Help with Booking an Overseas Award Flight

[katec]

Hi there,

I am planning to take my Mother Overseas for her 60th birthday next year at the end of October and have started trying to book the flights using my award points. Not before time either so it would seem..

My plan at the moment is as follows:

1) Sydney to New York
2) New York to London
3) London to Venice - no direct flights so I am thinking of taking this out and buying some cheap flights via Easyjet etc at a later date
4) Paris to Sydney - with a stopover in Hong Kong due to the length of the flight.

I have been using the Qantas website to search for flights and am finding it difficult to get some of the shorter length (i.e 21 hours and not 26 hours) flights without multiple stopovers for these destinations.

Any help from experienced Frequent Flyers on the best way to organise the trip would be appreciated.

We will be Flying Economy (unfortunately!!!).

Thanks,

 

[Alanslegal]

Firstly welcome to AFF katec

With a routing like this; you can definitely book it online. It would be a Qantas OneWorld Award where you can have 5 stopovers, travel with 3 or more airlines and travel for up to 35K miles. The total cost will be 140,000 points per passenger.

For late October/early November, I did a dummy booking found flights such as:-

(bolded is your stops)

Sydney to New York (with QF107)
New York to London (Heathrow) (with BA)
London (Gatwick) to Venice (with BA)
Venice to Paris via Madrid (with IB)
Paris to Hong Kong (with CX)
Hong Kong to Sydney (with QF,CX)

Otherwise try calling the call centre and for a 2,500 points fee the agent can give you some suggestions, help with routings and timing and complete the booking.

Good luck.

 

[straitman]

Hi there,

I am planning to take my Mother Overseas for her 60th birthday next year at the end of October and have started trying to book the flights using my award points. Not before time either so it would seem..

My plan at the moment is as follows:

1) Sydney to New York
2) New York to London
3) London to Venice - no direct flights so I am thinking of taking this out and buying some cheap flights via Easyjet etc at a later date
4) Paris to Sydney - with a stopover in Hong Kong due to the length of the flight.

I have been using the Qantas website to search for flights and am finding it difficult to get some of the shorter length (i.e 21 hours and not 26 hours) flights without multiple stopovers for these destinations.

Any help from experienced Frequent Flyers on the best way to organise the trip would be appreciated.

We will be Flying Economy (unfortunately!!!).

Thanks,

katec,

Welcome to AFF.

What you are doing for your mother is really great.

I might send the link to this thread to both my daughters and see if they will buy me a ticket for my birthday next year. (I'm dreaming)

 

[katec]

Thanks Alanlegal for the below info - good to know that I am on the right track.

I think I will call the agent to help with the details even if there is a 2,500 fee involved. I want to make sure I cover all the options...

Bill,

I hope your daughters come through for you.

Kate

 

[jakplus1]

Ah, no sorry, your daughters, or at least this one doesn't have enough Frequent Flyer points to get from Melbourne to Sydney!!!

Sorry

 

[straitman]

Ah, no sorry, your daughters, or at least this one doesn't have enough Frequent Flyer points to get from Melbourne to Sydney!!!

Sorry

Cash payment is always acceptable :!:

 

[Mal]

Otherwise try calling the call centre and for a 2,500 points fee the agent can give you some suggestions, help with routings and timing and complete the booking.

It's definitely the better option as the OP will get access to flights that aren't listed on the QF website.

 

[katec]

It's definitely the better option as the OP will get access to flights that aren't listed on the QF website.

I ended up booking the flight myself after more hours then I count on the Qantas website.
I have got an overnight flight from CDG to SIN via LHR in business class and then SIN to SYD in economy.
I didn't have enough points to do the entire trip in business and couldn't get a seat in that class for that sector anyway. I tried getting PE seats but they were hard to come by as well.
I still have enough points left over for the JFK to LHR flight which just leaves the SYD to JFK flight which I will now have to pay for. The chance to go business class for the first time makes it worth it I think.