luis_be

Hello,

We are about to buy our tickets to Perth (with a stop over in Hong Kong) and we are considering 2 options:

Option 1 - Qantas "migrant fare" : £900
Advantages: 40kg luggage allowance
Disadvantages: one-way ticket only (see below why this is disadvantageous)

Option 2 - Qantas normal return ticket (return date will be around June 2011) : £1000
Advantages: it is a return ticket for just £100 more
Disadvantages: only 23kg luggage allowance

We plan to come to the UK once a year to visit family, so the return ticket offers a big saving because of that. When we come here next year, we just buy another return ticket from London to Perth and so on every year.

Another advantage of option 2 is that, in the unlikely case we decide not to stay in Australia and return to the UK, we can use the return ticket for that.

However it will be a struggle to fit all we want to take with us within the 23kg limit!

Any thoughts welcome!

Thanks
Luis

Scotty1

work out the cost of the excess baggage you want. then look at the difference between air fares originating in uk and in oz. Unless you are taking the kitchen sink, it won't take too long for you to come out on top if you buy the return. It also gives a bit of peace of mind if you had to go back at short notice for some reason.
scotty

PaulandNic

Perth?

Yeah I'd be goin for the return.

WS

I had the same decision and got a return ticket with Emirates who give you 30kg anyway.

aussietobe

Wow, thats just plain nasty.

Don't listen - we love Perth.

luis_be

Hi there,

Thanks for the replies. It seems indeed that the return ticket option is the most interesting and probably it will be the one we will pick.

Qantas charges $50 per extra kilo which I find quite a lot, but it will be not too bad if we are just a few kilos over.

Emirates 30kg allowance looks good but that would mean that we would be forced to make our stop over in Dubai… thanks but no thanks! Not sure if this is true or not (probably it is) but it really puts me off going there:

http://uk.travel.yahoo.com/p-promo-3312428

Another question… if we go with the return ticket, next year before we come to London we will have to buy another return ticket from London to Perth. That will have to be done while we are in Perth. Will that be OK or will we be charged more because the departure country is not the country where the ticket was purchased? Will it make any difference?

Luis


PS: thanks aussietobe, Perth like everywhere else may not be perfect but I am sure we will love it too

louie

I'd get a return.

Have you considered BA? Standard allowance is 23kg but they charge £32 for one extra bag up to 23kg (if booked online) plus £72 per bag for each additional bag (again each bag up to 23kg) and you can take up to 10 additional bags. See here. Bargain (if you are prepared to take your chances with BA that is!).

Also, with Emirates, last time we flew to Sydney, we changed planes in Dubai but had a stopover in Bangkok. Maybe check if Emirates fly Bangkok to Perth?

louie

Scrap that - seems they don't :-(

pomtastic

We originally planned to visit out family in UK once a year but now it's once every 2/3 years as it costs around $20K each time we go.

I'd go for the one way, baggage allowance is gold and you'll end up with allsorts of last minute 'gifts' from family and friends to either take or ship out at a later date. 20 kilos is only one suitcase (approx) and I reckon our important paperwork took up 1/4 of a suitcase at least!

Get here and book a return flight back to UK ASAP, the earlier you do it the cheaper it is. Apparently the no frills Air Asia are doing el cheapos back to UK although I haven't investigated them myself but it might be worth getting on their email list for specials.

You have to give Perth (Aus) several years to adjust and see if you like it, especially as you come from London, you may find it a bit dull after the surfy beach novelty wears off.

gam207

Hi There

I have flown to Perth via Dubai and had a 3 day stopover there. Nothing wrong with Dubai or the airport, in fact it is quite a nice airport with plenty of shopping etc for the stopover. Also, the stopovers with Emirates tend to be quite short, both times were approx 3 hours.
Gena

roaringmouse

Just buy it online from a UK-based agency.

billymacker

You could do as louie says book with ba but book the qantas flights as they code share with ba.

me i would only use Emirates dubai is magic,

try not to fly with ba you will have a job on finding when they are willing to working.

luis_be

Hi there,

Louie, thanks for the tip about BA… that sounds great except that they don’t fly to Perth! The leg from HK to Perth is covered by Qantas. I have checked with BA and even though they charge you only £32 per extra bag, you still have to pay Qantas full extra charges, so annoying... Why can’t things be the way we want?

Pomtastic, I see your point and after discussing this with my partner last night we think it makes much sense. Even if we managed to bring only 23kg each probably we would have to buy some things which we would not be able to bring which defeats the point of making savings. So we are still deciding!

Luis

louie

Could you fly BA to Perth via Sydney or Melbourne (BA to Sydney or Melbourne, Qantas to Perth), with a stopover in Sydney/Melbourne? Or Emirates to Sydney/Melbourne then a domestic carrier to Perth? Then you could have a bonus couple of days holiday and send your baggage above 23kg from Sydney to Perth by post or courier or something? Probably not feasible, both in terms of logistics and additional cost of sending baggage across Australia, but might be worth a quick look?

louie

Or treat yourself if you can afford it and fly business class (about £1,400 return) and get 30kg allowance? See here. Or really push the boat out - fly first (if you can to Perth, or first to say Bangkok then business to Perth) for £1,700 and get 40kg.... that's better value for 40kg than the Qantas migrant fare if you will return within a year AND you get first class instead of economy.....