sprite_green

Well, I am now one of those individuals posting about flights - never thought it would happen!

We have started to explore for flights round about Easter (all the usual suspects - AusTravel, Travelbags, expedia, etc.).

We can be reasonably flexible, though we are taking the kids out of school for a few weeks which will require a bit of planning/approval.

I have seen lots of individuals score flights for 2 adults, 2 kids around the £1,800 mark. While we have an extra child, the best I can set at the moment are £3,200, rising to £4,000.

So my question is: is this just a seasonal supply/demand thing (i.e. that's simply what we are going to have to pay) or am I doing something fundamentally wrong?

Best prices look like Gulf and Malaysia, but we may end up having to fly via Singapore (could be out there on business the week before the validation visit ).

So my other question is: what airlines fly via Singapore (BA, Virgin, Qantas and Singapore).

Thanks in advance and Happy Christmas / Holidays to all.

SG

moneypenny20

It's that old school holiday scam. Unfortunately you have to like it, lump it, or travel outside holidays. I personally wouldn't go near Qantas, and you never know 100% who you will get with BA - they share with Qantas. But that is a personal thing so feel free to ignore me

Singapore are excellent. Have your tried their own site. Sometimes come out cheaper than the so called cheaper companies. We did one way in late November last year, 3 adult and 1 child ticket with Singapore for about 2,200 pounds I think.

Pollyana

Beware BA - the industry is expecting a major cabin crew strike early next year

koalakim

Hi ya

You will always pay more around school hols, we came back from Oz via Singapore last year on Easter Sunday and did cost us quite a bit extra. The flight seasons usually run from mid-Jan to mid-April and then the price goes down until mid-June to cover the summer holidays!

If you want/need to fly via Singapore then I can't recommend SIA enough, Malaysia are also very good. There is one Emirates flight via Singapore into Melbourne but it is a long flight via Dubai. I've booked our one-ways in Jan direct with Singapore as no other agent had the flight available!

There are other airlines from Europe that will fly via Singapore but then you will have to get yourself from the UK to that hub and then out again - bit of hassle when you are travelling with kids!

Good luck!
Kim

Centurion

I just got a quote putting in 2 adults and 3 kids that time flying London to Brisbane (dont know where you are heading) at Easter. 2700 return with Emirates.

www.airline-network.co.uk

Have used them myself a few times and are competitive.

Airlines that fly via Singapore : Singapore, Qantas/BA, Emirates (via Dubai)
Also consider Malaysia via KL, Virgin do not fly anywhere other than Sydney and via Hong Kong. Cathay hub in Hong Kong also. Japan Airlines via Tokyo and worth a look is Eva Air via Taiwan very competitive. There are also others....

Buzzy--Bee

www.travelmood.com

I have booked with them for 12 years now - they are a wholesaler for many of the long haul airlines and as such are normally much cheaper.

Completely recommended.



Buzzy

Louise M

I booked withTravelbag.Very professional. We flew with Singapore airlines and the service was of a very high standard. We were most impressed and I have travelled a fair bit over the years.
The food was excellent, the inflight entertainment was good and the cabin crew were extremely polite and helpful. Refreshments were brought round throughout the night.
We had a 6 hour stop over in Singapore and spent 4 hours asleep in the travel inn on the first floor.

We paid £474 for our tickets from Heathrow to Sydney.
I would never fly with any other airline.

sprite_green

Thanks everyone.

Not sure whether booking before Christmas or after is likely to make any difference.

Englishmum

Highly recommend this consolidator which specialises in airlines to the Far East and Down Under (scroll down for prices to Oz):

http://www.leestravel.com

All our British expat friends used Lees when their rellies and friends came out from the UK to visit them in Singapore.

steve99

I can recommed these guys too, always seem to be able to do a good deal, often worth a ring as they have deals available that havent made it onto the web yet.
Another one we sometimes used to use as a comparison was Travel jungle
www.traveljungle.co.uk

matt_s

One that i frequently use is http://www.bestflights.com.au/

They usually have cheap flights, plus they help me with booking accomondation at hotels. I very much recommend them as they usually arrange everything for me and I dont have to worry about so many things, espcially when we a couple of little ones

sprite_green

Fantastic information everyone. Have been working my way through them (I am assuming that we are unlikely to see a massive price reduction (January Sales!) after Christmas).

One other query - anyone got any inside info re. internal flights?

Likely to want to fly from Sydney to Melbourne to Perth (possibly) to Brisbane and back to Sydney. Issue is that we don't really want to be nailed down on dates right now. As I type this, it sounds to me like we should leave these until we get down there.

Jaycee1

One other query - anyone got any inside info re. internal flights?

Likely to want to fly from Sydney to Melbourne to Perth (possibly) to Brisbane and back to Sydney.

There are 3 main carriers -
www.virginblue.com.au
www.jetstar.com.au and
www.qantas.com.au (internal).
Not much competition between them either like here.
They do have seat sales mainly out of school hols and flights at odd hours.
Booking as far in advance helps, but everyone knows this....
Good luck
J x

Centurion

Ooh heres a tip. If you book via Virgin Atlantic on the London Sydney route they may pick up the internal airfare onward via Virgin Blue. They certainly did for me flying Brisbane -> Sydney -> London return. Maybe worth asking. And they also placed a note on the computer so I got Virgin Blue zone seating (exit row) internally

I understand its the way of getting around the fact that they dont operate to any other city.

OzTennis

We've used Quest Travel, Austravel, Travelbag, Airline Network, Trailfinders and Reho Travel (now defunct), travel agents and direct with airlines; we've flown Emirates, Qantas, BA, Singapore, Malaysia, Cathay Pacific and Lauda (now defunct); we've travelled via Dubai, Singapore, HK, Bangkok, Mumbai and KL; stopped over a few times in Singapore but nowhere else. It's not meant to sound 'I've been everywhere man'ish, just think it's the voice of experience!

My recommendation FWIW from many flights is to use Quest Travel, fly Emirates (or Malaysia) and if a stop-over is required go for Singapore or HK.

I've had a lot of emails from the above of late and it seems fares go down after the middle of April. If your dates are flexible, try a website like Airline Network and just enter different outbound (and inbound if necessary) dates. Once you get a good fare, ring up some others like Quest etc and see if they can better it. I've managed to beat a few of them down in this way.

OzTennis