In recent weeks, I have had a steady stream of reader questions and I’ll admit I struggle to get round to answering them all since it’s just me doing most things!

I am going to start publishing reader questions again. So if you would like to submit a question, please use the contact us tab above and make sure to note if you want to be mentioned by name or just Reader A etc.

Here are some of the recent questions:

Booking for New Zealand and Australia this Christmas

We’re planning on Return flights over Xmas / New year ( This year), to New Zealand

If they let us in…..

With the current 2 week Isolation, for incoming tourists who knows when this will end

But, one can always hope

Better to book a refundable flight now ? and grab a bargain maybe ? Or wait for the rush when Rules relaxed ?

And who to book with to grab a bargain ?

Either way – I’d really appreciate some Turning left-for-less advice please!

I will answer this for both Australia and New Zealand since it is a similar principle for both. This is a tough one because at the moment even the airlines aren’t sure what their pricing strategy will be. Qatar’s CEO for example, thinks that airfares will stay low for quite some time. Other CEOs disagree. 

My advice would be if you see a good deal that is refundable/changeable, then I would book it. However, I would not be booking at a high price as there are bound to be plenty of sales when travel starts to open up. The cheapest that you generally see flights from the UK is around £2300 on the Chinese carriers or Asiana. Otherwise, Qatar and Cathay occasionally go down to around £2800 which is the max I would be paying currently from the UK. Obviously, if you started elsewhere you could get Qatar for around £2100-2300 in a sale.

Another thing to consider is that you will have to fly via somewhere and there is no guarantee which countries will open, though transit airside is highly likely to not be an issue by then. I’d be considering Qatar myself since Qatar is already open to transit passengers and there is an airside hotel should you need to have a hotel room. 

The current deals I can see from the UK are £3080 with Swiss/Cathay which require two stops. From Oslo I can see £2688 with Qatar. Neither of these is worth jumping on in my opinion. I would wait for the next big Qatar sale and see what that brings. If you are flexible on what dates you travel, then the optimum time for booking is often around 3-6 months in advance. 

Club Suite roll out

Can you please, give us an update on how the “conversion” to BA’s new Club Suite is progressing.

The initial program showed nearly all of the B777-200s and about a third of the B777-300s being refitted during 2020, with the rest of the B777 fleet being updated during 2021.

I suspect that progress has been slower than planned, but some news on re-fit would be welcomed.

The aircraft that are due to be fitted with the new Club Suites are the B787, B777-200ER, and the A380. BA currently has 8 A350-1000s that arrived fitted with the new Club Suites. None of the B787s have been refitted yet and none of the A380s. Given that it may be some time before routes warrant the A380, and then they are likely to retire some of them early, I would guess they may delay most of these.

@jetsettingbenAnother new ##plane arrived today! ##boeing ##boeing777 ##businesstravel ##newplanesmell ##paxex ##luxury ##travel ##avgeek♬ Levitating – Dua Lipa

12 out of the 29 B777-200ERs that are due to have the suites have now been refurbished with the new seats, so around 40%. Two more are in progress but most of the planned completion dates have slipped, presumably to save money. Four new B777-300ERs have been delivered which also came with the Club Suites and the slightly updated First seat with the doors. It’s hard to predict when new aircraft will be delivered or refitted due to the pandemic. 

It’s also worth noting that BA’s short-haul fleet finally all have Wi-fi.

What to do if the airline won’t respond to your complaint or refund you?

I have been in dispute with British Airways and even though I know other people on the same flight have received a refund, BA are refusing to payout. What can I do?

There are several ways to escalate your complaint if you are getting nowhere with the airline. 

• Firstly you can try to email the CEO. You can find most CEOs email addresses on this website.
• Secondly is the CAA led process of mediation referred to as CEDR. (Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution)
  • The scheme covers any flight that departs or arrives in the United Kingdom that is operated by an airline that subscribes to this CEDR Scheme.
  • You can find the airlines that are covered here. 
  • Once you submit an application, an independent adjudicator will be assigned to your case, who will weigh up evidence given from both sides. Where the adjudicator decides in your favour, the airline or airport will be required to do what the adjudicator has directed in their decision within 20 working days of the decision being sent to you, unless an alternative timeframe is stated by the adjudicator in the decision.
  • The process should be complete within 90 days
  • There is a £25 fee if a claim is completely unsuccessful. 
  • You can still take it to court providing it is within the timeframes
• Finally, you can take the claim to the online small claims court referred to as MCOL (Money Claim Online). This is not as costly or difficult as you may think. You don’t need a solicitor and it only costs from £25. Here are the fees:

Booking with a 2-4-1 voucher – when to book and who to call

I recently tried to call them in the US at midnight GMT 355 days out to book the two reward business class seats but the number I tried didn’t get me through to a live person so by the time I tried to purchase them online, they were of course taken out my basket mid-payment.

For those readers that may not be aware of the best way to secure seats with a BA Amex companion voucher, I will go through the basics again in this answer.

The easiest time to get the availability is to book the day the flight is released for redemptions. This is 355 days before the flight between 12-1am (Midnight GMT). British Airways guarantee at least 2 Business class seats on every flight are made available at this point. The same does not apply to First Class which varies from flight to flight. The flights are not always loaded up online immediately so if it is a very popular route you may want to call a BA office that is open at midnight to secure it. There have been reports of some offices refusing to do this in the past but it is worth a try. If you fail to get what you want, it’s worth signing up to Seat Spy, who will send you alerts when more seats are released.

