Flying business class

[manlyago]

Off to Australia at Christmas and I’m thinking about flying business class. As a treat for a big birthday.

Any smart ways of doing this? Using credit card/points /cash back to reduce the cost?

Thanks!

Has anyone mentioned Lufthansa? Their business offering is perfectly ok and, with an extra stopover (Frankfurt) we seem to have a good deal to Sydney over Christmas.

This is hearsay because it was friends who did it and I've never looked into it myself but apparently Royal Brunei can be a relatively cheap because they are a dry airline.

Depends how worried you are about a birthday drink for 24 hours!

Otherwise, as pp have said, Premium Economy is a great option. We've flown down under PE with BA and Qantas and much as I'm a pretty loyal BA flyer, felt the quality of service for PE was more of a step up vs Economy on Qantas. On BA if felt like you just got more space whereas on Qantas the quality of everything offered (food, service, etc was all a step on).

This is hearsay because it was friends who did it and I've never looked into it myself but apparently Royal Brunei can be a relatively cheap because they are a dry airline.

Depends how worried you are about a birthday drink for 24 hours!

Otherwise, as pp have said, Premium Economy is a great option. We've flown down under PE with BA and Qantas and much as I'm a pretty loyal BA flyer, felt the quality of service for PE was more of a step up vs Economy on Qantas. On BA if felt like you just got more space whereas on Qantas the quality of everything offered (food, service, etc was all a step on).

This is hearsay because it was friends who did it and I've never looked into it myself but apparently Royal Brunei can be a relatively cheap because they are a dry airline.

Depends how worried you are about a birthday drink for 24 hours!

Otherwise, as pp have said, Premium Economy is a great option. We've flown down under PE with BA and Qantas and much as I'm a pretty loyal BA flyer, felt the quality of service for PE was more of a step up vs Economy on Qantas. On BA if felt like you just got more space whereas on Qantas the quality of everything offered (food, service, etc was all a step on).

FWIW I just do not understand the love for Emirates and I think Dubai is the worst major airport through which to have to transit or spend anytime. It's got to the point where I avoid both and won't even price them up.

@Lochroy That's really interesting about Qantas PE. I did look at PE on BA and didn't think it looked that great for the step up in price. If I end up with long stopovers then a lounge will be a huge bonus. But I'll look at Qantas PE, thanks.

The comment about Royal Brunei is funny because I'm actually teetotal so that would be perfect!

Op: I know you want Xmas but I would plan for after exams next summer. Flights will be cheaper. You can get the best prices by booking earlier. More flights might be available and your DC will have it to look forward to after exams instead of having jet lag before mocks. I’ve huddled these decisions and we rarely did long haul at Christmas due to returning to school. Much more relaxing in the summer and you are somewhat aghast at the prices. PE isn’t the same. You don’t lie down!

Huddled!? Juggled.

@TizerorFizz - we are going at Christmas! Accommodation/other flights are booked. People are expecting us. Next summer doesn't work due to other commitments, weather is crap in Sydney in the summer anyway. We're all looking forward to it.We have a great place booked in Manly next to family. Worst case scenario we fly economy, we'll be fine. No mocks in January at my sons' schools.

Yikes. Sorry for the multiple posts. Mn was doing that thing where is said there had been a problem so I kept trying until I gave up. Didn't realise it had actually posted.

One last thought... much as PE is great and I think well worth is vs BC for long haul, it's clearly NOT BC with lie flat etc so if you have the money for BC that would be my first choice without question.

We actually flew LHR-HEL-BKK on a single Finnair ticket as we needed that first leg to make Gold on BA. Initially when I was planning I was looking at ARN (Stockholm)-HEL-BKK at which point we would have booked a cheapish econ return separate from LHR-ARN and managed our own bags on to Finnair from ARN. When you do a separate ticket like that, however, you really want to make sure you get to your ex-EU airport early, possibly the night before, and never as close as a few hours. Those costs need to be taken into account for the overall ticket price to compare like with like. Sometimes we have used hotel or credit card/Avios points to pay for either the econ connector flight or the overnight hotel - so there IS a way to use those points, just not in regards to the target overseas flight.

As a comparison, initially the flights ARN-HEL-BKK were a little over 1000 GBP back in february. Ultimately we paid about 1600 GBP each from LHR.

We have also done ARN-DOH-SIN on Qatar, and ARN-ORD (Chicago) on SAS to take advantage of better business class pricing/products, but starting at ARN make sense for us due to family in the area as we sometimes loop on a trip to see them - sort of like a two for one!

I had terrible service last summer on BA in business to Chicago and won't fly them again until they level up their game entirely in food, customer service, and the actual damn seat itself!

Another fan of Lufthansa, yes, they’re not as good as Singapore, but miles better than BA and often reasonably priced.

