How often are there aircraft switches on the route? I agree the 777 would be unpleasant (especially at the paid cost) but it doesn’t seem to be a frequent occurrence?
I think it is rare for the Sydney-Dubai sector, but happens frequently on the Dubai-Europe routes.
I care more about the SYD-DXB sector (we continue on to FCO in an A380). Our return from BCN is on a 777, but day flight to DXB.
Thinking laterally
Finnair RTW for the dates I'm looking at is $13.9K. I did find a Lufthansa/Austrian/Etc. for $10.7K, but lots of long layovers. I did originally consider stopping in NY (family) and SFO (priced into those Finnair/Lufthansa itineraries), but decided not to subject my travel companion to my family!
Seasonality brings the price down often by half. Unfortunately you are travelling in peak season.
I managed to find business class award flights on Finnair and JQ / QF. It was BNE-MEL-SIN-HEL-AMS and AMS-HEL-HND-BNE. Being in northern Europe, they're more affected by the flight bans associated with the was in Ukraine. They cancelled the flights to Haneda and moved me on to a flight to Narita. My issue was that they just called it Tokyo in the email they sent me and made it look like it was just a timing change. Even now, independent tourists aren't able to enter Japan, which means I wouldn't be able to travel. I understand that they need to make changes, but their inability or reluctance to communicate properly didn't instil any confidence in them as an organisation.
Yep. I've done the Finnair RTW and Lufthansa one, both under $7K in the past. Hoping it will come back down by next year.
If I was that close to Lifetime Gold I would definitely be choosing Emirates to get the extra SC.
