Booked a flight yesterday from Rome to Sydney (Dec 13 - Jan 09) for $780 return. There were plenty of other cheap dates, however I don't know how many other routes are this price (so far have also noticed Frankfurt and Amsterdam having cheap flights). Sorry for the scarce details, but I just thought this price was worth posting for any Ozbargainers in Europe wanting to visit their families for Christmas on the cheap.
Flights between Rome and Wuhan are on the new Boeing 787, while the Guangzhou to Sydney leg is on the A380. China Southern is known to be the better of the Chinese airlines, and at this price you can't really complain.
Tip: When booking on the A380, you can reserve seats for no extra cost in the upper deck of economy, a vast improvement over the 350+ seats of economy on the lower deck (third class Titanic style).
Additionally, if your layover in Guangzhou is over 8 hours, they will transfer you to a free hotel with the 72 hour transit visa (hotel quality varies depending on availability and membership level).
http://www.csair.com/en/czadscale/2014/20141205/20141128_0.h…
I booked a flight with a 22 hour stopover in Guangzhou so I had a decent chance to see the city.
From the reviews I've read and other research, it looks like they've improved in recent years:
- Introduced 787 and A380
- No longer using outdated A330-200 on long haul flights, now using new A330-300 or the two newer planes mentioned above (you can check which planes you will be taking before booking on their website).
- 787, A380 and A330-300 (most likely planes you would take for long-hail flights) all have in flight entertainment (this was not the case a few years ago with the older A330-200).
Some reviews:
http://www.airlinequality.com/airline-reviews/china-southern…
http://www.productreview.com.au/p/china-southern-airlines.ht…
https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Airline_Review-d8729051-Revie…
The next cheapest flight around that time period is around $1400. You're saying you wouldn't save $600 to fly China Southern? This is Ozbargain dude, people would drive halfway across a city to price-match at Officeworks and save $5.
From the reviews I've read and other research, it looks like they've really improved in recent years:
- Introduced 787 and A380
- No longer using outdated A330-200 on long haul flights, now using new A330-300 or the two newer planes mentioned above (you can check which planes you will be taking before booking on their website).
- 787, A380 and A330-300 (most likely planes you would take for long-hail flights) all have in flight entertainment (this was not the case a few years ago with the older A330-200).
Trying seeing some reviews yourself before passing judgement on an airline you've probably never flown before (nor have I, so I will be commenting back here in December I guess!)
http://www.airlinequality.com/airline-reviews/china-southern…
http://www.productreview.com.au/p/china-southern-airlines.ht…
https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Airline_Review-d8729051-Revie…