Flights to Australia - as cheap as possible ideally!

Moomin_Bear

Hi all!  Firstly I completely understand that we are in an extremely fortunately position to have this "issue".  We need to fly UK to Australia (either Sydney or Brisbane would be fine) and stay for 1 month late July - late August 2025 for a sporting event where are 2 boys will be representing Team GB.  They have been working very hard / sold all their junk etc to contribute to their flights and I'm now trying to find the cheapest way to book the flights.  I'm aware most airlines release their flights 11/12 months ahead of the travel date, but do they actually offer any discount for booking a return flight or would we be better off booking the outbound flight as soon as that date is released and waiting to book the return flight (roughly a month later) when that date is released?  There will be 4 of us travelling, so obviously every £100 per person saved adds up to £400 in total!
Many thanks for any advice.

eskbanker

My understanding is that return bookings are significantly cheaper than singles in each direction, for most full-service airlines such as those you'd book on for a long-haul trip like this, but you should be able to verify this by seeing what prices are like just now for a trip leaving and returning in July, versus just a one-way booking.

comeandgo

Returns are cheaper than one way flights.  Book directly with the airline, so much easier to deal with if there are any problems.  Make sure you are booking the journey on one ticket I.e. not traveling to Dubai and then a separate booking to Australia.   Join the airline you will be flying with membership to get any points available.  We have flown with Singapore Air and Emirates, we find Emirates are now the better of the two.  

Wonka_2

Given their representation of TeamGB is there not some preferential rate being offered as part of the event ? Whilst this may not be cheaper than publicly available alternatives at least it gives you some idea ?

Given the purpose of the journey you probably also need to weigh up physical cost of connections and where they're made e.g no use suggesting Scandinavian connections making it a 30+ hr journey if that impacts on 'performance' on arrival 

35har1old

Wonka_2 said:

Given their representation of TeamGB is there not some preferential rate being offered as part of the event ? Whilst this may not be cheaper than publicly available alternatives at least it gives you some idea ?

Given the purpose of the journey you probably also need to weigh up physical cost of connections and where they're made e.g no use suggesting Scandinavian connections making it a 30+ hr journey if that impacts on 'performance' on arrival 

Don't no if it's still the case but if you started your journey from Dublin it was massively cheaper as opposed to starting your journey from Belfast and the only difference  was the flight from Belfast and Dublin all other flights where the same there was so much of a difference I thought I was being scammed (edreams)

35har1old

Moomin_Bear said:

Hi all!  Firstly I completely understand that we are in an extremely fortunately position to have this "issue".  We need to fly UK to Australia (either Sydney or Brisbane would be fine) and stay for 1 month late July - late August 2025 for a sporting event where are 2 boys will be representing Team GB.  They have been working very hard / sold all their junk etc to contribute to their flights and I'm now trying to find the cheapest way to book the flights.  I'm aware most airlines release their flights 11/12 months ahead of the travel date, but do they actually offer any discount for booking a return flight or would we be better off booking the outbound flight as soon as that date is released and waiting to book the return flight (roughly a month later) when that date is released?  There will be 4 of us travelling, so obviously every £100 per person saved adds up to £400 in total!
Many thanks for any advice.

Cost is also dependent on how long it takes to get you there

Alan_Bowen

Flights via China tend to be cheaper than the major airlines, but if you don't like Chinese food, the price may be outweighed by your hunger. As others have said, don't even think of buying single tickets, they will be almost expensive, and sometimes more expensive than a return. Royal Brunei tend to be reasonable but only fly to one airport in Australia and are completely dry, i.e. no alcohol at all, so it may depend on your destination. I tend to take the view that if I am flying for 24 hours, and some routes with connections can be a lot more, comfort is as important as price but everyone has a differing opinion. 

jimi_man

Starting from ex EU can be cost effective however this is much more likely with Business class tickets which you won’t be doing and for economy it won’t make a huge difference. So I’d go straight from London. 

Use Google flights to size up possible options. Booking as soon as the flights are released - I.e. a year out (355 days for BA) is rarely a good idea as they tend to be expensive since airlines known that people book then because they need those dates and so price accordingly. Booking 6-9 months out is usually a better option when all the fare buckets have been released. 

Also late July is their winter so hopefully flights will be a little cheaper then anyway. 

Bicycleman22

Singapore airlines have some really great priced flights if you book very early. Always non refundable and non exchangable so a big risk x4 but their very early prices offer some great fares. The cheapest tend to sell out very quickly. Best bet keep looking on the big airlines Singapore, Emirates Qatar etc websites everyday if you want the cheapest price. If you are prepared to take the risk of non refundable book when you feel happy and only on the airlines website definitely not on edreams, Kiwi etc. 

Neil49

Some of the airlines have periods where they run a sale and some of these can be quite good. Take a look at 

https://jacksflightclub.com/travel-hub/heres-when-airlines-run-sales#h_56260876214701664900656644

The dates aren't guaranteed but are worth monitoring. 

Moomin_Bear

Thanks all for the advice.  To address a few points, unfortunately much like most junior sports, there is no / little funding available.  We may be fortunate enough to secure some funding and the juniors have been fundraising themselves, but we will certainly still end up paying the bulk of the cost as parents.
I have checked using currently available pricing and it does appear that it will be substantially cheaper to purchase return tickets rather than singles... I'm just used to Ryanair / Easyjet flights where flights are priced as singe trips!
Comfort does of course come in to the equation although we will have 7 days to acclimatise before the event, but the Chinese airline flights are substantially longer than others, so I think we've narrowed it down to British Airways / Quatar / Emirates / Quantas or Singapore airlines.  It also appears that flying to Sydney is around £200 per person cheaper than flying to Brisbane.
Many thanks for all the advice and any further information would be gratefully received.