Shenni

Emirates stop in either Singapore or Dubai, depending on which way you chose 3 x 7 hours or 1 x 14 plus 1x 7 and JAL stop in narita......... they used to have it that you stayed in a hotel in Narita which was included in the cost, bus from the airport and back with check in at the hotel but not sure if they still do it........ if they do its a terrific breakfast

DadAgain

or alternatively:
1 - On a 24 hour journey 'flying through the night' makes no sense - you're gonna have some night and some day. Its nice to try and arrive just before night so you can arrive knackered and sleep - but arriving knackered is not optional.

2 - Economy seat pitches vary so little between modern airlines its not worth worrying about - also seat pitch isnt everything. The seats may be an 3cm further apart on 'XYZ airline' - but if their seats are 4cm thicker you actually end up with 1cm less legroom.... Add in the thickness of different airlines in flight magazine, safety card and any other crap you stuff in the pocket in front and seat pitch is irrelevant. Its NOT going to be comfortable. Just accept it.

3 - A 10 hour stopover turns a 24 hour journey into a marathon 32 hour one. You may get some sleep - but you'll still be 'in transit' and wont be able to relax fully. Some of us like to just get to our destination and collapse into a vegetable state knowing we've reached our destination and dont have to jump on another plane again for a while.

4 - Online check in does nothing to prevent you being near children. Children can check in online too and the online indicator may tell you whether a seat has been allocated or not - but it wont tell you the age of the passenger its allocated to. You still need to drop bags off (assuming that for long haul travel you dont manage to pack light enough to go carry-on only).
For the record if I could pick a seat behind a child every time I would - you get WAY more legroom if the passenger infront doesnt recline, and infants almost never recline.

5 - 30kg per person? Does anybody really need this much? I've tried and tried (including purchasing extra cases when in UK) - but have never manage to use the full 92Kg of allowance we get for the 4 of us.

6 - cannot comment on Chinese arilines - but wouldnt assume they are rubbish without reading some first hand testimony.

7 - You pay more to fly OZ-UK thats for sure. But this can sometimes be sidestepped by either buying 2 one-way tickets, return to SIN/HKG/BKK and then a return from there to UK or using FF points (or budget airlines such as AirAsia or Scoot) to get out of Australia and pay the rest of the fare in asian pricing. These methods dont always work out cheaper and do represent an increase in your risk of being stranded - but for some they do offer a chance to avoid the "Australian pricing problem"

GarryP

London>Oz you can certainly do it - taking into account time difference. The opposite way is also possible if you take option 3 and spend 10 hours in an airside hotel.

There can easily be 4 inches of difference in seat pitch, no amount of thick seat padding is going to make that difference. Actually you can get 29" up to 35" seat pitch - so it bears examination. Also the seat width comes into play - 16" up to 19" - which matters if you have a fat arse...

To compare,
China Southern Airlines : 31" x 16.7" = 517.7 sqr inches allocated to you
Singapore Airlines : 32" x 19" = 608
Qatar Airlines : 34" - 18.9" = 642.6

it varies by plane, route, even position on the aircraft - but it will make a difference, so its worth checking and considering.

Yep, it depends on what you feel comfortable with. I've done it both ways and although I generally prefer to 'get it over with', if I were supposed to be straight into working the other end, I'd take a break in the middle - in my experience you end up arriving more refreshed.

If you checkin online you can make sure you are nowhere near the bulkhead seats, which means you are more likely to be away from screaming babies.

And in my experience there is a separate queue for bag drop off for those who have checked in online - and its tended to be 1-2 people vs 50 in the normal line. Very much worthwhile.

Depends on how many are travelling together - I've filled up 30kg before, easily.

That's where I've heard the stories. In particular they seem to tend to have no seatback TV screens. Worth reading the write ups before you book. On the plus side, you could break your journey in Beijing and do a quick 3 day tour.

Yep, as I said above.

