Qantas but not Qantas?

[Pom-DownUnder]

Spot on! But the extra $$ is the UK luxury departure tax. You can also open jaw your award - fly into MAN and our of mainland Europe. That will save you some points one the shorter journey back and $$.

And I am right in thinking that I only need to fly OUT of Singapore, I can go AMS -> Australia without getting the tax slap?

 

[eminere]

Cathay Pacific completely eliminated fuel surcharges on its flights at the beginning of this month.

With the small exception of flights ex-Japan and the Philippines.

 

[Pom-DownUnder]

And I am right in thinking that I only need to fly OUT of Singapore, I can go AMS -> Australia without getting the tax slap?

while i'm being the annoying new guy, if online checked into the flight leaving SIN even though it would be on a different ticket I could still check luggage all the way through from the independently bought ticket for say SYD to SIN? Just to avoid time of collecting luggage / trying to re-check it at SIN and leaving enough time between flights with a couple of hours to spare

 

[MEL_Traveller]

while i'm being the annoying new guy, if online checked into the flight leaving SIN even though it would be on a different ticket I could still check luggage all the way through from the independently bought ticket for say SYD to SIN? Just to avoid time of collecting luggage / trying to re-check it at SIN and leaving enough time between flights with a couple of hours to spare

The luxury departure tax applies only to flights out of the UK. So you could fly Australia->UK then Europe->Australia and you'd 'save $200 or whatever the APD is these days. But you'd have to spend money getting to Europe from the UK. Flying out of Singapore the same thing, as long as you fly out of Europe and not the UK you will save the money. You could fly SIN-LON then CDG-SYD, you get the picture.

If you buy a separate ticket SYD-SIN you need to allow plenty of time in Singapore as most airlines won't through-check bags these days on separate tickets. There *may* be an option to use the airside transfer counters in SIN - so you arrive on say Scoot, but then go to the Emirates transfer desk to get your boarding pass, and they may offer to collect your bags and re-tag them without you needing to go pick them up. But you can't always count on that. So I'd allow at least 4 hours transit time in SIN on separate tickets (mainly to allow for a delay on your departure from Australia). Covid may add time to that if you need temperature checks and longer immigration lines.

 

[Pom-DownUnder]

The luxury departure tax applies only to flights out of the UK. So you could fly Australia->UK then Europe->Australia and you'd 'save $200 or whatever the APD is these days. But you'd have to spend money getting to Europe from the UK. Flying out of Singapore the same thing, as long as you fly out of Europe and not the UK you will save the money. You could fly SIN-LON then CDG-SYD, you get the picture.

Yea i'm about 30 qantas hypothetical searches on that bus now.

in regard to checking luggage all the way through from SYD to LHR if its different tickets on SYD => SIN (pay cash) and then SIN => LHR (points, separate ticket) ?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Yea i'm about 30 qantas hypothetical searches on that bus now.

in regard to checking luggage all the way through from SYD to LHR if its different tickets on SYD => SIN (pay cash) and then SIN => LHR (points, separate ticket) ?

yeah sorry - I edited my post to include that now

It seems QF will through check to EK on separate tickets: Interline and Through Checked Baggage

but you might find QF's fare to Singapore is really expensive when you want to fly, especially if Scoot has a cheap deal.

 

[Pom-DownUnder]

yeah sorry - I edited my post to include that now

It seems QF will through check to EK on separate tickets: Interline and Through Checked Baggage

but you might find QF's fare to Singapore is really expensive when you want to fly, especially if Scoot has a cheap deal.

Awesome mate thanks for all the info, looks like Scoot only do the one flight a day, even paying QF for miles / SC / being able to check luggage through / more flights per day will prob be worth the couple extra hundred, will still come in cheaper than I was planning before your help

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Awesome mate thanks for all the info, looks like Scoot only do the one flight a day, even paying QF for miles / SC / being able to check luggage through / more flights per day will prob be worth the couple extra hundred, will still come in cheaper than I was planning before your help

However through checking still doesn’t guarantee your onward flight i the event the qantas flight is delayed.

You could take a scoot option and then a block of 6 hours at the transit hotel, which is fairly cheap. Lots of options.

 

[Pom-DownUnder]

However through checking still doesn’t guarantee your onward flight i the event the qantas flight is delayed.

You could take a scoot option and then a block of 6 hours at the transit hotel, which is fairly cheap. Lots of options.

