Strategies for Cheap Business Class Flights to Europe

The trip from Australia to Europe is a very long one. Unless you’re on one of Qantas’ direct flights from Perth to Rome, London or Paris, you’ll have to stop at least once along the way. And the trip usually takes at least 24 hours.

That’s a lot of time to be sitting on a plane! So, many Australians look for cheap Business Class flights to Europe to spend the trip comfortably lying flat.

The trouble is, buying Business Class tickets out of Australia is expensive. Market forces have added an invisible “Australia tax”, making tickets originating in Australia dearer than flights departing from overseas. But even if you live in Australia, there are several strategies you can use to book cheaper Business Class tickets to Europe.

1. Book return flights originating in Europe

Round-trip Business Class tickets from Europe to Australia are regularly available for around half the price of the same ticket in the opposite direction. There are often excellent deals to Australia from Scandinavian countries like Sweden and Norway. You may also be able to find some good deals out of Frankfurt or Paris.

As an example, Turkish Airlines currently has round-trip Business Class fares from Sofia to Melbourne for under $4,000.

If you live in Australia, you can take advantage of this if you travel to Europe at least once or twice per year. The idea is to buy round-trip tickets originating in Europe, “nesting” the return leg to use as the start of your next trip.

Most airlines will allow you to take the return trip up to twelve months after the outbound leg. However, some discounted airfares have “maximum stay” restrictions that could prevent you from doing this.

Even if you’re currently in Australia, you can easily book a flight originating overseas through the airline’s own website or with any good travel agent. As you’ll probably be paying in the local currency of the country of departure, you may wish to use a credit card with no overseas transaction fees.

Avoid long-haul flights departing from the UK

When booking premium cabin air tickets out of Europe, try to avoid flights that originate in the UK. That’s because the UK government charges a rather hefty Air Passenger Duty. This adds £200 (~AU$385) per passenger to the cost of your ticket to Australia.

The Air Passenger Duty applies to both paid and reward tickets. But you don’t have to pay this tax if you’re only arriving or transiting in the UK.

2. Book Business Class tickets from Asia to Europe

Even if you’re not travelling to Europe frequently enough to use the previous strategy for cheap Business Class flights, there’s another way you can still take advantage of the much lower prices in other markets.

You can often pick up great value Business Class fares from Asia to Europe. Finnair, Etihad, Turkish Airlines, Qatar Airways, Gulf Air, Saudia and Air Astana all regularly offer cheap flights to Europe from various cities in Southeast Asia.

Round-trip Business fares to Europe from countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka or the Philippines are often available for between $2,500 and $3,000 (in Australian Dollars).

For example, Finnair often has good deals to Europe departing from Bangkok or Phuket. With Finnair, you can also earn Qantas points and status credits as it’s a Oneworld member airline.

Etihad also has a current sale fare from Kuala Lumpur to Munich, which you can book in Business Class for $2,740 round-trip.

Stop over in Asia

To make this strategy work, you would need to purchase a separate return ticket from Australia to the Asian stopover point.

For the Australia-Asia part of your journey, it’s up to you whether you wish to just purchase a cheap Economy ticket, buy a Business Class fare, or perhaps redeem points for that part of the trip. Either way, you’ll still be in Business Class for the longest part of the trip – and you’ll almost certainly save money.

If you can find a cheap Jetstar Business Class or ScootPlus fare between Australia and Asia, that could be a good compromise. Both of those products are closer to “Premium Economy” on full-service airlines, but you can often get return fares for around $1,000 return. That’s great value!

When breaking your trip up with separate tickets, beware that you won’t be protected in the event that your inbound flight is delayed and you miss the connection. Therefore, it’s a good idea to allow at least a day between flights and enjoy a stopover in Asia along the way.

This is also a great way to break up the long trip between Australia and Europe. You’ll arrive feeling more refreshed!

If you’re travelling on separate tickets, you may need to enter the country and collect your luggage at your stopover point. You may also require a visa to do so. But some good travel agents might be able to book everything onto a single PNR for you, which would save this hassle.

The cheapest fares to Europe are often available from Manila

Some of the cheapest Business Class flights from Asia to Europe can be found during sales. But Etihad Airways consistently has great Business fares from Manila to European destinations, including Barcelona, Dublin and Munich for around $2,500 return. Manila to Istanbul in Etihad Business Class is closer to $2,200 return.

Beware that some itineraries require a long layover in Abu Dhabi.

To get to the Philippines, you could redeem Qantas points or buy a ticket to fly with Qantas from Sydney to Manila. Or, Philippine Airlines flies non-stop from Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane to Manila. (There’s also low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific if you want to save money at the expense of your comfort.)

To search for deals from different departure airports yourself, try using the Google Flights “Explore” feature. Many of the best deals are also posted by AFF members on our Cheap Flights & Travel Deals forum.

