Buying Asia Based Business or PE fares to EUR

[OZDUCK]

As always this is up to personal preference. I am happy to fly the Per - Sin leg out of J. It is only a little over 5 hours and my wife has relatives/ friends in Sin so we always enjoy a short day or so stopover (we are seniors as well). Then, the long portion of the trip to Europe will be in J.

In my current case the QATAR J trip to Helsinki comes in at under $6,000 for the 2 of us. Plus about $1,000 Per - Sin so all up about $7,000. I am prepared to do this instead of paying around $11 to $12,000 to take J out of Perth. We will probably try Scoot this time using ScootBiz - which I know is nothing like a J class, but the seats seem wide and the legroom good. SQ Y, the last few times, hasn't been very good with the planes being tired and the crew pretty poor and the J fares are high. Qantas mostly flies 737's and I am not paying International J fares to fly on one of those.

 

[prozac]

I was on a MH redemption flight (MH17) AMS-KUL. The Dutch gentleman next to me explained he had booked his tickets barely a fortnight earlier AMS-PER in J for about $3,000. This has had me thinking the advantage of positioning in Europe with points and then buying return flights EU-SYD. You would need to be certain of your future travel.

 

[ianp]

I have just got back from a trip to Europe , I used Air Asia premium flatbeds OOL-KUL I bought the tickets when one of the sales where on , it was just under a $1000 return.

The seats are about 170 so not fully flat but I slept ok.

Obviously you dont get a business class service , you have to buy your drinks and the meals come in a foil tray , but the chicken curry and roti I had was very nice.

for me it is a good cheap option to get to KUL .

I have a trip booked in March OOL-KUL AIr Asia then KUL-CMB-LHR Sri lankan total price one way $1813 and that includes a 2 day stopover in CMB

 

[Gold60]

to get the cheaper fares, do most people just buy them from the airlines, or do some people use a travel agent they might know in Asia, or elsewhere ?

 

[OZDUCK]

to get the cheaper fares, do most people just buy them from the airlines, or do some people use a travel agent they might know in Asia, or elsewhere ?

For my trip this year to Ireland via Helsinki on Finnair, I just bought the discounted fare directly from Finnair. The return fare Singapore - Helsinki - Dublin in J was about $2,700. For another $2,000 I could have had the pleasure of adding the Perth - Singapore leg in J on a QF Domestic 737 - I didn't.

 

[Isochronous]

The best ex-Asia J deals are to be had on Oman Air.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

to get the cheaper fares, do most people just buy them from the airlines, or do some people use a travel agent they might know in Asia, or elsewhere ?

Direct from the airline or major on-line travel agent. If you happen to find an agent in Asia on one of your travels, and they have a website, you could also use them.

 

[bobe]

For my trip this year to Ireland via Helsinki on Finnair, I just bought the discounted fare directly from Finnair. The return fare Singapore - Helsinki - Dublin in J was about $2,700. For another $2,000 I could have had the pleasure of adding the Perth - Singapore leg in J on a QF Domestic 737 - I didn't.

For curiosity what were the SC earned on the J Finnair flights if you don’t mind me asking

 

[OZDUCK]

For curiosity what were the SC earned on the J Finnair flights if you don’t mind me asking

Theoretically 180 Sin - Dublin. But I have little loyalty to any airline and just had these flights credited to my CX "Asia Miles" account so no status credits for me. I haven't flown QF for 8 years - internationally for over 10 years.

But I am glad you asked me this question as I had my first look at that CX account for a while and realise that they have only credited my flights one way.

 

[oztraveller]

For the past 4 years, my annual trip to Europe has always been on Finnair ex Bangkok. I find BKK offers better fares than HKG, SIN etc. Also the BKK/Europe flight on Finnair is a daylight one. Leaves BKK at 08.55 and arrives in Helsinki with connection to all major European cities within 2 hours maximum. And you complete European immigration formalities there, never a queue. (and the Finnish immigration guys are far more pleasant than the Germans, Brits etc) I fly from BNE to BKK on SQ daylight flight in Y. It's an A330 so 2.4.2, unlike 777 etc.
I stay overnight in BKK at the Novotel (although Accor rip you off but that's what you pay for convenience).
It's my preferred way of getting to Europe, in daylight, very reasonable fare, and the Finnair A350 is superb.

