One of my kids is heading to the Antipodes in about a month and has asked me to check up on flight prices.
I have looked at Expedia and Travel Supermarket and I am looking at £1400. (Dates are not flexible unfortunately).
Any other websites that you could recommend for flights?
Thanks,
Z
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www.skyscanner.net
There was something yesterday that Lufthansa had won some battle with the above which stops them comparing any reseller of Lufthansa flights. Doubt it will affect you but the future of cheap flights may be in the balance as a result.
Last edited by: smokie on Thu 4 Jun 15 at 14:37
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Should add,
Sprog wants multiple tickets - i.e. UK to NZ to AUZ to UK.
Ta
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www.lastminute.com/trips/search/flightsInternal?numLegs=3&configId=S72722479
But really you have to hunt around them all.
Don't forget to tweak days / time / duration. It can be quite surprising what changes the cost.
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I didn't read it carefully, but I thought that they were still allowed to compare, they just had to add admin fees to the cost. This would theoretically make Lufthansa's own prices more attractive.
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You can avoid the UK long haul passenger tax by flying via Schipol. Holland abolished their tax as most of the Dutch travellers drove to German tax free airports. Try KLM who code share with many major airlines.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Thu 4 Jun 15 at 14:49
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They would be well advised to try a good travel agent or bucket shop too. They often know the routes and times that have less demand, or how best to combine available fares and tickets, better than you or I would.
Agents dealing with students tend to be particularly good at this sort of thing.
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I very much doubt that you are going to get much below £700 each way. I'd take that if I were you.
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I've been looking in to flights to Oz recently as I may well be making my first trip there in the not too distant. Without being flippant, Air Malaysia seem to have the most competitive prices at the moment from my limited enquiries. Not sure I've got the bottle though.
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>> Not sure I've got the bottle though.
For defying the law of gravity in a flimsy pressurised aluminium tube at dangerously high altitudes Alanović?
Don't blame you. I always try not to think about it too much. I like my wheels to be in contact with the road most of the time.
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>> >> Not sure I've got the bottle though.
>>
>> For defying the law of gravity in a flimsy pressurised aluminium tube at dangerously high
>> altitudes Alanović?
>>
Don't forget the tanks full of flammable stuff and all the flimsy technical bits and dodgy electronics :-)
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Don't know if it's still the same, but at one time round the world tickets were more economic than out and back.Gives the opportunity to see more places at intermediate stops.
Also travelling Westwards seems to be better from the jet lag point of view.
The experience of friends seems to be that specialist travel agents give good service, especially in sorting out intermediate accommodation, in addition to flights.
I'll tell you next year, when I will be doing something similar.
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>>Without being flippant,
>> Air Malaysia seem to have the most competitive prices at the moment from my limited enquiries
>>
Malaysia Air 'technically bankrupt,'
www.usatoday.com/story/todayinthesky/2015/06/02/malaysia-air-ceo-says-carrier-could-break-even-by-2018/28338405/
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Hence my lack of bottle. I'm a nervous flyer in any case, taking a bankrupt airline would be a step too far for me. Others may be quite happy to do so, hence my suggestion of it as an option to the OP.
I will be flying there sometime in the next few years, I won't let my silly fears get in the way, but I think I'll pay a higher price rather than risk an airline in bankruptcy who may well be cutting corners, particularly one with a shonky recent record, albeit maybe not all of their own making.
As AC says, I prefer four wheels on the ground and one in may hand, but that isn't really an option for Oz. Summer hols to France, yes. Oz=fly.
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One might think that an airline which has had an incident may have had a wake up call. Perhaps even being more self-aware than another, perhaps smug, airline.
>>I'm a nervous flyer in any case
I used to worry about the law of averages, but I don't fly as much these days. However, I went through a phase for some inexplicable reason where I was a *really* worried flyer - (for years before and since its worried me about as little as a train journey). It only lasted about 6 months, but with my work it was a tough time.
You have my sympathies.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Thu 4 Jun 15 at 15:31
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For what its worth Alanovic, MAS's new CEO Christophe Mueller came to them from Aer Lingus. Before them, he turned Sabena, Lufthansa and Swissair around.
"Shonky" isn't a description I'd apply to any of them - besides, the dodgy operators (or aircraft) out there are simply banned from operating within the EU.
As an aside, David Learmount wrote an article for Flight International recently on Ryanair's fleet maintenance practices. While I've never been a fan of O'Leary Air, it would appear that the care taken of their 737s is second to none.
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I said their recent record was shonky (hard to argue), also said it was not necessarily all their own fault though. That's a different order of magnitude form saying the airline is shonky, which I didn't mean.
Their reputation has taken a battering, rightly or wrongly, and it makes those pre-disposed to nervousness about flying just that bit more circumspect about flying with them. That's all I was saying.
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Will you give over Alanović and stop encouraging them. I'm flying with Germanwings tomorrow.
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First time I went to Africa the cheapest was Egypt Air. The advantage of the deal was 24 hours stopover in Cairo on the way back from Lagos.
