Norwegian rejects two formal takeover bids from British Airways parent IAG

One way flights are usually very expensive. Also flights originating in Australia are usually way more expensive than flights originating in Europe. If your relatives are planning a trip back to Europe within a year of leaving, they might want to consider buying a return rather than a single.

Unless they already have some miles I think they will struggle to get enough this time round. Not necessarily because they wouldn’t be able to earn enough but because they stand virtually no chance of getting miles flights in the first half of Jan (I struggled even booking nearly a year out) and I’d check the second half of Jan before going any further down that route.

One way to go on points though would be to buy SPG points, currently at a 30% discount so US$682.50 for the max of 30k per person. SPG allow transfers between family members so if there were four of them at the same address, that would be $2,525 for 111k. With an extra 5k per 20k transferred to airlines, that would normally get you 136k airline miles, but AA are currently giving a 25% bonus, so that would be 170k AAdvantage miles for about £1,900. Which is enough for business class to anywhere in Australia, including internal business class flights on Qantas if they can’t get to their preferred international gateway (a far cry from Club Europe). Probably Cathay would be the best bet – I think charges would be about £250 each on top so maybe £1,200 per person one way. Qatar flights are hard to find. They’d need to pull their fingers out though as both the SPG and AA offers end on 31 May and the SPG accounts would need to be set up 14 days before buying points.

Looking a bit longer term, you could you refer your relative for a Plat Amex now. She could then apply for a companion and a supplementary card. Then she could refer her partner and he could do the same. I haven’t checked the numbers but that’s something like 35 + 5 + 3 + 2 (for spending £2k) + 18 = 63k and + 35 + 5 + 3 + 2 = 45k MR points for £4k spend. Not enough for a one way business class trip, unless they can find some more friends to refer.

Once in Australia though, they could use Amex’ Global Transfer process to get Aussie Amex cards if necessary (better not to though as better Amex bonuses are available if you apply through non-Amex websites). Sign up bonuses out here are much more generous too. For example there are (non-Platinum) Amex cards with a bonus of 50k MR points available and they come with travel credits equal to the fee.

Then transfer the UK MR points to Australia. At say £1 = $1.80, that would be 113k and 81k Aussie MR points. 95k will get you one way between Perth and the UK on Singapore in business; 105k from the east coast – and no scamcharges like BA. And they could get SQ Silver before they left via Amex Plat/Shangri-La Jade. That gets you some priority on waitlisted flights.

As to which airline to build up miles with, Qantas has a poor reputation for its scheme. Virgin Australia has a limited route network and doesn’t belong to an alliance, though of course it has a variety of partners. I’ve settled on Singapore mainly for international flights, but they have a relationship with Virgin which means you can transfer miles between the two, albeit losing 35% along the way. Internally I fly with whoever is cheapest usually. Etihad and Avios are both good for internal flights if you hit the sweet spots though, flying on Virgin and Qantas respectively.

Hope that helps!