I want to visit family in Perth for Christmas. Now, i know it will be expensive but can anyone recommend the best place to buy tickets from?

I simply havn't a clue who's best to fly with! Is somewhere like flightcentre a good option?

Any help/advice would be really appreciated.

Thanks.

emirates direct from them, nicer flight schedule to Perth via Dubai from most airports at no extra cost, good food price should be OK booked now

various agents appear cheaper than flight centre – STA, lastminute, eastwest travel, expedia. Check out yahoo travel for cheap options.

BA Business Class would be my choice….! 😉

Qantas Business isn't bad, but just not quite as private/refined as BA.

The other half is off to Perth in about a month's time, and she's flying with Singapore Airlines… who were just about the cheapest of the recognisable carriers, and having flown with them before, I can recommend them as being excellent.

We looked up the flights on http://www.kayak.co.uk and then just went and booked direct with the airline… but the site also ties into loads of other travel sites.

We flew to Perth with Emirates via Dubai out of B'ham nearly 3 years ago. Previously had flown with Emirates London-Dubai-Sydney-Auckland. The UK to Dubai leg is tolerable, Dubai airport just really busy unless you can get into one of the lounges. The Dubai to Australia/NZ plane was very good both times and that is the really loooong flight, actaully see it as a milestone when less than 12 hours to go!. Suggest a look at http://www.airlinequality.com/ for some further airline reviews.

Emirates, Air Malyasia or Qantus.

Don't use BA and has JAL been sorted? but the above are very good and nice food with working video lol. Customer service is good too.

I'm going with Asiana over christmas, cost was just over £1k including a free stopover on the way back. Mate assures me they're a quality airline. I've been with KLM, Malaysia and Singapore in the past, Singapore were definitely the best but will be more expensive.Flights were released about a month ago, so you need to book ASAP for the best fares.

I have done, Quantas and Singapore, Singapore would get my money again.

Singapore and Malaysian are excellent. JAL were great a few years ago not sure now given comment above^^.

BA-Quantas – If I had to. Not really in the same league as above IMO.

AVOID Royal Brunei! It doesn't matter how cheap you can get the tickets, it's just not worth it!

Cathay Pacific are ok.

First time I went I ended up using Aeroflot, and Garuda an amazing experience for a naive young traveller.

Singapore – and their nosh is excellent too 🙂

Emirates Cattle Class wasnt too impressive when we went. The 15hr leg from Dubai to Sydney was a bloody nightmare to be honest.
My old dear has flown lots of times with Singapore Airlines & rates them.

Queensland and Northern territories air service should suffice.

Singapore +1. They have the best food and economy entertainment system IME.

A great place to quickly and easily find good prices with flexible dates is http://www.kayak.co.uk. In terms of recommending airlines Singapore Airlines gets my vote every time (they fly from Manchester too). Emirates has loooooaads of flights from a lot of UK regional airports also so don't automatically think you have to go from the dump that is Heathrow unless it's convenient for you.

You could ask yourself if you want a stopover and if so, where would you like to go? Singapore's well known as 'Asia for beginners' and is great for a couple of days, plus when you fly Singapore you get bargain rates at brill hotels (search for singapore stopover in Google). Hong Kong is flippin excellent though so you could consider flying through there.

Have a nice time.

going to Sydney on Thursday via Emirates, folks going the day before on Singapore.

Emirates do the new A380 out of the new terminal3 in Dubai power supplies in seats, loads of films etc, seats are reserved on booking.

Singapore unreserved seating, folks have just found out they're getting re-routed via Germany adding 2-3hours onto journey-not happy, unless the flight/food as far superior they'll be on Emirates again next time.

Singapore unreserved seating, folks have just found out they're getting re-routed via Germany adding 2-3hours onto journey-not happy, unless the flight/food as far superior they'll be on Emirates again next time.

I heard that the Manchester – Singapore flights were stopping at Munich as one of the concessions for doing more flights out of Manchester. The upside is there's no plane changes and only an hour in Munich (plus taxiing and landing – if you fly via Heathrow or elsewhere it'll be a plane change plus the same fannying about) and the planes are newer 777-300's which are absolutely fantastic to fly in in Economy. The Singapore flights are 3-3-3 seats in Economy whereas the Emirates flights are 3-4-3 so you pays yer money…

I'd still go Singapore over Emirates. Emirates is twice a day though which can work out nicely.

Am I a plane bore?

Oceanic.

Just make sure the route involved doesn't go over any small islands.

I flew to Oz recently on Singapore. Best long haul carrier I have been on, and I have travelled on a few. The A380 is brilliant.

The Singapore flights are 3-3-3 seats in Economy whereas the Emirates flights are 3-4-3 so you pays yer money…

seat pitch and width as the same for EM and SA, parents are pissed that they tried to reserve the 2 row seats near the back but havnt got them, me & Mr's RNP have them on the EM flights to dubai and the 2 seats just behind the emergency exit row seats on the A380-plenty of leg room for me. Still gonna be an awful way of spending nearly 24hours.

The Manchester-Munich thing was only added in the last few months or so, my parents bought their tickets nearly 8-9months ago, they'd have gone EM otherwise.

OP: let me ask you a question: how much money are you willing to spend to fly with a specific airline?

Because otherwise just do this:

We looked up the flights on http://www.kayak.co.uk and then just went and booked direct with the airline… but the site also ties into loads of other travel sites.

Travelocity, expedia (can be quite good), opodo (still going?) etc etc. Then check the airlines' websites – all of them i.e. UK, Australian, US…

Etihad, Emirates, Qatar Airways were all very good. Singapore. Whatever. Anything except those snotty **** BA.

As for walk-in travel agent shops: well, they might be worth trying but I have never, ever found them to be useful. Also, there are no charter flights to Oz.