Heya Mate,

Clearly I have been spamming various options etc, was wondering about booking the legs separately but seems like that makes the first trip more expensive than the whole trip:? see image attached, makes zero sense to me.

Cheers

 

[MEL_Traveller]

QF fuel surcharges are cheaper on a round-trip basis than individually. (The points are right, I assume you're talking about the $$ component?)

 

[Pom-DownUnder]

QF fuel surcharges are cheaper on a round-trip basis than individually. (The points are right, I assume you're talking about the $$ component?)

yea just wondering about the costs, it seems to fail the common sense check, I guess flying out of SIN really is a freaking gold mine award flights wise

 

[MEL_Traveller]

yea just wondering about the costs, it seems to fail the common sense check, I guess flying out of SIN really is a freaking gold mine award flights wise

you'll find the same pricing for a lot of QF awards - book one way and the taxes are more than half of the return price.

SIN has heaps of award space - lots of EK flights, and also lots of EK flights from neighbouring countries (DPS, CGK, MNL, KUL) so the pressure comes off slightly in terms of people fighting for seats).

 

[Danger]

Yea had a quick look and couldnt see anything for cathay higher than Y, cheap fuel though to be fair! kinda answers another question for me, as the fees for EK if i went economy seemed to be basically not much saving at all, so its J or bust with EK I reckon!

Careful, though. The great majority of EK's 777s have angled-flat seats in J and are seven across.

 

[Pom-DownUnder]

Careful, though. The great majority of EK's 777s have angled-flat seats in J and are seven across.

yea looks like a breakup of 777 and 380 from Sin to Dxb, will go for a 380 but if it gets changed it wont break my heart with it being under 10hr if the dxb to mel gets changed on the way home i'll cry all the tears in the world lol #battling

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Just wondering what the points + cash difference between the main options PomDownUnder is looking at and Cathay.

 

[Pom-DownUnder]

Just wondering what the points + cash difference between the main options PomDownUnder is looking at and Cathay.

in regard to which ones mate? at the start of the process I was going to go from SYD -> Newcastle, UK -> SYD and it was going to be 289,200 points and about $1,600 with Qantas / Emirates

now i'm looking Fly SYD to SIN for cash (either ~190 with scoot or 400/500 with asia/qantas)
then SIN -> Newcastle, ... open jaw make my own way to Amsterdam at end of trip for ~$120/150 .. then AMS -> back to Australia for 253,000 points and about $600 in fees

little bit more hassle with separate flights at start of each leg but should save about 40,000 points and about $500 cash money

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

in regard to which ones mate? at the start of the process I was going to go from SYD -> Newcastle, UK -> SYD and it was going to be 289,200 points and about $1,600 with Qantas / Emirates

now i'm looking Fly SYD to SIN for cash (either ~190 with scoot or 400/500 with asia/qantas)
then SIN -> Newcastle, ... open jaw make my own way to Amsterdam at end of trip for ~$120/150 .. then AMS -> back to Australia for 253,000 points and about $600 in fees

little bit more hassle with separate flights at start of each leg but should save about 40,000 points and about $500 cash money

The second one, using say Scoot (say about $300 one way) And award flights to UK returning from Europe.

I felt Cathay was more points and less cash.

 

[Pom-DownUnder]

The second one, using say Scoot (say about $300 one way) And award flights to UK returning from Europe.

I felt Cathay was more points and less cash.

All the flights i have looked in depth with were with EK, I hear really good things about Cathay but whenever I search them I havent seen much business availability, could just be the routes i have been looking at though.

Also they seem to take more points and I dont amass points all that quickly outside of bonus's

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

All the flights i have looked in depth with were with EK, I hear really good things about Cathay but whenever I search them I havent seen much business availability, could just be the routes i have been looking at though.

Also they seem to take more points and I dont amass points all that quickly outside of bonus's

Ok. It just seemed a much better deal with the low cash component.

Maybe someone else might be able to help with locating Cathay metal for you.

In my past searches of flights, sometimes had to go Europe to get Cathay popping up.

 

[Pom-DownUnder]

Ok. It just seemed a much better deal with the low cash component.

Maybe someone else might be able to help with locating Cathay metal for you.

In my past searches of flights, sometimes had to go Europe to get Cathay popping up.

I am not too concerned by the cash components as paying even $1,500 for a round trip home is kinda what i expect to pay, the points opening up J class is the main thing for me, I am tall and broad and not designed to do well in economy which is how i have almost always travelled. as I have the points to use I am quite pleased!