Flights to Australia

[chrbb]

My youngest son's going to Australia for a year in Oct and has just started looking for flights to Canberra, any flight tips, cheap flight websites to visit/avoid that anyone's aware of?

[FN-GM]

Where in the UK do you want to fly from? Personally i would go Singapore Airlines the service is excellent. Was far better than Qanatas and British Airways.

 

There is a big list of routes between the UK and Australia here: Flights Between The United Kingdom and Australia : British Expat Wiki

 

To go to Canberra you will need to make a domestic connection in Australia. For example you could go London > Singapore > Brisbane > Canberra. Singapore Airlines codeshares with Virgin Australia so you can book the domestic leg on one ticket. I would book the domestic leg on a separate booking. If you miss a connection the airline will then rebook you onto other flights. If you are on separate tickets the airline are not obliged to do this.

 

On the link is also the main domestic carriers on both sides.

 

Make sure he claims his airmiles. I got myself some upgrades and free tickets with mine. With the miles he gets he can get a free return ticket to Paris.

Edited August 8, 2011 by FN-GM

[glennda]

Check out the middle eastern airlines they are top notch I've flown with emirates a few times, also qatar air and also etihad and couldn't fault them.

 

Also there fleets are extremely comfortable and you get good entertainment and food included.

[featured_spectre]

Emirates or Singapore airlines were the best when I flew to NZ and Hong Kong (2 seperate trips). Cant comment on anyone else but they were fantastic. Flying from heathrow each time for mine. A stop off in HK would be good for him as there is an asian influence in Aus and it would be good experience, even if just for a day

[kearton]

+1 vote for Singapore Airlines. I've travelled most of the airlines in trips back to NZ over the years, and Singapore airlines is by far the best I've ever flown (However, I've only ever travelled cattle class, so can't vouch for any airline's premium class)

[mac_shinobi]

+1 vote for Singapore Airlines. I've travelled most of the airlines in trips back to NZ over the years, and Singapore airlines is by far the best I've ever flown (However, I've only ever travelled cattle class, so can't vouch for any airline's premium class)

 

Flew with Qantas the 2nd time I went to Australia and they didn't even bring my luggage with them so was without all my stuff for a week, it's not that they lost my luggage, it was the fact they left it in London heathrow - not sure how or why they managed that. The last leg of my flight from perth to Melbourne was with singapore airlines and there weren't that many people onboard so they upgraded all of us to business class - was pretty darned good

 

Think there are too many people using Qantas so was jam packed on the Qantas flights

 

One of those neck pillows or a normal pillow you can shove in your onboard baggage is a defo, along with a lot of music / videos on ipod / iphone or the likes ie some device similar, if its a cd player or the likes then plenty of batteries and decent head phones that are comfy ( I used to listen to my own music and fall asleep ), they do have a few movies on the flights so that will keep them entertained for a while but not the whole flight.

 

Camera that can record video would be good - wish I had a camera the 2nd time I went to Oz as would of been nice to record the video footage landing and a bit before landing as was amazing to watch over the lake etc.

 

Something chewy ie gummy bears, fruit pastals etc , find they help when taking off ref air pressure

 

Other then that just enjoy the ride and have a good time

 

Maybe it's just me but I prefer to book the flights myself directly and bypass thomas cook or those sorts of places.

Edited August 9, 2011 by mac_shinobi

[FN-GM]

I cant vouch for the other airlines but on all the UK and Australia routes with Singapore Airline they have a full in flight entertainment system. They also have pwoer sockets for each seat.

[kevbaz]

I used Netflights.co.uk for my flights to Florida this year, just done a quick check for Oz and these are what turned up

 

Flight Results

[TechMonkey]

Not sure about to Oz but Dial-a-flight were brilliant sorting out my flights to SA. Found the cheapest flight and allowed me to just leave a deposit just incase something better came along. Then phoned me when a direct flight came up for a few quid more.

Also my Tech is heading off there, found that if he went via just about anywhere it was considerably cheaper. Though this was via a budget airline so it could have been just because of that.

[RabbieBurns]

I normally travel KLM in europe so have thousands of miles with them, so whenever I fly here I try to use Malaysia Airlines as they are KLM partners. (also means transiting via Amsterdam from glasgow rather than england heathrow which is always a bonus)

 

Last year I flew Virgin Atlantic home to UK and Singapore back on the A380 new thing, and wasnt that impressed with the new a380 to be honest.

 

Emirates is one of the best, stopover in Dubai which breaks up the journey nicely.

 

They are all much of a muchness really, its an expensive ticket so I would choose it on

 

a) flight time - unless he is wanting a planned stopover for a couple of days in asia to see somewhere, avoid an airline that has a 5hr+ layover

b) price obviously

c) whether you have airmiles with any of the carriers already that you can use to either put towards the flight, or to add this new flight to.

Edited August 10, 2011 by RabbieBurns

[chrbb]

Tickets booked with Emirates, now all we need is travel insurance. Anyone been over to Australia/NZ for a years stay and can recommend who to insure with?

[markcuk]

Tickets booked with Emirates, now all we need is travel insurance. Anyone been over to Australia/NZ for a years stay and can recommend who to insure with?

 

well for nz these guys Orbit Protect - Home - Medical Travel, Insurance, OrbitProtect, Student, ... I also claimed with them after the earthquake and it was done very well and wayyyyyyyyyyy cheaper than the UK alternatives

 

list of other providers

 

http://www.insureandgo.com/travel-insurance/backpackers-insurance.htm

 

http://www.outbackerinsurance.com/v4/index.php?gclid=CL792YXtwKsCFUMOfAodXB5QtQ

 

http://www.duinsure.com/sites/duinsure.nsf/homepages/homepage

 

http://www.worldnomads.com/?gclid=CIbkrpntwKsCFcMOfAodtRgjuQ

 

oh yeah cant go wrong with this board http://www.backpackerboard.co.nz/

Edited September 28, 2011 by markcuk

[shenley]

I've flown just about every airline to Oz, and I've always found Malaysian Airlines cheap and with great service. If you're a vegetarian I'd suggest you avoid Emirates, who I see you've booked with. At meal time, airlines will either serve the veggies first in each section of the plane, or serve them at the same time as everybody else. Emirates serve all the veggies first (on the entire plane), so you could be stuck with a tray on your lap for over an hour.

 

The best flight I ever had was with Lufthansa - really top notch service. Worst ever Air India, but they don't operate into Oz any more. They would wake you up at meal time by hitting you on the head with a tray. Also the air-conditioning caught fire (twice!). The plane had outside loos too! (OK so slight exaggeration)

 

Even though you book with one airline, you could end up flying with another. My last trip was booked with Malaysian Airlines, but was BA from Birmingham to Schiphol, Malaysian to KL and Qantas to Adelaide. Coming back it was Air France to Paris (via Singapore) and CityJet to Birmingham.