To call at that time you need to call an office that is open. Most people call the US. You can find the BA contact numbers here. With the current situation there is no guarantee you will get through to someone straight away so you can try phoning 10-15 minutes before the release time and explain to the agent why you want to wait if you get through early. 

The US details should be:

1-800-247-9297

Daily, 7am – 11pm: Eastern Standard Time (EST)

You can find all the BA office numbers worldwide here.

However, there is a catch to booking at D-355. If you are booking a return flight that means only the outbound flight would be available on that day. Don’t be tempted to wait as by your return date -355, the outbound flights will have probably gone. If you are using a companion voucher don’t try to book the return online as a separate ticket thinking you can call BA to combine them. BA have been refusing to do this. The best way is to call up and ask to add the return segment when it becomes available. There should be no charge if the seat was not available previously. 

The post READER QUESTIONS RETURNS! – When to book flights for NZ/Oz, If airline won’t refund you, BA Club Suite rollout appeared first on Turning left for less.

Right after a small break, we are back with some more interesting questions.  Some have sparked the debate, which will lead to articles concentrating on them – so watch this space for more detail.

Here we go…

Question 1

There are 2 of us and we are looking to travel to Australia next September.  We want to get to Cairns, but would be happy to fly to another city and then onwards to Cairns. We are staying for three months ending up in Hobart and then going on to Fiji for a week and then wanting to return to the UK just before Christmas.  We are looking to fly business class and would be happy to start in a European destination. I have 316000 Avios points and it would be great to be able to cash some of these in, as I have never managed to spend any of them so far. But if there are other airlines that might provide better options, then we would be happy to go with them.  I am happy to buy one-way tickets and to do a stopover if that helps

An interesting and probably rather common question from those collecting points!  Anywhere in Australia is like the holy grail.  Impossible usually.  But here are a few tips – 

• Try points to a good Asian hub and then separate tickets from there, either points or cash.  Think Hong Kong, KL or even Japan. 
• But it will be unlikely to see a cash fare there for less than £2000 each. 
• Alternately with the travel involved around the world fare might even work (although won’t be cheap!).
• If you decide to go for cash, tickets to Cairns are usually more than other places. Try Sydney or Brisbane. Best starting places are Stockholm or Paris where you can usually get fares around £2100.
• Black Friday is usually a great source of deals to Australia. Air China and Garuda have often done some really cheap deals for their sales.

It’s hard to plan that far in advance unless it’s a straight points booking, which this will never be.  Watch the sales and deals, and try and plan around it.

Question 2

Question 3

Hoping you can give some guidance and this may of help to some other readers also!

Question 4

 

I am looking at a LHR-DOH-CGK routing operated by Qatar … But I am also seeing BA selling the route under BA flight numbers?

 

Prices are basically the same … I am a BA Gold … What do you think? I guess the same number of tier points earned (280+280) but more (tier bonus) Avios earned for BA codeshare booking? But presumably, no access to Qatar lounges at Heathrow T4 or Doha Al Mourjan? Anything else to consider? (E.g. Presume BA flight number wouldn’t qualify for current BA double Avios promo as not a BA operated route?)

 

Any advice obviously much appreciated.

• Nothing – except when you are flying in economy and wanted to use status benefits such as luggage or lounge access on another airline that is not part of the same alliance, For example flying Emirates on a Qantas codeshare with oneworld status.
• Providing you are flying business class you would be able to access the Al Mourjan lounge. If you are flying economy, you won’t and you can only access the Qatar Business lounge.
• For all purposes its a BA flight unless something requires a British Airways operated flight, which could be as mentioned, special Avios promos etc.
• But yes – always get a BA code where possible for maximum Avios earning!

Question 5

Hi. I’m currently bronze but have the opportunity to fly enough to achieve the 600 points next year. I’ve already booked premium for the Caribbean next year which will get me 180 points. I need to visit NYC and possibly Toronto and Zurich. I’ve seen a price of £1860 to go to NYC first class out, business return. Giving me 350 points. Leaving me 70 points adrift of 600; which a Zurich business both ways will suffice. Two questions – is the £1860 NYC cost any good? Is there a way to fit in the Toronto trip and go a lower standard to NYC, but still achieve my goal of silver status 600+ points. Your feedback would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks

A few points – 

• Yes, £1860 is good for First out, and business return – not sure from where – check Inverness.
• Most exEU fares can be bounced around – as try AAA-BBB-LHR-CCC, or AAA-LHR-BBB-CCC etc.
• Good examples for NYC would be AMS-MAD-BOS-DCA-JFK (if the fare allows it!)

The post TLFL Weekend Travel Surgery – Episode 3 appeared first on Turning left for less.

And we are back – apologies if you don’t see your answer below – we will aim to reply to them via email in due course. If you have a question, please email pkhosla@turningleftforless.com

Question 1

I’m a BA Gold For Life awardee but my wife and I have now become rather keen on Qatar business class for long haul – and Qatar, like BA, is a OneWorld member.