See our guide to using Google Flights for more tips.

3. Look for discounted Business fares on “second-tier” carriers

Carriers like Vietnam Airlines, China Airlines, SriLankan Airlines, Asiana or Oman Air might not be your first choice. But they all offer fully lie-flat beds in Business Class and their pricing to Europe can be highly competitive.

Many airlines charge well over $8,000 for Business Class tickets from Australia to Europe. But Asiana, Vietnam Airlines, Air India and SriLankan Airlines Business fares are often closer to $5,500 return. You can also get some great deals with Oman Air, flying Business Class on a Malaysia Airlines aircraft from Australia to Kuala Lumpur and then Oman Air (via Muscat) the rest of the way to Europe.

If you don’t mind a long layover in China, you can even book Xiamen Air from Sydney to Amsterdam in Business Class for around $4,600 return.

Qantas Premium Economy to London is often a similar price to this.

Speaking of Premium Economy, Vietnam Airlines and China Airlines (based in Taipei) often have good Premium Economy deals to Europe for around $2,000 return. There’s also a decent Premium Economy fare available at the moment with China Eastern to Rome or Madrid for about $2,500 return. This is a pretty good alternative to flying Economy, without spending that much more money.

Scoot tickets from Australia to Athens or Berlin are also sometimes available for around $2,000 return in ScootPlus.

Beware that the lower ticket price sometimes comes at the cost of a long en-route layover in one or both directions.

4. Wait for a sale

Even highly-rated full-service airlines do sometimes offer good Business Class sale fares all the way from Australia to Europe. For example, Cathay Pacific recently offered sale fares from Australia to London for around $5,500 return in Business Class.

Etihad also has some last-minute Business Class fares available now from Sydney or Melbourne to Europe for under $6,000 round-trip.

5. Book a Finnair, Turkish Airlines or Lufthansa Group round-the-world ticket

The Lufthansa Group – which includes Lufthansa, SWISS and Austrian Airlines – offers some great value tickets from Australia to Europe in all four classes of travel. Finnair and Turkish Airlines also offer special round-the-world fares out of Australia.

With these fares, you can travel to and from Europe in any direction (via Asia, South Africa or North America) for similar prices, and stop over along the way for free. You can also get a few included stopovers in Europe. Unfortunately, however, Lufthansa’s fares now restrict the number of allowed stopovers.

See our guide to Finnair round-the-world tickets for more.

6. Use frequent flyer points

An alternative to buying Business Class tickets to Europe is to redeem frequent flyer points.

You can earn points from flying, credit card spend and many other methods. Credit card sign-up bonuses can be a particularly handy way to earn large amounts of points for minimal outlay.

It’s possible to redeem points with many different frequent flyer programs to get from Australia to Asia – or all the way to Europe. For example, you could redeem Qantas points to fly with airlines including Cathay Pacific, Malaysia Airlines, China Airlines or Emirates.

If you have Velocity points, you could book reward seats to Europe on Singapore Airlines, Qatar Airways or Etihad.

But reward seats on Qantas and Virgin Australia’s partner airlines can be difficult to find at times. Additional carrier charges also apply when redeeming Qantas or Velocity points on most of those partner airlines.

Which is the best frequent flyer program for Australia-Europe redemptions?

If you’re just starting out on your points journey, and ultimately want to redeem your points to get to Europe, we’d recommend looking into Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer.

That’s because Singapore Airlines often has good Business Class award availability from Australia to Europe. KrisFlyer also charges fewer miles to get to Europe than Australian-based programs. Plus, there are no carrier charges when redeeming KrisFlyer miles for Singapore Airlines flights.

However, KrisFlyer miles expire after three years. There’s also a risk that any frequent flyer program could make changes that devalue its points in the future.

Therefore, you may wish to earn points with a flexible credit card rewards program such as American Express Membership Rewards. You can then transfer your points at a later time to KrisFlyer – or to a range of other frequent flyer programs, if another one suits better – as needed.

Buying frequent flyer points

If you still don’t have enough points to redeem for a reward flight, another option could be to buy frequent flyer points at a discount from an airline that sells them. Frequent flyer programs that sell miles include Air Canada Aeroplan and British Airways Executive Club.

Air Canada’s loyalty program often has among the best award availability between Australia and Europe. This is helped by its partnerships with niche airlines like Air Mauritius – in addition to Virgin Australia, Etihad and all the Star Alliance members.

When redeeming points, award availability is limited – especially for long-haul flights in Business Class. So you’ll need to be flexible with your travel dates and book well in advance. Also, beware of the carrier charges that some airlines add to the cost of your reward ticket.

If you’re having trouble redeeming your points, the Frequent Flyer Concierge service may be able to help you with finding flights.

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Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include aviation, economics & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.