I think the aircraft was a DC10. On arrival Lagos was dark, clouded over and damp. Looked cold and unwelcoming out there.
It was a bit unwelcoming at first, but it certainly wasn't cold. Stepping out into the grey drizzle felt like stepping into a Turkish bath. Most surprising.
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The Australia website is offering two week holiday deals from £895 - might be possible to combine this offer with tickets to NZ etc, or check out the airline's normal prices and just ignore the holiday bit...!!
www.australia.com/en-gb#/intro/show
Last edited by: Stuartli on Thu 4 Jun 15 at 16:41
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Miss B and her chap are visiting Oz in November/December. Out to east coast, probably Sydney, and back from Perth.
Local travel agent's best deals were with Malaysian or Cathay Pacific. They preferred to avoid MS and a stopover in Hong Kong appealed.
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Got a feeling we flew Malaysian when we went to Oz. Stopover in Kuala Lumpur where we have relations. But before that, over the ghastly Alps and North Pole and even more ghastly Afghanistan. And across the great Australian desert to Sydney. Damn long way, in fact as far as it's possible to go in a straight line without starting to come back.
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>>and just ignore the holiday bit.
You have to be just a bit careful with that.
Often they have factored into the deal is that they expect to sell you food, booze, rental cars, day trips, etc. etc. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that if you do not check into the hotel they will cancel your return flight.
Not insurmountable by any means, but one needs to be a little circumspect about booking entire trips or packages and then simply not using bits.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Thu 4 Jun 15 at 17:06
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And by the way....
I have found that when I sit at my computer and do lots of searches, the price tends to go up by the time I try to book it. If I switch to a different computer on a different network the price goes down again.
I have never managed to replicate this reliably enough to convince myself to say that it *IS* true.
But I have seemingly saved myself quite a lot of money from time to time be acting *AS IF* it is true.
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You may be aware of reports, and I go no further, that you will be offered different prices iin various goods and services according to which browser you use.
Don't make me google it, I'm on an iPad and I've got hot tea and a sandwich waiting.
Last edited by: Crankcase on Thu 4 Jun 15 at 18:05
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you can also use a proxy server to fool the system into which country you are in. Often tho, outside the UK, the price goes UP!
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Go on Trip Advisor, Flights, then Flight Forum ( bottom RHS)
Plenty of knowledgeable people
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>> you can also use a proxy server to fool the system into which country you are in. Often tho, outside the UK, the price goes UP!>>
As my daughter and son-in-law would readily confirm...:-)
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In April I booked to fly Leeds>AMS>LAX>Sacramento return ( one of my normal KLM/ Delta routings) departing mid June. I always book direct with the airline and paid £630. Just out of curiosity I looked at the same routing, same dates, but in the opposite direction and it was almost double.
And multiple destinations always cost more. In September, flying Leeds>AMS>SLC>Phoenix, but returning from Sac in Nov, so 'low season' pre Thanksgiving, its £100 more.
Not complaining though....excellent value compared to those who pay £250+ to fly to the Canaries at Easter or Christmas.
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Airline prices are bizarre. I have a load of motor racing mate sin Florida, seems the return flight cost to UK is nearly double mine to there, consistently.
I recall one year when my German buddy flew from Munich to UK to pick up the same BA flight to Florida as me, and his return flight, including the additional return Munich > Heathrow leg, was about £100 cheaper than mine!!
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I dreaded using Easy jet due to poor press, BUT.......I've recently used them for a trip to Madeira and I have to say the cost was very reasonable and the service second to none.
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>> I dreaded using Easy jet due to poor press, BUT.......I've recently used them for a
>> trip to Madeira and I have to say the cost was very reasonable and the
>> service second to none.
I have used them a lot, you are right the service is none, but the cost more than makes up for it.
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 5 Jun 15 at 12:42
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>>Easy Jet
I missed a Ryan Air flight to some godforsaken aerodrome in the middle of France a few years back because the motorway was closed.
It was the only flight there that week and had to get to an important meeting. The next nearest airport with flights was Toulouse which was a 5 hour drive away and both BA and Easy Jet had flights that day and an hour apart. The BA flight was about £600. The East Jet flight was £200. I thought the service was fine and I had enough change to buy a sandwich and drink on the plane.
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> Heathrow leg, was about £100 cheaper than mine!!
>>
He may not have been paying the UK flight tax. The flight cost may actually be more than yours.
Last edited by: neiltoo on Fri 5 Jun 15 at 11:20
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This was about 6 or 7 years ago, I think flight tax had less impact then. Good point though.
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I know someone flying LHR>NY return. Her Spanish friend was flying Madrid>LHR & joining the same NY flight ex LHR.
It was cheaper for my London friend to fly out to Madrid, spend the weekend there, fly Madrid/LHR/ NY return then fly home from Madrid with Easyjet. Bizarre yet true.
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>>Airline prices are bizarre.
