London Calling

[an*g-bne]

I arranged this for my niece (a month ago, but BestFlights shows the fare is still available)

11 Sep QF51 BNE-SIN, 9W17 SIN-DEL
12 Sep 9W142 DEL-MXP

25 Sep 9W229 BRU-DEL
26 Sep 9W18 DEL-SIN, QF52 SIN-BNE

$1655.

IIRC needs W on 9W and O on QF. Had a bit of a time getting availability on those buckets, but they are around.

 

[Mal]

How about these as a possibility?

Award flight to SIN, Sri Lankan to LHR($A800ish).
Award flight to HKG, Air China to LHR ($A760ish)

... not my favourite airlines, but they are the cheapest.

 

[casanovawa]

I don't think i saw it suggested anywhere else, but i used 140k QFF points and am on a One World round the world award... 35k miles, 5 stops, 16 flight/land segments... Fuel surcharges and taxes etc about $817 or so... You can zip in and out of Europe to reduce surcharges...

Do you want to see Rio or Africa or anywhere else as well as London???

 

[anat0l]

casanovawa makes a good point about the oneworld award. Good value too as it can cover partners for a cheaper price.

Here's an example itinerary I strung up online as a dummy booking. Note that this is a WP search, i.e. more Classic seats than what can be seen by non-WPs. Total price is 140,000 points + $1152.15. I suppose you could even put in a very long break in that itinerary, purchase a return ticket back home and return after a while to resume the trip.

[B][U]Date   Flight  Sector   Dep   Arr   [/U][/B]
15AUG  QF  29  MEL-LHR  2250  1330+1  via HKG
16AUG  AY 840  LHR-HEL  1610  2105    

20AUG  AY 817  HEL-BRU  1640  1815

22SEP  AA 171  BRU-JFK  1000  1240

28SEP  AA 753  LGA-DFW  1359  1649
28SEP  AA 945  DFW-SCL  2130  0915+1

29SEP  LA 451  SCL-AEP  2005  2310

03OCT  QF  18  EZE-SYD  1355  1850+1
04OCT  QF 497  SYD-MEL  2205  2340

Flights are grouped above as how they are input into the Qantas Award search engine.

Brussels has a direct Eurostar service to London St Pancras, and are typically well priced.

There's even room and availability to spend some time in Santiago de Chile as well as Buenos Aires if that tickles your fancy.

Needless to say, if you are interested in an itinerary like this, I'd book quickly...and start packing!

 

[Lawlass]

Thanks all.

I definitely want to do the Oneworld RTW at some stage when I have a lot more time (I didn't think you were allowed to return to country of origin then keep going later?). That itinerary looks awesome.

One of the outrageously helpful AFF lurkers PM'd me with a way (with some pretty funky routing) to do SYD-LHR return for under $1200 (incl taxes) on QF Metal. It actually works, too. :shock: Only thing is I wouldn't be able to do the return until end of Oct, which would have me away for 7 weeks and I'm not sure I can do that and still pass uni...

Will be making a decision whether to do the 1200 fare or just piking and using a YASA.

Thanks again for all the helpful suggestions and still happy to hear any more creative ideas. AFF, as always, rocks.

 

[anat0l]

One of the outrageously helpful AFF lurkers PM'd me with a way (with some pretty funky routing) to do SYD-LHR return for under $1200 (incl taxes) on QF Metal. It actually works, too. :shock: Only thing is I wouldn't be able to do the return until end of Oct, which would have me away for 7 weeks and I'm not sure I can do that and still pass uni...

Will be making a decision whether to do the 1200 fare or just piking and using a YASA.

If I were you, provided that the former earns points and SCs then just take the $1200 fare deal. Needless to say, that's a real steal.

Now I'm trying to find out how to get such a fare! In light of your mentioning it's a funky routing, I don't like my chances of discovering it...

 

[Lawlass]

One trap to budget for - the UK exit fee. Cost me $350 in June (includes fuel surcharge). Green taxes at work! It would be cheap to go Eurostar advance booking to Paris and fly home from there, provided you're on an airline that flies from Paris.

When is the UK exit fee levied? I assume when you leave? So I could fly in to LHR and out from CDG/FRA?

 

[ozmille]

One of the outrageously helpful AFF lurkers PM'd me with a way (with some pretty funky routing) to do SYD-LHR return for under $1200 (incl taxes) on QF Metal. It actually works, too. :shock: Only thing is I wouldn't be able to do the return until end of Oct, which would have me away for 7 weeks and I'm not sure I can do that and still pass uni...