Is it, therefore, worth me now accruing the Qatar equivalent of tier points and miles or should I still accrue BA miles (even though I don’t strictly now need the BA tier points)?

I ask because I’ve read that the Qatar loyalty scheme is a bit rubbish / not worth having, so the opposite to everything else Qatar.

The Qatar program was devalued a while ago making it very unattractive – I’d continue earning those Avios and lifetime TP!  Gold Guest List for Life here you come ;-). You could consider trying for 2500 Tier points if you don’t already so that you get the upgrade for two voucher. 

Question 2

My wife and I are looking to travel to Australia in late February, returning home approximately 4 weeks later so arrival and departure airports in Australia are not fixed.

We have no status (blue) with BA  but are quite Avios rich and have two 2.4.1 vouchers which I suspect will be of little use. 

Can you assist with likely methods to achieve business travel at a reasonable cost, and likelihood of any decent sales in the offing.

Further complicated as we live in Scotland!!

As you say a 2-4-1 voucher is likely to be of little use as the chances of finding availability at this late stage is slim. However, using rewardflightfinder I can see a few dates available at the end of February.

You could also look at a multi-partner redemption which means you need to fly on two non-BA oneworld airlines. This can work out cheaper than using Avios normally on multiple flights.

If neither of those work out, we are coming up to Black Friday (29 November) which nearly always has some ex EU offers from Germany to Australia at well under £2000. Qatar also do a sale usually at the same time and they do fly out of Edinburgh.  However, their UK prices are normally not very good. If you could get to Stockholm (you could always use the 2-4-1 voucher for that), then you are very likely to get a fare around £2100pp with either Qatar or Singapore. From the UK the cheapest option is usually China Southern which are a decent airline and a member of Skyteam. You can read our review here. They often do fares around £2200-2400 to Australia. 

I would recommend using Google Flights to look at your options. 

Question 3

Dear Michele I am an avid follower of your TLFL blog. Thanks for the amazing work you’re doing. I need your help, please. I currently have 28,715 lifetime Tier Points and I’m keen to make an effort to get my Gold for Life. I moved to Kenya a few years ago and would prefer to start Tier Point Runs from here. I need to be in Malacca (Malaysia) via Abu Dhabi in March and wondered if you might be able to help me put together an itinerary that would maximise my Tier Points (right now I’m struggling to maintain Silver!). I would be so grateful for your insights.

This is a tricky one as it all depends on the fares available. I would recommend routeing from Abu Dhabi to Jakarta and then on to Malaysia. Sri Lankan fly Abu Dhabi to Jakarta and this gets 280 tier points each way which would be 560 just for that part. You could route Kenya – London – Abu Dhabi (BA) – Colombo – Jakarta (UL) -Kuala Lumpur (MH) and then you would have to fly Air Asia for the last part.  You may need a couple of tickets to do that but Abu Dhabi to Jakarta is usually around £550 in a sale return business class. You could also consider flying via Doha to London if you want to be really extreme with Qatar.

If you did the full Kenya-Doha-London-Abu Dhabi-Colombo-Jakarta return in business class you would get a whopping 1480 tier points which is nearly gold if you could get the 4 BA flights and an extra 20 tier points!

Question 4

I would like to know how to book fares with a stopover.

eg the recent post of fares from Stockholm to Bangkok with Qatar looks really attractive.

What would be ideal is a 1/2 night stopover in DOHA especially as  Qatar are promoting a hotel for 23 USD per night.

If you try to book on the Qatar website then an overnight does not come up as an option.

Any ideas/tips?

Depending on the airline there are several ways to do this. For most airlines, you can simply use the multi-city option (or complex flight on Emirates) and just enter in each segment separately. So rather than Stockholm-Bangkok, you would enter Stockholm-Doha and then Doha-Bangkok with the dates of each flight. Qatar are a specific option as they offer a stopover program that allows you to get reduced price or free hotels. For this, you need to go to the specific Qatar stopover page which you can find here. 

Question 5

Can Virgin’s miles booster be used on children’s Flying Club accounts? Also, do children’s accounts automatically migrate to an adult account when they turn 18, or are miles miraculously “lost”?

Yes, you can use the miles booster option on a children’s account exactly the same as an adult. When they turn 18 the account automatically converts into a standard adult account and the miles stay in the account.

The post TLFL Weekend Travel Surgery – Episode 2 appeared first on Turning left for less.

So here we are – the first edition.  We will do this for as long as the questions and requests come in!

Apologies if we don’t answer you directly, we try and get round to everyone!

Question 1 – 

Does having a BA OnBusiness Account help with upgrades?

An interesting question to start!  Short answer – no.

BA use a module in FLY (the flight management system) called DUT (discretionary upgrade tool) to decide upgrades before, and on the day.  Sadly the algorithm is unknown.  I wonder why?!   However, my own knowledge and experience would tend to suggest being on an OB ticket or having an OB account would make no difference to DUT.

Question 2 – 

I am flying back from Johannesburg with BA on an A380 in World Traveller Plus. I am a Bronze card holder but will be in rural Zimbabwe so imagine there won’t be any way of accessing 7-day seat choice. Taking a look at the website it looks full. I am thinking that there is no point in paying for 66F (the only ok seat) when some gold and silver may be upgraded, so there may be some better seats available at check in… Photo below.