Actually, they are genius. Some years ago I consulted in this area for Delta & Lan Chile and it is fascinating. It is one of the most advanced studies in the price oriented management of supply and demand that you will ever encounter.
Too boring to explain in detail (well, to you lot, I find it fascinating), but it does mean that changing days, routes, times, and return flights can have a significant effect. What you are trying to do is find those combinations where usage is less than an airline would like it to be, but where people have loads of choice including not flying.
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I too find it quite fascinating how prices vary wildly, month to month, with only minor route amendments.
My start point is always Leeds/bradford. End point Sacramento. If with KLM/Delta, then the three main options are via AMS then either LAX, Portland or Seattle. Sometimes Minneapolis St Paul. Arrival at Sac within an hour of one another, yet prices vary wildly depending on routing.
Option B is with BA from Leeds via LHR. I try to steer clear of T5 for some irrational reason, unless much cheaper than KLM/Delta/Alaska. And that 06:15 KLM departure ensures easy check in, no queues in security, and margeritas in the hot tub by 18:00 hours Pacific Time.
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I'd fly them.
In that particular case there was no fire, but there could have been so they landed.
Not much wrong with that.
Would you prefer a sensor that erred the other way?
Or an airline that thought it'd probably just be a faulty alarm and carried on anyway?
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>> I'd fly them.
>>
>> In that particular case there was no fire, but there could have been so they
>> landed.
>>
>> Not much wrong with that.
>>
>> Would you prefer a sensor that erred the other way?
>>
>> Or an airline that thought it'd probably just be a faulty alarm and carried on
>> anyway?
>>
I think they took exactly the right course of action. To keep flying with an engine fire warning is ludicrous (note that the detectors are inside the engine cowling / pylon area, about the last place you want a fire due to the proximity of vast quantities of fuel / hydraulic fluid / gearbox oil etc).
Normally a fire warning requires both detection loops to sense a fire to prevent false warnings (or loss of signal from both loops simultaneously) but it's quite acceptable to dispatch with one loop inoperative, at which point the remaining loop can signal a fire warning independently.
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I suspect this incident only made international news because of the airline.
If you read Aviation Herald avherald.com/ you'll see that shutdowns and precautionary landings for fire indications in engines or cargo bays are pretty regular.
This month's AAIB bulletin includes one involving warnings of smoke in the hold of a FlyBe Dash 8 from Southampton to Belfast.
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) but it's quite acceptable to dispatch
>> with one loop inoperative, at which point the remaining loop can signal a fire warning
>> independently.
>>
How long would it be deemed acceptable to carry that fault?
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>> ) but it's quite acceptable to dispatch
>> >> with one loop inoperative, at which point the remaining loop can signal a fire
>> warning
>> >> independently.
>> >>
>>
>> How long would it be deemed acceptable to carry that fault?
>>
10 days, typically.
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>> 10 days, typically.
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Longer than I thought, do the two cover the same area? I've only seen them where the two cover different areas for the same engine.
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Run in parallel I should think otherwise they wouldn't trigger at the same time.
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Possibly but the engines are large, I suppose you could loop them a large distance. I've not seen inside the larger engines so I don't know if the layout would allow such a design.
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A deeper read of the manual says that the loops run in parallel with independent sensing elements throughout engine core, pylon, and fan cowl. More complicated than it looked on first glance.
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>> A deeper read of the manual says that the loops run in parallel with independent
>> sensing elements throughout engine core, pylon, and fan cowl. More complicated than it looked on
>> first glance.
Thanks.
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>> A deeper read of the manual says that the loops run in parallel with independent
>> sensing elements throughout engine core, pylon, and fan cowl. More complicated than it looked on first glance.
>>
I thought it might be something similar.
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The eldest arrived in Auckland this evening, travelling on an a380, A330 and a Dreamliner.
Don't rely on Flight Radar to check progress. The Dreamliner disappeared over the Tazman Sea for an hour or so giving me kittens!
Last edited by: zippy on Fri 10 Jul 15 at 22:13
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>> The eldest arrived in Auckland this evening, travelling on an a380, A330 and a Dreamliner.
>>
>>
>> Don't rely on Flight Radar to check progress. The Dreamliner disappeared over the Tazman Sea
>> for an hour or so giving me kittens!
>>
No ADS B receivers with internet connection at sea!
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It's not only out at sea that you can lose a Flightradar24 tracked flight. When I was in Parga checking flights (as you do)... I could see a plane and then it vanished. And the next. etc. I assume nobody had an ADS B receiver running the software close enough so they vanished.
Last week I spotted a plane approaching Manchester and thought I'd look it up on Flightradar24... I could see which flight it was but it 'landed' according to Flightradar someway to one side of Manchester airport. So it's not 100% accurate when it is receiving data.
The flight I mention as it happens was on an odd approach which is why I looked it up. From the sound of the plane it had not long taken off and it was circling around to land. You don't normally see planes coming in that way I thought. That's because this plane was coming from Liverpool Airport.... a diverted plane because of the thunderstorms.
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Cheap / Reliable Flights - smokie
