First post! Advice needed [QR or EK business? QFF award]

[mavsterper]

Hi All!

Sorry first time poster here

I'm looking to use the QF points I've built up to book flights for myself and partners honeymoon next Jan to Europe. We have enough for Business class one way and economy back. Question is what's better the Qatar or Emirates business class? Sorry this will be out first time flying business class.

Our route will be -

Melbourne-Lisbon // Munich-Bali

thinking flights home to surprise the wife in business.

I've read the Qsuites are amazing but they aren't offered on the longer DOH-DPS leg.

Also if we need top up points I've see purchasing wine through Qantas can be a great way! Any other tips with other products?

Sorry if this has all been answered before! Appreciate any replies.

 

[cove]

Qatar is what my son would say. My SIL is coming home from London with them this month.
You can buy American Airlines miles to get set with Qatar to get home. Only buy when there is a bonus offer from AA.
Tonight they offered us 29% extra seeing it is the 29th in the US.

 

[luxury-lizard]

Welcome to AFF @mavsterper - you don't say how many QF points you have but I guess you've worked out you have sufficient for your plans.

Before worrying about which airline will be best you need to worry about finding award seats using QF points - business class to Europe is very hard to come by with preference given to members with higher statuses. Also - redeeming economy award seats is a VERY poor use of your hard earned points.

You might consider using the AFF (paid) service which will handle finding/booking award seats for you - see https://frequentflyer.com.au/award-flight-assist/ . I consider myself something of an expert in this area so have never used a paid service but it can be pretty tricky for the first timer.

 

[mavsterper]

Thanks for the replies, at the moment there's right availability. Comes in at about 163k per person for EK to Lisbon in economy and to Bali in Business on EK as well. About $950 pp in taxes.

 

[RooFlyer]

Welcome @mavsterper . Check the seat type in EK business. They still run some angled flat beds.

QSuites are the best, but QR business in non QSuites I think is still better than QF or EK.

@luxury-lizard gives very good advice re availability, not using points for Economy (because the cheapest economy seats can cost not much more than the taxes and 'fuel fines' if you use points) and using the AFF paid service. They don't book the flights, but they find available itinerary options for you, according to the routes and criteria (such as date (range?), preferred airlines, timing of flights etc). Will also tell you how best to use points etc.

 

[exceladdict]

I would personally focus on using business for the longer flights, your Melbourne to Europe leg. That's where the bed or copious amounts of food and drink will be most enjoyed. Plus better lounges in AU and the middle east.

Could you book that on points and pay cash on an LCC (scoot?) Europe back to Asia?

Tickets ex EU may be cheaper than ex AU.

I'd go Qatar but accept that the availability is tougher than EK.

 

[oirets]

I'd personally go with EK. I've never found any business award availability for Qatar, but EK is really good with availability. Qatar is also more expensive in points because they're not a preferred partner.

Based on your route, and given limited points availability, I would go MEL-DXB in business, then DXB-Lisbon in economy, then Munich-DPS in business and DPS-MEL in economy.

I'd book the DXB-Lisbon with points because from memory, it adds only 20k points or so to the total. You should be able to do the ex leg for 130,000 points as described here.

I'm not sure how you'd get from Munich to Bali easily with the available partners. You might have to route via LHR to use BA. Or you would have to go via somewhere in Asia (e.g. HKG with Cathay or HND/NRT with JAL).

The DPS-MEL leg can be in Qantas or Jetstar economy. If you have some cash, try Jetstar business, it's actually a really good product. Comparable to full service PE, but cheaper and earns status at the full J rate if you get the right bundle.

 

[mavsterper]

Thanks so much again everyone all the help is super useful!

Looks like i have a lot more research to do.

But looking at the availability I wont be able to get Business from MEL-DXB

I might go with the below to maximise points.

MEL-DXB-LIS with Qatar in Economy. Will pay this myself about $850 per person

Vienna to Denpasar, Bali using points with EK - 108k points plus $799 in taxes per person.

Are the flights with Emirates below in good business class seats, especially the DXB-DPS flight? (I've attached the flights). Looking at the lay flat seats if possible.

Sorry again im such a novice when it comes to business class!

 

[oirets]

Are the flights with Emirates below in good business class seats, especially the DXB-DPS flight? (I've attached the flights). Looking at the lay flat seats if possible.

