Thoughts on Flights to Australia Please?

fifeken

LadyDee wrote: »

Can anybody comment on my particular requirements - ability to reserve a particular seat, food and entertainment?

Emirates bookings allow you to pre-select a seat from the time of booking. This excludes exit row seats.

Food is typical airline food and is as reasonable as airline food goes. They also have a large choice of special meals for those with specific preferences or requirements.
http://www.emirates.com/uk/english/plan_book/essential_information/dietary_requirements.aspx


Their entertainment system has been winning awards for a few years now and is arguably the best on any airline.
http://www.emirates.com/uk/english/flying/inflight_entertainment/inflight_entertainment.aspx

LadyDee

Thanks very much for your very helpful comments.

pandora205

I think Emirates have a higher luggage allowance too. DD lives in NZ and always flies with them. I've booked to go in March so can comment afterwards. I flew with Singapore Airlines last time and they were very good too.

slinga

Not a lot to choose between any airlines on that route, imo.
Royal Brunei is no booze and the stopover in Bandar Sri Begawan is usually long and the terminal is colder than the north pole in winter.

BA/Qantas used to be the cheapest they are a bit tight with the drinks on Qantas these days.
SQ do have some good deals available.

Always nice to say you've flown on A 380 but really internally I can't tell the difference.

zagfles

LadyDee wrote: »

Well, that's pretty conclusive! Thank you.

Have added Qantas to my list as they are only tiny amount over Emirates and do seem to have quite good reviews.

Can anybody comment on my particular requirements - ability to reserve a particular seat, food and entertainment?

Singapore are excellent for all 3, we reserved seats for free (they only charge for a few special seats eg emergency exits), the inflight entertainment is excellent, there were hundreds of films/tv shows to choose from plus games, and you're kept well fed, there are frequent food/drinks rounds (and you can always press the call button or wonder down to the galley if you want any extra food or drink).

zagfles

charlearose wrote: »

+1 for Emirate but if not then Singapore Airlines are great if you get the right flight you only have to do a 90 mins layover in Singapore

We deliberately went for a long layover, about 10 hours, and stayed in the transit hotel which was excellent, and it was almost free as SQ do a transit promotion where each passenger gets a $40 voucher to spend at the airport which includes the transit hotel. So the $160 between the 4 of us paid almost the whole cost of the hotel!

Was really glad we did this, as after a 13 hour flight from London I really couldn't have faced getting straight onto another flight. Helped beat jet lag as well.

spottydog

I've used both Emirates and Cathay and found both to be fine. Emirates and qantas now code share so if you look at the flight times you'll probably find they are the same

Blue264

Another vote for Emirates here
The food and entertainment are top notch and the cabin crew provide a great level of service. I like the Arabic food options from Dubai onwards as it gives me a chance to try new dishes and their desserts are gorgeous.

1trainer1

I think Eitihad are a much better airline than Emirates but they dont fly to as many destinations as Emirates.

I am also Vegetarian and have so far rated them the best to go to OZ

richardw

Etihad codeshare with Virgin Australia.