, thanks very much for the help

The best deal I've been able to find so far is China Southern (lol no thanks), at $1640 from PER.

Considering my start and end points, QF to FRA seems the (rather unlikely) best option...

I've been playing around with ITA Matrix most of the morning. Nothing coming close, even ex-Asia when I add on positioning.

 

[ozmille]

Hi there must fly!

How much is this EK fare you are looking at? What sort of budget do you have for the positioning flights?

 

[Must...Fly!]

Hi there must fly!

How much is this EK fare you are looking at? What sort of budget do you have for the positioning flights?

1550EUR.

I don't really have a set budget, but, less the best. However there is a catch that I forgot to mention, I should have a fair amount of money coming my way in April...you only turn 21 once, right?

So money is a bit of an issue now, but shouldn't be much of an issue past then, plus saving money from work. I'm warming to the QF option, nothing else seems to be coming close dollar-wise. Even if I had 50,000 pts to do PER-SIN-PER it would cost about $500 (YASA), adding $1000 to get to Europe from SIN, it's basically spending 50,000pts for $300...never worth it.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Departure Date
Sat 25 Feb 2012	Singapore Changi International Airport (SIN)	Athens International, Greece (ATH)
Final Price for 1 adult (inc. fees and taxes)	AUD 665.60 Show Price Details

Fare Details (AUD)	Airfare	Tax		Passengers	Subtotal
Adult	497.00	133.60		1 Adult	630.60
Booking Fee	35.00
Final Price	665.60

1. Flights from Singapore Changi International Airport (SIN) to Athens International, Greece (ATH)

(No other options)

Departing 2:10 AM, Sat 25 Feb, Arrives 12:00 PM (Total travel time: 15h 50m)

Select this flight

	Qatar Airways QR639 BOEING 777	2:10 AM Singapore Changi International (SIN) 4:55 AM Doha (DOH)	Economy Class Non-stop Layover: 3h 10m
	Qatar Airways QR472 AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A321	8:05 AM Doha (DOH) 12:00 PM Athens International, Greece (ATH)

The cheapest fare I could find SIN/ATH one way was QR via DOH for AUD665.60 including taxes thru www.jetabroad.com.au

 

[ozmille]

1550EUR.

Is that for J class ATH-DXB-PER return:shock: Cheapest I can see on EK website on those dates is about EUR3700

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Departing 12:30 PM, Wed 25 Jul Arrives following day, 3:00 PM, Thu 26 Jul (Total travel time: 20h 30m)

Select this flight

	Malaysia Airlines MH5 BOEING 777-200/200ER	12:30 PM Frankfurt, Germany (FRA) 6:25 AM 26 Jul Kuala Lumpur International, Malaysia (KUL)	Economy Class Non-stop Layover: 3h 15m
	Malaysia Airlines MH125 AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A330-300	9:40 AM 26 Jul Kuala Lumpur International, Malaysia (KUL) 3:00 PM 26 Jul Perth, WA (PER)

Final Price for 1 adult (inc. fees and taxes)

AUD 1,063.55 Hide Price Details

Fare Details (AUD)	Airfare	Tax		Passengers	Subtotal
Adult	610.51	398.04		1 Adult	1,008.55
Booking Fee	55.00
Final Price	1,063.55

Departing 10:20 PM, Wed 25 Jul Arrives 2 days later, 12:40 AM, Fri 27 Jul (Total travel time: 20h 20m)

Select this flight

	Qantas Airways QF6 BOEING 747-400	10:20 PM Frankfurt, Germany (FRA) 4:40 PM 26 Jul Singapore Changi International (SIN)	Economy Class Non-stop Layover: 2h 50m
	Qantas Airways QF78 AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A330-300

Final Price for 1 adult (inc. fees and taxes)

AUD 1,068.93 Hide Price Details

Fare Details (AUD)	Airfare	Tax		Passengers	Subtotal
Adult	760.19	253.74		1 Adult	1,013.93
Booking Fee	55.00
Final Price	1,068.93

 

[Must...Fly!]

