looking at flights to New Zealand next Christmas
what are the cheapest flights? no stop-overs.
any airlines to avoid? anyone flown with Royal Brunei?
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is there a better way to find cheap flights other than trawling the internet? should I be ringing round the agents?

I used http://www.kayak.com to find t'other half her flights over to Oz… they seem to cover most of the airlines.

No idea who is good to fly with out to NZ though, although my Mum has just been out there for a holiday and flew with Air NZ, didn't say anything bad about the flights, so couldn't have been too bad.

No stop overs to NZ? You must be flying from Oz then?

I went Singapore airlines from heathrow, stop at singapore and brisbane

sorry, I mean stop-overs for a day or so, as in staying overnight somewhere like Hong Kong
want to get there ASAP

i flew to LA with Air NZ a couple of months ago, 13hrs I think. the onward flight had a break of about 2 hours in LAX transit lounge before another 12-13hr flight.

economy was pretty good for economy, decent legroom, not bad food and decent selection of films. not sure about the prices, someone else arranged it for me.

Best deals have been direct for us, although the prices do fluctuate a lot even then. You get shafted if you want to be there for Christmas Day though, if you're on a budget then fly Boxing Day, it's massively cheaper.

AirNZ and Singapore are both fine. Only fly via LAX though if you really want/need the extra baggage allowance – it's a miserable experience.

why is flying via LAX so miserable?

Fastest or cheapest ? There's no really cheap flights any more.
Fastest is AirNZ either via LA or Honkers – i think LA is one hour quicker but honkers means no LA security hassles – thats the way I go.

Christmas is high season as its our summer holiday and everyone also wants to come back from working in a pub in london for that Xmas bach experience with their family 😉 So don't expect cheap deals. Best bet is decide what your priority is – speed, stopovers, price and work around that.
Air NZ – via LA HK direct to Akl
Emirates – via Dubai & somewhere in Oz usually Melb/brisbane
Singapore-via singapore surprisingly and Oz then into AKl or ChCh
Thai – via bangkok and Oz as well i think ?

Why is LA so miserable ? 1) You have no lounge access , you get shunted out andf back through a massive security queue while being made to feel like a criminal, 2) you have to submit yourself to iris scans etc etc 3) the transit lounge would be illegal for animals.
HK a much more pleasant experience, short security queue, quick shower and a bite then back on the plane. Theres a pay shower lounge upstairs if you don;t have airline lounge access.

cheers Col

+1 For what NZCol said about LA.

Cathay were the cheapest when I booked for flights the other way a month or so ago. There are only a handful of airlines that fly to NZ (Cathay, Korean and Lan being the only ones I can think of that haven't been mentioned).

Royal Brunei are OK. Fairly old planes with an old entertainment system but I'd be perfectly happy to fly on them.

Air NZ are the only ones who do it direct. Stopovers in HK or LA but same aircraft all the way, thats why they are the quickest.

LA is the most frustrating Airport I have had to deal with, I flew out AIR NZ (Business Class) on Sunday and had a good flight, but LAX is run by muppets.

Fly back on Thursday, would try and avoid LAX if poss. Last year went to Sydney via Thailand and found the stopover very easy.

Departing xmas day was the cheapest way some friends of mine made it to Nz around Xmas time.

LAX is minging, confusing and generally best avoided.

Enjoy NZ- fantastic place!!!

Best flight I could find for myself this june was with emirates. Flys from manchester to dubai, dubai to oz (sorry cant remember where) then oz to auckalnd. That was 730 inclusing all taxes etc etc. Works out well for me because no connecting flight to heathrow/saves driving down to heathrow from north wales. Qantas seemed good if you wanted to fly from heathrow.

I did NZ via LAX – never again. Have also flown with Royal Brunei – never again.
As NZCol suggests, I'd go for Emirates or Singapore. I'd also book direct with the airline; Emirates were great to deal with when I was stuck in Melbourne over the last two weeks due to the volcano.

have you considered just going to Scotland?

it's more or less the same thing*, but you can drive there for about £60…

(*quiet, stunning scenery, beautiful beaches, funny accents, flying biting things, etc. etc.)

not knocking NZ, but Scotland is fantastic too, and often overlooked.

Skyscanner is meant to be a good resource. But for a flight of that distance I would trade a bit of the cost for a bit of comfort – Singapore Airlines is very good and you can have Thai curry for breakfast 🙂

oh yes, and another vote for singapore airlines – excellent!!

