Long haul flight stopover tips

Kernow666

back in april i travelled to Melbourne from heathrow for £433 return
this is because i booked it

heathrow-dubai
dubai-brunei
brunei-melbourne

2hr stopovers in Dubai & Brunei

flew with royal brunei airlines

Crispy_Ambulance

richardw wrote: »

Extra time can be holiday entitlement wasting and stopping over missed flight risky, so the money saved isn't sometimes worth it.

Or you could look at it as adding an extra day to your holiday! We are flying to the US this summer from Dublin, which saved us several hundred pounds, even including the Ryanair flight to Dublin and the overnight stop.

I agree that you have to add in extra time - we are going to Dublin the day before to avoid the panic of a delayed flight and making it the start of the holiday. We are returning directly to the UK as I didn't want to have to hang around in Dublin feeling exhausted while we waited for a flight back - again you'd have to allow several hours between flights to cover delays. I guess you could stop over another night but with most transatlantic flights getting in early in the morning, it makes it a very long day.

We flew indirect last year as well and although it was a long day, it all worked fine. In fact, we all enjoyed the fact that the flights themselves were shorter and you got so break up the journey and stretch your legs at the airports.

It all comes down to a time vs money calculation - if you want to get there quicker, you will pay a higher price (often). If you don't mind taking a little longer, you can pay less.

richardw

What's your back up plan if the flight to Dublin is cancelled Crispy A?

Susan1942

I fly to Australia every year or so 22years ago I got a bargain back then for Flight UK to Perth Sydney Brisbane and return for £675 with Qantas
I booked a flight to Perth out of Manchester via Dubai return for the unbelievable fare of £695 yes 22'years later That fare has now increased to £1065
I will often spend a couple of nights in Singapore if I fly with Singapore Airlines
I travel alone and would not consider flying all over the place and add hours or days on to my travel Just not worth it By the time you pay for meals or hotel etc you may find you save nothing
I live in Yorkshire and have to change somewhere I prefer to fly out of Manchester rather than fly to Heathrow
I don't price is everything it all about not adding stress to that badly needed holiday Could spoil your holiday if things go wrong on the return journey
There are good prices out there as I have found on my upcoming trip to Oz

Susan1942

Just realised that I failed to say that the trip with Emirates is for December 2015 returning January 2016 A fare at £695 at this time of year is exceptional
I have often paid in excess of £1000 There are bargains out there
One other problem if flying with different Airlines can present another problem with baggage etc Thinking of the person who is flying to Dublin with Ryanair eg
Too many IF's for me

budgetflyer

richardw wrote: »

There are cheaper prices if you are prepared to risk 2 separate airlines, ie easyJet to Zurich and flydubai onward to Dubai.

I dont think flydubai fly from Zurich..

Zageb , Sofia , Vienna and Prague yes.

Crispy_Ambulance

richardw wrote: »

What's your back up plan if the flight to Dublin is cancelled Crispy A?

We deliberately booked a flight early in the day so there are a number of later flights. And we can get to a number of different airports if necessary. You can't plan for every eventuality but I'm confident we'll get there by other means if necessary!

pollypenny

We're finding ourselves having to go to London so often now, that we are considering Dublin. It's just as near to us.

Finishrich

I guess it depends where you're flying to but for me going forward I'd rather have all flights on one ticket. Having found out to my cost a few weeks ago.


Originally looked at BA and to get to the destination would take 3 flights plus overnight stay in LAX. Because of flight schedules there was no quicker way.


Then I heard a charter company were launching a new route which meant just 2 flights and I'd get there on the same day. This meant booking a flight to London and then the charter flight. So what's happened..... The charter airline have pulled the route before it's even started. (I actually had to call them as the news was online before they'd even told their booked customers and it wouldn't let me log into my booking, it just came up with the message You have cancelled the flight) - yeah they've refunded the money I paid them but I'm now out of pocket for the flights to London which are of no use. I thought I had a pretty decent travel insurance policy but they won't pay out because it not medical and the airline haven't gone out of business.


Just something to be aware of.

richardw

Finishrich wrote: »

...... The charter airline have pulled the route before it's even started. (I actually had to call them as the news was online before they'd even told their booked customers and it wouldn't let me log into my booking, it just came up with the message You have cancelled the flight) - yeah they've refunded the money I paid them but I'm now out of pocket for the flights to London which are of no use. I thought I had a pretty decent travel insurance policy but they won't pay out because it not medical and the airline haven't gone out of business...

You had the absolute right to re-routing under article 8 of EU regulation EC261/2004. The airline is in breach of the regulation if they did not offer you this.