I guess the main selling point is that it is the first ever direct flight between UK and Australia. Not many people could endure a 17 hour flight though.
The 787 plane used on the Melbourne-Perth-London service will also fly on the QF95/96 flight between Melbourne and Los Angeles to reduce the idle time on the tarmac at Melbourne Airport, and also give Perth-originated passengers a one-stop service to LAX.
I couldnāt cope with much more than 14 hours on a single flight. I did it last year to LA and Iām doing that again in June and I find the last couple of hours are a bit of a struggle especially when you are coming back. The last thing you could be bothered doing after a 17 hour flight from London is switching over to a 3 hour domestic flight from Perth.
Speaking of flights - I wish I had a better grasp on flight pricing trends. I booked my flights a couple months ago for Melb to LA after seeing the prices consistently going up week to week. I didnāt want to risk them jumping up anymore so purchased. Now itās frustrating to see that the flights on the same dates to LA that I booked months ago are going for $300-$400 cheaper than what I paid. At first I thought it might be due to the United Airline bad publicity, but it seems every airlines flights in June to LA prices have dropped significantly. You can get return for as low as about $850 now.
$850 return to LA? That sounds like a bargain. Even cheaper than a return flight to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific!
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US flights are not that expensive which is why I could justify going back for just 2 weeks this year. Last year I paid $950 on Virgin but had to fly from Melb -> Bris -> LA. This year is direct to LA on United so I didnāt mind paying a little bit more but now seeing prices on this same route drop on multiple airlines to even below what I paid last year is frustrating!
Iām kind of dreading how Iāll cope with Melbourne-Perth-JoāBurg-Durban in a couple of weeks! I have a plan to stay awake on Melbourne-Perth (done Brisbane-Perth a a few times, but the only Melbourne-Perth Iāve done I basically slept the entire trip) so I can sleep through a lot of the Perth-Johannesburg leg (2340 WST depart, 0450 RSA time arrival, 11 hours flying time). Just worried though that having booked through a 3rd party site (and with the booking done with a South African Airways reservation with the Melbourne-Perth and Perth-Melbourne legs on a Virgin flight) I hope the baggage gets to South Africa in one piece and that I only have to check in at Melbourne/Durban for all flights.
Are you flying Qantas?
I thought you lived in Brissie?
How come flying out of Melbourne?
Will you have to transfer from Domestic to International in Perth for the Joāburg flight?
Or is the flight from MEL out of the International terminal?
If from MEL Domestic, Iām guessing youāll need to check in again in PER?
Negative, would have been the easier flight if I decided to depart from Sydney but I would have had to spend an extra day in either Joāburg or Durban.
(a) Cheaper by a few dollars on the day I wanted to travel, plus I wanted to spend time down South rather than chill in Brisbane
(b) Melbourne flight would be from domestic and arrives earlier than the Brisbane flight would by about an hour, giving me more time/leeway to transfer terminals in Perth and do the whole customs thing which Iāve never done before.
(c) Not entirely sure what check in procedures would be given this is the first time Iāve done this
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If you are flying the same airline on all flights you will only need to check your luggage in for the first flight and it will move on to your other flights. Youāll also go through customs when you are boarding your international flight, so you will need to transfer terminals in Perth.
Some airports (like Singapore Changi) have customs at the gate or for only three or four gates. That way transfers are easy. Maybe Perth has a similiar system?
Brisbane has the frankly ridiculous system of forcing everyone through a single customs point, meaning it can sometimes suck badly.
Iām pretty sure all Aussie airports are like that.
Lame.
While Iām here, what do yāall recommend for flights to Frankfurt or London? Friend and I are planning a trip in January and cannot find cheap flights.
I am flying British Airways and got cheap flights. Try ezyjet if you donāt have much luggage.
You mean flying there from Aus? December/January is an expensive time to fly always no matter where in the world you go. Some of those Asian airlines have the cheapest options but you usually have to have 2 stops and 30+ hours of travel which I couldnāt handle. Both times that Iāve gone to Europe Iāve flown Eithad and paid around $2000.
Any internal flights in Europe go Ezyjet.
Within Europe is fine, since Deutsche Bahn within Germany is quicker and slightly cheaper than flying. Last time I was over there I used the Channel Tunnel.
Lowest Iāve seen to Europe in Jan is about $1600 with China Southern, who Iām not quite sure about.
Wow I have never paid that much. I have booked with Qatar and got it for $1200 return. Fly to Berlin out of Barcelona.[quote=āpelican, post:75, topic:666ā]
Lowest Iāve seen to Europe in Jan is about $1600 with China Southern, who Iām not quite sure about
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I have just flown china southern to China. Really cheap flights out of Adelaide. But I would not fly with them again. Worst delays. Little leg room and bad service.
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Mate and I managed to snag some sweet tickets with Singapore Airlines.
$1700 flying from Brisbane to Heathrow (7 hour layover in Singapore), with the return journey from Frankfurt to Brisbane. Travelling between 1st and 31st January. Itās only $100 more than China Southern and a few hours of layover in Singapore is great IMO - allows me to have a few beers and stretch my legs.
Stoked. These tickets were $400 cheaper than the last time I flew Singapore.
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The pound looks like it is losing ground, so exchange rates could be favourable as well.
Great airline as well. SQ Has one of the best economy class products going around right now IMO.
Yep, thatās exactly why I jumped on them. The hot towel sealed the deal.
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