Using points to Europe

[ashleyn]

I have been planning a rather epic trip to Europe for a significant anniversary with a large group of friends in 2014 (cryptic enough ?). I researched flights from Perth to Barcelona then back from Lisbon to Perth, all in J and all on Qantas points. There were some reasonable EK flights a month or 2 out but come the time to actually book, they all disappeared and the only options were QR via Doha. Now for me, EK via Dubai or QR via Doha makes little difference and in fact the QR flight times worked out better and saved me a day. The QR J product looks pretty good and sure I've forfeited chauffeur drive but big deal.

Any comments or thoughts on these offerings, especially for Perth folks ?

 

[shifty]

As we have bugger all options ex PER with points, the Qatar and Malaysia additions to OW are excellent for us. You don't get the chauffeur, and it's a few extra points with the QF OW rip rate, but it's not too bad. I think both are solid options, and both J products are reasonably comparable.

 

[Mwenenzi]

..Any comments or thoughts on these offerings, especially for Perth folks ?

Get what you can. J wards to Europe are hard to get
Also try "multi city" on the QF award search engine

 

[BindiBratz]

It was in the initial stages of the QF/EK tie up, so have no idea of the options that may have become available now. But we after deciding that the cash price on offer with either airline was overinflated, opted to utilise some points.

The final outcome which worked best for us, was return PER-DXB (in J) on one ticket, on EK metal. Hopeless at that time to include Istanbul into the equation, so we paid for an el-cheapo one way Y fare. To get back to Dubai after our few months of travelling, we utilised points for a one-way AMS-LHR-DXB, which worked well, as the option for direct flights IIRC was not offered on EK at the time.

Splitting the flights as we did, was still very cost effective, both with points and $$ and allowed us the flexibility we needed at the time. We stopped over in Dubai for one night on the way, and for a week on our return. The only occasion that chauffer drive was not offered was for the flight DXB-IST (in Y of course, nor offered in IST anyway) and also in Amsterdam, as it is not offered there.

Hoping something comes up on the radar for you

 

[ashleyn]

I've locked in Per-Doh-Bcn all in J which works well with the times and actually buys me an extra day in Bcn. Coming back, Mad-Doh-Per also good timings so I hope the QR J experience stacks up. Look out for a TR around October next year. Points wise, 36k more than the EK options that weren't available anyway.

 

[dairyfloss]

... I hope the QR J experience stacks up...

QR was awarded the 'World's Best Business Class' in June by Skytrax... so hopefully a good indicator you'll be OK! Looking forward to that TR in any case!

 

[Colrad]

Has anyone else noticed that there seems to be next to zero J availability on QR? A few weeks back, there seemed to heaps of J availability (up to 4 seats) on most QR flights, including the direct service from MEL-DOH. Now there is nothing, no matter what time of year or how far out. There is a smattering via PER, but very few. At first I thought it was just the usual rubbish QF search engine, but have been checking the BA Exec Club site as well and there is simply nothing available. Has anyone else had a similar experience recently?