So - I was most of the way through booking our 280k OWA. Flights out of Europe, either to Asia, or all the way home have been quite limited in early October, so we had locked in Qatar through to Singapore. Little to no improvement in that situation in the couple of weeks since making that booking, so now I turn my mind to getting home to BNE from SIN. Absolutely no J or PE availability on QF - a couple of F seats on QF36 popped up today for 6th October, but not looking for the 420k OWA.
I can get Y seats on QF52 SIN-BNE most days (but who wants to finish a J OWA in Y?). So I call QFF and the delightful Gus is most helpful (not withstanding providing an almost convincing spin on the lack of J availability and the nature of fuel fines...). So he found us J class SIN-HKG-PER with CX connecting to PER-BNE (QF). Slightly longer than the direct SIN-BNE (22hrs vs 8), but J all the way. I have taken this routing almost as a matter of principle, but having said that, will burn another 2 x 5000 points change fee if a better J option opens up.
So our final itinerary now is:
Depart 22nd August 2019.
BNE-HKG (QF) -LHR (BA). Stopover.
LGW-GOA (BA). Stopover. Cinqueterre, Florence, Cruise ex Venice.
VCE-MAD-GVA (IB). Stopover. Independent travel around France.
CDG-DOH-SIN(QR). Stopover.
SIN-HKG-PER (CX) -BNE (QF). Home 6th October.