Best FF Program for Family / 3 J Award Seats

[vicsta]

Finding 3x award seats in business class (E.g. to Japan) these days seems as rare as hens teeth!
Wondering re anyone's hints re:
- Which program is best for availability
- Best site for searching award flights (Unfortunately seats.aero has been inaccurate when it comes to looking for more than 2 seats)
SQ seems the most doable for 3x seats, but much less lucrative than it used to be with the 3:1 conversion rate

Or am I just going to have to get used to flying in long haul economy all over again?

 

[lilkid28]

Finding 3x award seats in business class (E.g. to Japan) these days seems as rare as hens teeth!
Wondering re anyone's hints re:
- Which program is best for availability
- Best site for searching award flights (Unfortunately seats.aero has been inaccurate when it comes to looking for more than 2 seats)
SQ seems the most doable for 3x seats, but much less lucrative than it used to be with the 3:1 conversion rate

Or am I just going to have to get used to flying in long haul economy all over again?

Redeem 2 seats and pay 1 in cash if all in J, or 1 in PE.

 

[SydneySwan]

Or am I just going to have to get used to flying in long haul economy all over again?

I think you are.

 

[Human]

From my experience you're right about Singapore Airlines. When you're looking for more than 2 seats, and when you want to book in advance and not rely on last-minute availability, Singapore is your best bet.

Yes, Singapore has a 3:1 conversion rate from many programmes now, but the transfer rate from Velocity is OK-ish, and Velocity points are really easy to come by in Australia. Shop at Coles, take advantage of FlyBuys, switch your energy to AGL, buy your petrol from 7-Eleven, take out some credit cards with good Velocity sign-up bonuses, maybe look at their health insurance offerings, and you'll be flying with your family in Business class in no time (...well, maybe within a couple of years...).

 

[WilsonM]

As @Human excellently put it, Singapore Airlines via Velocity is a good place to go. The advantages of going via Velocity is that if you're looking further out, you might find 3 seats on SQ via Velocity itself, so that just saves you points - if not, then you can still transfer.

If you go earn Velocity directly rather than a flexible currency to transfer to SQ (i.e. AMEX), the volume is much greater - the top publicly available bonus for the AMEX Platinum is 200k = 66.667k SQ miles. Top offer I've found for Velocity is the Westpac Altitude Black which has up to 150k Velocity = 96.77k SQ miles.

Cathay Pacific's Asia Miles is also a possibility as well.

I have seen QF to Japan in off-peak seasons for up to 4 J, but I'm also WP so there's every chance that I'm seeing stuff that you may not be able to.

 

[kamchatsky]

Another airline option for you is Finnair (AY). They are redeemable by their Oneworld Partners (eg. QF, CX, etc).

Today I booked 4 * J AY SIN-HEL-LIS using Qantas Points (partner classic awards) for European summer travel next year, and I am lowly QF Bronze. I've already got the tickets and have selected seats there.

 

[vicsta]

Thanks everyone!
I managed to get 4x premium economy! (JAL Codeshare)