Creative Routes Sydney to London

[RichardMEL]

If going via the US, there is the Usd$14 ESTA fee, per pax.

Now USD21

 

[jase05]

Then Delhi, Paris, London (Air France)

Is DEL-CDG on 777-300?
If so it’s one of the best J seats I’ve flown in.
I had a bulkhead seat a few months ago and it was absolutely amazing. Pity the service and food didn’t match though

 

[robolb]

Is DEL-CDG on 777-300?
If so it’s one of the best J seats I’ve flown in.
I had a bulkhead seat a few months ago and it was absolutely amazing. Pity the service and food didn’t match though

A350-900?
Looked at some YT videos. They seemed OK.
Pity about the food.
I thought Air France might be good

We only have 1 hour between flights at CDG. Very close!
So plan to travel with only hand luggage!

 

[AIRwin]

I wasn't too keen on the last two sectors being with Finnair.
Tried them last week from Bangkok to Sydney and was not impressed.
Worst Business Class seats and food I have ever had.

It was AY's A330 aircraft but QF catering though?

 

[jase05]

A350-900?
Looked at some YT videos. They seemed OK.
Pity about the food.
I thought Air France might be good

We only have 1 hour between flights at CDG. Very close!
So plan to travel with only hand luggage!

Seat was absolutely superb.
Service was slow and inattentive and the the food was ok but not great.
Most disappointingly for a French airline they had only 2x whites and 2x reds for a wine selection and the 3 I had were not great.
Will fly them again though for that seat

 

[SYD]

If going via the US, there is the Usd$14 ESTA fee, per pax.

But valid for 2 yrs (or life of PP). Indonesia is 500k rupes per go but still cheaper than starting in Oz.

 

[robolb]

It was AY's A330 aircraft but QF catering though?

Hard to tell with the Catering.
Certainly not up to Qantas standard.
Luke warm soup etc.
Dishes were certainly not QF standard.
But it may have been down to the prep, who knows.

As we'd eaten in the club, we just went to sleep......

It was AY aircraft and crew.
AY safety video etc.
Nothing really QF Visible other than the Pyjamas........
and a QF flight number.

The whole experience was really one of a discount carrier, trying hard, rather than a carrier of QF standard.

But hey, it was only one flight.
I won't be trying another one though if I can help it.

Maybe others had a much more positive experience?

 

[tdimdad]

With catering, it feels it'd also be highly dependent of the departure point and what the caterer there can/will provide. Overall, departures from the home bases tend to be better catered while the return legs often seem (feel?) to get a slightly lower quality catering. E.g. QF for SYD-SIN would be nicer but the return SIN-SYD sometimes a bit of a miss. HND-HEL on JL more enjoyable than HEL-HND, etc...

Go figure why this would be the case but that's how I've experienced it over time. And, of course, your mileage, preferences and taste buds would vary...

 

[robolb]

With catering, it feels it'd also be highly dependent of the departure point and what the caterer there can/will provide. Overall, departures from the home bases tend to be better catered while the return legs often seem (feel?) to get a slightly lower quality catering. E.g. QF for SYD-SIN would be nicer but the return SIN-SYD sometimes a bit of a miss. HND-HEL on JL more enjoyable than HEL-HND, etc...

Go figure why this would be the case but that's how I've experienced it over time. And, of course, your mileage, preferences and taste buds would vary...

Yes, good points.
A lot of variables.

Menu options
Local ingredients
Local catering company
Equipment on board to prepare/reheat/serve the food.....

Though having said that, I've never had a bad seat or bad food on a 'real' Qantas Business class flight anywhere.

This really was barely above economy standard, sadly.
And I've had way better food on that BKK-SYD sector on every other airline I've flown.

I suppose I felt somewhat cheated, that this had been sold as a Qantas flight, and yet in every respect, bar the pyjamas, there was nothing 'Qantas' about it in terms of it being a quality product/experience.

I'll just avoid those Finnair 'wet leased' flights in future.
Felt a bit like a 'bait and switch'...
Lots of other options.

 

[AIRwin]

And I've had way better food on that BKK-SYD sector on every other airline I've flown.

QF, TG, EK and BA?

 

[robolb]

QF, TG, EK and BA?

Better than AY? Yes.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The seats I later found and kept, were (also Biz Class)
Sydney, Melbourne, Delhi (we'll stop there a couple of days) Qantas.
Then Delhi, Paris, London (Air France)

A bit more cost in terms of the 'taxes' but faster overall and better seats and food! I hope.

I think this is a pretty good option! Air France food is generally exceptional, I love it! Not sure how the catering ex India goes however? But still, should be a good flight.

Depending on the length of your transit, and if you need a visa to go out and do some sightseeing, we applied for on line early this year. It was actually pretty straightforward. We were surprised. All worked well once we got to DEL… but if you are coming in business class, look for the ‘priority/VIP/business class’ immigration queues… they were empty compared to snaking lines in the regular section.

 

[Basalt]

How about SYD-YVR on QF, then YVR-CDG on AF, then the Chunnel to London? Avoids transiting LHR. The AF flight can be had using QFF points - we did this in January when we went skiing in Italy - MEL-SYD-YVR-CDG (all in J award) then fast train to Geneva.

Do an overnighter in Vancouver. The arrival (QF) and departure (AF) times in YVR are very civilized

Edit: you can get to YVR using QFF points via Fiji, even better now that FJ is becoming a full OneWorld member which means lounge access in SYD. I think FJ flys Nadi-Vancouver couple times a week.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

But valid for 2 yrs (or life of PP). Indonesia is 500k rupes per go but still cheaper than starting in Oz.

IDN (Indonesia) is Rupiah, not IND (India) Rupees,

 

[wandering_fred]

IDN (Indonesia) is Rupiah, not IND (India) Rupees,

Oanda converter has the code as IDR for Indonesian rupiah.
A source often used when wandering
Fred

 

[SYD]

IDN (Indonesia) is Rupiah, not IND (India) Rupees,

Rupes - colloquial for either AFAIC. Like bucks, quid etc

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

My waffly was more about the country code than their money code.

 

[robolb]

We ended up booking SYD-MEL-DEL-CDG-LHR. getting off in Delhi for a few days. All in Biz Class.

Now looking at some creative returns.

As we are travelling around Europe a bit, we have a range of departure cities.
Paris, London, Madrid, Frankfurt, Rome.........

Coming back through US seems to add a lot of time, and most also dog leg over to Tokyo on the way to Sydney.
Never been to the US so thinking of a brief stop to tick that box.
At least have a quick look!

Coming back the other way, Tokyo seems to be the main transit point, but we've been there........

Any thoughts on a good route home with maybe a 2-3 day stopover, (or direct with no actual stopover) would be most appreciated.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

CDG - KUL - SYD?
CDG - KUL - (BKK - KUL) - SYD?
Partner airline would be MH of course.
I would chunnel it from LHR to CDG, to avoid the UK APD, if you want prem cabin seats.
Or to make it fast, maybe elcheapo airline CDG - FCO , then QF FCO - PER - SYD?

 

[robolb]

CDG - KUL - SYD?
CDG - KUL - (BKK - KUL) - SYD?
Partner airline would be MH of course.
I would chunnel it from LHR to CDG, to avoid the UK APD, if you want prem cabin seats.
Or to make it fast, maybe elcheapo airline CDG - FCO , then QF FCO - PER - SYD?

Wow! Just looked up UK APD. Won't be departing from there anymore.
Though I haven't departed from UK for ................ gee. Maybe 10-15 years.