Flights to Australia in August

Barcode

So, I'm going to Australia (very, very excited) for two weeks in August, and I'm wondering about the best flight deals; by best, I don't necessarily mean cheap. For such a long flight, I'm giving serious thought to business class. So the options so far:

- Virgin Atlantic
- BA
- Singapore Airlines

I flew BA long haul to San Francisco in April, and by the end of it was suffering from major claustrophobia. I've also gone long haul with VA a few times, and that seemed a bit better (more entertainment, more room to stretch out). However, if I go BA, I might go into WTP or, possibly (big possibly at the moment) Club World.

Any websites for discounted business fares? If the economy fare is going to be about 700 pounds, then I'm of the attitude that I would rather pay a little more for a once in a lifetime experience, as well as arriving in Sydney calm and destressed.

Thanks for any suggestions.

terf

Hi usually you can find cheap companion business class fares - but it depends on which time of year you travel - in August it's going to be hard to find such deals. You can get an idea of business class prices by looking at this site
http://www.travelmood.com/site/hotoffers/flights/default_oznzJclass.asp

The cheapest is China Eastern but from what I've read their business class is comparable to the economy class of most top airlines.

JoseChungsDoomsday

I had the choice of those 3 for my flight this sept and choose Virgin, they were middle priced, gave lots of air miles and the planes are top notch!

littld

I'd recommend trying Travelocity.com for cheaper flights from the UK.

I don't know why, but sometimes much better deals than the UK site.

I have saved hundreds on long flights using this method. Downside is they have to FedEx the tickets to you.

Barcode

Cheers all, it's almost certainly going to be SA I think - still debating the Business class thing. Very, very tempting, with this (probably) being a once in a lifetime trip.

pin

In terms of your options what about Cathay, Thai, Emirates, Qantas. They all offer great Business class products. Also what about one of the European airlines like Luftansa, KLM, Air France, etc.

You are aware for business class to Oz you will be paying around the £2k-3k mark, maybe more, but probably not less.

Sheel

pin wrote:

You are aware for business class to Oz you will be paying around the £2k-3k mark, maybe more, but probably not less.

Just what I was going to say. We're going to Australia with Virgin in April and as much as we'd love to go in upper class , we can't justify spending that much more even though it's really our 'holiday of a lifetime' to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. Going in premium economy though which we've had experience of before and it's our favourite although BA WTP was pretty good too.

You say it's probably a once in a lifetime trip Barcode , but you're young aren't you? You have plenty of years ahead of you , so for all you know you might make several trips down under. Can't comment on any other airlines , but either Virgin prem econ or BA WTP would be fine IMO

Smiley_Mum

I had a look a week or so ago for Robowen who is going to Brisbane (or should that be Brissie at the end of the year). I found Singapore Airlines to have good prices against all the others which were very expensive. Like Sheel said above, you're only young and you may well be going to OZ again in your lifetime. Take an economy seat and have the money that you would have spent on the flight on having a good time when you get there. That's what I'd do anyway.

Sheel

Smiley_Mum wrote:

Take an economy seat and have the money that you would have spent on the flight on having a good time when you get there. That's what I'd do anyway.

I agree. I'd do that if I was [STRIKE]a lot[/STRIKE] younger :rolleyes: Nowadays with my creaky old bones I really need that extra comfort that you get in prem economy

pin

Should add if you are still interested in going business class to Oz, have a look at https://www.flyertalk.com. I use that site quite a lot to find out information on flight deals.

In all fairness I'm young as well, but have flown long haul business class a few times now. It is great, and there are ways of getting it cheaper than usual.

simonhgreen

We're just back from Oz for the 2nd time. On both occasions we went with Emirates (booked through Travelbag).

Excellent Airline & on our first trip we were upgraded to Business Class from Dubai on the way out. It was superb.

HTH