I am looking to fly to Europe for 2 months this summer with the wife. We would prefer a stopover somewhere in Asia or the Middle East in order to break up the flight. I know I can fly a budget carrier to Asia and then book another flight from there. I also know that a few other companies (such as Singapore Airlines) offer stopovers if you book direct. Does anyone have other recommendations for finding a good and economical stopover? It seems very diffict to do this on most travel search sites.
Searching for Stopovers on Flight to Europe
Bmann999 on 22/01/2015 - 22:44
Comments
Just to clarify, the point of this stopover is not to save money but to break up the trip and see another cool city without spending a lot of extra money.
Generally speaking, these are the avaliable stopovers (factors for the popularity include people's desires to visit the locations, passenger loads, as well as the airline preferences and costs):
Most Popular: Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, Guangzhou
Semi-Popular: Abu Dhabi, Beijing, Shanghai, Ho Chi Minh City
Less visited than ^: Jakarta, Taipei, Doha, Manila, New Delhi
You Have To Be Creative: Seoul, Tokyo, KunmingNote: These cities are ranked as stopovers via Europe, and not as inividual tourist destinations or final destinations. Jakarta, Manila or New Delhi would be considered more popular, but the lower amount of travellers who fly to Europe with one of their hub carriers, such as Air India, SYD-DEL-LHR, for example, makes it less so.
With the execption of Kunming, you could fly to Europe via any of the listed cities as a single stop before reaching Europe. However, that will depend on the airlines operating from your home city airport.
from my research it seems that Guangzhou is the cheapest place to stopover ($1350 AUD for the roundtrip flights). Can anyone give me advice on if it is worth stopping there. It seems boring, but it won an award from Trip Advisor so maybe it would be fun for 2-3 days.
trip advisor ?
We get emails every week saying something to effect. For only $X we can give you 1,000 +ve comments & your opposition 1,000 -ve comments.
Who'd believe that crap, especially in relation to anything in China.
What is the best deal for flights to Europe now? China southern airlines was the cheapest some time ago.
San Francisco is nice if you're heading in the other direction.
Can you, say, fly to Europe via Dubai with Emirates, then extend the layover by 2 days or something? I was stuck there for 20 hours when I went over a few years ago, so I left the airport and went to a hotel. That was by accident though haha.
Maybe check the Emirates/Singapore Airlines/etc. website?I left the airport and went to a hotel. That was by accident though haha.
Interesting, how does one go to a hotel by accident?
You've just missed Cathay Pacific's Europe early bird offer. But keep your eyes out, CX often have deals, including stopover package for Hong Kong. CX is a great airline and Hong Kong is a great city for stopover.
Try looking at fares with European carriers that don't fly their own aircraft to Australia. Examples would be KLM, Lufthansa, Swiss, etc.
Because they don't fly their own aircraft to Australia they use a combination of partner airlines to get you to Asia/India/Middle East. This often allows you to fly via one city on the way to Europe and via a different city on the way home. You can also add a stopover in the home city of the European airline too.
If you were to choose Lufthansa for example you could stop at all of these places on the one airfare;
Choose 2 cities in Asia (about 10 to choose from) + Frankfurt + Munich + Your desired destination in Europe.You may need to call the airline or a travel agent to arrange it.
I actually did this the middle of last year!
I stopped over in Tokyo (for a week) on my way to Europe (I landed in Zurich, but you can probably just pick the city that's most convenient for you).
I booked with STA because they gave me a really good deal, with Japan Airlines (Sydney-Tokyo), and Swiss Airlines (Tokyo-Zurich), which worked out to be cheaper than me trying to put together budget airlines doing a similar route. It came to less than $2000AUD return (although it probably could've been cheaper if I played with the dates more).
Of course, you can do this by yourself by booking separate flights, and maybe getting one of those Japan sales.
Edit: You may want to take into consideration that I planned to stop over in Japan only, i.e. I didn't consider other countries between Aus-Europe.
www.jetabroad.com.au has an option for choosing multiple legs on a flight.
it was this site or a similar site (which I can't remember = I'll my friend at work on tuesday to confirm) that I searched 6 months ago and found an awesome bris—> abu dhabi (etihad) —> paris (lufthansa) —-> singapore (singapore airlines) — > brisbane (singapore airlines)
it was about $1300.
just whacked in some dates and got this for $1714 (which is meh)
Fri 22 May 2015
Departure Details Melbourne (All Airports), VIC Australia, Australia (MEL)
Arrival Details Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (AUH)Mon 25 May 2015
Departure Details Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (AUH)
Arrival DetailsParis All Airports, France (PAR)Tue 9 Jun 2015
Departure DetailsParis All Airports, France (PAR)
Arrival DetailsSingapore Changi (SIN)Sun 14 Jun 2015
Departure DetailsSingapore Changi (SIN)
Arrival Details Melbourne (All Airports), VIC Australia, Australia (MEL)Eva Air(Taiwan) fly to Europe via Taipei.
Stopover options vary depending on route, but if going to Paris or London Bangkok is a stopover option.
They only fly from Brisbane but are usually one of the cheapest. If going to Paris flights don't connect in Taipei, so on most fares they used to provide free hotel & transfers.
I looked into this about 3/4 months ago, and It didn't work out any cheaper getting a cheap flight to Asia and then getting a euro flight.
Stop over in Singapore is pretty common unless you fly with emirates…