louie

No, they are not. But if you are heading for Scotland, both Edinburgh and Glasgow can be reached on Star Alliance by flying to Heathrow (or elsewhere in Europe) and then transferring on to a BMI flight.

mvagusta

Yes I know.

I live 15 mins from Glasgow airport so the quickest way to Perth is Emirates with one stop taking 18-20 hours approx with the good flight times. To go the two stop way can take up to 27hrs or longer.

The wife doesn't like long air journey's at the best of times, so the only way she'll go is Emirates unfortunately.

louie

Each to his or her own I suppose. I'd rather spend 22 hrs 5 mins in business class (via Copenhagen and Bangkok, according to the Star Alliance website (though longer coming back I grant you)) than 20 hours 10 mins on Emirates (quickest time I can see) in economy for the same dosh.

koalakim

A large part of your airfare these days is taxes, out of my $1970 fare I paid this year $600 was tax! I think the taxes from Oz are slightly higher than the UK although that will change soon once the new air passenger taxes in the UK that Labour set kick in.

You'll probably find that us flying from Oz are subsidising those flying from the UK, like business travellers subsidise economy.

Exchange rates also play a part, at one point I nearly bought two one ways as it was cheaper.

The airlines will say it's supply and demand but I guess the airlines price fares out of Europe/UK more competitively because more people want to travel from those countries.

Whatever, it's very frustrating!

bcworld

The taxes on a return flight should essentially be exactly the same regardless of which country you start in.

Really a lot of these taxes simple aren't - you are paying for fuel on top of your fare - I'm sure the airlines like it that we refer to them as taxes though - makes someone else sound bad.

Emirates has this novel concept that they include fuel in the cost of the fare...who'd have thunk it!

On Emirates for example that £1350 return fare includes taxes (real ones) of £130. Anything on top of that another airlines quotes is their fuel fines and other charges (give or take a little for Asian transit fees instead of Dubai).

hantorro

Hi Guys

Just checked the website for US Airways; if you are a new member and sign up before the end of Sep, they will give you 1,500 Dividend Miles for free.

I did try to join, but it kept requesting i submit a state, even though i selected United Kingdom as my country.

louie

I'd try again. When I choose UK from the drop down box, it greys out State. It was fussy though, I think you then have to put your post code in without spaces and UK phone number starting with the second digit (ie drop the first zero).

hantorro

Thanks Louie, successful, but it went haywire again when i tried to do my OH's membership Will try again later for hime. Thanks for your help.

lapin_windstar

Yes - not a monopoly at all - in fact, one of the most competitive routes and industries there is.

Possibly a cartel but the pricing is bizarre.

Dorothy

Really? I was in London 3 weeks ago and it was bleeding hot! Well into the 30's and sunny.

koalakim

They're having one this year! It was lovely and sunny all the while we were over there in May/June and there were two very hot spells - wish I'd stayed longer!

itxrd

I've heard its worth getting a cheap flight to bangkok/sing/hk etc and then getting a return from there to your real destination. Might be worth a go? Fares here are a rip off

mvagusta

I've just priced an Emirates business class flight from Glasgow to Perth via Dubai for 08/12/10-03/01/11.

Shock horror £9600 and it's economy from Dubia-Perth both ways but the good flight times.

I think I'll stick to cattle class

Someone needs to design a teleportal me thinks.

Bermudashorts

Sometimes rogue fares seem to pop out. I have just done a search and there are plenty of business class flights that time for around £3.5k.

lonndongeek

Your wife wasn't flying on 'the same flight from the UK'.

Airlines will charge what the market will pay - this is how they make a profit (or come close to it!). If the market for Aus-UK-Aus tickets is willing to pay more than the market for UK-Aus-UK fares, guess who will be charged more.

Another thing to take into account is capacity - if a flight has lots of seats available the cost is likely to be cheaper than that for a flight that's full - basic supply and demand.

Also, were you comparing like for like? Booking a last minute 'I need to be on the next flight out' roundtrip from the UK isn't likely to be on the cheaper side of things.

Cheers

Steve