BA code-share with Qantas so you could end up on either. My (Aussie) ex and I had nothing but hassle from Qantas.. Late flights (2x broken planes!), shit communication, high date change fees, arsey check-in staff, broken in-flight entertainment……

I was assured by Travelfinders that SA is the best of the lot for economy travel.

I came with Singapore airlines, and stopped in Singapore for a few hours to stretch my legs before flying over to Perth.

Great food. Free booze. Excellent service.

Bring plenty of sunscreen. Really. We've had over 4 months of 0 rain. 40c in the shade. Finished off with the worst storm in 20 odd years and 100s of million dollars damage, last week. Mind, it's autumn now and still 30c.

If you like your beer, get to Little Creatures in Fremantle.

Looks like Singapore is the winner. Looking to book this week so better limber up the credit card.

We'll certainly consider a stop-over but we want as much time in Oz as possible as i havn't seen my stepfather in 5 years. But the thought of 24 hours flying makes me feel sick.

Thanks for all the replies guys. Much appreciated.

But the thought of 24 hours flying makes me feel sick.

It is horrible. And if you add in all the getting to/from the airport, it can easily be well over 24 hours of airline rubbish. The only thing that you can do to make it better, is make sure you spend at least a couple of weeks out there, so you at least get some non-jetlagged time out there – anything less than a couple of weeks is a waste of time in my experience. Oh and make sure you sleep lots on the plane if you're a good sleeper.

Joe

My Mum virtually commutes over here she's over here so often. She insists on Singapore Airlines, sometimes Business, sometimes Economy. But always enjoys the flight with them…

They're one of the cheaper ones too.

I think Korean might do something with an overnight somewhere in Korea as part of the deal, but you'd have to search for that. Some gent here mentioned it.

Andrew

Going for 2 weeks but can't do more as i get bugger all holiday so i'm making the most of the company xmas shut-down.

I hate the idea of flying for so long but i'll just have to make the most of it!

Emirates do the new A380 out of the new terminal3 in Dubai power supplies in seats, loads of films etc, seats are reserved on booking.

I flew Emirates to Sydney in Feb. The A380 was pretty cool, roomy and quiet. The reserved seating thing though is a crock – my partner and I were not even seated together for the second leg – after having specifically reserved andd requested by phone emergency exit seats. So we had 15 hours from Dubai crammed into the middle two seats in the central section of four – hideous… I've also flown Air NZ, Qantas, BA, Virgin, MAS, Singapore, JAL and probably some others over the years. None stand out especially. Even if you get a good one, chances are the next flight with the same airline will be a nightmare…

My recommendation? Go with whoever you get good miles with…

But the thought of 24 hours flying makes me feel sick.

It's really not that bad. If you think you'll not sleep, then see your doctor and get some valium or equivalent to help with that.

Twas me who mentioned the free Korean stopover, which is good for me as I'm arriving in the afternoon and at work again in the morning. If you've only got two weeks though then don't bother with it.

i booked mine through STA they were helpful and the cheapest i could fine. flights were with BA/Qantas and found Qantas nicer.

have fun

We went Christmas 2009, flew Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong. Good service, in flight entertainment excellent.
Not too sure how old the plane was, but the seats were not very good. They were like clam-shells, backs were fixed, so the seat moved forwards to move the back down if you see what I mean, so that crushed your knees. I believe the newer planes have normal seats. Overall it's a looooooong flight…..

Emirates were great when we came home/to visit (me/wife) about a year ago; flying into Gatwick and not having to fight to get across London to get home was the winner for us – not a discernable difference in price either and we got points through them.

Another vote for Singapore too though; lots of good experiences with them from people I know.

Sometimes it's much cheaper to fly on Xmas Day/late Xmas Eve/NYE/1 Jan because everyone wants to fly before or after those dates. Of course, there's a reason why that is…

Good point Konabunny, we don't have to be there for xmas day really….and that might save us abit. Thanks for that.

+ 1 for konabunny's suggestion – you can save yourself a fortune by doing that.

Singapore Airlines are changing their schedule out of Manchester and will now include a pick-up at Munich. One of the other airlines previously did this and I have heard some terrible stories of them regularly being sat on the tarmac in Germany for 4-5 hours.

I've flown backwards and forwards (albeit to NZ) umm 8 times last year. I used Emirates twice to get direct to Glasgow and avoid Heathrow. Good service, that 14hr effort from Sydney/Brisbane/Melb to Dubai is a killer though no matter where you are sitting (i was business once and econ once). Dubai all good assuming you have lounge access otherwise its quite uncomfortable. I slept in amongst the trees in the little 'oasis' right at the terminal end the first time. Second time i had lounge access. As you're going to Perth i'd probably suggest either Emirates or SIngapore. Never had bad service on Singapore or Emirates. I always use AirNZ now for reasons of points and free flights while I am here and they also do premium econ which is all the extra space at half the business cost , although seats not as good at the moment. Best suggestion is go into it nice and relaxed, don;t focus on how long it takes. If you do go through Changi then take the opportunity to go for a quick swim if you can – brilliant ! Have fun.

bikewhisperer – Member
BA code-share with Qantas so you could end up on either. My (Aussie) ex and I had nothing but hassle from Qantas.. Late flights (2x broken planes!), shit communication, high date change fees, arsey check-in staff, broken in-flight entertainment……

Pedant Warning

It is not true that flying with one carrier who codeshares with another then you could end up on either.

Minimum disclosure requirements around codeshare services dictate that the operating carrier (whose metal), Equipment type (ie. aircraft type) and the number of stops must be disclosed to the customer at the point of sale. So you would know whose metal and product you were buying and about to experience.

OP. My personal recommendation would be BA First Class – but not if your travel dates coincide with mine 😆