Cheap flight from London to Brisbane? Sep/Oct 09

Frugal_Fox

Hi,

I'm not used to booking flights etc, we're more of a drive and camp holidayers... However, I need some help. I've received a letter this morning from a good friend out in Queensland, and it contained some very sad news and I need to get out there to her. My passport has expired (and not really needing it, I didn't renew it...) and it'll be two weeks before I can get it sorted, so I'm looking for dates between Fri 25th September returning to London Wed 7th October. I can get a flight with Emirates for about £740 return inc taxes. BA / Virgin /Quantas are all coming in way more than this at the moment. What sites should I be using to try to get the best (cheapest) flight out there? Do you need anymore information?

Thanks, FF

malkie76

You can get your passport renewed in a single day if you visit a passport office - does that help?

Your £740 for a return is pretty good, and I'd book that. Flight prices escalate towards the day of travel as airlines know that people who need to travel at short notice will be prepared to pay extra. Doesn't matter the circumstances, and they don't discount for special cases.

Try the usual online agents expedia, ebookers etc but I'd imagine they'll all look the same. Obvious advice, but try and avoid weekend travel if you can as it's usually cheaper during the week (but perhaps not so much so given the closeness of your intended travel dates)

Moonchild

Watch out for those Emirates flights - check total flying time - could be in excess of 30 hours each way.

Do as Malkie says get your passport done in a day and many more dates open up to you.

Doshwaster

I don't think you will be able to do much better than that Emirates price - especially at such short notice unless you are prepared to use some weird routings and take 3-4 days to get there.

One of the specialist flight consolidator agencies might be able to help if cost is more important than airline, routing or travel time.

Frugal_Fox

Thank you all for your answers, I guess I was just after a little reassurance as I'm really not a 'fly all over the place' kind of girl I think I'll use the passport in a day service rather than the one week turnaround - as it's not that much more in terms of cost, and then I've got it in my hand and as you say it might give me better availability for dates.