Best way to get to Finland from Perth in July?

[sunnysanna]

I know it is getting late and the Qantas award flights are nearly all gone. I am looking at travelling to Helsinki, Finland in early July 2013, returning late July/early August. I am travelling with a child. At the moment I've got 270 000 Qantas FF points. What would be the best (convenience/price ratio) way to get there: use all the points for award flights, use points and pay, or just pay for the flights?

Appreciate any help!

Thank you!

 

[jukebox333]

A quick check - not searching for better connection pairs - shows it's still do-able, but there's not a lot of seats left (assume you are Bronze status only):

4th July
QF77 PER-SIN
CX714 SIN-HKG
AY62 HKG-HEL

3rd Aug
AY57 HEL-PDG
CX365 PDG-HKG
CX137 HKG-PER

OneWorld award - 260,000 points total for 2 pax + $1609 in taxes.

FWIW, you could break your journey in SIN, PDG, or HKG for the same points - so long as you could find suitable flights.

The ones above are 31-34 hours, and would be very hard for a child to cope with - even one who is a seasoned traveller...

The JASA alternative is

8 Jul
PER-SIN
SIN-HEL

6 Aug
HEL-SIN
SIN-PER

260,000 points plus $2,400 but the flights drop from 6 total to 4, and are then 25hrs and 18hrs....

 

[sunnysanna]

Thanks so much for your help, really appreciate it. I'm not too worried about the flight time, the kid enjoys travel and doesn't need too much entertainment to cope with long trips.
Does it make any difference that I am a silver FF member? I have never booked award flights before...
How about Qantas linking up with Emirates soon. Do you think there will be more connections/award flights to Helsinki, or should I just book the one you recommended? July is getting closer, don't want to miss out, but don't want to waste all my points either!

Thanks again!

 

[mannej]

Have you checked what comes up using your FF details on the QF site? The sooner you check the better as time is running out.

As has been stated numerous times, EK options will only come online once final approval is granted come April.

 

[sunnysanna]

Yep, I have checked, just thought there might be some other options that I can't think about as I haven't ever used the award flight bookings.

Using points versus points+pay options, or booking the whole trip at once versus breaking it up by purchasing each leg separately all seem to bring different kinds of price/point ratios. Just thought there may be a guru here, who knows how it all works. Maybe there are no general rules, and it's all case by case?

I am new to this and haven't read everything in the discussion boards yet. Thanks for your help.

 

[Isochronous]

AY also fly to Chongqing, you could try going there via HKG on CX to connect too.

 

[sunnysanna]

Thanks everyone! Have now booked the first flight suggested via Singapore and Hong Kong.