Excellent J Award Availability to Europe

[kangarooflyer88]

I'm planning on visiting Europe next year and thought I'd have a look at QF to see what J awards would be available. To my surprise (and delight) I discovered that from February through June just about every other day I can get business classic awards on Qantas. To give you a concrete example, here's what the classic award chart shows for Sydney to Paris CDG in June (widely considered a "hot" month of travel):



Digging in further I see that much of the flights seem to be operated by MU (presumably MU must have resumed some of these routes recently and released partner award space in the hopes of bringing some of their cabin up to capacity):


-RooFlyer88

 

[elanshin]

Having taken MU recently, I would say not to expect too much. Decent hard product but catering (even in J) isn't the greatest. It's for Chinese tourists wnd it shows.

CI would be a better bet and there might still be availability with them.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Having taken MU recently, I would say not to expect too much. Decent hard product but catering (even in J) isn't the greatest. It's for Chinese tourists wnd it shows.

I'm wondering if the MU product quality varies by route? The reason I ask is that SYD > PVG is offered in Y or J but PVG > CDG is offered in Y, J or F which suggests that this is serviced to a higher standard.

CI would be a better bet and there might still be availability with them.

You are probably correct there based on what I've seen of CI. Whether there is availability when you want to travel is key though. Interestingly enough FlightFormula just posted a review of their flight from MEL to TPE on CI in J:

 

[elanshin]

I'm wondering if the MU product quality varies by route? The reason I ask is that SYD > PVG is offered in Y or J but PVG > CDG is offered in Y, J or F which suggests that this is serviced to a higher standard.

Yes there's different products but SYD <> PVG is on their latest widebodies that they started receiving right before covid (a350). There are 4 F seats at the front of J.
It's likely the PVG <> CDG is operated by the 777 which has 6 F seats.

You are probably correct there based on what I've seen of CI. Whether there is availability when you want to travel is key though. Interestingly enough FlightFormula just posted a review of their flight from MEL to TPE on CI in J:

At this point the availability might be fewer, but there were loads only a few months ago.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

MU F is pretty much business class with a pair of PJs and a F class seat/suite.

 

[jase05]

Been a while since I’ve flown MU in J but whilst the service, F&B etc was pretty ordinary the seats were comfortable enough and the flights have mostly ran on time and that’s the most important things for me.
They aren’t the worst Chinese airline but I think others offer a better product but of course availability is the key
The lounges are dire however and 7hrs in a Chinese lounge is pushing the sanity levels

 

[elanshin]

Been a while since I’ve flown MU in J but whilst the service, F&B etc was pretty ordinary the seats were comfortable enough and the flights have mostly ran on time and that’s the most important things for me.
They aren’t the worst Chinese airline but I think others offer a better product but of course availability is the key
The lounges are dire however and 7hrs in a Chinese lounge is pushing the sanity levels

Which lounge did you use at PVG? A lot of refurbishment and new lounges have have opened that has gotten very little coverage.

37 looked decent to me albeit food was soso. 137 is brand new in their satellite terminal.

 

[jase05]

Which lounge did you use at PVG? A lot of refurbishment and new lounges have have opened that has gotten very little coverage.

37 looked decent to me albeit food was soso. 137 is brand new in their satellite terminal.

Last time I flew with them was in 2017 and I’m fairly certain we got sent to a Plaza Premium contract lounge and it was absolutely dire.
Good to know they have upgraded facilities

 

[elanshin]

Last time I flew with them was in 2017 and I’m fairly certain we got sent to a Plaza Premium contract lounge and it was absolutely dire.
Good to know they have upgraded facilities

If there's one thing about China. Its that every 3-4 years the whole place looks different. I think they built the satellite terminal I mentioned in 4 years and it opened late 2019. Place is massive (makes any main terminal here look tiny).

 

[jase05]

If there's one thing about China. Its that every 3-4 years the whole place looks different. I think they built the satellite terminal I mentioned in 4 years and it opened late 2019. Place is massive (makes any main terminal here look tiny).

We went back twice in 2018 but our last time through PVG was in 2017.
Very keen to get back to China but think 2025 at the earliest for us this stage

 

[am0985]

Qantas axes China Eastern partnership

The long-running alliance has been dropped as Qantas restarts its own flights to Shanghai.

www.executivetraveller.com

Thought they'd ended their alliance, thought this would mean no more frequent flyer seats?

Reviews aren't too bad - certainly still worth a redemption from what I've read though it's obviously hardly Qatar.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Qantas axes China Eastern partnership

The long-running alliance has been dropped as Qantas restarts its own flights to Shanghai.

www.executivetraveller.com

Thought they'd ended their alliance, thought this would mean no more frequent flyer seats?

In this case it was the joint venture which means they aren't colluding on capacity or pricing anymore but will still maintain some reciprocal benefits. Put differently this is like moving the relationship from an Emirates' like partnership to more of their relationship with KLM/Air France. In other words yes you will still be able to earn points on these flights and redeem for award flights but things like extra baggage or lounge benefits won't be there. Certainly you won't be able to book a China Eastern flight carrying a QF flight number (to earn status credits).

Reviews aren't too bad - certainly still worth a redemption from what I've read though it's obviously hardly Qatar.

What is interesting is the number of points required to make the booking - 159,000 in J or 66,200 in Y. When compared to an Emirates award booking on a pure points perspective you are right, not the best use. However, one must take into account the totality of the cost of making an award booking which includes the taxes and fees. And for that Emirates can be eye watering. That SYD to CDG flight carries an out of pocket cost of $285.55 AUD one way in business. I'd challenge anyone to find an award flight to Europe on Qantas in business with lower taxes and fees than that.

And since you brought up Qatar, there are economical ways of redeeming Qatar award flights outside of Qantas. Namely, one can book Australia to Europe in business one-way for a flat 90,000 Qatar Avios. You can get those points either by buying Avios points from British Airways and transferring them one to one to Qatar Avios or alternatively transferring your credit card points over to Qatar directly. For instance, 2 AmEx membership rewards points = 1 Qatar Avios point, meaning you could book that Qatar business class flight for 180,000 membership rewards points transferring them to Qatar Avios. Now that may sound like a heap of points but remember the AmEx Platinum card has a 150,000 membership reward point sign up bonus. Something to consider! Also one could also book Sydney to Paris with Virgin Australia points on Qatar for 139,000 Virgin Australia points.