Over the past two decades, the number of Japanese tourists visiting Australia has halved whilst the number of Australians heading to Japan has increased by almost 1000%! Continue reading…
The Tokyo-based carrier is the last of the oneworld airlines to be integrated into the Qantas Frequent Flyer portal, which means that using your Qantas Points for a redemption on this excellent airline has now become easier. Continue reading…
Have you ever been frustrated by the lack of First or Business Class award availability (especially to the US) or the fact that you just don’t have enough points in your account for one of those redemptions?
Premium Economy awards are becoming more popular and are a great option for those wishing to redeem their Qantas Points for more space and improved service. Continue reading…
For travellers from a lot of other countries, Emirates’ Skywards frequent flyer program represents good value due to their wide network reach and the lack of partnerships with most other frequent flyer programs and airlines for redemption.
In Australia, we’re luckier, because we have Qantas Frequent Flyer, which is a partner program and allows for redemptions on Emirates. Continue reading…
Point Hacks readers have access to some discounted Business Class fares to Asia, taking advantage of British Airways’ fifth freedom route between Sydney and Singapore (which we have reviewed here), and onward flights throughout Asia with oneworld partners such as Japan Airlines and Cathay Pacific.
This deal is especially attractive if you are wanting to fly to Japan in Business Class for cheap, as well as being able to visit cities in Southeast Asia and earn some great frequent flyer miles and status credits along the way. You can get up to five stopovers with this deal.
There is also the opportunity to customise your itinerary to get Qantas Gold status in one trip.
And you’ll get to experience a range of different aircraft, including British Airways’ 777 between Sydney and Singapore, Japan Airlines’ 787 Dreamliner, and Qantas’ A330 service if departing from Perth.
British Airways Club World (Business Class)
This deal is valid for departures from all capital cities.
Here are a couple of example itineraries from three of our largest airports:
Sydney – British Airways to Singapore – Cathay Pacific to Bangkok – Japan Airlines to Tokyo – Japan Airlines to Hanoi – Vietnam Airlines to Singapore – British Airways to Sydney
Melbourne – Qantas to Sydney – British Airways to Singapore – Japan Airlines to Tokyo Haneda – Japan Airlines to Bangkok – EVA Air to Taipei – Malaysia Airlines to Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia Airlines to Singapore – British Airways to Sydney – Qantas to Melbourne
Perth – Qantas to Sydney – British Airways to Singapore – Jetstar Airways to Ho Chi Minh City (Economy Class) – Japan Airlines to Tokyo – Japan Airlines to Bangkok – Japan Airlines to Tokyo – Japan Airlines to Singapore – British Airways to Sydney – Qantas to Perth
In this example, flying to Tokyo twice increases the Status Credits earn with Qantas Frequent Flyer to 700, which will give you Gold status in one trip.
This fare can be upgraded to First Class for $895 per direction (i.e. $1790 return). However, the only legs which offer a First Class cabin are the British Airways flights to and from Singapore, so all other sectors would remain in Business Class.
This deal is exclusively available through our Point Hacks travel agent, Luke Vaughan.
Featured image: Flickr
American Airlines AAdvantage miles are some of the most valuable out there, so when AAdvantage miles go on sale, the astute points-collectors take note and consider buying them to redeem for Business or First Class flights.
While the act of redeeming them isn’t actually too hard, understanding the routing and ticket rules, and performing the research required to find flights can take time.
This post covers which airlines, routes, rules and costs apply to American Airlines AAdvantage tickets between Australia, New Zealand and Europe.
Continue reading…
From late March through to the end of this year (December 21st, to be precise), Japan Airlines has made a heap of First Class award seats available.
Many days have at least two seats, while others have 4 or more. Feel like taking the whole family to Japan in First Class? This is the opportunity.
You are first to know – to my knowledge, no other site has published this yet. Here’s a sampling of availability for two passengers in First Class later this year. Continue reading…
Japan Airlines will definitely be rostering on a 777-300ER with First Class on the Sydney – Narita route later this year as hoped when they announced they would be upgrading it back in June – with First Class availability for frequent flyer redemptions now available on an ongoing basis.
It’s great news for those who had redeemed for First Class seats up to Japan for the northern hemisphere winter, and good news for Business Class travellers on an ongoing basis as it seems like the upgrade to their improved Business Class cabin is here to stay.
Note JL originally put out a press release stating there would be no First Class on this route – Thanks to AusBT for the correction via Twitter, Japan Airlines got their press release slightly wrong! Continue reading…
Oddly, I never got around to publishing this review, despite having it ready to go a couple of months ago. Regardless here goes – my take on the overnight return experience of First Class in Japan Airlines.
JAL are once again offering First Class on their Boeing 777 flights from Sydney from December 2015 onward, so if you can find a seat, I’d thoroughly recommend it.
You can also check out the outbound review of daytime flight from Sydney to Narita here, which is more thorough given the time available to enjoy the experience in daylight.
This review is not so long – in terms of imagery, at least – given my preference for sleep on this 8.5 hour overnight flight. For more on the Japan Airlines First Class experience, definitely read my first review for more. Continue reading…
This is the next instalment from my trip to Japan earlier this year, just a little late in coming!
The return flight was in JAL First Class, and flying in JAL First or as a oneworld Emerald status frequent flyer you have access to the Japan Airlines Sakura First Class Lounge in Tokyo on departure.
While not generally on the list of ‘must-see’ airline lounges globally, my great First Class experience on JAL on the way up from Sydney set the tone and I was keen to see how JAL do their First Class ground experience.
Continue reading…
In October last year, a good friend of mine (Hi Greg!) and I decided that it would be a really good idea if we went skiing in Japan for a few days, taking in Tokyo on the way back to Sydney (for me) and on the way to Europe (for him).
A contributing factor was Japan Airlines operating a 777-300ER and opening up award seat availability in First Class on the route for December to March.
The focus of this review is the outbound flight from Sydney to Narita on Boxing Day, which was an amazing experience and got our Japan adventure off to a very authentic start. Continue reading…
JAL are upgrading their service between Sydney and Tokyo to a 777-300ER from December 28th, which has a significantly better Business Class than the existing 777-200ER on the route, which is angled-flat. JAL’s 777-300ER also includes eight first class seats and the change makes JAL one of the handful of carriers left operating First Class into / out of Australia.
The best part is that there are many, many dates available with First Class availability during that time – the screenshot below shows a search for two seats. Incidentally, Business Class availability is non-existent.
After arriving into Frankfurt from London on BA in the early evening, we set about whiling away a few hours until the 23.50 departure to Singapore.
We headed over to the JAL Sakura lounge which was just a few minutes walk from our arrival gate. It turned out the lounge was also well located for our Qantas departure as well – all pretty convenient. Continue reading…