Yep agree my choice in order is airnz (only one with premium economy), Singapore and emirates. There's a certain joy of having chicken sambal for brekky with SA and you can also stop off for a quick swim at changi ! Airnz mostly for me though – good service, reliable and air points

The Trolley Dollies on SA are a class above the rest though.

Hubba!

Flown both emirates and singapore.

Emirates = uggghhhh

Singapore=mmmmm Best safety record (means a lot when you are a chicken, your life is in their hands dude) great food lovely trolley dollies all in all a great flight, stopping in singapore is a great idea, plus when I did it singapore airlines had a subsidised stopover deal.

Singapore=mmmmm Best safety record

Just means they're due one.

Just means they're due one.

You have an excellent grasp of the rules of probability. 😆

Flew with Emirates a few years ago, they were going to charge me excess baggage for my bike. Didn't take it in the finish.
If you fly via Asia check with the airline re bikes (if taking them) and their policy.
Flew back via the states last time with Air NZ, pretty good, had 7 hour stop over in San Francisco, managed to put luggage in storage and get out of the airport for a couple of hours.
On the way back to UK flew through LA, the airline/airport make you check out and pick up your luggage. There is no place to store it and nothing to do in LA airport. Had to sit next to my bike and bag for 6 hours until check in opened. Horrible experience after a 12 hour flight.
Although flying via America you get a 60kg baggage allowance, so enough to include your bag and bike.
If your going direct with no bike, go via Asia. But it would be a sin not to take one in my opinion. Amazing riding out there!

Try STA Travel, they were very helpful when I booked a round the world ticket. If you live in a university town there'll be a local branch, or online

Air NZ all the way

but Malaysia is pretty good and KL airport is ok for a stopover. You can often get a cheap deal through them if you do a longer stop eg 8 hours. its not quite direct but isnt a real stop over. they have cheap hotels which are good for a sleep and a shower. and that 8 hour break and 5-6 hours good sleep makes a world of difference and not much to your travel time.

[/u][/b]DONT FLY CATHAY did that last year and their seats dont recline!!!! they just do this slide thing which leaves you no room for your legs. very strange

Christmas budget to pay £1,500 anytime from mid december. New Years eve is a cheap time to go if boxing day isnt an option

oh and flight centre are often pretty good for a deal

thanks for all the comments! very helpful.
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does anyone know if I can get a better deal by ringing round travel agents? or by ringing early in the morning?
I seem to remember something about agents pre-booking seats to reduce the number of seats available, and pushing up the cost…

Mate of mine works for Trailfinders. His advice was to book early when the flights are released. Granted I'm going to Sydney, but I'm paying about £1k for this Christmas with Asiana. Airline should be OK, if not I've plenty of valium 😈

Seats are generally released in blocks, i've booked 6months ahead, 3 months ahead, days and literally on the day as well. Its a bit random really but generally the longer out the cheaper the fare, for example we're flying NZ-GVA prem econ rtn via san fran for 5Knz which is quite cheap. I paid 4k for an economy flight on the day last year as i had no choice. lowest was 1800nz for emirates booked 3 months out. I'd not sweat the cost too much, there are fewer flights here than there used to be and the legs from LA and HK are normally full. Oz flights can be hit and miss. You won't get a mega bargain i doubt and I always go direct to the airline as these are the best prices , better than my travel agent can get in fact but 100's of dollars sometimes.

i flew to LA with Air NZ a couple of months ago, 13hrs I think. the onward flight had a break of about 2 hours in LAX transit lounge before another 12-13hr flight.

this was the cheapest way to do it when i did back in 2003, you also dont get jet lag andi think you could take more luggage

all that could have changed though, its a brutal trip but worth it as theres less faffing

i flew with Quantas, flew back with AIR NZ and the seats were terrible.

FYI US baggage has now been changed to 2 x 23kg with a max weight of any bag at 32kg if that makes any sense. Bikes with AirNZ += 10kg extra free.

Never found any cheaper way of booking flights than kayak/expedia/airline's own website (all at the same time).

One possible, possible exception if all you cared about was cost would be if you found that (flights to Australia + LCC from Oz to NZ) < flights to NZ. But for all the fannying around and potential for things to go wrong, I don't think it would be worth it.