Just bought another MNL-GVA-MNL J Ticket for October on EY for approx $2,500 (including the 3% Amex surcharge). I could've used another card and avoided the surcharge, but in the end I don't mind the extra 3,000 QFF points. A slight bonus is that on the outward leg it's an A350 from AUH to ZRH, and coming back (via FCO), it's 2 x 787 (although I prefer the 777 to the BA-esque forward/rearward facing seats on the Dreamliners).
I'm spending a couple of weeks in Italy, visiting PMO, NAP and ROM, and have purchased easyJet tickets for GVA-PMO-NAP, FCO-GVA for under $300 all in. So should be an interesting trip. And for a little icing on the cake, it should earn enough VA SC's to renew my Platinum status for 2026.
I'll be using Qantas rewards for SYD-MNL-SYD, but I've noticed lately that QF is getting very stingy in allowing add-ons (at the same points price) for places such as MEL and CBR. Why is that, I wonder? Even as a WP, I couldn't get them to budge on this, even though the website showed reward availability. Used to be no problem, so is this the improved service that the new CEO is providing? Better all watch out!.