 

[Limewood]

Certainly worth considering, what price range is J return?

 

[casanovawa]

We get to HKG anyway we can in Y daylight flight then out of there using AS miles (purchased when 50% extra deals are on) in J on OW airlines to both USA and Europe and save a bundle. Out of HKG fees are peanuts compared to QF and one can fly direct to so many cities. We enjoy a short stopover there too. Last trip to Europe we paid for Y BNE/HKG about a grand, then used AS miles HKG/CDG/DOH/PER/BNE was $6K in miles, so all up around $7K for two.

I have started accumulating AS miles but not booked anything with them yet, my understanding from Asia to Europe and vv is that you could only fly from and to HKG using Cathay? Although i see SQ and AY are about to become partners but haven't released their redemption tables... But how do you use AS miles to get from Europe back to Oz??

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I have started accumulating AS miles but not booked anything with them yet, my understanding from Asia to Europe and vv is that you could only fly from and to HKG using Cathay? Although i see SQ and AY are about to become partners but haven't released their redemption tables... But how do you use AS miles to get from Europe back to Oz??

with Alaska what you see in the award chart is what you can get. So Australia to Europe would need to be two awards with CX, broken in Hong Kong. Australia to usa however allows a stopover, for free, in Hong Kong.

other partners may be available, but you need to confirm via the award chart for the airlines applicable to any route. combining different awards will cost you the sum of those awards, not the through fare (with the exception of AU to usa visa Hong Kong etc)

 

[casanovawa]

with Alaska what you see in the award chart is what you can get. So Australia to Europe would need to be two awards with CX, broken in Hong Kong. Australia to usa however allows a stopover, for free, in Hong Kong.

other partners may be available, but you need to confirm via the award chart for the airlines applicable to any route. combining different awards will cost you the sum of those awards, not the through fare (with the exception of AU to usa visa Hong Kong etc)

That's what i thought, would require two awards but Limewood said s/he "used AS miles HKG/CDG/DOH/PER/BNE" and i didn't think there was an option to come back via DOH and then straight to Oz using AS miles so was just asking how this was possible??

I am hoping AY and SQ will add some more options for Asia-Europe and not just Asia-USA and Eur-USA...

 

[oztraveller]

Certainly worth considering, what price range is J return?

currently A$3648 round trip BKK/HEL in J on Finnair.

 

[Limewood]

That's what i thought, would require two awards but Limewood said s/he "used AS miles HKG/CDG/DOH/PER/BNE" and i didn't think there was an option to come back via DOH and then straight to Oz using AS miles so was just asking how this was possible??

I am hoping AY and SQ will add some more options for Asia-Europe and not just Asia-USA and Eur-USA...

Now I think of it we used QFF points on QR on the return.

 

[bobe]

For the past 4 years, my annual trip to Europe has always been on Finnair ex Bangkok. I find BKK offers better fares than HKG, SIN etc. Also the BKK/Europe flight on Finnair is a daylight one. Leaves BKK at 08.55 and arrives in Helsinki with connection to all major European cities within 2 hours maximum. And you complete European immigration formalities there, never a queue. (and the Finnish immigration guys are far more pleasant than the Germans, Brits etc) I fly from BNE to BKK on SQ daylight flight in Y. It's an A330 so 2.4.2, unlike 777 etc.
I stay overnight in BKK at the Novotel (although Accor rip you off but that's what you pay for convenience).
It's my preferred way of getting to Europe, in daylight, very reasonable fare, and the Finnair A350 is superb.

How do you do your bookings ? Direct with Airlines? Also Aprox how many SCs,,? Many 5hanks

 

[ellen10]

Bookmarking for a later read as I am planning our next trip.

 

[Franky]

currently A$3648 round trip BKK/HEL in J on Finnair.

This may sound dumb, but does that include the onward connections you spoke of?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The AY fare in the $3600 represents some savings over a full oneworld business class exAU, but there's competition from VN with fares in the $4400 range all the way from Australia. Mixed fares can be had at the moment to Europe for as low as $2200... Philippine airlines economy to Manila followed by China eastern to Europe in the AUD1400 range (departures from Clark). USA s similar pricing, but I'm thinking by the time you get to Manila and transfer to Clark you'd be almost in the USA taking QF nonstop.