Any advice/ tips appreciated… could there be any more seats to be released.??

Always remember – what BA.com shows you on the seating map, is likely not true/accurate.  Especially the lower down the status tiers you go. Certain seats are blocked next to Gold cardholders or blocked entirely for Gold cardholders or people with infants.

The best way is to check the seat map on ExpertFlyer – you can do this via the free apps for Android and iOS. This will show you the true picture including which seats are blocked rather than being available to book. More seats are normally released 72 hours before and at online check-in.

Theoretical seating is a huge machine in its own right, but long story short – it will show you the seats BA want you to have.  I’ll go into it in more detail soon.

Question 3 – 

I’m wondering if you have an article or experience around using Avios to travel around South America? I’ve done some research and there is a LATAM air pass but not sure if this is good value or better to use Avios on individual flights. Any comparison with cash like the article today would be fantastic!

Very good question – South America is on my hit list.  I do however have a good friend who I asked, and this was his reply – 

The air pass is very beneficial as it provides flex at discounted walk-up rates. It’s handy if you want to just pick a destination at random to go to and they can tweak the ticket. It’s basically a fully flex at a discount with some other rules such as no backtrack etc. visit Tohoku fare for Japan is the same thing. The downside is the rate you pay cash wise is by distance so good value in Japan where it’s small, terrible value for South America as it’s so large.. however, airfare between South American countries is horrendous. (redacted the last sentence – but apparently Avios bank favours are common on LA redemptions!) – Thanks, Craig

So?  Look at your routing, and compare both – but it sounds like Avios is generally always cheaper.

You can also have a read of Claudio’s guide to flying to and around South America. 

Question 4 – 

Question 5 – 

If you want to have your question answered for next week’s Travel Surgery, just email pkhosla@turningleftforless.com

The post TLFL Weekend Travel Surgery – Episode 1 appeared first on Turning left for less.

If you would like to ask a question to be featured on the blog, please feel free to contact me by email at admin@turningleftforless.com or click on the contact us tab above.

Today’s question comes from reader D ” Hey Michele. I came across your website around a month ago via a Google search when doing some very preliminary work planning a trip for my 50th birthday in March next year.  We certainly share the same ethos in getting value for money for the finer things of life. Already, with the help of your website, I’ve booked my trip to Bangkok (via your news article about the Garuda business class deal  – an overnight stay in Jakarta is a small sacrifice when considering the £1082 cost of a flight, including the flatbed element of the journey too ?)  so thank you so much for that.

The purpose of this email. I tend to get the sweats booking any hotel room over £100 but as it is a special occasion, I’m prepared to extend that a little. Me and my wife are planning on stopping in Bangkok for 3/4 nights, Singapore for a similar time before some beach stays, possibly in Krabi, before the flight home from Bangkok.

Do you have any guidance on purchasing of Club Lounge rooms at all and when the best rates ‘may’ be let out by the main hotel brands? I’ve seen the guidance on your website about using the likes of topcashback etc. I’m after some insider guidance as to when the actual hotels may send out promotion communications that far in advance. 

I’ve done the whole backpacking thing before, so know that I only have to travel a short distance from anywhere in Bangkok/Singapore to sample delightful food hawker culinary delights, which is why I’m at odds on whether I’m doing the right thing looking a Club Lounge, especially from a cost perspective but then I look at Bangkok Millenium Hilton next to the river and Mirage Bay in Singapore and I’m left thinking… what should I do? 

I will answer your question in generic terms as well as more specific advice for your destination.

The first thing to decide is whether you will get the benefit of the club lounge and it pays to do as much research as possible. Here are the sort of questions you need to answer:

• Does the lounge include alcoholic drinks in the evening and if so what (many US lounges don’t)?
• What sort of breakfast does it provide and can you also have breakfast in the main restaurant?
• What hours are the evening drinks? There is no point paying for a club room if the hours of the drinks are when you won’t be in the hotel
• Are there any additional benefits such as afternoon tea, in room or lounge check-in or pressing service?

Tripadvisor is a usual resource as you can usually filter the reviews on Executive lounge or whatever it is known as. The most important question is – how much benefit would I get from using the lounge versus the increased price? You will notice that I stay in Club rooms very frequently. (hotel reviews are here) There are 3 reasons for this. Firstly I have status with Hilton and Marriott which allows me free access. Second I often travel alone to conferences and will then work in the evening. I prefer to sit in the lounge rather than spend all night in a hotel room and plus I can have a few drinks and often a free dinner from the evening snacks. Finally, when on holiday I will book a Club room in destinations where drinks are expensive. This is specifically for drinks that I like, as in Asia beer is always pretty cheap but it is not my drink of choice.

To answer your question specifically for Bangkok and Singapore other than beer, drinks are quite expensive, particularly wine which is extortionate for pretty average wine. Obviously, it depends on where you go to drink but certainly in hotels they are very expensive. I also find that the evening canapes in most South East Asian Club lounges are excellent and often almost enough to make a meal of. They generally have nice surroundings and good service. Most offer afternoon tea as well which I have as my lunch meaning the only meal I need to buy is a small dinner!