The cheapest fare I could find SIN/ATH one way was QR via DOH for AUD665.60 including taxes thru www.jetabroad.com.au

Thanks for that ozbeachbabe

However I then have the problem of, once back in Europe in July, of getting back home.

SIN-ATH-SIN on QR is $912AUD (~1200SGD).
PER-SIN-PER then needs to be purchased, given flight times I can't use the LCCs, so I could use points to get there (25k + $250) and get an LCC back (say, $220 on TT).

Option 1: PER-SIN-DOH-ATH r/t for $1382 + 25,000pts
Option 2: PER-SIN-FRA r/t for $1856


Thanks ozbeachbabe, can't believe I didn't find this myself before. Certainly a viable option to consider.

Difference: $474 - one night accommodation in SIN (flight times), say 150? Makes the end difference $324.

Option 1 ($1382 + 25k);
Fly straight in to Athens, spend a few days dodging tear gas (lol, couldn't resist)
Straight out on EK
Must position back to ATH in July to come home for ~$100
Disadvantage of extra stop (DOH) and transfer time in SIN.

Option 2 ($1856);
Fly in to Frankfurt, spend a few days there
Position to ATH for $92 on LH
No positioning cost on return
Advantage of one-stop, seamless transfer, all flights on QF.

 

[casanovawa]

Seeing your under 21, or at least under 26, STA Travel have some deals for students/under 26ers... You might want to have a look and then give them a call or send them an email... Cheap flights to Europe, London UK, Rome and Paris Flights | STA Travel | Europe and UK flights

 

[Must...Fly!]

Seeing your under 21, or at least under 26, STA Travel have some deals for students/under 26ers... You might want to have a look and then give them a call or send them an email... Cheap flights to Europe, London UK, Rome and Paris Flights | STA Travel | Europe and UK flights

Great idea but my dates seem to invalidate pretty much every fare.

 

[casanovawa]

I'd still call them and see what they can come up with...

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Do you really need to go to Europe in Feb? I gather that as you're going over to ATH in Feb & virtually coming straight back it doesn't sound as though there's a dire need to be in ATH for something. I know saying that on an AFF forum is probably sacrilege however just wondering that's all.

What dates in the EK J deal valid for & when is the latest you can pay for it?

If the deal was still valid for May/Jun, why not leave it until then & you could nest the return PER/xDXB/ATH for next time you go to Europe then use your AA points for the FASA fare to getI you home from Europe?

 

[Must...Fly!]

Unfortunately due to uni and the constraints on the fare, it's either go in Feb or don't go at all.

It has a max stay of 4 months, and must complete travel by 30 June. (Or at least commence return journey)

Trust me there is no pressing need to go to Europe, but given that price, I'm going off to lose my A380 virginity in style.

 

[Must...Fly!]

I'd still call them and see what they can come up with...

Thanks for the advice casanovawa, I rang STA Travel but there were no student fares available - only the QF sales fares. Seems to be the very best way to get there and back.

 

[JohnK]

Difference: $474 - one night accommodation in SIN (flight times), say 150? Makes the end difference $324.

If every $ counts then spend a night in SIN airport. It is not that difficult and plenty one can do. If worse comes to worse then book a stay at the transit hotel for 6 hours and it the cost is ~AUD60-70.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Thank you all very much for your, as always, fantastic assistance.

I intended to take ATH-DXB-SYD//PER-DXB-ATH but unfortunately the A380 availability ex-DXB got canned while I was making up my mind.

Instead I have booked ATH-DXB-PER-DXB-ATH for 1542.81EUR. A330 (loop IFE ), 777, 777, A330.

To get to Europe I have decided to take QF, routing PER-SIN-LHR-FRA-LHR-SIN-PER.

I have gone via LHR both times to add another airline & airport to the list (BA), get another 20 SC & more points, and more importantly fly the A380 given my missed opportunity on EK. Even though it is in Y, I am sure it will be a good experience. That it was $45 cheaper is also a happy, if rather irrelevant benefit.

So for a total cost of $3804, I have 2 trips to Europe with 10 flights, 4 of them in J. 23,500 skywards miles (which will probably never be used, lol), just over 20,000 QFF points (I can see how SG/WP accrue points so quick now) and 150SCs. Hopefully I should be able to make the very lame rank of PS by the time my year expires in September.

