Frustration over a Qantas upgrade changed the way I travel

In the half century I have been travelling to the far corners of the world, I had never consulted a travel agent.

Various employers had done so on my behalf, I suppose, when they sent me off on assignments to Europe or Asia or Africa or the Americas or wherever.

Japan Airlines’ business class: Tony Wright found a deal through a travel agent for less than half the price of other carriers.Credit: Bloomberg

But when travelling on my own dollar, I always mapped out the route myself, and booked my own air, train and ferry tickets, car hire and accommodation.

It was a point of pride, made simpler in recent decades by the internet.

Hit the Qantas app, consult the Man in Seat 61 website for all things rail, fire up Booking.com or similar and away I’d go.

In future, all that palaver will be transferred to a marvellously efficient travel consultant.

Last year, planning a trip for myself and a daughter to the UK and the European continent, I became frustrated at the difficulty of arranging an upgrade on Qantas, the airline to which I had been loyal since way before it was privatised 30 years ago.

The advancing years have turned me ridiculously grumpy when shoehorned into a confined space for an extended period, and I had vowed never again to take an intercontinental flight in economy class if I could help it.

Happily, I had accrued more frequent flyer points than required for an upgrade to business class.

But the post-COVID hoops to leap through in order to actually snag one for myself and another for my daughter proved beyond my patience, though the process is said to have improved over the past year.

First Class on European trains is often not much more expensive than Second Class.Credit:

A friend who had recently returned from a European family holiday sighed and ordered me to meet Amanda at a little agency called Brighton Travelworld.

And there, all my pride about organising everything myself melted away.

I inquired of Amanda whether she might know of an airline that offered premium economy at a reasonable price.

She looked me in the eye and said, “You don’t want to fly premium economy. It’s not all that much better than economy.”

I knew this, I said, but we couldn’t afford to pay outright to fly business class.

“We’ll see about that,” said Amanda, applying flying fingers to her keyboard.

Having established that our travel dates were flexible, she conjured up two discounted business-class flights on Japan Airlines (JAL) travelling Melbourne to London via Tokyo and returning from Frankfurt. For less than half the best price I’d seen on the websites of major airlines. Return.

That was still quite a wad of loot, of course, but woowee, half price! Plus JAL had a reputation for excellence – and, as we discovered, fabulous Japanese food on board.

Anyway, we had been saving for this dad and daughter trip through all the long years of COVID and before. We jumped at the JAL deal, though it meant changing airports in Tokyo and staying overnight on the first leg.

No worries. Amanda arranged a driver to transfer us from Narita to Haneda airports and overnight accommodation in a splendid airport hotel.

Next, I needed advice.

Would it be best to pay point-to-point fares on trains that would take us from Scotland to London and on to Amsterdam, to a couple of stops in Belgium (Bruges and Ypres), to Paris, on to Switzerland and finally, Germany? Or would a Eurail Pass be cheaper and more efficient?

“Leave it with me. I have a specialist,” said Amanda, asking me to draw up a schedule for the train travel.

A few days later, she informed me that her specialist had acquired for us two suitable Eurail passes and had reserved first-class seats on each leg, though there were a couple of local trains that didn’t require reservations.

First-class?

Turned out it wasn’t vastly more expensive than 2nd, and it provided access to lounges at several railway stations, plus seat-service meals and guaranteed, extra comfortable seating in uncrowded carriages.

I probably wouldn’t have ticked the option myself, but a travel agent had made the decision for me – a fait accompli!

It was worth every extra cent, we figured later, streaming through glorious European countryside in luxury.

Amanda arranged travel insurance and supplied our entire itinerary, complete with necessary coupons, in a handy travel purse.

Determined not to hand over all my previously accustomed autonomy, I did our own accommodation bookings through Qantas Hotels.

By paying with a combination of cash and points, we didn’t have to shell out crippling amounts of money for excellent accommodation everywhere. We set a limit of about $250 a night in cash and topped up the remaining tariff with those Qantas points we had planned to use for the flight upgrades we’d never managed.

All that was left was car hire for a trip around Scotland.

We got lucky again.

I happened across rave reviews for a company called Celtic Legend.

Not familiar with the company, I emailed. A helpful fellow named Steve replied in minutes, assuring us they could arrange everything.

When I informed the company I didn’t want to drive in Glasgow and would be heading out of town via Loch Lomond, there came a “no worries” email.

They’d pick us up from the railway station and drive us to one of their depots on the edge of the city. And so it came to pass.

After a week travelling around Scotland, we dropped off the vehicle outside Edinburgh, with the offer of a lift to the tram into town, though we took an Uber.

A comparison with better-known car-rental companies showed we’d saved several hundred dollars.

I’ve promised another daughter a holiday down the track a bit.

We’ll be in to see Amanda or one of her colleagues.

Wouldn’t think of doing it any other way.