Re: Surely that can't be right!!!????
 

Maybe they have misunderstood what you were enquiring about, ie you wanted business class? Have you checked back to clarify?

Re: Surely that can't be right!!!????
 

Thats what I thought I'd done when I looked the other day, so when Id mentioned it to a few people and they were saying that cant be right I went back and did the quote again and it was deffo right! Honestly I nearly had a heart attack!!!:rofl:

Re: Surely that can't be right!!!????
 

Often if you look at the airline website they will have very high prices as they prefer people to book through agents or consolidators. Use someone like www.expedia.co.uk and you should get a more reasonable price for the same flights. Cathay are a great airline to fly with, btw :)

Re: Surely that can't be right!!!????
 

That's cheap compared to quotes i have had.

Re: Surely that can't be right!!!????
 

The Cathay site goes a bit spazzy sometimes. I was quoted $45,000 for 5 economy class returns for the July just gone. Evetually I got them for around 11 or 12k.

Re: Surely that can't be right!!!????
 

Cathey Pac ..forget website...call agent.....the website is funny...

Re: Surely that can't be right!!!????
 

I couldn't believe it either when I checked out Emirates for flights to Perth in Jan/Feb. We booked in July 07 for Jan 08 and paid around £760 each.

I checked yesterday for prices in Jan/Feb 09 and it came out around £1100 each. Surely prices can't have gone up so much!


Does anyone know if they are likely to come down and when?

Re: Surely that can't be right!!!????
 

I would look out for Cathay Pacific anyway.

They are 'upgrading' their planes, and my last two flights with them were a nightmare.

At the moment the seats on the sides of the planes are worse, but I suppose they'll all be bad soon.

For example:

- There are air bags on the seatbelts!! That means there's this big, unmovable lump - like a rock hard pillow - covering one half of the seatbelt. There is no give in it, and it's the most uncomfortable thing in the world (especially on a twelve hour flight!!)

- The new seat design is like sitting in a big, curved shell. The seats do not 'go back', and instead the bottom slides forward. This only results in you sitting like a hunchback - and it leads to a lot of back pain!!

- Flying Cathay Pacific means transferring through Hong Kong. The city might be interesting, but the airport is populated with some of the most incompetent staff in the world. There are so many weird rules and procedures (like the staff occasionally walking around drawing red ticks on your boarding passes), that it's not the most relaxing of layover destinations. And the security is ridiculous.

Re: Surely that can't be right!!!????
 

How early in Jan are you looking ? I think High Season runs until at least the 19th or so.

I can see fares in the 660 GBP for LHR-SYD with stopovers allowed after the 19th one way.

The other trick here is to avoid Chinese New Year whenever that is (Feb sometime maybe).

Re: Surely that can't be right!!!????
 

We were thinking of going midweek either 21st/22nd or 27th/28th for about 3 weeks. I did a search on some of the travel websites and the cheapest I found return was with Quantas for about £960 each. However, this would mean flying down to Heathrow first as we live in the North, and not too keen on Quantas at the moment.

Re: Surely that can't be right!!!????
 

There isn't a U in Qantas :) The plane spotters will be after you!

I think Chinese New Year is part of the problem here. In 2009 its on the 26th of Jan which will be limiting available capacity thru far east asia. 960 GBP looks like a good return fare for around that time.

If you go a month later then its around 900 on a number of airlines (cheaper via heathrow however).

Remember that fuel surcharges have increased by around 200 GBP since last year on flights to Oz as well - so your original fare you had is pretty similar to this.

I don't believe its too early at this stage to be booking Jan / Feb next year particularly given its Chinese New Year - remember you will struggle to get a hotel in any of the stopover destinations at this time as well.

I would consider pushing your plans back a month if price is a concern and you want to avoid heathrow. Otherwise get on that qantas fare - looks like a deal given the time.

Re: Surely that can't be right!!!????
 

Haha, I was going to point that out but didn’t want to seem pedantic.:p

Yes there is NO "U" in Qantas, it drives me nuts the amount of people on here who spell it wrong!

Mikey

Re: Surely that can't be right!!!????
 

drives me nuts as well - only weird spelling thing that does however..

Re: Surely that can't be right!!!????
 

I think it’s because it’s so obvious. Quantas doesn’t even look right!

Obviously a lot of Brits do it as Qantas also owns the website www.quantas.co.uk and it redirects you to the correct one. lol

Mikey

Re: Surely that can't be right!!!????
 

Thanks for your replies. Yes, I have just realised there isn't a 'U' in Qantas.

Unfortunately, we can't put the trip back due to work commitments; we will be staying with my daughter, so no accommodation costs. Looks like we just have to accept the higher prices. (Although, my hubby thinks that due to the credit crunch there will be less people wanting to fly, so prices should come down!)