Planning 40th Birthday Holiday to Australia in Dec 2025

jimbo2010

Hi my wife is 40 next year and her sister lives in Australia and am planning a surprise holiday for Dec 2025. When are flights usually released, is it around 11 months before and do you have preferences for which airline you fly with and stopovers. Never been before so a bit confused, fyi will be flying to perth

Troytempest

Flying to Perth gives the option of a non stop flight with Qantas if you just want to arrive as quickly as possible. My preference would be Singapore Airlines via Singapore with a few nights in Singapore.

NoodleDoodleMan

Maybe December is not the best time to choose unless you like it very hot ?

josephine82

I fly to Perth once a year, usually around Christmas. If you fly at the start of December or after Christmas it is much cheaper. 

The non-stop direct flight with Qantas is worth it but adds a lot more to the cost. 

I’ve flown with Singapore Airlines (via Singapore), Qatar via Doha and Emirates via Dubai. Singapore is generally the best of the three. 

Usually book in March for Christmas. 

Hope this helps! 

daveyjp

As its now early 2024 use the next few months to experiment with routes and prices.

Adding an initial shorter leg and going via a European mainland airport may be cheaper than the popular route of UK - middle/far east - Perth

A good website to play with.

https://matrix.itasoftware.com/search

I found return flights this December staying over Christmas for £870, going Heathorw via Frankfurt and Singapore with Lufthansa and Singapore, return flights to Heathrow via Zurich with Swissair.

GingerTim

Don't miss out on Tasmania!

Bicycleman22

Dont complicate it....stick with the main airlines, book  on the official airline  website. Dont get sucked in to an online travel agent.....my preference would be Singapore airlines but Emirates, Cathay, Qatar etc are just as good.  

lady1964

We’ve flown to Australia (granted into Sydney) with Singapore Airlines and Qatar, both really good flights, we’ve also done the ex EU thing and got some really good deals. We’ve always booked directly with the airline. My SIL & BIL flew from LHR to Perth on the non stop Qantas flight and said it was so long without a stop over, I have to say that flight isn’t for me, I like a bit of a stop over, even just for a few hours, to stretch my legs.
Absolutely agree with the PP who mentioned Tasmania, if you get the chance to go, it’s gorgeous.

zagfles

We went with Singapore, great airline and economy class was fine. Free food and drink, good entertainment system, easily enough legroom (I'm 5 foot 11). Another tip is book a flight with a long connection time eg 8-10 hours and book the transit hotel in Singapore, I've written about it here loads of times eg

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79157263#Comment_79157263

strawbeery90

 that's really nice of you to plan a surprise trip for your wife's 40th birthday. For flights to Perth in December 2025, most airlines will release their schedules around 11-12 months before travel as you suspected. I'd check Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Qantas - they tend to have good routes/schedules to Australia. SQ and Emirates may have a stopover you could break up the long flight. Make sure to book early once the dates open up as Christmas flights sell out fast. Also check if she has airline or hotel loyalty points that could save money.