tricky getting to vancouver!

[leppo]

hi there

I would be very grateful if someone was able to plot us a multi city trip based on the following. this is my ideal scenario but am happy to compromise.

if u think its best just to ring through and pay the points please say so.

I spent 4 hours last night playing with the various trip scenarios but ended up very frustrated - YVR is a pain getting to/from.

OK my situation

I have nearly 700K QFF points. wife & i would love to splash out on business class for as many legs as possible - esp the long haul ones.

ideal itinerary

Starting early september 2014 - ex ADL. We are flexible with dates.

1. YVR to visit daughter for approx 10 days
2. NY city for approx 10 days
3. Mumbai for 7 days
4. then in an ideal scenario - my wife home to ADL and me to Yangon from October 8 - 17 for photo tour before heading home to ADL

as I said I would be eternally grateful if anyone was able to find an itinerary and/or advise if this is possible.

we could do in either direction but weather nicer in YVR the earlier in september.If we had to come back together after mumbai there may be another photo trip I can do in November but ideally would like to include in this trip to make the most of my long service.

i look forward to hearing from anyone out there.

cheers and thanks

Damian

 

[defurax]

I guess with a 280K QF redemption you could fly ADL-HKG-YVR-JFK on CX and then BA to Mumbai via LHR. Hope this helps...

 

[RooFlyer]

Yes, it is very tricky getting to and from Vancouver on OneWorld! On my regular trips to YVR and YYC from Australia, I nearly always catch Air Canada from LAX or DFW (but that's business).

It could be American from DFW (best if you are going west) or JAL from Tokyo or CX from Hong Kong.

I guess you are aware of the OneWorld planner?: Where we fly - oneworld

Maybe: MEL/SYD QF to HKG (or NRT); CX to YVR (or JL); CX to NYC; QR to Doha; QR to Mumbai; QR to Yangon; MH to Kuala Lumpur; MH back to Oz.

 

[Grooba]

As the others have said it's hard getting to YVR on these awards. I'd concentrate on getting to USA then making your own way up to Canada. Over the dates you propose I see zero availability from HKG to YVR in J on CX for example.

I'd look at something like this:

Get to USA in J via asia however you can, eg: via HKG to SFO
Then make your own way up to YVR and back to SFO, then jump aboard AA20 for the transcon across to New York.
Then either via LHR to BOM on BA or via DOH on QR (QR used in the example but via BA in J is widely available).
Then to get to RGN could be a challenge. I didn't search on BA.com or anywhere else and QF just says plainly it's not available, such a wonderful site it is... but that's another story/thread. So home to ADL via HKG on CX. You could probably find a way to RGN with a bit of time and effort I'd say.

$1164.91 in fines/taxes and 280k points pp.

 

[Grooba]

So I decided to have a look on ba.com and there seems to be great availability HKG-NRT-YVR in J on CX/JL. So ADL-HKG-NRT-YVR looks possible.
So you would have to ring up and cop the booking assistance fee but I'd happily accept that knowing you will get to YVR in J.

 

[aikman]

Also the direct flight from Vancouver to New York on Cathay Pacific is wide open in J in late September.

It wasn't so hard to get to/from Vancouver after all.

 

[leppo]

Many thanks VEC and others for this invaluable information. I will now give them a call and see what is possible.
if it all comes off, I will PM you to sort out recompense.
Here goes.....

 

[leppo]

Well there you go..90 minutes later & with the help of Ben at Q bookings, we are all but locked in for our desired trip albeit with a few little delays and anomalies along the way. but with time on our hands and hopefully a relaxing time in J class (for all legs except JFK>LHR whcih is still Premium economy) it should be a 'trip of a lifetime' as we had hoped. I will provide details once confirmed - time for bed after 'wasting' hours late last night trying to do it solo!

thanks again good people!

 

[Grooba]

Well there you go..90 minutes later & with the help of Ben at Q bookings, we are all but locked in for our desired trip albeit with a few little delays and anomalies along the way. but with time on our hands and hopefully a relaxing time in J class (for all legs except JFK>LHR whcih is still Premium economy) it should be a 'trip of a lifetime' as we had hoped. I will provide details once confirmed - time for bed after 'wasting' hours late last night trying to do it solo!

thanks again good people!

What date could you not get J across the pond? I saw stacks of availability last night.

 

[Limewood]

Leppo what routing did you finally decide on?.

 

[leppo]

So this is what we ended up with that suits our needs pretty well. we will head up to sydney the day before because of early connection to Narita but that aside I was very happy with what they came up with. Ive probably made some rookie mistakes here but we are happy to be doing all the long hauls in J except JFK>LHR. Main benefit was getting two of us all the way round together and then me getting to/from Yangon within my timeline.

What date could you not get J across the pond? Sept 24/25 - saw J seats for 27th but a bit late for us.

thanks again for the tips.

Your Itinerary​

 

[Grooba]

Great result leppo! Enjoy the trip!

 

[Grooba]

Well there you go..90 minutes later & with the help of Ben at Q bookings, we are all but locked in for our desired trip albeit with a few little delays and anomalies along the way. but with time on our hands and hopefully a relaxing time in J class (for all legs except JFK>LHR whcih is still Premium economy) it should be a 'trip of a lifetime' as we had hoped. I will provide details once confirmed - time for bed after 'wasting' hours late last night trying to do it solo!

thanks again good people!

Hey leppo,

I can't help but try and get you away from that PE leg across the ditch. If you could leave new York a day earlier you could fly down to BCN on AA, head into town for some great food, wander around a bit, then make your way back to the airport that night and get the last BA flight back up to LHR, overnight in London, then continue on down to BOM. Or if you didn't want to spend the day in Barcelona you could just transit through and get the first available flight back up to LHR.

LHR-BCN


BCN-LHR

 

[leppo]

thanks Vec - that looks a good option that I will run by my wife when I get home. We have a friend in BCN who could give us a 10 hour taster trip maybe?

How much would it cost if I made those changes on line -ie is it 3500 x 2 or 3500 x 4. (from JFK>LHR in PE on 25/9 to JFK>BCN>LHR on 24/9)

also we now might try & get my wife up to RGN for a couple of days. again what would be the points cost be to change her booking from KUL>ADL to KUL>RGN>KUL>ADL all on different dates to the original booking? Can I do these changes online as well?

Obviosuly I have made lots of rookie mistakes when I originally booked - I grabbed whatever they said fearing Id miss J class seats at any moment...Live and learn hey? At lest we still have plenty of points left to make changes (hopefully)


thanks for your help folks.

 

[leppo]

Just off the phone to the very helpful Helen at Qantas bookings. She added my wife's trip to Yangon and back to ADL all in J for just the 3500 points and extra taxes. we will keep a look out for J availability for JFK>LHR and not bother with BCN.

All in all very happy with the result!

Thanks all.

 

[Grooba]

Fingers crossed for that last leg in J to open up!
Enjoy the trip.

 

[leppo]

thanks vec..i check in 2 x a day on the Q site. should I also look on the ba site every day or do they use the same data for reward seats?

 

[Grooba]

thanks vec..i check in 2 x a day on the Q site. should I also look on the ba site every day or do they use the same data for reward seats?

I'm not 100% sure but would assume if an airline opens up award seats then any ff program that airline has allowed access to would see the same seats.
Personally I'd check the ba site if I was only checking one as the qf site generally makes me angry.

 

[support]

As per the rules for threads in this forum, this thread is now closed.