Hey guys,
First time flying to Europe :) Looking for any helpful tips you guys can offer. Such as what is a good price, $1,000 return from Melb? Are there a few airlines I should aim to fly with and some I should avoid? Looking to fly from Mel-Lon and then Denmark-Melb home. So far based on the current deals on ozbargain it seems like Nov is a good month to fly for cheap prices. And when looking for cheap flights should i be concerned with the aircraft and its comfort level?
Thanks guys
combine scoot and norwegan
huh?
Scoot is a low cost carrier (LCC) flying long-haul from Australia to Singapore, and also onwards to Athens and Berlin.
Norwegian is an LCC flying long-haul from Bangkok to Scandinavia.
There's different combinations to fly to Europe from Australia on LCCs (including Jetstar and AirAsia). Sometimes you can do it for $400 one-way with carry-on only. There's even been some deals at about $600 return.
Personally I would try some skyscanner searches like this one…
https://www.skyscanner.com.au/transport/d/mela/2018-10-30/lo…
So looks like you can do it under $950 on Thai or China Southern. Thai might be the nicer of the two. Air China is coming up as $872 but has more stops.
Thai definitely! They were voted the best economy class of 2017.
This Scoot/Norwegian mix nearly always ends up a bum deal for most people.
When you take add-ons into account (most people take check-in lugagge and try not eating for 1-2 days), risks of missed connections on different operators, and quality of service you could actually end up paying more for a lesser experience. Especially since Scoot and Norwegian prices, even when on special, still fluctuate according to high-season demand. The fact you're not leaving it to the last minute also means you'll see one of the many specials that pop-up on intercontinental airlines, many of which are very competitive when it comes to multi-trip flights (I would grab a Thai Airways multi-trip deal on Skyscanner).
Up until recently, the exception was those having to get back home to London one-way with almost no money left in their bank accounts. But these days even reputable airlines like Etihad and Thai Airways may basically charge you half the price of a return ticket (seasonal pricing per date being equal).
I agree. With LCCs when it all goes to plan everything is fine. When things go wrong, the costs are HUGE. Especially on costly intercontinential flights.
If you mix two different LCC airlines you also run the risk of missing the second flight if the first one is late. I think where it can become a good deal is if you want to book one-way and want to stop over in Asia for a night or longer. For some reason one-way flights to Europe with full service airlines can be about 70% of the price of a return ticket.
I would grab a Thai Airways multi-trip deal on Skyscanner
Yes the link I gave is a multi-city search. With a multi-city ticket you can avoid the extra costs of booking two one-way tickets and can still start and finish in different cities.
I did almost the same trip as you in September 2016, SYD-CPH, then LHR-SYD. You have a lot of options but I recommend Thai airlines because the connections in Bangkok were shorter than other airlines (3 hours outbound, 2 hours inbound i think).
Price was $1400 return though. As i remember, the $1000 return deals were only for 20 hours stays in Vietnam or Brunei, wasn't keen for that.
I booked via statravel.com.au (online, never instore) which I recommend you do too, after comparing others on skyscanner.
Thai air is pretty comfortable, cant complain at all. Emirates, Qatar and Singapre Air might be even better from what I've heard but not experienced first hand. But their connections were longer and the route was less of a direct hypotenuse.
I flew SAS between Denmark and UK. Expensive compared to other local airlines but some did not go to Heathrow so thats why i picked SAS.
I am getting on Qatar for the same trip next week from Melb, $1200 return. 3 hours transit each way. I've taken Thai airways too (albeit direct to BKK) so eager to compare differences. Everything being equal, if it was close to 1k for Chinese airlines or LCC I'd choose Thai or ME airlines anyday for $1.2k. LCCs like Scoot fly 787 (squeezy)s, ME airlines Emirates and Qatar fly A380s (best) for the first leg to ME. Thai flies A350 to BKK for the first leg (good I've heard). Chinese ones fly A330/340 (noisy).
Scoot/Norwegian's 787s may be a bit cramped for space but they do have some other advantages like larger windows, higher cabin pressure, higher cabin humidity and lower cabin noise, plus higher cruising speed. Thai's A350 has similar advantages I believe.
Just returned from a trip to Europe with Qatar. Can definitely recommend the service, decent planes (A380-800), decent food and got it at a very good price at $1,069 return from Sydney to Dublin. Only downside was the censored movies, but that's pretty consistent across all the Arab airlines.
They had a few deals last year, and I ended up going through one of them to get my price. Arriving in one country and departing from another will no doubt add to your cost — so I'd be very impressed if you got a deal under $1,000. That said, nothing is impossible.
If you're really struggling with finding flights, I'd recommend these guys. Saved me a bunch a few years ago for a bit of a weird looking itinerary.
I'd have a scope around the travel bargain page and the travel forums — as there's a lot of advice on there. I'd also have a thumb through Wikitravel to get a few ideas together regarding destinations and what to do.