Who to fly with....

[Guest Paula H]

Is it best to book in advance or last minute?

 

Any one recommend any airlines?

[Guest Tina]

i think it all depends when you are planning to fly.. i have always booked in advance and checked closer to the date of departure and have'nt yet found my flight cheaper.. but some may have..

 

we have flown with singapore and emirates and both were fantastic...

[soo_the_panda]

Are we talking UK-Australia or domestic in Australia? I'd say as far in advance as possible for long haul. To me, all the airlines are pretty similar. I had major stresses with Malaysian recently but they are often cheapest and would still (somewhat reluctantly!) fly with them again if it meant saving $500 per person. I always favour airlines that fly direct to Adelaide - it drives me mad to leave Adelaide at 11am for example, then have a stop in Sydney or Melbourne - meaning you can leave home at 8.30am but not leave Australia til 5pm - I'd rather fly out direct and get on my way - but again for me price is the main factor. Best Flights website is my favourite for comparing fares. Malaysian are often cheapest, but I've also seen good specials with Singapore, Emirates, BA and Qantas. Also - consider if you want a stopover - I favour Cathay as I love Hong Kong so happy to fly them and have a couple of days there. I also like Singapore airport so would rather a few hours there where I could swim in the rooftop pool than deadly boring Kuala Lumpar airport.

 

Last minute is rarely cheaper, as the cheaper tier seats usually sell out quickly during some kind of 'early bird' sale.

[ajford]

I would say book in advance where possible the flight centre told us that when there is more seats available they can be cheaper. We enquired 3 months in front and the price was around 2600 for 2 adults and 2 children,that was flying in August. Due to the house sale we couldn't book the tickets until the last min, when we phoned the flight centre back 3 months later the prices had gone up over 50%.

If there is a few of you, you may get the seats together as there will be more available.

[Guest Adelaide_bound]

Some ideas here as to when to buy - ie a Monday night, about 8 weeks before you want to fly is apparently the best time to buy, and so on -

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/22/airline-ticket-eight-week-rule

 

TBH - our flight on Valentine's day next year was £1200 (for both of us) in Aug, in Oct it started to go up, but £4 or something, so I paniced and we booked them, and now they are £1208 with something like 9 weeks to go, so not really sure that holds very true, and not sure what availabilty would be like nearer the time, especially on a popular time/date/day etc.

 

We really wanted to sit upstairs as well, (we're on the double decker plane) so we could sit together as just us two, and got the very last two seats upstairs when we booked, so where you want to sit might factor in as well?

 

That's probably not hugely helpful as I guess my answer (imho) would be 'it doesn't matter hugely' - the only thing I would say though is we found the price was up to several hundred £ cheaper by going directly to SIA than through a cheap flights scanner website, the price they gave us by going direct couldn't be beaten by anyone and their customer service so far has been so so top notch I am singing their praises at the moment - will tell you the final verdict after we fly I guess (however, by all accounts they are pretty amazing in the air too, so fingers crossed)

[sailorrae]

Singapore wins every time , for 1 reason only - they fly direct into Adelaide from Singapore , & are a really a very good airline also . Stopover in Singapore is worth the visit , plus factor is you arrive in Adelaide fresh rather than being jet-lagged for the first few days , pay a bit extra but worth it with SAI. Good luck

[Guest guest3462]

I agree with SIA too. They also offer a free emigrating passenger luggage upgrade to 40kg per person if you arrange in advance which is perfect when u first get here and have nothing until your shipping gets here!!!

[AussieRob]

I think booking in advance is the best, but it really comes down to looking at the specials that are around, they all seem to rotate with their offers, the best deals I've seen usually seem 4 - 6 months in advance and are loosely based around Spring and Autumn.

 

I would second though getting a flight directly into Adelaide, went to the UK a few months ago via Sydney, and had 2 hours at Sydney after landing before our next flight home, we made it, only just, but it was stressful, and I could have killed some of the ground crew with their lax attitude. I guess after flying for 20 plus hours you've had enough.

 

Direct airlines into Adelaide are: Singapore (probably the best), Malaysian and Cathy Pacific, plus Qantas do a flight too, haven't done the UK flight with Qantas, but flew with them to the US and they were magnificent.

 

it can all really depend if your lucky or unlucky.... We flew to the UK with Virgin Atlantic recently, only ever heard good things, but I would never go with them again, just a bad experience.

[Diane]

.... plus Qantas do a flight too, haven't done the UK flight with Qantas, but flew with them to the US and they were magnificent.......

 

As long as the Qantas chief doesn't decided to ground all his aircraft again on a whim....

[snifter]

Book in advance, fly direct via Singapore with either Qantas or Singapore airlines. We ways get a night flight from Heathrow and have a few hours on the ground at Changing airport then board a other flight direct to Adelaide.

 

You only get 40kg baggage allowance if it's a permanent invalidated visa. And then only a few airlines do this now.

[jimmyskinner]

Book in advance, fly direct via Singapore with either Qantas or Singapore airlines. We ways get a night flight from Heathrow and have a few hours on the ground at Changing airport then board a other flight direct to Adelaide.