My itinerary now looks like this, in skeletal form. I'm sure I will fill July as time goes on.

26/2 PER-SIN-LHR
27/2 LHR-FRA
1/3 OR 2/3 FRA-ATH
2/3 ATH-DXB
(overnight, probably in the T3 airside hotel)
3/3 DXB-PER
1/7 PER-DXB
(overnight, EK-provided)
2/7 DXB-ATH
24/7 FRA-LHR-SIN
(overnight, redeem some points I think)
25/7 SIN-PER

Managed to clear it with my parents, who (for my 21st present) will hopefully be taking care of accommodation in Europe in July. Hoping my little brother will come along for the July trip too.

Is that for J class ATH-DXB-PER return:shock: Cheapest I can see on EK website on those dates is about EUR3700

Sorry I forgot about this post.

Yes indeed. The sale is still on I believe but dates are a little more restrictive. Must depart before June 30. Min/Max 3 days/4 months. Use the code "AESKW12" when booking for another 10% to get it down to ~1550EUR.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Thank you all very much for your, as always, fantastic assistance.

I intended to take ATH-DXB-SYD//PER-DXB-ATH but unfortunately the A380 availability ex-DXB got canned while I was making up my mind.

Instead I have booked ATH-DXB-PER-DXB-ATH for 1542.81EUR. A330 (loop IFE ), 777, 777, A330.

To get to Europe I have decided to take QF, routing PER-SIN-LHR-FRA-LHR-SIN-PER.

So for a total cost of $3804, I have 2 trips to Europe with 10 flights, 4 of them in J. 23,500 skywards miles (which will probably never be used, lol), just over 20,000 QFF points (I can see how SG/WP accrue points so quick now) and 150SCs. Hopefully I should be able to make the very lame rank of PS by the time my year expires in September.

My itinerary now looks like this, in skeletal form. I'm sure I will fill July as time goes on.

26/2 PER-SIN-LHR
27/2 LHR-FRA
1/3 OR 2/3 FRA-ATH
2/3 ATH-DXB
(overnight, probably in the T3 airside hotel)
3/3 DXB-PER
1/7 PER-DXB
(overnight, EK-provided)
2/7 DXB-ATH
24/7 FRA-LHR-SIN
(overnight, redeem some points I think)
25/7 SIN-PER

With the A380 flight on EK that you missed out on, can you find out what subclass (eg D,C etc) in J you're booked in then set a 'flight alert' on Expert Flyer so they'll email you should the flight open up between now and your travel date. Also check the fare conditions to see if your fare would permit flight/date changes after your ticket has been issued if seats were to become available. :idea:

Just out of interest, did you notice how much the taxes were on the QF ticket PER/FRA/PER transiting SIN ie going the most direct way vs adding LHR as a transit in both directions? :shock:

Maybe check out the EK forum on AFF or FT re the best use of those hardearned 23,500 Skywards Miles.

 

[Must...Fly!]

With the A380 flight on EK that you missed out on, can you find out what subclass (eg D,C etc) in J you're booked in then set a 'flight alert' on Expert Flyer so they'll email you should the flight open up between now and your travel date. Also check the fare conditions to see if your fare would permit flight/date changes after your ticket has been issued if seats were to become available. :idea:

The fare basis is O, but something isn't quite right. O availability was at zero ex-PER for the flight I chose, yet EK was pricing and ticketing my itinerary. Not really sure what was going on there. Anyway it would be rather useless, considering the sale ends tomorrow and I would be up for change fees and fare difference - which would be substantial I suspect!

Just out of interest, did you notice how much the taxes were on the QF ticket PER/FRA/PER transiting SIN ie going the most direct way vs adding LHR as a transit in both directions? :shock:

I didn't but I will check.

Direct to FRA: $779.57 (Fare $1076)
Via LHR: $871.47 (Fare $945)
Via LHR w/stopover SIN: $883.97 (Fare $945)

Maybe check out the EK forum on AFF or FT re the best use of those hardearned 23,500 Skywards Miles.

Yes I shall