Booking flights to Europe late May. Do I wait for a deal to come up or go with what's available now?

lechuck123 on 03/02/2014 - 11:49

Hi,

I'm looking to fly from Sydney to Frankfurt and back to Sydney leaving late may and returning at the end of July.

I missed the Cathay Pacific flights ~$1700 and the cheapest I can find now is Lufthansa/Singapore airlines for about $1850.

I don't want to fly any of the Chinese airlines for such a long flight. How frequently do the airlines have deals? Should I wait for something else to come up, or I should jump on the $1850 flights now.

The next cheapest flights (without long stopovers) is Virgin at $2000

Travel

Comments

  • evol on 03/02/2014 - 12:13

    Plug your dates into the ITA search engine and see if anything interesting pops up: http://matrix.itasoftware.com/

    • lechuck123 on 03/02/2014 - 12:42

      Thanks, just had a look and it shows the same flights that I found above.

  • whodidthat on 03/02/2014 - 12:54

    I put rough dates in and came up with $1,666.06 on Vietnam Airlines taking total time: 28hr 15min

    http://tiny.cc/qjnoax

    • lechuck123 on 03/02/2014 - 13:04

      I don't know anything about Vietnam airlines. Are they comparable to the other major airlines?

      • whodidthat on 03/02/2014 - 13:06

        I've had friends fly with them and they had no problems, said they were ok.
        Haven't used them myself though.

      • Marble250 on 04/02/2014 - 08:33

        I used them as part of a deal with GAP for an internal flight and HCM City to Singapore they seem OK! (They have a virtual monopoly inside Vietnam and charge extremely high prices, but they seem to be, sort of, competitive on some international routes). Re Air Asia to KL: I flew with them recently and they land in some godforsaken place outside KL - took me an hour and a half to get back into KL!)

        • retiredfeline on 04/02/2014 - 09:16

          Air Asia to KL: I flew with them recently and they land in some godforsaken place outside KL

          You mean the LCCT. It's actually near the KLIA. It takes that long because unlike KLIA there is no 28 min train connection.

        • Marble250 on 04/02/2014 - 10:25

          Thanks for the info - I generally know where I am going to land, but this was booked from work for a quick meeting and had to "connect" at KLIA. The reason they used Air Asia(they said) was not the cheap fare but they didn't want to get a 6 hour layover in KL with MAL the Company's preferred carrier!

  • whodidthat on 03/02/2014 - 12:56

    $1,828.86 with Lufthansa/Singapore airlines on same page

    • lechuck123 on 03/02/2014 - 13:03

      That would be the flight I was looking, might just change a bit with days. Wondering if I should wait for more specials to come up though.

  • woodyagw23 on 03/02/2014 - 13:15

    if you are willing to stopover on the way I suggest you look at flights from Singapore or KL
    fly budget with Scoot or tiger to singapore or AirAsia to KL, then full service arline from there
    I'm flying to Paris in april and ended up with tickets for 1200 this way. (air asia PER-KUL, then Emirates KUL-CDG). You just need to give yourself a buffer in case the budget airline is late (i'm stopping over for 1.5 days in KL (see some sights eat some food etc then on my way0
    Paris was the cheapest city to fly to in europe at that time, but there were similar prices to fly to FRA

    • lechuck123 on 03/02/2014 - 13:47

      Cheers, I'll have a look at that.

  • JoyVee on 03/02/2014 - 22:35

    FIVE suggestions and third try as keep sending them no where.

    WAIT till end of FEB for international airline sales.

    Think laterally. CHEAP flight to SIN (Scoot?) and then price Emirates SIN to FRA and then RETURN leg, FRA to SYD

    QF are currently having a sale. Compare prices world wide and read the thread on Australian Frequent flyer about cheap fare SYD SIN

    Look for date of travel expo in SYD, MEL's is this week end, as often airlines offer TA cheaper exclusive fares and you can compare as you already have the above prices to know when you find a bargain or not.

    Also price fares to AMS as FRA is only a short train ride away. Look at Qatar too. Not sure if they are still having a sale. They fly to FRA on Dreamliner 787, very comfy.

    • lechuck123 on 04/02/2014 - 23:01

      Cheers will have a look at these options. Thanks!

  • Au55ieBum on 04/02/2014 - 16:25
    +1

    Korean Air have a return ticket for $1485 booking with STA

    • Ndiddy on 04/02/2014 - 22:40

      That's a great price for a very good airline. Just be aware (I could be wrong here) that the outbound flight from ICN to FRA has like a 19 or 20 hour layover from when you land from SYD just because of the timings and I believe that they only have one flight to FRA. Way back is not too bad from memory, about 5 hours.

    • lechuck123 on 04/02/2014 - 23:02

      I can't seem to get Korean air prices, that is super cheap. I'm over 26, so don't know if you were searching student?

      EDIT: Ignore that, I can see it with a change of dates.

  • JoyVee on 05/02/2014 - 11:43
    +1

    Korean air used to provide overnight accommodation in good hotel , transfers and meals included. Should still do so as stop over is longer than 8 hrs and there is no onward flight available. Ring airline and check. Look at reviews on airlinequality.com and it will tell you all about it.

    • first in line on 05/02/2014 - 14:49

      I booked with this airline 2 days ago. I got SYD-PAR return with a 2 day stopover in Seoul. Total price was $1559

      • Ozjoey on 11/02/2014 - 21:32

        What dates?

        • first in line on 12/02/2014 - 20:32

          Departure May 3rd
          Return December 27th December (with one free date change)

  • Bishop on 20/02/2014 - 21:17

    Looking for a nearly identical flight. Did you manage to find any amazing deals?

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