[Anonymous]

[HighlandTraveller]

Happy Christmas to all you frequent posters, from whom us infrequent posters derive much benefit.

Given that work is becoming quieter I am looking ahead to a business trip I have to take to Sydney. My wife and children are unable to come but my brother is accompanying me because apart from the 4 days work in Sydney we have family to visit enroute and then going to see the Great Barrier Reef at Cairns.

So plan is EDI (or some other Scottish airport)- SIN-PER-SYD-CNS-HKG-EDI

Work will not be covering more than equivalent of WT+ EDI-SYD. I am therefore looking for some ideas of good value Business Class routings both cash or avios (or Ethiad Guest MIles).

My current plan is Qatar multi city Edi-Sin, HKG-Edi, which is selling for bout £1900 per person, and then try to use Avios redemptions. However, interested in hearing if people think this a stupid way to do it. I can probably have 250,000 or so Avios at disposal if need be. I do not need to stick to planned routing and can go to HKG first. if I had to lose one destination it would be SIN.

Interested in thoughts…

[canucklad]

Hi Highland traveller……
Was going to reply, but it would be good to know, how long you want to stay in Perth and Cairns. Although I’ll happily share with you my top tip…..ditch Cairns and head north to Port Douglas !

[HighlandTraveller]

Thanks Canucklad

We will be staying in Perth for 4/5 days, and was going to be in Cairns for basically just 2 nights. We really dont have time to go up to Cairns but did not want to miss reef (no family there so can ditch cairns if need be). We were effectively going to fly up to Cairns early one morning and then come back to Sydney 2 days later. Hong Kong and Singapore are really just 2/3 night stopovers allowing us to visit friends etc.

[MrMichael]

I would look at some ex EU fares in business class on Oneworld/BA, Oslo maybe and try loco airlines for your internal flights in Oz, Jetstar or Virgin. For ex Oslo you can do Stopovers in HKG and SIN using BA and CX.

[canucklad]

The other option to study is loco to AMS/DUB. This will avoid you paying prohibitive APD on your business tickets. Especially if you live in the highlands and you can start your adventure at ABZ or even INV

Also if you can find a decent CX/ AY economy fare that partners BA, that will possibly give you the chance to use your avios more efficiently to upgrade.

For your internal flights look out for an OZ pass, much cheape than purchasing separate tickets,r but you’ll more likely find its T&C ‘s mean you’ll need fly to SYD with a named airline.

[canucklad]

Should have mentioned another tip, sign up to Sky scanner and you might hit the jackpot…..
Make Sydney your final destination, but request updates from various starting points in the UK & Europe …..And you find they offer you a cheap deal, because it involves a, long connection time at an intermediate stop. Like HKG or SIN

Last month, they sent me a fare quoting £380 return from EDI to HKG, if I could endure 30hours each way in Beijing….

[HighlandTraveller]

Thanks all,

canuklad, MrMichael: Oslo-HKG-PER SYD-SIN-OSL £2080 with BA in Club World! Very interesting. Just need to work out if I can face the OSL-EDI return before the trip.

Thanks for the tips

[MrMichael]

HighlandTraveller, let me know how you get on. Do not know much about flights from Edinburgh, but hope you might find something. Worth remembering that the last leg on your Oz trip, LHR-OSL you may want to skip, just ask for bags only to be checked through to LHR and book a long layover. Easy for me to say living in SE London, I just get the bus home, you still have to get to Scotland. I am using a similar RTW fare this new year from Bergen, to Boston than around the world ending in LHR and likely skipping the final Bergen leg.

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