Flights, Using Points / 08.05.2019

Comfortable seats, great service, but plain food, on Malaysia Airlines 737 business class. I had booked a trip from Sydney to Koh Samui with Singapore airlines, and after receiving an invite to a wedding in Phuket - I decided to change my plans and come home through Phuket. There were no award seats from Phuket to Sydney on Singapore, so instead I booked Malaysia Airlines using Qantas points. This review is of Malaysia Airlines 737 business class from Phuket to Kuala Lumpur. Lounge Malaysia Airlines uses the Coral Lounge at Phuket...

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Earning Points, Flights, Points, Reviews / 22.04.2019

Great to have an overnight option to Singapore - even with the stop in Canberra. Getting award flights over Easter means you need to be super organised. I started looking in July at where we could go using Velocity points for the following April easter, and found return flights to Koh Samui on Singapore Airlines business class. Booking When my partner and I are travelling together, we use points for one and pay for one. Which effectively means we get half price business class flights. In July last year we started...

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Earning Points, Flights, Points, Reviews / 21.04.2019

SilkAir business class is just Singapore Airlines domestic business (if they did it). This flight from Singapore to Koh Samui was technically the 3rd leg of our journey from Sydney. We had taken the overnight flight from Sydney which has a brief stop in Canberra and a 3 hour layover at Changi. So I was definitely ready to just get to the island. I have read reviews saying that SilkAir was fine, just not as polished as Singapore Airlines. The reality is, of course that's correct. They're smaller planes, shorter...

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Earning Points, Flights, Reviews / 07.03.2019

Amazing food on the way to an island paradise. Bali gets mixed reviews from Australian travellers. I don't care what anyone says; Bali is one of the cheapest and most relaxed short haul getaways from Australia. Virgin Australia business class to Bali is an enjoyable way to get to the island paradise. Booking Virgin Australia flies direct to Denpasar, Bali, from Brisbane and Sydney - (and soon Darwin) with a mix of daytime and evening flights. Velocity points flights to Bali have pretty good availability from both Brisbane & Sydney, in...

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Earning Points, Flights, Reviews, Using Points / 05.02.2019

Almost too short to make it worthwhile. Byron Bay is one of my favourite places in Australia. And the world, to be honest. Getting to Byron Bay from Sydney is either a ~9 hour straight drive, or a flight time of just under an hour. Being very much a leisure destination (not many business fliers to Ballina), flights are very affordable and there is always great reward availability for both economy and business. This is a review of my flight in business class to Byron Bay with Virgin Australia. Virgin...

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About Points, Flights, Points, Reviews, Using Points / 31.10.2018

Either this flight was flawless, or my expectations were low? Having never flown them before, my expectations of Malaysia Airlines business class were solely based on their reputation over the last few years. And quite simply, I was actually very impressed. My flight from Kuala Lumpur to Sydney was originally in one of their A330-300 aircraft. But then about 4 months prior to the flight, I received a seat change notification from them. Feeling a little annoyed that they the nerve to move me, I logged in to my flight...

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Flights, Points, Using Points / 31.10.2018

My first Cathay Pacific business class flight, and I wasn't disappointed I recently flew through Hong Kong to Boston as part of a trip from Australia to east coast USA. Finding award flights using Qantas or Velocity points direct to mainland USA is pretty difficult. So going through Asia when you're going to the east coast doesn't take that much longer. And, you get to avoid LAX - winning! This particular flight was the first leg from Melbourne to Hong Kong on the Cathay Pacific A350-900. The entire trip cost...

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About Points, Flights, Points, Using Points / 14.10.2018

People often ask if it’s a better use of points to buy a business seat using points, or pay for an economy seat and then upgrade with points. Here's the answer - using flights to Auckland as an example. There are two ways to calculate this, but I think this is more accurate and conservative. Looking at Virgin Australia business class from Sydney to Auckland, you’ll be paying around $1,237.66 return when booking 9 months in advance. The same flight and class would cost you 71,000 velocity points plus $183.66...

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Earning Points, Flights, Reviews, Using Points / 09.10.2018

Seats are the winner on this flight. Reward flight availability is usually best 11 months from flight date or closer to the date, or about 2 weeks out. If the airline notices unused seats close to departure date, they’ll open more to reward bookings to fill seats. We felt like a not-so-quick flight for a quick week away, and found Qantas reward seat availability in business class to Osaka. We paid 72,000 Qantas frequent flyer points plus $271 taxes each. Business reward seat availability wasn’t great for the return trip...

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Earning Points, Flights, Reviews, Using Points / 09.10.2018

Service was absolutely faultless. Getting to Narita airport from downtown Tokyo takes just under an hour, and is a much safer option than driving. Traffic between Tokyo downtown and Narita Airport is very unpredictable, but often bad. The Narita Express (or N’EX as it’s affectionately known) is also cheaper than a taxi if there’s only 1 or two of you travelling and platform is directly under the airport. The airport JAL has a dedicated premium check-in line at Narita airport, which was very quick and efficient. They even had someone to...

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