How to book London/Berlin to Sydney in a cost effective way (low point balance)?

Frequent Flyer Programs
1

Hi

I am trying to get my head around what is the best way to book a journey (around a month long) departing from either London or Berlin to Sydney, departing mid March and returning mid April, for 2 people in Economy.

I know BA, Qantas and some others have sales on right now, with a few airlines offering sales up till 31st December, but I am looking for the most cost-effective way of doing this, without resorting to using something like China Southern, Eastern or some other variant of that.

I have only bottom level memberships with Qantas FF, Virgin Australia (Velocity), Virgin Flying Club, Aegean Miles & More, Singapore Airlines (KrisFlyer) and technically Etihad Guest (but never acquired points with them).

I don’t have many points with any of these schemes at present, but I know it can be possible to spend some of the points I do have and supplement with cash for various of these airlines. I also know you can transfer miles between some of these programmes and purchase miles too, which can sometimes help to bring the cost of the airfare down.

The primary options I have found from investigations so far have basically resulted in flights with either Qantas, Emirates via Qantas, Emirates, Etihad and potentially Singapore Air. As Qatar I’m not sure on and they may leave the OneWorld alliance before March, i’m not confident on trusting them.

I do have a desire to chase status with Qantas, but price is a higher priority for this trip!

I am feeling a bit lost in a world of OneWorlds, Star Alliances, etc. So if anyone can help me please with any tips on how to approach this, it would be appreciated!

Thanks!

2

Hi cybes,

Well, you’re only a couple of thousand points away from having enough Qantas points (60000) for one one-way redemption in Economy to Sydney, flying either Qantas or Emirates. So you might like to visit qantaspoints.com to find out if there’s a way of getting those points quickly enough for them to be useful for you, so you can pay for one of your four flights with points. Buying wine is always a good option if you’re in Australia.

My suggestion, though, especially given that price is your number one consideration at the moment, is that you take advantage of one of those sales while you can, and take whatever option is the cheapest. Personally I’d be perfectly OK with flying Qatar and to your above list I’d also suggest you check out Cathay and Malaysian (both Oneworld airlines which potentially will get you Qantas points and status credits, depending on your fare class).

3

Hi there cybes, I’d agree with sixtyeight and I certainly wouldn’t have any concerns flying Qatar. Having lived in Doha for a couple of years and having flown all classes to many destinations, they are top notch. Even if they did end up leaving OneWorld I understand this would take a year from any announcement and as pointed out by many sources, their CEO is well known for making interesting comments that come to nothing. Go cheapest and snag a good New Year special. In my experience, points and cash are not worth it and you are better off earning on this trip.

My only other advice is, if you are not going to be accumulating significant points balances, you might also want to decide whether to go OneWorld or Star Alliance. Your points balance suggests OW is probably the pick.

Enjoy your travels!

4

Hi cybes,\r\nIt will probably be helpful to let us know how many points you DO have, not just in the various FF programmes you mention but also if you have any points in non-airline loyalty programmes such as American Express Membership Rewards, Westpac Altitude, FlyBuys etc. You say that you don’t have many points so I suspect the advice will be that you should not use points this time and pay with money … but if we know exactly how many you have, someone might be able to suggest something that you haven’t thought of.

5

I don’t really have anything (at the moment) in CC based programmes (it is on my to do list for 2019!). So i’m reliant on FF programmes alone at the moment. \r\n\r\nIn terms of points, well as mentioned i’m sitting at base level in all these programmes right now (even though i’ve been wanting to become Silver in various of them for a while now).\r\n\r\nNumber of points for the above is as follows:\r\nMiles & More - Aegean - 7998\r\nVelocity - 15340\r\nVirgin Flying Club - 2000\r\nKrisFlyer - 1000\r\nQantas - 57872\r\n\r\nAs you can see, with some of these I barely even have points in there, so they would be very limited use i’m guessing.