In terms of getting the best price here are some tips:

• Make sure you sign up for the loyalty or email program of the hotels you are considering – they will often send out offers exclusively to members and will give an additional discount too.
• Regularly check the hotels own special offers page in case they haven’t emailed out all the offers. There is no particular time for offers other than around Black Friday where all the hotels tend to have sales. Hotel rates are usually cheapest at around 3-6 months before but could then come down again in a sale or if the hotel isn’t busy you could get a last minute bargain but it is a gamble. However, most hotels would not be offering deals for March this early usually except in a general sale. Shangri-La tend to do offers quite close to the time but each hotel varies. 
• Hilton often have sales for Asia but you would need to sign up specifically for that region’s emails, although I do feature them on TLFL usually. With Hilton, I would wait for a sale, join Hilton Honors for the extra discount and then use Topcashback as well which is around 5% if you don’t have status in Hilton.

• Some hotels will allow you to buy access to the lounge even in a basic room. This is not always advertised on the website so it is always worth enquiring as it may work out cheaper than buying a club room if all you want is Club rooms access.
• It is also worth checking Virtuoso through Classic travel or Propeller. Some hotels will offer lounge access with a basic room if booked through Virtuoso although the rates will always be the more expensive flexible rates.
• You could consider using points and cash to discount your room if you have points in the hotel loyalty scheme although these are often worse value than paying for a room outright with points.
• For Intercontinental hotels, you could consider joining the Ambassador club if you will be staying at an expensive hotel at a weekend. For $200 you get lots of benefits including an upgrade and a free weekend night. I will be doing a more in-depth article on this shortly.
• One option is to use someone like booking.com who often have hotels with club rooms at good rates (make sure you have an account and sign in to get the best ones) that are cancellable. You could book a cancellable room now and then keep looking but at least you are safe if rates rise.

Do you stay in hotel Club rooms? Do you think they are worth it? Do you have a favourite in Bangkok or Singapore? Let us know in the comments below or on social media

The post Reader question: Are hotel club rooms worth it & how to get the best deal? appeared first on Turning left for less.

In the last week I have had 2 very similar question regarding booking business class flights to Australia for Christmas 2018.

If you would like to ask a question to be featured on the blog, please feel free to contact me by email at admin@turningleftforless.com or click on the contact us tab above.

Reader P asked  “My family and I are flying to Adelaide in Dec 2018 for Xmas, coming back in early Jan. I looked at economy flights this year to get an idea of cost and they came out at around £1400 each (there are 3 of us, 2 adults and a 4 year old). When and where is the best time to look for a deal on business class?  Birmingham would be our airport of choice but we will fly from anywhere if we can get a good deal.”

Reader D asked “How do I find the cheapest Business Class flights from UK to Adelaide and returning from Brisbane in Nov / Dec 2018?”

When looking at buying business class flights there are a number of things to decide:

• Am I prepared to take extra flights and include potential risk and extra time to get the cheapest flights?
• Do I care what the business class is like or do I just want the cheapest possible price?

When is the best time to book?

The optimum time for booking flights is usually around 3-9 months before as even though you may still get a bargain in a sale closer to the time, you could be unlucky and end up having to just take what is left. This is particularly true for flights over peak periods such as flying to Australia for Christmas.  I would, therefore, recommend starting to look in the new year and if you find a price that is reasonable, then book it.

Most airlines only sell tickets a year in advance, so you may have to wait a little while for the prices to be loaded. I would expect for peak times such as this, that if you see a price for £2200 or less that it is a good deal. Very occasionally we see prices at around £1350 per adult from starting points outside the UK but that is as low as it is likely to go and often not for Christmas. This year the cheapest price I could find for one of my readers to Sydney was £2100 from Oslo for Christmas with Sinagpore Airlines.

How do I find the cheapest price?

Once the prices are available I would set up an alert on Google flights. The advantage with Google flights is that you can search up to 5 departure or arrival points at one time and Google will send you alerts when the price goes up or down. You can read more about using Google flights in this article.

Your best bet to get a good airline at a great price involves 2 things: starting your trip from outside the UK (or occasionally Scotland) and/or buying the fare in a sale. Often Christmas periods are excluded from sales but not always. If you can be flexible with your dates and travel before mid-December you stand more chance of a good price.

The next major sale that may cover Adelaide will be Qatar which usually happens the first week of January and has some great prices (though it may not cover flights for December). The cheapest and easiest places to fly to Australia from are usually Scandinavia or Amsterdam. Obviously, if you are travelling with young children you may decide this is not worth the hassle. However, I always recommend a night stop before the first Qatar flight which can help make it less stressful with children, especially if there is a hotel in the airport. You can read more about ex EU fares in my beginner’s guide to Ex EU flights.

Other tips to reduce the prices would be :

Consider adding accommodation even if you don’t want it. You can add just one night when using ebookers or Expedia and often this can bring the price down substantially. You don’t have to use the accommodation – just book the cheapest even if it is a campsite or a hostel!

Use a cashback site such as Topcashback or Quidco – they offer cashback on some airlines and also for flights booked online with companies such as Expedia and ebookers.

What are the best options for Adelaide?

If you want to fly direct to Adelaide without changing flights twice in Europe, Perth or having to double back, there is a fair selection. From London, you have a choice of Qatar, China Southern, Emirates, Cathay, Malaysia and Singapore. You could also use BA to get as far as Kuala Lumpur or Hong Kong and then connect onto Cathay or Malaysia but these tend to be expensive. For returning from Brisbane the choice would be similar except for Malaysia, who although planning a return to Brisbane, have not set a date to resume flights.

