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I am looking to tap into the well of knowledge and creativity of the people on here for a trip to Melbourne to see my daughter next year (Feb/Mar), with some side trips in Aus. Here are the limitations and criteria:
– 2 travellers (me and my wife) ideally business class but would consider Econ / PE for shorter legs (under 7 hours)
– 90k Amex MR points (Amex Platinum personal) – my card
– 160k Avios in a BAEC HHA, which includes my wife
– 100k Avios due from Barclays on 5th March (but understand can be up to 2 months after that) to be dropped into my wife’s BAEC account
– My wife has a new-style BAEC 2-4-1 voucher
– 50k Virgin points
– travel window from 5/2/2024 to 17/3/2024 but planning on being away for 3 weeks
– based in the north of England so regional departures, DUB, AMS as options alongside LHR, although MAN is most convenient (discounting LBA, my closest airport)If I knew the 100k Avios were going to drop at the beginning of March I’d have pretty much have the 360k Avios needed for MAN-MEL via DOH in business class (may need to top up). I was considering getting the outbound MAN-DOH-MEL booked for 180k (via Qatar to avoid the BA regional premium) for 5th Feb and then seeing what the situation is 3 weeks later. However, it is likely the Avios from Barclays won’t appear immediately in early March and then I’m behind the curve for booking reward seats as they are released, if I wait until I have the full 180k Avios to return.
So do I wait and take my chances of reward availability for the return or do I come up with a more creative route back using some cash some points via, say SIN, KLL or somewhere else interesting as a stop off?
Sorry for the long post but I am trying to pre-empt all the questions that help people respond, if they would be so kind as to do that 🙂
What is the split of the points in your HHA? AIUI, if you are booking with QR via ba.com, it matters not. However, if you book via QR, I believe it wont recognise the HHA and will only show the Avios of the account you are logged into. I’m not sure if you can designate the Avios for the 2nd person to come from their own account- I presume not.
Have you had a look on either Google flights or Matrix for cash routes from various cities? I’ve looked at various multi-city routings. ARN brought up some “reasonable” business fares on Fin (Bus lite) and Thai.
I have 90k Avios in my BAEC account so if I transfer the 90k Amex MR points into my BAEC I will have 180k in BAEC and have a linked QP account so I can book on BA or Qatar for the outbound. When the 100k Barclays Avios drops my wife will have 150k Avios and there are 20k Avios in a third account in the HHA. I can top up / earn the 10k shortfall to make up 180k Avios if needed.
I’ve looked at one-way cash flights back to UK – Qatar is £3,300 each MEL-DOH-MAN but will take a look at to / from ARN – thank you!
Would you consider using your 2-4-1 or are you set on QR? If so, have a look at MAN – LHR – SYD (SYD – MEL is cheap and I’m guessing a side trip to beautiful Sydney may be on the cards) to see how much availability there is with a new-style voucher. I’ve recently (within the last fortnight) booked from Belfast for August and had a wide choice of dates from there or most of the other non-London UK airports. I’m not a fan of BA the company but actually have a soft spot for old CW as I find I sleep well in it and in any case, there was no QR availability to any of the east coast cities except at double Avios. You may well get Club Suite though as you are looking at winter season. BA would be cheaper, particularly on off peak dates – I paid 145k Avios + £750 using a 2-4-1 v QR’s 180k Avios + about £830 (from memory).
On the other hand, I couldn’t find any extra BA club availability to the regions using the 2-4-1 for the return (for my dates anyway). Also, QR are comparatively cheaper in that direction as the taxes are only c£400 (for two) – and you could leave direct from MEL.
I suggest this because if there is plenty of availability on BA for the outbound, you could consider booking QR for the return to secure your dates once they are in range and hold off booking the outbound leg on BA until your wife’s Avios have arrived. Would be a nervous wait of course!
Thanks! Yes, I’ve considered the 2-4-1 for a return flight or for one way. I’d still have that nervous wait for the 100k Avios for the return, as you say, but a Sydney diversion would be definitely on my list at some point in the three weeks. I’ve also considered a cash flight to SIN and using the 2-4-1 for the return leg to UK but will still need the 100k to drop to have sufficient Avios and for reward flights to still be available. I was wondering if there might be an alternative to SIN that anyone would recommend as a stop off for a few days. There are lots of permutations so just trying to work put what is the best combination of most cost-effective and least risky in terms of bagging reward flights.
Also interesting that using QR on the return is cheaper, hadn’t noticed that so that’s very helpful 😀
I found booking Individual legs easier. I booked business edinburgh to Singapore then a scoot flight to oz in economy as only a few hours and 4 night stopover in singapore. I also booked business on qatar sydney to doha 70000 avios and £111 each. Then as I didn’t have enough avios economy to UK as only 7hrs but if you have enough you could get ba or qatar. The a380 from syndey with the bar appealed to me for a 15hr flight and a couple of nights stopover on doha
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