Long haul flight stopover tips

NiftyDigits

Susan1942 wrote: »

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

I put an itinerary together from London to Perth via KL for November; £460. Luggage checked all the way through. Could have done it for £400 if I wanted to use a low cost airline.

Susan1942

I could have got a flight for less but I am maybe too fussy A lot of Airlines I have to travel to Heathrow If I go to Heathrow I travel by taxi rather than have to add another flight This adds extra cost but it makes it easier for me I have got some health issues travelling alone so make life as simple as possible
I only considered Singapore Airlines but because a good price came up for Emirates went with
The SA flt was £902 or maybe £905 I am travelling in Dec which is always more expensive
What I do is look at my Airline of choice and then look at pricing If that is high or low I book and have no regrets about I pay On this occasion against my better judgement only time will tell whether I have made the right choice or not
Enjoy your trip £400 olus is a great deal Who are you flying with?
Sue

tpms2000

Hello,
Is there a preferred website to try and split tickets, and that will give you alternative dates, or do I just have to trawl through all the sites offering open jaw tickets?

NiftyDigits

susan1942 wrote: »

i could have got a flight for less but i am maybe too fussy a lot of airlines i have to travel to heathrow if i go to heathrow i travel by taxi rather than have to add another flight this adds extra cost but it makes it easier for me i have got some health issues travelling alone so make life as simple as possible
i only considered singapore airlines but because a good price came up for emirates went with
the sa flt was £902 or maybe £905 i am travelling in dec which is always more expensive
what i do is look at my airline of choice and then look at pricing if that is high or low i book and have no regrets about i pay on this occasion against my better judgement only time will tell whether i have made the right choice or not
enjoy your trip £400 olus is a great deal who are you flying with?
Sue

British Airways/Malaysian

December didn't make much of a difference to the price at the time. It helped that both carriers had special offers at the time of booking.

......

SW17

tpms2000 wrote: »

Hello,
Is there a preferred website to try and split tickets, and that will give you alternative dates, or do I just have to trawl through all the sites offering open jaw tickets?

By split tickets I presume you mean what is described in the MSE cheap flights guide, starting the routing outside your home country? I don't think there are any UK sites which do this. There is a US website called skiplagged.com which specialises in finding hidden-city ticketing deals (and currently being sued by Orbitz and United Airlines as a result), but not sure that is really what you are looking for.

What are you trying to search for?

tpms2000

Hello SW17,
An example would be - Manchester (or Liverpool) to Buenos Aires.
These flights would all have a change at Paris, Amsterdam or Madrid, and possibly London. So, is there some site where I could enter a date range and magically, I get some routing options, or do I just enter every combination I can think of in something like kayak or skyscanner?

alwaysskint96

use ita matrix and click the nearby airports as a choice= nearby can be up to 2k miles away

duchy

It does depend on the route but so long as it's a nice place and you build in some time - it can work well.

I actually booked one yesterday to California combination of BA and AA flights all the way starting in Scandanavia - who needs charters or dodgy airlines when California in August is under £280 return

SW17

tpms2000 wrote: »

Hello SW17,
An example would be - Manchester (or Liverpool) to Buenos Aires.
These flights would all have a change at Paris, Amsterdam or Madrid, and possibly London. So, is there some site where I could enter a date range and magically, I get some routing options, or do I just enter every combination I can think of in something like kayak or skyscanner?

ITA Matrix could certainly do this, though it can be a little technical for the uninitiated. A "lite" version is Google Flights. You can also try Skyscanner, it's possible to search across a whole month (click on the date field and the option to search a whole month comes up) to find the best fares.

For Buenos Aires, you might not save much by starting a BA itinerary outside the UK, most of the great discounts are to N America or in some cases business class to Australia, but maybe on other airlines with a single connection somewhere other than London (apart from anything else, the APD will be lower if the long haul flight does not start in the UK).

Have a play on ITA, Google Flights or Skyscanner and see what you find.

System

Yay, tax evasion! You ought to also mention the terrible risks involved when your second airline cares nothing about the first airline's flights being delayed or cancelled, and you end up stranded and/or out of pocket.