Airlines that fly London to Melbourne similar to VA Premium Economy

ferf1223

after taking my in-laws to Vegas in VA PE, they are now spoiled and want to consider a similar experience for a trip to Melbourne in the new year.

The last time we flew to Australia was on VA in PE...and VA don't fly to Melbourne. So we don't have personal experience with the route in the same sort of cabin to offer. We also never fly BA and have no idea if WT+ is really comparable.

I can see that Singapore Airlines appear to offer similar to VA.

I am sure that there are many people here who have experience with the VA product and other airlines, just hoping for a steer as to where else I might point them, if there are other options?

Only caveat is they do not want to change in Dubai.

richardw

BA and Qantas offer PE via Singapore, but BA may not be as good as VS, same for Cathay Pacific.

Vietnam Airlines have new aircraft with PE, but may not offer good frequencies.

Singapore Airlines may be the best if the price is OK

Voyager2002

What's so good about Melbourne?

Why not choose another destination, one that is served by your preferred airline? From there you could always catch a bus on to Melbourne...

SW17

I'll assume the reference to VA is Virgin Atlantic (in airline-speak VA is Virgin Australia). If they don't want to go via Dubai and they want PE, then it probably means either Singapore Airlines (SQ) via SIN or Cathay Pacific (CX) via HKG. You could combine BA and Cathay Pacific via HKG, and another option is to go BA all the way to Sydney in PE (goes via SIN) and take a domestic connection to Melbourne. You can get to Melbourne via SIN with BA/Qantas, but I don't think Qantas has PE on the SIN-MEL sector.

Not familiar with the SQ product in PE as it's relatively new, but their product is generally pretty good (I've flown a lot with them in economy and business class). BA's PE isn't that much different to Virgin, tends to come down to personal taste though there can be slight differences to the offering. It should be the new PE seats with BA on LHR-SIN, but of course there can be aircraft changes. CX is pretty decent, don't think they would be disappointed.

Qantas offers PE direct to Melbourne, but there is a stop in Dubai. Why don't they want to stop in Dubai?

If they are confident flyers, you can also consider business class from a European airport (varies depending on airline, but Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt and Sweden/Norway offer good deals), it could be available for the same as PE from London, though positioning flights are required. Some of the best deals with that are also via the Gulf though (Qatar and Emirates), though CX also have good fares.

SW17

Voyager2002 wrote: »

What's so good about Melbourne?

Why not choose another destination, one that is served by your preferred airline? From there you could always catch a bus on to Melbourne...

If the preferred airline is VS, it would be quite a bus journey to Melbourne from the nearest destination they serve...:)

NiftyDigits

For what you will pay for Premium Economy to Oz with Cathay Pacific, Qantas, Singapore Airlines etc they might as well consider Business Class with another airline.
For instance, Thai Airways Business Class. Cheaper because their BKK-MEL-BKK legs are really more like Premium Economy. Old rubbish truth be told. LON-BKK-LON has the latest product.

NiftyDigits

For what you will pay for Premium Economy to Oz with Cathay Pacific, Qantas, Singapore Airlines etc they might as well consider Business Class with another airline.
For instance, Thai Airways Business Class. Cheaper because their BKK-MEL-BKK legs are really more like a good Premium Economy. LON-BKK-LON has the latest product with their A380. Fully flat beds.

ferf1223

thanks all for the guidance.

Voyager2002 wrote: »

What's so good about Melbourne?

Why not choose another destination, one that is served by your preferred airline? From there you could always catch a bus on to Melbourne...

Melbourne is where the new granddaughter and her parents are.

They are not confident fliers...an ex EU option is really not viable (if we were going with them, then maybe we would consider it even though it would stress me out I might be able to deal with it).

I think adding an internal connection from Sidney to Melbourne might be one connection too many, but will look into it.

Apologies on the VA error, yes, Atlantic...the S and A are next to each other on the keyboard and I didn't notice the typo.

No via Dubai was part of their specification. I'm sure people have their reasons (my boss doesn't fly with US airlines since 2001, for example) and I didn't get into it further.

EssexExile

Have you looked on YouTube? Some strange people video their experiences in various cabins on various airlines.

Doshwaster

I really like Quantas' Premium Economy. Far better than BA's World Traveller Plus. It's more of a "Business Minus".

NiftyDigits

Doshwaster wrote: »

I really like Quantas' Premium Economy. Far better than BA's World Traveller Plus. It's more of a "Business Minus".

Business minus the lie flat seat and the lounges....