Help please with stopover on way to Oz

KayJay

Hi, I'm hoping for some advice from you seasoned travellers.
In June/July(not yet certain of date) my daughter will be going to Tasmania to start her year abroad study. I am going with her to settle her in.
It doesn't matter where in the UK we fly from. We are not sure where to stopover. We would like to make the most of this in the form of a holiday together as well, so we were thinking of a couple of days stopover somewhere and then perhaps a stopover of a couple of days in Sydney before going to Tasmania.
We might perhaps book to Sydney and then just have local flights to Tas - maybe get travel agent advice on that.
Dreading the long flight as she is 6 ft tall but I think we can't afford business class!
Anyway please could anyone recommend places to stopover? I am thinking perhaps Singapore.
Thanks in advance all

Voyager2002

See if your ticket allows more than one stopover... if so, the seven hour flight to Dubai would be tolerable, then on to somewhere like Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur or even Hong Kong (all places that most visitors find more interesting and pleasant than Singapore, and certainly cheaper).

Look at Royal Brunei: their 'planes are old and most of their journeys involve a long stopover in Brunei. As a result, their fares tend to be very reasonable and so you might be able to afford Business Class on them, at least for part of the journey. Incidentally I thoroughly enjoyed the few hours that I spent in Brunei once.

sazaccount

Hi,

I'm currently looking though http://www.momondo.co.uk/ for different flight options, or have a look at someone like STA travel for a multistop ticket, this option would give you a bit more than a few hours at different places.

Emirates do a good selection of multi stop tickets, I was looking at London - Dubai - Bangkok - Sydney - Auckland (as doing a working via in NZ so was only getting a one way ticket)

xx

richardw

Voyager2002 wrote: »

......Look at Royal Brunei: their 'planes are old and most of their journeys involve a long stopover in Brunei. As a result, their fares tend to be very reasonable and so you might be able to afford Business Class on them, at least for part of the journey. Incidentally I thoroughly enjoyed the few hours that I spent in Brunei once.

They've been shopping on Boeing.com and have some new B787 dreamliners http://www.flyroyalbrunei.com/787-dreamliner-gallery/

richardw

Perhaps consider Premium Economy on Singapore Airlines, Vietnam Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Eva Air, Virgin Atlantic.Thai Airways and Asiana Airlines have more legroom in Economy.

The Middle East airlines fly to Perth if you want to see more of Aus and the long haul sectors would be shorter.

Business class prices are cheaper in late July/August because of lower business demand in the school holidays, but still significantly more than Economy, but when considered as a cost per flight hour flown can be great value.

There are more newer aircraft on routings to Aus than ever before including double decker A380s, B787 dreamliners and A350s https://www.seatguru.com has seat reviews and https://www.airlinequality.com airline reviews, http://www.airlinemeals.net has lots of food reviews.

Where are you in the UK?

KayJay

Thanks for the help so far guys. Richard we are in the Midlands, usually fly Birmingham or Manchester but have no problem with Heathrow or Gatwick. We don't think there is anything we want to see in Dubai so would probably choose Singapore we think.

Voyager2002

KayJay wrote: »

Thanks for the help so far guys. Richard we are in the Midlands, usually fly Birmingham or Manchester but have no problem with Heathrow or Gatwick. We don't think there is anything we want to see in Dubai so would probably choose Singapore we think.

I have no interest in Dubai either, but after flying for eight hours the opportunity to stretch your legs and perhaps get a bed for the night becomes very attractive. And the airport there has a sleeping lounge with lie-back couches that are a lot better than nothing.

DTDfanBoy

I often fly down to NZ and OZ, I much prefer a quick transit compared to spending time in an airport or having a stopover, if you do want a stopover anything less than 24hrs you will probably find to be more hassle than it's worth.

Somewhere around one hour in Singapore normally suits me the best, as it's enough time to have a shower, a small bite to eat and a couple of drinks :beer:

mgdavid

DTDfanBoy wrote: »

......if you do want a stopover anything less than 24hrs you will probably find to be more hassle than it's worth...........

the Op said
"couple of days stopover"

ibizafan_2

I recommend Singapore Airlines and a stop off in Singapore, which we did on the way back. We only had a three hour stopover on the way there which was enough time to get a shower and chill out in one of the lounges, which Singapore Airlines gave us a voucher for. Singapore suited us, as it was far enough on the way to not give you an excessively long final leg. Also, we found it an interesting place to spend a couple of days in. However, next time I go, as I live in the Midlands, I might try Etihad from Birmingham, although the thought of the very long final flight puts me off a bit.

bap98189

I've been to Oz a few times and generally prefer just to get the journey over with in one go. It's 26 hours out of your life, but I find that if you stopover somewhere, the prospect of another 12 hour flight in 2 days time is a bit of a downer.

Where you can stop is going to depend on which airline you are with. Dubai is interesting place to visit for a couple of days, but it's not really far enough to break up the flight. I would recommend either Bangkok or Singapore. Both are interesting places to spend a few days. Singapore is 13 hours from Heathrow and Thailand is about 11, leaving you with 8 and 10 hour flights respectively to get to Sydney/Melbourne.