Good deals are just a thing of the past right now, we’re going to Ottawa in the summer business, I’ve had mine and my sons seat booked since before covid as I’m attending a delayed event, we added my husband to the booking and prices are more than double.

The teetotal bit isnt too bad
having the cabin crew explain to young children that we are all praying that the plane doesnt crash before take off is a bit harder!

op. I just don’t think you have the money to fly business. It’s that simple. Go cony! Best advice is your own advice.

If you do end up going economy, best advice I can give you is to find a flight that leaves here in the morning, and arrives into Sydney in the evening - that way you can have a couple of hours chatting/drinking with your family and go to be at a normal time. As you probably won't have slept (much) on the plane, you'll be tired, so should be able to get a reasonable night's sleep, and will be awake as normal next morning. I've always found this meant I didn't experience any jet lag.

I would, personally, also avoid BA if you can. For years they've been cutting and cutting down on their costs, to try and compete more with the cheaper airlines - and consequently the service is really not very good.

When you do a separate ticket like that, however, you really want to make sure you get to your ex-EU airport early, possibly the night before, and never as close as a few hours.

Probably stating the obvious here but I agree, that's a really really important point to bear in mind if people are looking at mixing and matching carriers over sectors, for reasons of economy or whatever.

If it's not a connected booking from origin to destination then if you miss a connection there's almost certainly no obligation on any of the airlines involved to sort it out ...and travelling in December can expose you to all the fun and games associated with European winter (e.g. snow, fog) and the delays that can go with them.

Thanks so much everyone - I’m going to spend a bit of time in this today. Lufthansa looking good. Singapore runs the Singapore Sydney leg so that sounds good. Long layover in Singapore (7.75 hours) but I think we’ll be able to use the lounge. We could also book a hotel room.

I don’t think the flying out the EU option will work. The rest of my family will already be in Sydney and I’m desperate to get over there asap after I finish work midday on the 16th. That will bump the price up as I can only do afternoon/evening.

Luckily, I love a challenge!

@TizerorFizz you make me laugh. Are you this bossy in real life?! I can afford business, it’s just whether or not it’s worth it to me. Scottish genes!

Not necessarily.

There are loads of airports that you can do a back to back at if traveling with hand luggage only. You need to ensure that the arriving plane is always the leaving plane- so not London City for example.

Flyertalk has an excellent list.
www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/1964325-back-back-immediate-turnarounds-ba-destinations.html

Sofia is a popular ex EU with a good back to back option. Amsterdam is another. Budapest is pricing strongly at the moment. CDG is often a cheap ex Eu starting point (and can get train )

But I agree is changing carriers then you need to build in additional time.

What actually is your budget op? Ie maximum you would be able and willing to pay for BC?

@DirtyteaCup

"Not necessarily. There are loads of airports that you can do a back to back at if traveling with hand luggage only. You need to ensure that the arriving plane is always the leaving plane- so not London City for example."

That's not the point I'm making.

I'm entirely aware/agree that if timings are tight between your arrival and subsequent departure you can improve your chances by being HBO.

The point I am making is how do you stand in terms of compensation/rebooking/even provision of accommodation if you fail to make the second flight, for example if your shorthaul flight UK>EU is delayed by several hours for whatever reason?

Connected booking -> same booking Reference for the two flights - the carrier should facilitate rebooking/accommodation if he delay means a nightstop at the intermediate airport. These days that process it's sometimes not as seamless as it should be but the traveller has protection.

Non connected booking ->if the passenger doesn't make the second flight it's tough..no obligation for either carrier to do or provide anything.

I've seen tears over this over the years at e.g. Gatwick - people would book a LoCo to Gatwick, and have booked onwards with Virgin, BA or one of the other Long Haul operators. LoCo late in? zero obligation for the LoCo
or the Long Haul operator to fix it...sometimes it literaly ended in tears.

I understand why people book in that way but they need to be aware of the risks and as a PP said maybe time flights accordingly.

Have you done the journey before? It's a toughie and if money is no object fly business- no questions asked.
Or you could fly the long leg business and do the short leg economy?
The A380 goes into Brisbane and Sydney and is a much nicer experience, especially for 14 hours. But the smaller plane used for the 7 hours to Dubai Glasgow/Edinburgh isn't as good, there is a pretty big difference in quality. But just be aware if you do that you won't get lounge access or bumped baggage for the entire journey.
It's a lot of money, and I'm not entirely sure it's worth the $$ but it's a good experience! (Brit living in OZ, have done the journey a few different ways, most recently emirates business and was disappointed by older/smaller plane uk to dubai legs and the post COVID lounge experience)

Apologies for the awful formatting upthread ^

Surprised nobody has mentioned try a real life old fashioned travel agent! Phone them with your budget and your rough dates, unless your budget is wildly unrealistic they will find you something that suits.

I’m not least bit surprised…. Travel agents don’t get any special rates these days at all unless buying a holiday and they can negotiate with the hotels