Hi Ozbargainers,
Need your help..
Looking at a 6 week trip to Europe end of April until start of June.. Mainly Paris, Rome, London.
What is the best return business class options to get there and back. Best I seen is with eithad and Virgin for about 6.6k return. Would prefer lie flat seating.
I am an velocity member but about 100,000 points short to book business class.
Thanks in advance
Unfortuantely, due to reports on AFF, on March 1, Alaska/points.com have banned non US/Canadian/Mexico credit cards.
Lots of people who tried after March 1 (using 28 Degrees or whatever) had their transactions bounce back.
Check the thread for more details:
http://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/cheap-in…
Are you f**kin kidding me?? I knew I should have bought first and then looked for flights instead of the other way around!! Grrr back to re-planning my trip again.
Never tried the Alaska Airlines route (it's actually 145k miles, not 205k), but did fly VN, with a codeshare on AF on the SGN-CDG leg a couple of years ago for $3.8k. Not a lie flat bed but otherwise okay…
http://www.travel.com.au/international-airfares/business-cla…
I'd be curious to know how many OzBargainers fly business or first. I'd guess 98% of the users of this site would fly economy unless someone else is paying. You might be better off on one of the frequent flyer type forums where people try/hack? to get as much for their points as possible.
have you looked at http://www.flyroyalbrunei.com/
Can't use any of your points.
Tried Mel - LHR April 24 - June 5 J class on Dreamliner 787 AU$5,872.02
You have to fiddle around with dates as during that April June time frame there are some odd prices = like $4k for Y!
Lie flat bed on all sectors, 787 starts from MEL on April 3rd. Already on Brunei to LHR. There is a one hr stop over in Dubai which is good if you want to get out, breathe real air and stretch your legs. Also flights are alcohol free.
Reports on old aircraft talk about very good service and food in J.
I have only flown MEL to BKK in Y and find them consistently very good. JoyV
Thanks all.
VN looks like a good option.. About 2k cheaper than all other biz class.. Price diff prob worth the lack of non lie flats
First off, I work for Virgin Australia but I usually try to stay impartial about airlines.
A comparison of the two airlines business class:
Vietnam Airlines (recliner seats)
http://www.vietnamairlines.com/wps/portal/en/site/the_experi…
Etihad (lie flat beds)
http://www.etihad.com/en-ae/experience-etihad/on-board/pearl…
Also, Etihad/Virgin Australia provide complimentary Chauffeur cars for business class guests.
http://www.etihad.com/en-ae/experience-etihad/etihad-chauffe…
In summary, I reckon it might be worth paying the extra considering it is a very long flight (shorter travel time on VA/Etihad) for the lie flat beds and the extra value of having chauffeur cars. You would also be earning more Velocity points which sound like they could be more useful to you than Skyteam points.
I bought some points a year ago on Alaska and flew to NY via Hong Kong on Cathay in business class. No trouble using my 28 degrees but maybe things have changed.
Alaska Airlines deal is dead Kaput, called them toll free today and they confirmed can now only buy miles with bonus if in USA or Canada. Glad we got our J flights to Europe before it went down the gurgler
Op looking for may flights t good price, get to SIN or HKG in Y+ and go out of there be so cheap not funny.
This is my mini review of most of the popular airline's business class.
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/122321
I'd suggest Singapore Airlines if money isn't that big of an issue (SQ is a Velocity partner airline). Virgin and Etihad are OK. I'm not a fan of the food on Virgin, and the service isn't exactly for everyone. The seats are OK, but there are definitely better seats on other airlines (Emirates, Cathay Pacific).
Etihad is fine, but their lounge in Abu Dhabi is one of the poorer hub lounges I have ever been too. You do get free massages at the Six Senses Spa though :)
On further thought.. I might just bite the bullet and go with ROyal Brunei J class.. About 5.5k on the Dreamliner might be worth the splurge.
The super long transit times have put me off VN for the time being.. Hopefully I will book this week.
What's the best website for price matching flights? Expedia give a $50 bonus after price match (Expedia prices are currently more than travel.com.au)
Best of luck. Just be aware that the flight will stop twice - once at BWN, then DXB before arriving at LHR.
Hey op.
Bit late but good idea to check out kayak.com for flights. Ive found return business class Melb to London on Aegean (which codeshares with Singapore airlines and Etihad) in Aug 2015 for $3400. 2 stops, in either Abu Dhabi or Singapore then Greece before landing in Heathrow. A return ticket should get you up to Aegean (and hence Start Alliance) Gold.
Cheers.
B
Oops.
Aegean promo no longer avail. Finnair has a promo at the moment. $5097 return.
Good luck.
B
If you go using USA purchased miles, make sure you have lots of alternative flight numbers and spoon feed the ops, one sector at a time. Look em up first on the likes of BA site before calling, they may have them.
Keep in mind the award conditions like some have only returns, others have one ways, some have stopovers less than 24 hours etc.
Need to be lucky if booked before 9 months before departure.
I recently booked using USDM, OZ to Paris return via HKG cost for two in J (Bus.Class) was AUD$6500! saved about $11 grand.
Have been in J OZ to HKG return was $1500 saved about 4 grand.
One option is to use Alaska points bonus offer to go to Europe via Cathy pacific.. Here's how it goes..
Melb to Paris via HK in business costs about 205k miles
Via Alaska offer.. 56,000 miles for $1182USD
therefore 205k/56k = 3.66
3.66 x $1182USD = $4326USD
So that's the cost of return biz class between Melb and Paris on Cathy pacific.
Thoughts? Anyone tried this