From Birmingham, the choice is more limited with Emirates or Qatar with 1 stop and China Southern via Amsterdam with 2. If you are considering China Southern it may be worth looking at an ex EU Qatar instead as the number of stops could be similar.

The website RouteHappy is good for searching for flights although I would advise booking elsewhere. What it does do is give you an idea about the seats and business class product for each flight which is very useful.

Let’s look at the pros and cons of each of the main options:

Qatar

In terms of comfort, service and seats this is one of the best you can get. Prices from London are expensive but on an Ex EU you can get some very good prices between £1350-2300. On the Adelaide route they use A350 from Doha which is the perfect aircraft for a long flight. Higher humidity, lower cabin altitude and a great Qatar onboard product mean that you should arrive in great shape. You can read my Qatar A350 business class review here. The seats are in 1-2-1 configuration so they all have aisle access.

The other advantage is that if you are a member of the British Airways Executive Club, you will earn Avios and tier points. On this trip, not including any positioning flights, you would earn 600 tier points which takes you to Silver and allows you business class lounge access even when travelling economy.

China Southern

China Southern are usually the cheapest airline to Australia and it is a pretty quick route too from London. China Southern are actually the largest airline in Skyteam and were upgraded to a 4* airline by Skytrax recently. They are not at the standard of someone like Qatar but they do have reasonable lie-flat seats and their onboard service gets good reviews too. Bear in mind that it is geared towards a Chinese market so there will be less Western food options than Qatar or Emirates if you are a fussy eater but they do have western options for each meal.

The downside is that ground handling in China can be a little hit and miss plus you would only be able to earn Skyteam miles rather than Avios. Also, the seats on the A330 and B787 which are used on this route are 2-2-2 which means having to step over people in bed mode unless you have the middle pair. China Southern are available to Adelaide from Birmingham via Amsterdam.

Emirates

If you book Emirates through Qantas on a codeshare you would be able to earn BA Avios and tier points too which is a big advantage. From Heathrow, Emirates use their A380 which has a good business class product with flatbeds and a 1-2-1 configuration. It even has an onboard bar! From Dubai it is then a B777 with a less than optimal 2-3-2 layout, although for reader D this could be a good solution with 3 of them travelling. The seats are also only angle lie flat which means that you can feel as if you are sliding towards the floor! Given that this is the longest flight segment, I would probably only go for this if the price was cheaper than the other airlines.

In summary, the cheapest option will most likely be Qatar from outside the UK plus it has the best business class product of the options in my opinion. If you want to fly from the UK, China Southern would be the cheapest option but the business class seat is not to the same standard. Finally, from Birmingham, Emirates would be the quickest and simplest option but it is likely to be expensive unless you can find a sale deal with a bit of cashback. Otherwise China Southern would be the cheapest with a reasonable business class product.

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Reader E asked “Need some help/guidance. I have over 200,000 Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Miles and wish to use them for a trip to Dubai/US/Caribbean travelling Upper Class for 2 adults and one child. I’m limited to travel due to my 5 year old with school holidays but not sure best way of using them as limited availability during peak times…any suggestions?”

I will look at a few aspects of how to get the flights that you want. Obviously, if you are going in school holidays you will be subject to Virgin’s peak pricing for rewards as well as less availability.

What it will cost

As you have 200,000 miles currently, you don’t yet have enough to do all 3 tickets on miles as a return. One option is to go one-way Premium Economy (outbound is usually better as it is daytime) then back in Upper Class. Another would be to use Miles Plus Money for some tickets. You can redeem as many miles as you want with a minimum of 3,000 for 0.6p per mile off a Virgin Atlantic cash ticket.  You can even pay the taxes this way. For example, 3,000 miles gives you a discount of £18, so if you have 210,000 miles in your account, you could save yourself £1260. There does not need to redemption seats available to use Miles Plus Points.

If you decide to use all miles here are the costs. During peak periods a return redemption per person in Upper Class is:

• Caribbean 135,000
• Florida 115,00
• Dubai 95,000

Therefore you may wish to use the miles for Dubai as it is the cheapest option. If you were mad enough to go during the summer when it is 45° and humid then you would stand more chance of a redemption and hotels are cheap too!

You could also top up using various methods such as American Express Membership Reward points, shop online through the Virgin portal and shop in store at Waitrose to get the extra points. Virgin also occasionally have reward sales where they lower the cost of redemption so keep an eye out for those.

When to book and how to find availability

Awards on Virgin can be booked online 330 days before the flight. Obviously, the easiest way to get the flights you want is to book on the day they are released. If you have missed the boat I would recommend using AwardNexus which I explained in this article. As more reward seats can be released at any time, these type of tools can alert you to them as soon as they are released. Note that seats may not be released at all for redemptions on very popular flights.

Flying Club’s cancellation policy for redemption flights is to refund all the miles and taxes/charges for a £30 per person fee as long as you cancel more than 24 hours before your flight. This is the same for changes. So you could book one way of your flights when they are released and add in a return flight later for £30. This means you can book at 330 days before for the outbound journey and then later for the return trip when they are released 330 days before.

