Re: Business Class Airfares to UK / Europe - approx $2700 - $2800 rtn!
 

Possibly. I didn't read that far down the Ts&Cs. :lol: Even if we have to buy the extra miles we would buy 10 000 each and go business. (For Australia to North America it's only 110 000 miles). It still works out cheaper to do it this way than to fly economy if we just book tickets.

Re: Business Class Airfares to UK / Europe - approx $2700 - $2800 rtn!
 

I would be tempted to maybe stick to the 110k as I'm not sure how much chance you have of getting F.

PER is quite a good place to set off from to get to the eastern seaboard (of North America) as US has quite generous mileage limits for this...you could go either via Europe or Asia...or one in each direction possibly.

Is the plan to have a stopover somewhere? SFO? Or that was just a transit rather than helLAX?

Re: Business Class Airfares to UK / Europe - approx $2700 - $2800 rtn!
 

Hey bc, I finished up using the 120,000 points for my husband's return flights - with the current share offer the cost of replacing the points was far less than even the cheapest business class flights home. Thanks for being the voice of reason, again :starsmile:

No matter which way I tried I couldn't escape the 17 hour layover in BKK, so have booked him into the Novotel. For anyone else who has a long layover in BKK, the Novotel Suvarnabhumi is adjacent to the airport. You can get either get a day rate (08.00 - 18.00) for around $140, or you can get the ordinary rate for around $200 - for these rooms you can check in at any time, and the room's yours for the following 24 hour period.

Re: Business Class Airfares to UK / Europe - approx $2700 - $2800 rtn!
 

I like the Novotel...it's really nice. Walkable from the terminal, couple of mins walk to the train station, 20 mins on the train to the city from there. It is kinda pricey but worth it for really early departures / long layovers...no point shopping around as it is the same price everywhere...from time to time they do have sales which bring it down to more like $120 ish. The flexible 24 stay is really great.

Re: Business Class Airfares to UK / Europe - approx $2700 - $2800 rtn!
 

We'd love a stopover in SFO for a couple of days. The only good thing about flying into LAX is the view as you come in eastbound over the mountains. Other than that the airport is a freakin nightmare! SFO is so much more civilised. :)

Good to know about the 110k instead of trying to get F. In the grand scheme of things it's really only 24 hours out of my life, so I'm happy to go cattle class. It's just my familly hasn't left Australia in (by the time we go) 8 years, so they want to make the most of the trip.

Re: Business Class Airfares to UK / Europe - approx $2700 - $2800 rtn!
 

That's a great thing to know. If we go through Asia it will likely be on Thai, so if we have a stopover in BKK we'll definitely look into that.

Re: Business Class Airfares to UK / Europe - approx $2700 - $2800 rtn!
 

This thread is massive!
I'm a GP form UK and will shortly be emigrating to Australia- to Wollongong specifically.
We visited on a holiday last month before taking the plunge and flew economy with Emirates (wife and 2 year old son and myself)
Plan is for me to go alone first in April and I would like to go Business class and take 1 if not 2 breaks.
Any ideas which would be best option- should I stick to Emirates (I now have 13600 airmiles) or are there better options?
Also, I would be interested in availing the increased baggage allowance but form a quick google search I can't really make out which airlines offer this and which don't. Equally is this possible if I take a multi airline option and breaks along the way.
I visited on a visitor's visa but will go on a 457 which will be 'unused'

I live in Birmigham and did fly from here but don't mind flying from london.

Any help or pointers would be much appreciated.

Gaurav

Re: Business Class Airfares to UK / Europe - approx $2700 - $2800 rtn!
 

Emirates lets you pre-book additional baggage allowance so saves on doing it at the airport.

Re: Business Class Airfares to UK / Europe - approx $2700 - $2800 rtn!
 

i was talking about the migration increased baggage allowance rather than the paid for variety!

Re: Business Class Airfares to UK / Europe - approx $2700 - $2800 rtn!
 