777-300ER on Emirates is angled lie-flat. It's also a 2-3-2 configuration which I don't think is anywhere near as good as the staggered 1-2-1 configuration on the A380. That said, I still think it's a reasonably good seat overall. I've only flown J on the EK A380 though.

Also plenty of arguments about the A380 being a more comfortable plane to fly. More spacious, nice bar area to change up the scenery, also quieter and a smoother ride (IMO), higher cabin pressurisation...etc.

Personally, I prefer the Emirates A380 to their B777. You just have to look at the numbers - they fit like 75 - 80% of the number of passengers on the B777 compared to the A380 and the A380 is a far larger plane. It's just them moving away from offering the most extravagant product to offering a more value oriented product. They're basically the world's biggest international carrier now and they're trying to push the economies of scale.

 

[jase05]

777-300ER on Emirates is angled lie-flat. It's also a 2-3-2 configuration which I don't think is anywhere near as good as the staggered 1-2-1 configuration on the A380. That said, I still think it's a reasonably good seat overall. I've only flown J on the EK A380 though

It’s a horrible seat IMO and I avoid them like the plague. I couldn’t get any sleep on them at all. Looks like you have them on both legs and VIE-DXB is an overnight flight. Everyone is different though and I know plenty who have got plenty of sleep on them.
Personally if it was me I would spend the extra points on QR to DPS.
Another option would be to fly to SIN instead and then get a cheap flight to DPS.
VIE-DXB-SIN on EK you can get the A380 all the way which is by far their best business seat and experience and is only 94,900 points. You could also get QR VIE-DOH-SIN for 104,500 points and get the Qsuites on the DOH-SIN leg

 

[bsb]

IMHO Qatar beats EK on every level. I’ve only done EK J twice and it’s so underwhelming and very blingy and as mentioned before, seats vary in comfort.

I like Q suite but the seat ex Indonesia is very comfortable.

Some thoughts for your research. Pay to get to Asia and then try to redeem QR J ex Asia which is more plentiful than ex AU. Alternatively, buy J out of CGK or BKK (or possibly DPS) for around $2500 and use points to get there. Sometimes with taxes you’re already half way there.

Of course any biz option will be great and I’m sure your future wife will be ecstatic, but remember, once you’ve gone business, it’s hard to go back Best of luck with the planning and the wedding.

 

[Cessna 180]

If you can get QR take it. Their product and service is amazing. Non Q suite in my opinion is just as good as the Q suite and I have recently been on both.
Having said that I have never been on Emirates J.

 

[RooFlyer]

Looking at the lay flat seats if possible.

Sorry again im such a novice when it comes to business class!

Worry not - this is what AFF is for

For seats, look at Seat Guru. Its not always accurate (especially when an airline is progressively introducing new seats or a different aircraft on routes) and sometimes it doesn't know what configuration is on a particular route, but its a good start.

Airline Seat Maps, Flights shopping and Flight information- Best Airplane Seats - SeatGuru

The ultimate source for airplane seating, in-flight amenities, flights shopping and airline information.

www.seatguru.com

Just click the 'X' on the first screen pop-up.

 

[mavsterper]

Thankyou again! Super grateful.

Also just out of interest I tried to search availability for Europe back to Perth for Jan 23 but the site keeps crashing or error message comes up. Is that because there's no availability?

 

[VPS]

Thankyou again! Super grateful.

Also just out of interest I tried to search availability for Europe back to Perth for Jan 23 but the site keeps crashing or error message comes up. Is that because there's no availability?

Depending on what status you are they may not be released yet

 

[mavsterper]

Thank you all! Ive finally decided on my flights that I will purchase using the points.

Went with a slightly odd itinerary but wanted to see both Europe and Japan.

Melbourne - Madrid (EK -Economy)
Vienna - Osaka (EK - Business)
Tokyo - Perth (CX - Economy)

Question I had was -

-If I need to cancel the flights for any reason (e.g COVID or something similar happens next year) Can I get my points back?

-What does Qantas charge for cancel/change?

-Do I get back the taxes paid for my Award booking?

Thank you!

 

[BriarFlyer]

If you cancel a classic reward redemption, you will be refunded:

1. the taxes/carrier charges paid
2. the points minus a cancellation penalty of 6,000 points per passenger per booking (so if you book the 3 segments separately you're up for 3 x 6,000 x 2 pax; if on the one booking/ticket, then 6,000 x 2 pax.)