You could also consider using Delta either one way or return as they are in the process of rolling out their new seats, the Delta One suites, which look fantastic. They are not on the London route yet though and there is no confirmed date for when it may start.

How to get to the destinations you want

The first thing to consider with the destination is when to go. Obviously, summer school holidays will be the peak time for child-friendly places such as Orlando. Easter and half terms will also be busy but may not be as bad as the main summer period. Dubai may be quieter during the summer due to the weather as will the Carribean due to the hurricane threat.

Although you have a young child you could consider going to an easier destination to get such as Miami, New York or Washington and booking a connecting flight to Orlando either using Virgin miles on Delta as one ticket or as a separate ticket (allow loads of time for this option). Another choice is to book the alternative destination only and hope that your preferred one comes up so you can cancel/change your booking.

Good luck and let us know how you get on with your redemptions!

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Reader S contacted me asking “Hi there, Looking for some advice please. We are planning to go on a cruise in September which departs from Fort Lauderdale in the States. We would be departing from London and hoping to fly business or premium economy and wondering when is the best time to book and who with to get the best deals? We’d also like to go to Orlando to do the theme parks so not sure if we should fly there first then to Fort Lauderdale or what the best plan is? Any help would be gratefully received. Thanks S.”

Where and when to fly

If you wanted to fly direct to Fort Lauderdale there is not a lot of choice. Only Norwegian fly direct from the UK currently. They do also fly to Orlando direct. Starting July 6, 2017, British Airways will launch flights between London Gatwick and Fort Lauderdale. The flights will operate 3 times a week and 4 times a week during the peak summer season.

Your other options would be to get a connecting flight or to fly to Miami which is 30 miles away and offers a lot more choice.

Most airlines allow you to do an open jaw ticket for the same price, so I would advise flying into Miami or Fort Lauderdale and then flying back from Orlando or vice versa. The only issue with this would be that you may arrive back into Gatwick rather than Heathrow depending on which airline you choose. In terms of which order to do them in, it doesn’t really matter with regard to price. I personally have done this itinerary and prefer to do the theme parks last. It gives you a chance to relax and get over the jetlag first. Then instead of having to go home straight after the cruise, you still have something to look forward to. Getting between Miami and Orlando it is driveable, or you could fly for around £70 one way.

You are now in the window where I would be thinking about booking. British Airways tends to have a sale every couple of months, although recently the business class fares have been only slightly discounted. The last sale finished about 6 weeks ago, so there may be one around June time, like last year. In some BA sales, prices for Orlando in Club World have been as low as £1600, unlike the ridiculous £2700 it is currently showing for September.

My advice is to always book a fare if you think it’s a good deal and have done a thorough search. There is never any guarantee that a sale will happen or have a better price.

Who to fly with

The main options for direct flights are BA or Virgin. Currently the cheapest they are pricing up for business is around £2700 which is a pretty bad price for a leisure business class flight. The best way to look at prices, particularly if you can be flexible on dates, is Google flights. Use the graph or flexible dates options to find the cheapest fares. You can’t book on Google flights, but at least you know what the options are.

One option you may not have considered is Norwegian Airlines. They only do what they call ‘Premium’ class which is definitely not business class but it is superior in terms of seat to Premium Economy on BA and Virgin. This usually prices out at around £1000 return from Gatwick. They have 46 inches of leg room and food plus baggage are included. BA and Virgin Premium economy only have 38 inches of legroom. The food and drink however, are definitely more economy than premium. You also get lounge access which you would not get on BA or Virgin Premium Economy. The other advantage is that they fly direct to both Fort Lauderdale and Orlando.

BA or Virgin in Premium economy

Both prices for BA and Virgin are about the same at around £950 how do you choose which one to go for? If you collect Avios or will fly BA again in the future then the choice is fairly obvious.  With Virgin, although you would collect Flying Club miles, these would be a lot harder to spend as they only do long haul to a limited range of destinations. In terms of on board product,

BA features:

• main courses from Club and pre-order available on many flights
• wider seats and more legroom 18.5 width and 38″ leg room
• small cabins
• noise-reducing headphones
• larger free baggage allowance
• power supply
• amenity kit

Virgin features:

• 38″ seat pitch and 21″ wide seat
• welcome glass of fizz and after dinner liqueur
• in seat power
• priority boarding and luggage

  

• separate check in
• upgraded meal with 3 choices of main course
• in between snacks
• small cabins

Indirect flights

The cheapest way to get there will be to fly from a different starting point, such as Dublin. The current offer means that you could get a business class flight for £1500-1700 per person.  Obviously the trade-off is the extra number of flights and time. The options would be to fly with Aer Lingus direct to Orlando return for a reasonable £1520. Then you would have to either fly or drive to Miami. Aer Lingus have a good modern business class product with flat-bed seats. You can also collect Avios with them. Alternatively you could do an open jaw from Dublin for £1720 flying either on American from Dublin and changing in Cleveland or flying back to Heathrow to fly on British Airways.

Other ways to save money

Using Avios

There are a number of other options you could look at to save money. If you are flying on BA, you could use Avios to part pay on a cash ticket. Example savings would be £250 for 45500 Avios to £60 off for £8000 Avios. You could consider taking out a credit card that gives you a sign up bonus such as the BA Amex, or Preferred Rewards Gold Amex to get some extra Avios. You will, however, need to factor in any fees before deciding if this is an option.

