faye_h

Hi there,

We've been here for 18 monoths now and have decided to take a trip back to blighty some time this year to visit family and friends. Can anyone recommend where we can find cheap flights?

Flights from NZ to UK are so much more than they are from UK to NZ Does anyone know why this is???

Friends and family coming to visit us have found Korean Air to be cheapest but when I looked on their website flights returning to Auckland are twice as much as flights returning to London!

Also has anyone ever tried to book return flights from Auckland through a UK travel agent? Someone mentioned to us that may be a possibility but you can't seem to do that online so I'd have to call.

Thanks,
Faye

hazeandsteve

As much as we tried, always end up going straight to Air NZ website.
I'm afraid cost now takes second place to comfort (premium), bugger the expense, worry about the credit card when you land back

NakiMan

This has always puzzled me too. Its not just a small difference either, something around 30% less to fly London-Auckland-London then Auckland-London-Auckland.

The only thing I can come up with is that there is some sort of subsidy going on to encourage UK tourists to visit NZ, since tourism is such a key part of the NZ economy.

Mind you, with a pound now buying just two dollars they're not going to be comming as much

Or am I just being conspirisist?

P18PPS

The usual suspects are good internet starting points - Air NZ, Emirates, Singapore, Thai, Cathay.

All these guys have specials on from time to time where you can save a bit. It's always worth going into the local flight centre too and seeing what they can do for you - sometimes they can find a special deal that isn't available elsewhere.

Then there are really obscure airlines who if you've got time and patience to investigate can save a bit - friends of ours went via Brunei on a mamouth 30+ our trip but saved huge amounts (Brunei Airways for instance don't class children as adults until they are 17), whereas Air NZ class anyone over the age of 12 as being an adult.

Justcol

Go with expedia, they do a mix and max option where you fly with different airlines.
we booked flights for our son using this. he came out (Manchester london hong kong)
on BA and Cathy from Hong kong to auckland. Its just the same as travelling with one company.
His return was all Quantas.
We saved over $500 on the best quoted price from any of the travel agents we tried.
His total outward journey took 27 hrs and the return took 30.

hazeandsteve

Don't forget about the new taxes/landing fees in UK. Don't know if they've kicked in yet.
Might be worth looking at flights to Paris and jumping on the chunnel.

Stormer999

Yes you would think flights from NZ to UK would be extremely cheap.....

Fredbargate

I have been using this comparison web site recently, although not for NZ

http://www.skyscanner.net/

magwa

My fiance and I are heading back to the UK and organised our flights through different airlines ourselves.

We are going >
jetstar : auck to singapore
jetstar : singapore to kuala lumpur
spending 2 days in kuala lumpur
air asia : kuala lumpur to london.

We ended up saving $1000 by booking them separately! These are low cost airlines so if you want anything on board you need to purchase it. We ended up paying a bit more to get emergency exit seats on all our flights.

I know Royal Brunei have pretty cheap flights to the UK from here. Although I am pretty sure it involves a 17hour flight

People have mentioned before on this forum about the New direct flights from air asia to the UK. I think these start mid way through this year? Might be worth having a look at those also.

faye_h

Thanks for the responses. I just had a look at Jetstar and Air Asia and the prices are so much better - what a great idea!!

I noticed on Jetstar for an extra $150 each you can get the plus package which includes entertainment, food and drink so well worth adding on to that leg. Otherwise the flight might get pretty dull!

Hoping to go at end of the year so just have to wait now for seats to be released...

BEVS

I've been reading this thread with interest as my husband needs to travel back to the UK to visit his elderly Mum & we simply don;t have the funds for this.

chubnut

The cheapest flights we found were on www.jetabroad then you can go to the flight centre and they will book it for you. my daughter flew with Etihad and i lew with Malaysia airlines.

BEVS

Good thread is this one
I've been looking at the AirAsia website on and off trying to get the flight costs as low as I can.
Some of the outward flight prices are great ,but coming back the $$$ are far higher.

What does anyone think a cheap flight price would be ? Under $2000?

We also have to get him from Nelson to either Welly, Auckland or Xch.

Jan n Neil

not very helpful, sorry, but just to let you know a friend is coming out Manchester to Christchurch soon, and she can't get anything for under 1500GBP now

Jan

Justcol

Obviously depends when you go but end of march is only $1943 on expedia
departing 25th march for 3 weeks