Have you had a look here - http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=816650

I'm not sure though is a 457 is elligible for migrant baggage allowances - you may want to check with the airlines :)

Re: Business Class Airfares to UK / Europe - approx $2700 - $2800 rtn!
 

bcworld - any idea how easy it is going to be to find OneWorld flights between the UK and Australia in the brave new world? Is there an equivalent of Thai with great availability and low fees (I know AA charge fuel surcharges on BA flights for example)? Do you know of any way to check availability like the ANA site for *A (I tried AA's site but it doesn't seem to show many other airlines)?

Re: Business Class Airfares to UK / Europe - approx $2700 - $2800 rtn!
 

The few airlines that still offer a migrant baggage allowance usually want an unvalidated permanent residency visa.

Re: Business Class Airfares to UK / Europe - approx $2700 - $2800 rtn!
 

Good questions Louie! For anyone who is sitting on a stash of DM...or considering sharing before the current promo ends I'd say this.

• AA is not US! The rules they have about routing are much stricter
• There will be no more calling up plotting a route from A to B to C to D and back again
• From Aus to Europe AA also only specific routings - these are all via specific asian cities
• Note what's missing: Aus to Europe via the Middle East, even though Qatar Airways is in OneWorld and Etihad is a partner! There is one exception to this - the direct flights on QF from MEL/SYD to LHR - I sometimes see OK availability on these
• No stopovers will be allowed on Aus - EU itineraries
• Stopovers are only allowed on specific North America itineraries
• Aus to USA routing must be transpacific ONLY (very poor availability) - no 3rd region...you cannot go via Asia e.g. MEL-HKG-LAX on a single award
• As for availability, my latest searches haven't been encourgaing...at one time I though MH would be the new TG but my recent searches showed normally only 1 business seat per flight well in advance on MEL-KUL
• CX forward availability on AUS-HKG is awful, QF similar
• For checking availability the QFF website will show QF, CX, BA
• Your BA Avios account will show BA, QF, MH, JL
• As ever a tool like KVS will do the best job of combining these...it shows me EY too
• QR and EY availability looks OK and while via the middle east cannot be issued as a single award booking two separate awards from AUS-ME and ME-UK currently comes out at 75k miles in business vs 60k miles for the one award...not drastic
• One other thing I have recently become aware of is an award type AA have called the OneWorld Explorer which really interests me. Effectively it throws all the rules above out the window and is distance based and allows unlimited (essentially) stopovers. I've worked out that for 190k in business you can get one return to the UK + one return to Asia on the same award over the course of a year...with a bit of forward planning it could be very lucrative!
• Now this one's very important for people sitting on miles (I have 530k by the way!). When the programs combine it is more than likely that AA/US will rejig the award chart...and the changes COULD be drastic. United Airlines recently savaged its Star Alliance award chart...some of the miles required went up by over 50%!

Re: Business Class Airfares to UK / Europe - approx $2700 - $2800 rtn!
 

I REALLY appreciate that! I've got some friends new to this business who were asking my advice about stocking up in the current deal, planning on taking themselves (English hubby, Aussie wife, 2 year old and grandma) over to Oz in 2015. I'd feel really guilty if they got stuck with miles they couldn't use so this advice (fantastically quick reply btw) is just what I needed.... I've suggested they hold off for now (I hope you agree that was the right advice!).

Maybe Lifemiles will be for them, though so far I've been put off by the thought of having to deal with South America if something goes wrong..... Thanks again :-) (Apparently I "must spread some Reputation around before giving it to bcworld again."!)

Re: Business Class Airfares to UK / Europe - approx $2700 - $2800 rtn!
 

Honestly, you wouldn't flippin' read about it. For those who have followed the saga of trying to get the Scouser home on dividend miles flights before his brother passed away, and then realizing that I couldn't change his return flights so had to use another 120,000 miles to get them.....

He's just rung me from Manchester, all flights cancelled due to bad weather. The airlines have been good, and have rerouted him to Bangkok via London in 4 hours - if the weather clears. Both the MAN - LON and LON - BKK flights are in economy. And, he'll only have a 3 hour layover in BKK so he doesn't need the hotel room I've booked at the Novotel - which was a 'deal' and is non-refundable.

I've decided to laugh rather than the more tempting alternative!!