Fly around the world for with this deal for Point Hacks readers from TravelManagers Australia agent Luke Vaughan.
You can fly to Asia, Europe and then North or South America before returning home, or go in the opposite direction, with SWISS and Air New Zealand being the main carriers.
You can even get Gold frequent flyer status in one hit with option 4!
SWISS Business Class
Example itineraries
These fares are from the East Coast. Just add $75 from Perth or Adelaide
1. Visit Thailand, France and the US for $1999 in Economy or $6199 in Business
Sydney to Bangkok on Thai – Bangkok to Paris via Zurich on SWISS – Paris to Los Angeles via Zurich on SWISS – Los Angeles to Sydney via Auckland on Air New Zealand
2. Singapore, Italy, Brazil and Argentina for $2259 in Economy or $6759 in Business
Sydney to Singapore on Singapore Airlines – Singapore to Rome via Zurich on SWISS – Venice to Sao Paulo via Zurich on SWISS – Sao Paulo to Buenos Aires on Turkish – Buenos Aires to Sydney via Auckland on Air NZ
3. Canada, Spain and Japan for $2269 in Economy or $6899 in Business
Sydney to Vancouver on Air Canada – Vancouver to Madrid via Frankfurt on Lufthansa – Barcelona to Tokyo via Zurich on SWISS – Tokyo to Sydney on ANA
4. Japan, Egypt and the US for $6819 in Business (this trip will get you Gold frequent flyer status with Turkish in one hit)
Sydney to Tokyo on ANA – Tokyo to Cairo via Zurich on SWISS – Cairo to Los Angeles via Zurich on SWISS – Houston to Melbourne via Auckland on Air NZ
This itinerary won’t get you to the Gold threshold of 40,000 miles if you fly back to Sydney instead of Melbourne, but just take basically any miles-earning Star Alliance flight within 12 months and you will qualify all the same.
Combining with Qantas and Cathay Pacific
Although these are Star Alliance itineraries, you can choose to fly to/from Singapore, Bangkok or Tokyo with Qantas, or to/from Hong Kong with either Qantas or Cathay Pacific with either the Economy or Business fare.
You can also fly Qantas to/from LA, San Francisco, Dallas/Fort Worth or New York, but only with the Economy fare.
Key terms
- On sale until 30 June 2016
- Year-round fares, i.e. no high/low season, but heavily subject to availability
- Surface sectors permitted (e.g. into New York and out of Los Angeles)
- Various transfer points permitted in Asia, Europe, and North and South America (e.g. choose between Hong Kong or Tokyo)
- Only Europe permits intra-continent sectors (e.g. Frankfurt-Paris)
- No minimum or maximum stay
- No advance purchase requirement
Gday. I have used Gemma Harvey at Roundabout Travel in South Australia and Sarah Kinsella at Holiday Planet Travel in WA.
You cannot book as an on line fare with Expedia to my knowledge.
There is a link on Point Hacks at present to a guy in NSW for $6199 which is the best price I have seen recently. Mostly the fares have been around $6500. The fare moves around a bit depending on exchange rate. The fare will vary a bit depending on season and availability of seats on the day.
There are usually 3 carriers on offer at around this price – Swissair or Finnair or Lufthansa. The rules are all the same. You use the primary carrier into Europe and out of Europe then the rest are made up from other carriers ie Australia to Asia or Australia to USA/Canada.
The fare is advance purchase and changes to dates of travel will cost a fair bit so make sure you plan things in advance.
I have also used Alpha Flight Guru for heavily discounted business class flights. My experience is 20-30% off. They are a USA based agent that buy FF points in USA off charities who have had them donated and then apply them to purchase reward seats. Alpha run a 24 hour service as they pick up quite a bit of ticketing from Australia. Your call to the Australian number gets redirected into USA. They will do RTW itinerary for you but you need to have done your research beforehand because they require a quick decision on price as the seats are only held for a day. Like all redemption flights it is first in best dressed.
Have fun!
Warren Morris
We use this fare combination frequently and it is the cheapest I have seen since the AUD collapsed last year. So far as I am concerned it fits perfectly into what the point hacks site is trying to achieve given many of us buy our miles to redeem them. This is a GOOD deal.
Warren since you book this frequently – how do you book it? Do you research it independantly or book through an agent? Would love some tips on booking this type of fare.
This is a points hacking site, and those are all paid fares. It doesn’t really fit with the rest of the site content.
Yep, pretty sure you earn points flying though.