Flight cost to Australia (Melbourne)

GimmeGimme_2

i am planning to visit Australia in Feb 2008 for about 3 weeks (travelling around the east coast). i want to fly in and out of melbourne (from heathrow). i have seen lots of fares advertised for under £700 but when you try to book them they all come out at over £800.

what is a reasonable fare to pay for flying at this time of year? and what airlines would you recommend (i have been lookin at BA, qantas, singapore so far - i have heard of malaysia airlines aswell, but there flight times dont seem as good) - i am keen to fly out at lunch time and arrive in Oz in the evening the following day (rather than take 2 days to get there). also, has anyone flown china eastern - what are they like? i have never heard of them, but they seem to come up a lot when looking for flights.

Sam_Bee

GimmeGimme wrote: »

i am planning to visit Australia in Feb 2008 for about 3 weeks (travelling around the east coast). i want to fly in and out of melbourne (from heathrow). i have seen lots of fares advertised for under £700 but when you try to book them they all come out at over £800.

what is a reasonable fare to pay for flying at this time of year? and what airlines would you recommend (i have been lookin at BA, qantas, singapore so far - i have heard of malaysia airlines aswell, but there flight times dont seem as good) - i am keen to fly out at lunch time and arrive in Oz in the evening the following day (rather than take 2 days to get there). also, has anyone flown china eastern - what are they like? i have never heard of them, but they seem to come up a lot when looking for flights.

Beware of China Eastern as you need to have a transit visa for China (multiple entry) which is time consuming and expensive to organise.

Malaysian (my 1st choice) and Royal Brunei both have seat sales on unitl 15th August which will let you get to Brisbane for under £700. Trouble is it might be difficult to book online as frequently with Malaysian you need to spend a night (or two or three!) in KL to get the cheapest fares. Try calling Trailfinders or the like. Just be wary that with taxes to Oz now coming to around £200-£250, it's rare to get the £600 flights that you'd get a year or two ago.

vikash

Malaysia Airlines seems to be the cheapest by a long way and also I went with them to KL and the services were adequate. Nothing special.

vivatifosi

I was in the same boat as you last year but ended up flying in through Sydney as the choices and fares were much better.

If you can't get straight through to Melbourne as cheaply as you would like, see what the fares are to Sydney and then look at through flights on Virgin Blue. I used Virgin Blue to fly all over Aus last year, reliable, fun and cheap as chips. They have daily sales, well worth booking in advance to get cheap deals.

lynn44

I went with airtours £399 return.... 16 yrs ago ! LOL
Try Travelbag also Oz Travel and Daily Mail on Saturday's have good prices advertised under the Travel section.... I have been looking for Jan 08 into Sydney Prices coming back £750 ish with taxes......Good Luck

wanaholiday2008

hey can any1 please beat this quote its to go to benidorm on the saturday 1st of march 2008 leaving from birmingham airport staying at the flamingo oasis all inclusive for a double seaview room for 7 nights and returning back to birmingham on the 8th march it has to be these dates and hotel an leaving from birmingham and its for £578 all togetha for me and my partner thats including flight meals transfers and insurance! hope to hear from anyone soon wana book asap