Traveling to Brisbane Australia

former_student

Hi

Im new to traveling abroad and I was wondering how I could go about finding the most cost effective way of flying from Northern Ireland or the ROI to Brisbane in Australia, I am planning to travel in either September, October or November.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

itsmylife_2

If you go in to one of the student travel places they are usually able to help. The fact that you are going to Brisbane will already make it cheaper for you than if you were going to Sydney. I've travelled out of Brisbane twice after landing in Sydney and travelling up the coast by car/bus. First time I travelled with Singapore airlines, second with Qantas. If you do not mind where your stop over is then you will get it cheaper. The last time we went through Hong Kong and it cost us a lot more than if we had been able to go through Singapore. We've been happy with all the airlines, but Singapore Airlines was fantastic!

Best bet is to look online for flights, and most travel agents will match it. I find the student travel places to be the best for trying to get you the best deal, and if you are under 26 you might be able to get better deals. Also most travel agents will throw in the visitor visa for free (usually a tenner)...

Hope that is of some help.

CL

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=470705&highlight=american

If you don't mind the length of time the journey takes you could try the American Airlines offer (Link is above.) It will be longer as you have to change in America, but might be a lot cheaper?

JoseChungsDoomsday

almost all the flights you'll have to take will be through heathrow unless KLM or airfrance flies to oz

thetope

i travelled to perth and home from cairns in november 06, i booked with austravel.com (don't go on the prices on the website, get them to phone you). they are very very good

the problem is that only bmi flies to heathrow at present which therefore makes a full though travel only possible with star alliance airlines (e.g singapore airlines) and excludes the likes of qantas and BA.

what i ended up doing was to book the trip from heathrow with austravel (which ended up being cathay pacific, a one world airline) and book my own connecting flights to and from belfast with bmi.

The only drawback is that if there is some kind of delay on the leg to heathrow, you will not be automatically moved on to the next flight to oz (which you would be if you had booked it as a whole package). so i would advise leaving a good amount of time between the connections. doing this saved me £400 instead of booking the inclusive flight from belfast.


edit of course, you may find that star alliance is the best price for the time you are flying in which case obviously ignore all my chat about booking bmi yourself!! though do get a quote for departing heathrow and departing belfast as you may find it's a lot cheaper to book the trip to heathrow yourself.
hope this helps and enjoy your trip!

former_student

Itsmylife

What are the student travel places you refer to, do they relate to finding flights and is it a necessity to still be a student.

Thetope

I checked out star alliance and their quotes for a return flight were around 900 in November which I felt was too expensive although maybe this is what the going rate is.

I also tried austravel but their site was down.

Colin_Kee

Try STA Travel at Top (or Bottom I suppose) of Botanic Avvenue (They probably have offices elsewhere too) Also try Trailfinders.com I see a special offer on thier website for £559 Return London ~ Sydney (If Two Travelling) betweeen 1st November & 09 December if booked before 15th August. Flights with China Eastern Airlines.. OK I haven't Heard of China eastern Airlines, but I'm sure they're just wonderful!!

Should be loads of other student type travel sites online..

itsmylife_2

former student, no need to be a student to use the student travel places I just find that because students tend to do gap years etc, the ones that work there are usually pretty knowledgeable about long haul travel, will even offer to find accommodation etc. USIT travel is in Queen's Student Union (or it was) and there is also one out the back of Boots in Belfast (not sure what the street is called!). Also STA travel on Botanic Avenue. They are online as well, but I've always had more luck by going in and chatting to them to be honest. If you do your research before hand you will have a rough idea of what is a good price and what isn't.

former_student

itsmylife wrote: »

former student, no need to be a student to use the student travel places I just find that because students tend to do gap years etc, the ones that work there are usually pretty knowledgeable about long haul travel, will even offer to find accommodation etc. USIT travel is in Queen's Student Union (or it was) and there is also one out the back of Boots in Belfast (not sure what the street is called!). Also STA travel on Botanic Avenue. They are online as well, but I've always had more luck by going in and chatting to them to be honest. If you do your research before hand you will have a rough idea of what is a good price and what isn't.

Thanks for that.

My problem however is that I live quite a distance from Belfast, do you know their websites or contact details so I can make a few enquires?

itsmylife_2

sure...

http://www.statravel.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/uk_division_web_live/
http://www.usit.ie/

Online will give you an idea of prices, but if you give them a call they will tailor the trip to your needs.

Not a student one, but still good for long haul;
http://www.trailfinders.com/

Alternatively google some of the airlines...