 

You only get 40kg baggage allowance if it's a permanent invalidated visa. And then only a few airlines do this now.

We got 40kg baggage with Qantas on a 457 temp visa 3 months ago. Heathrow - Singapore -Adelaide they were spot on no complaints.

[Guest BrianS]

Echo what's been said about Singapore being good, recently went and came back with virgin and apart from the flying to Sydney first bit they were good, can't beat direct though, however virgin allow an extra 21kg for 40 quid at the airport, no questions asked myself and partner came back with 5 bags totalling over 100 kgs

[al and meez]

We booked way in advance with Singapore 2 adults and 2 children for £2300 plus 40kg baggage which is the cheapest we could find. Have flown SIA before and they are excellent but also flown Quantas who were equally as good. I also found booking in advance much cheaper for car hire http://www.auto-europe.co.uk/car.cfm and also got a good deal for a short term furnished rental booking 6mths in advance but this obviously depends on your position.

[Guest BackToAdelaide]

I'm a big fan of Singapore Airlines and always fly with them. Not only do they fly direct to Adelaide but the customer service is so friendly and the food is amazingly tasty for airline food. Singapore Changi Airport is also a great place to spend a few hours whilst waiting for your connecting flight as there's so much to do. As has been mentioned, if you are migrating on a permanent visa you will be entitled to an additional 40kg baggage allowance. We weren't in that situation but I wrote them a very nice email after our tickets had been booked and we managed to get 30kg each. Mind you, I think that was helped by us both being Krisflyer members and I've used them every year for the past 7 years. I've also found you get the best prices with them by going directly to their website. If you manage to find them on Expedia or anywhere else it's always much more expensive.

[minty]

I have booked with Singapore and also found that the prices with them direct were the cheapest.

[Guest Barney Rubble]

I think booking in advance is the best, but it really comes down to looking at the specials that are around, they all seem to rotate with their offers, the best deals I've seen usually seem 4 - 6 months in advance and are loosely based around Spring and Autumn.

 

I would second though getting a flight directly into Adelaide, went to the UK a few months ago via Sydney, and had 2 hours at Sydney after landing before our next flight home, we made it, only just, but it was stressful, and I could have killed some of the ground crew with their lax attitude. I guess after flying for 20 plus hours you've had enough.

 

Direct airlines into Adelaide are: Singapore (probably the best), Malaysian and Cathy Pacific, plus Qantas do a flight too, haven't done the UK flight with Qantas, but flew with them to the US and they were magnificent.

 

it can all really depend if your lucky or unlucky.... We flew to the UK with Virgin Atlantic recently, only ever heard good things, but I would never go with them again, just a bad experience.[/QUOTE]

 

Must of been on the same flight as me ! Just about lost my patience with them when it came to providing a service.

 

We all know it is going to put a stress on the body spending 20+ hours in a pressurised tin can but service

 

 

We chose them not for cost but more for convenience and timing for events we needed to gwet to but would think twice next time

 

Also the duty free con on taking it off the plane in transit and not being allowed to bring it back on, flyers beware !

[Tizzer]

Is it best to book in advance or last minute?

 

Any one recommend any airlines?

 

Singapore is the only airline I would touch

 

Tizzer

[trevorpayne]

We flew with Singapore airlines they were fantastic .

We had a 13hr stop over in Singapore, so we booked into the T3 hotel at the airport. I think it cost around £100 for the 3 of us, great to get your head down on a bed and you also get use of the outdoor pool, which kills plenty of time if you have kids.

[Guest johnosmad]

I have flow with Singapore, Qantas, BA and Malaysia and would highly reccomend Singapore for customer service and baggage allowance on initial entry but I prefer Malaysia at the moment as you get consistently the cheapest price, good customer service and a cheap stop over in Kuala Lumpur at little extra cost if you book your own hotel. Plus the air hostesses are hot

[Guest Rachael Reeve]

We are going on Malaysia in Feb Its cost us £4090 for 6 of us. Pleased to hear they are ok.

[Guest johnosmad]

We are going on Malaysia in Feb Its cost us £4090 for 6 of us. Pleased to hear they are ok.

 

Pretty similar to what I paid, bout £1390 for 2 of us if I remember correct,

[Guest the Tews]

Hi. We flew both Swiss air and Cathay - both were very good although cathays seats were not very comfortable, and whatever you do DON'T stop in ZURICH, absolute nightmare and awful place, but hong kong lovely as is singapore.

[jtct]

We'd always gone with Singapore as they were brilliant and we had some great stopovers there too.

 

We did Malaysia once and they were fine too. For our one-way trip last year we could only get a flight with Cathay and although the flights and service were fine we were disappointed with Hong Kong - not long enough to see anything of the city but far too long in a very boring (compared to Singapore) airport - few decent shops to browse or reasonable places to eat - perhaps we just arrived at the wrong time of day/night! They were the only other option for the approx date we required who were also offering 40K allowance.