Combined flight and hotel bookings and cashback

You could also try adding a car or hotel to a booking to see if that lowers the overall cost of a trip. You can try this on-line with BA, Virgin or using a site like Expedia. With Expedia you could also earn via Top Cashback with around 4% cashback on a flight and hotel booking even if it’s just one night. Travel agents such as Trailfinders and Travelbag often have special deals if you book a combined flight and hotel package. Remember you don’t have to book all your accommodation to qualify for the discount. Top Cashback will give you a small amount back of up to £38 per booking through British Airways depending on how much you spend. On Virgin Atlantic, it is a measly £10!

Travel industry discounts

If you know someone who works in the travel industry then a company called Touchdown frequently does British Airways ‘friends and family’ offers in business class.  You may still need the travel industry person’s credential to book.

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Hi. I am looking for a bit of expert advice for a family holiday with 2 teenage children. We are slight holiday snobs, I’m afraid, and have visited Bermuda, Mauritius, Barbados, St Lucia and many European destinations. My son is 15 and gets bored with what I find relaxing but equally I’m not keen on all inclusive canteen style eating. We loved AI in Mauritius but it was quite cool temp in July. I am looking for a holiday for probably 10 nights for mid 2 weeks in July. Probably spending £6000 although up to £8000 for something fab. My husband and daughter fancy Hawaii or the States. We would also be happy with the Caribbean or Far East too if they were decent seats rather than  economy. We need activities for sports mad son and yoga for myself. Can you help? Thanks  

Far East options

At the moment the only way you are likely to get a business class deal within budget is to go to the Far East. If you are willing to wait before booking, there is another Qatar sale due in April or May at the latest. You should be able to pick up business class tickets to Bangkok from somewhere like Helsinki or Amsterdam for around £900pp. Obviously this does involve a lot of travelling but you would get lots of Avios/Tier Points and would almost make BA silver in that one trip. You could spend a few nights in Bangkok with plenty to do. I recommend either the Shangri-la or Conrad hotels in Bangkok but there is plenty of choice.

You could then go onto Koh Samui on Bangkok Airways which is about an 1hr and £100. The 2 main areas I recommend staying are either around Chaweng if you like hustle and bustle and lots of things in walking distance, or Bophut if you want it a bit quieter with still things to do. In Thailand you would have to have 2 rooms in most hotels but a villa may be a good option with a pool.For hotels, there is the Anantara that does yoga and there are plenty of watersports at all the hotels. With cashback it would work out at £360 for 2 rooms per night so the cost with everything should be just under £8000. There is an offer on the Fairview Hotel and villas that sleep 4 adults but it is not on the beach. It is also not as nice as the Anantara. The weather is good in Koh Samui in July but not in the other resorts such as Phuket or Krabi.

US Options

Otherwise my two other recommendations would be either Hawaii or a multi centre holiday in California

California

In California, you could do a few nights in San Francisco and then drive down the coast stopping off along the way. You could also factor in Las Vegas plus Death Valley and/or Yosemite on that trip too. You can fly from Dublin for £386pp in economy on AA (Avios/Tier point collecting) or £1200 in premium economy although that involves a stop and is on Virgin. If you book before 6 April you may be able to get AA/ BA business classs to Las Vegas from Dublin for around £1200. If you collect Avios and have some to spare the other option is to use them on a cash fare with BA as this can bring the price down substantially and there does not need to be reward availability. For example if you had 96,000 Avios that would save you £600 if you booked for 4 people. It is also enough to get an award flight in Premium Economy at 65,000 which would be a better use if you can find availability. Alternatively you could use Avios to upgrade.

Hawaii

Unfortunately the days of the £1000 Dublin-Honolulu BA business class fare seem to be long gone. The best offer you can get at the moment is about £1500 until 6 April even with a sale on. It then goes back to £1800.  It is a long way to go in economy, so I recommend breaking the journey in Los Angeles or Seattle if possible. Again you could use Avios to upgrade part of the journey if you can find availability.

Hawaii for me is a once in a lifetime experience and I would recommend at least a 2 centre holiday here. Honolulu is a good starting point and Expedia have a deal at around £1152 including economy flights with BA for staying at the Hilton on Waikiki for 2 nights. (you can do longer of course). They do yoga on paddle boards in the lagoon next to it which looks like fun. You could get 3.6% cashback on that price too.There is lots to do on Oahu. For example you can take a tour of where many films have been shot, such as Jurassic Park, at Kualoa ranch or go gliding or power hang gliding on the North shore. Pearl Harbour is also worth visiting, although a sombre experience. Of course surfing is massive here and everywhere does lessons.

I would then probably recommend the Big island so you can see the volcanos and there are plenty of watersports there. Mauna Lani is a great hotel with plenty of activities but there are also private villas there which you can rent through air bnb which would give you more space. There is great snorkelling at Mauna Lani and you will be very likely to see turtles in the sea. It is also close to plenty of places to eat within walking distance. I also recommend a star gazing experience if you have time. The skies in Hawaii provide some of the best star gazing in the world. Star Gaze Hawaii hold sessions at the Fairmont Mauna Lani on Fridays.

 

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