This raised my interest:shock: Will have to spend some time looking around... mmmmm

 

[Lawlass]

This raised my interest:shock: Will have to spend some time looking around... mmmmm

I'm not going to do it, but only because I can't spend the seven weeks away. Another AFFer has successfully taken advantage of it for an Xmas/NY flight.

The outrageously helpful lurker was brads92 and this is relayed with his permission. I don't know why he's shy - his knowledge and helpfulness via email has been awesome.

The price is achieved by going to S7 Airlines - Online air ticket booking, buy flight tickets, book cheap air tickets, flight schedules and plugging in SYD-MOW (flex). Then it is a matter of searching for the 3660 RUB flights - there are several of them scattered about (e.g. Aug 10 outbound, Nov 6 return). Once taxes and fees are added, at today's exchange, this particular one comes to AUD 930 Then add MOW-LHR-MOW for around 200 GBP and hey presto - SYD-LHR ret for 1200.

Books on QF metal SYD-FRA (N bucket) and Siberian (OW) FRA-MOW.

There may be some uncomfortable questions in MOW of course...

 

[sergeyvzn]

wow, lawless, what a discovery

I travel to Russia pretty much every year to visit family, the cheapest you can get these days is around $1500. This is one very interesting fare

 

[stryker]

When is the UK exit fee levied? I assume when you leave? So I could fly in to LHR and out from CDG/FRA?

I abhor the UK departure taxes too, and won't pay them, as a rule.

If I'm flying out of the UK long haul, I'll book a C/J class ticket from DUB, BRU, FCO or MAD (low departure taxes) and book FR/EZY to these European gateways. In this way you virtually avoid all UK departure taxes, as the LCC's tend to absorb them and try and fleece you with their add-ons.

 

[ozmille]

Just had a look at the S7 website. Unbelievable fares. And those aren't even the POMO fares!

 

[Princess Fiona]

Just had a look at the S7 website. Unbelievable fares. And those aren't even the POMO fares!

Incredible fares indeed. It's also pricing around $4.5K in J.

 

[notzac]

Incredible fares indeed. It's also pricing around $4.5K in J.

Interesting! $4500 to Europe in J sounds very decent to me..

 

[RB]

Some interesting and variable reviews for S7 on skytrax

S7 Airlines (Siberia Airlines) Customer Reviews - SKYTRAX

 

[sergeyvzn]

considering you will be actually flying QF all the way to Europe (FRA) and will only have to endure a relatively short (4 hrs) hop to DMO from Frankfurt, I would not worry too much about reviews

I am pulling my hair out - I just returned (3 weeks ago) from Russia and I paid considerably more for my SYD-SVO-SYD fare with QF/SU. Had I know about this fare, I would've sure gone with QF/S7

 

[serfty]

Note that in economy, the UK-OZ APD (Over 6000 miles) is £85.

The S7 fares have been mentioned before (http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ational-airfares/qf-s7-syd-sin-fra-29698.html).

Finally, a Russian Visa my be quite expensive if you need one.

 

[sergeyvzn]

I must have totally overlooked this posting, first time that I see it

However, it's dated by April and had already bought my tickets by then

The russian visa is $190 for a double entry - which would be the case if lawless does choose it to go to London via Moscow. She would need to leave the transit zone in Domodedovo airport to check in for her London flight as it would be on a separate booking

Would be free for me as I have a dual citizenship (Australian and Russian)

I'm definitely going to take these fares into consideration if I need to go to Europe as it would work out as a great side trip for me to visit family and friends in Russia

 

[jdlover23]

I must have totally overlooked this posting, first time that I see it

However, it's dated by April and had already bought my tickets by then

The russian visa is $190 for a double entry - which would be the case if lawless does choose it to go to London via Moscow. She would need to leave the transit zone in Domodedovo airport to check in for her London flight as it would be on a separate booking

Would be free for me as I have a dual citizenship (Australian and Russian)

I'm definitely going to take these fares into consideration if I need to go to Europe as it would work out as a great side trip for me to visit family and friends in Russia

Do you require the visa if you are there for less than 24hrs?

 

[serfty]

Do you require the visa if you are there for less than 24hrs?

read the linked to trheads and the links within them as well ...