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Old 27 Mar 22, 03:57 PM  
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tonymc
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2021, then 2022, now 2023... possibly! Long Haul to Aus & NZ - Take 4!

Back in August 2021, I wrote "And with Covid-19 still with us, we've taken the decision to put back yet another 12 months (and one day!), now departing Sydney on 19th February 2023! Similar itinerary to our 2022 cruise, but as it leaves on a Sunday, we will probably arrive in Sydney the day before, then have 4 or 5 days in Sydney when we arrive back, followed by the daytime Sydney-Tokyo flights, a full day in Tokyo, and then a daytime Tokyo-Heathrow-Manchester flight back home."

Well, up until two weeks ago, this is exactly what was happening - outbound BA flights booked in Club World using Avios and an Amex Companion Voucher (2-4-1 Avios but not taxes unfortunately! ), just awaiting the Sydney-Tokyo flights to be released (using Avios again! ), and a few days after, booking the Tokyo-Heathrow-Manchester flights home (yet again good old Avios).

That was until an e-mail from Princess throwing a not insignificant spanner in the works - advising they were cancelling our cruise due to "uncertainty" and the Ukrainian conflict. TBH, given what is happening in Ukraine at the moment, a cancelled cruise isn't really a significant problem.

This left us with a couple of options - to find an alternative Princess cruise that fitted in with our dates, or look for another cruise line that fitted in with the dates.

Unfortunately, neither option found anything suitable, but a third option would have been to move the entire trip to the end of March 2023, when Princess had an 8 night Sydney-Auckland cruise, and would give us an additional four days in New Zealand. We discounted this as it would be heading towards Autumn down under, and the historical weather information pointed towards some significant rainfall at that time.

We eventually realised that we could, in fact, revert to our original plan - 4/5 days in Sydney, fly to NZ then a road-trip through the North Island, with several days in Auckland at the end, followed by a flight and 3 days in Tokyo before returning to the UK.

Wonderful - everything coming together... hold that thought...

A couple of days ago, I had notification that Qatar Airways were now starting to use Avios as their frequent flyer "miles", so this got me thinking about the far superior business class cabin layout they operate, compared to BA's "ying and yang" layout in Club World and relatively narrow seats (5 across rather then 4).

A bit of searching found that Qatar had Avios availability on a flight between Manchester and Sydney via Doha the day after we were originally flying with BA, but arriving late afternoon on the same day as BA (which arrived in the early morning).

Other advantages were the better "split" of the flights (7 hours to Doha, 4 hours stopover at Doha with lounge access then 14 hours to Sydney), that the Manchester flight would have the Q-Suite, and the Sydney leg would be on an A380 with a decent 1-2-1 seat layout. In both cases, there was the option to reserve (at no extra charge, unlike BA) two adjacent seats in the centre row - the BA 787-9 does not have a similar layout.



Comparison of BA and Qatar Business Cabins

A final advantage was the taxes. For our BA flights to Sydney, it was £1,156 (total), on Qatar £733 (total), some £400 saving. Add to that BA charge to reserve seats outside of check-in whereas Qatar (and most other airlines) do not charge for this in business, saving a further £180 minimum.

Although it cost £70 to cancel the BA flights, this has saved around £500, which was used to purchase Avios to offset a significant chunk of the additional 55,000 Avios required (remembering that the BA flight was 2-4-1 Avios).

Fingers crossed, the only foreseeable change will be possibly the cancellation of our Sydney-Tokyo flights if we can get seats on the Air New Zealand Auckland-Tokyo flights using VA Flying Club Miles... unless Australia and/or New Zealand have another lockdown next year!
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Link to all trip reports here
2024 The Retirement Roadshow – Part 2:Alaska, 2023 4th Time lucky - Aus & NZ, 2022 Cruising and Tuscany, 2020 A second unexpected staycation - Budapest to West Wales!, 2019 It’s Disney... but not as we know it!,2017 CA Possibly, Maybe, Definitely..,2016 Economy and a Studio Just Isn't Good Enough!
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