Looking for a good Business Class deal to Europe? A popular AFF strategy is to take a positioning flight from Australia to Asia, then take advantage of the much cheaper airfares from Asia to Europe.
This strategy is particularly effective when airlines are running a sale on Business Class airfares from destinations in Asia to Europe. As it happens, Etihad Airways is currently running a Business class sale from Jakarta to European destinations including London, Rome and Dusseldorf.
As Loyalty Lobby writes, flights from Jakarta to London in Etihad Business are currently available from $2,575:
Etihad Business Sale fares are also available from Jakarta to Rome from as little as $2,262 return:
The price difference between flying to London and destinations in continental Europe is due to the UK Air Passenger Duty which is added when departing from the UK.
This sale is running until 22 May 2019 and covers travel until 30 November 2019. There is a 21-day advance purchase period and a maximum stay of one month. Stopovers in Abu Dhabi are permitted.
If you wish to use this Etihad Business sale, you’ll obviously need to make separate arrangements between Australia and Jakarta. Direct flights to Jakarta are available from Sydney, Melbourne and Perth and the flight time ranges from 4.5 to 7 hours. To get to Jakarta, you could redeem points or perhaps just buy cheap Economy tickets. Even if you end up flying Economy from Australia to Jakarta, you’re still only paying around $3,000 all up to get to Europe and back with the majority of the trip in Business Class.
As you’ll have separate tickets, you will need to collect your luggage and check in again when you get to Jakarta. You may wish to stop over in Jakarta in one or both directions to break up the trip and allow for possible inbound flight delays.
This fare books into Z class and earns 1.15 Virgin Australia Velocity points per mile flown. On a round-trip booking from Jakarta to London, you could earn approximately 16,500 Velocity points and 480 status credits.
See our Cheap International Airfares forum for more flight deals.