Personally, since I am going back to the UK once a year at the moment, I buy UK>OZ not the other way round.

BadgeIsBack

Certainly agree with the bit about just getting there (in whatever state of knackered).

For us, we're often time-poor, and the kids are still young - so stopovers (even if they mean swanky hotel rooms) are not really good for us. My wife is also lucky in that she can handball the kids over to the family.

Sarah7263

We do the journey via Singapore but only with an hour stop over as I would rather just get there!

I am a big fan of the A380 though so I would definitely recommend flying with an airline that uses them - there seems to be enough room to move around and they are pretty quiet! I was dreading the journey the first time we did it and when my friend who booked the flight said ohhh you're on an airbus A380 I was like surely a plane can't make that much of a difference but having done the journey 3 times in the last 4 months I can actually say I don't mind it now! Last time I slept for 7 hours there and back and managed to avoid jetlag (I never managed to sleep on other long haul flights). My other half takes sleeping tablets so would definitely recommend that too if you need it!

Always ask at check in if the plane is full to see if there are any spare rows of 3 or 4 seats that you might be able to move to to get more room.

Yes the journey is long but you are going back to see friends and family so that's something to get excited about!

Hope it isn't as bad as you think

RedT

The A380 is awesome and I'm absolutely gutted to be going home with Etihad next year, no A380 for me and it makes such a huge difference to the flight. Upstairs economy has very few seats compared to the masses downstairs so it's far more civilised, quicker service, less noise etc. The window seats have lockers which will comfortably fit laptops, jackets etc so you're not sitting surrounded by crap the whole flight. There is more legroom (or at least it feels like it) and is just generally a more pleasant experience if you have to be stuck in a tin can for 25 hours!

pompeyblonde

Totally agree! Once youve done the 380 there isnt any going back! If you do, blimey youll notice the difference!

jacknscoob

Hi Guys

I have done a few searches and I cannot find any flights direct from Brisbane straight to the UK (Heathrow), NO STOPS at all. Do they defo exist?

I am looking to travel on 23rd Dec.

I will be travelling alone, which seat do people prefer? By the window? defo not in the middle if you can help it or by the aisle? I think I would prefer the aisle seat as I go to the loo alot, dunno???

Cheers Guys

Pollyana

As already said, you cannot fly totally non-stop from Brisbane to the UK, planes have to stop to refuel.

As for seats -= its an individual thing. If you like moving around, get an aisle, if you don't want people clambering over you get a window - no-one except you can possibly know where you will be most comfortable!

GarryP

You have to stop at least once, just for the fuel.

What most people consider 'no stops' is where there is only one 'halfway'stop on the flight, and you don't have to do connecting stops within each country (eg you could end up doing Brisbane to Liverpool as Brisbane>Sydney>Singapore>London>Liverpool).

In some instances you will fly the same plane all the way (the flight number stays the same) even though you will have to get off. In others you can have to change flights.

Less stops/changes = faster as well.

jacknscoob

Hi Guys

This person suggests that once you get to Sydney that you can fly direct to the UK, is this not the case?

That you have to stop somewhere else on the way?

Cheers

J x

bcworld

You can fly direct but not non-stop (for the reasons already mentioned). In airline terminology 'direct flights' can have stops as long as they keep the same flight number. Eg QF001 is a direct flight from SYD to LHR which stops in SIN.

jacknscoob

Right, I got it. I have to stop somewhere to refuel. Apparently impossible to fly straight there, bummer, eh!

OK so now my research re flights starts in ernest!

Cheers guys x

Pollyana

The thread already contains suggestions of the best options, & we've told you all along you'll have a stop of some kind en route - no aircraft has the fuel capacity to fly it in one hop - and to be honest the stop in the middle is a godsend just to stretch your legs. 25+ hours with no pause is one heck of an ask even for a flying addict like me!

jacknscoob

OK Cheers guys

Does anyone know which airlines go to Gatwick but dont wrack up the extra wonga?