Asia - London to Chennai to S.E Asia to New Zealand - Best way to book tickets?

Heylo folks, hope everyone is flying high and having a great time in here. My first post on Flyer Talk. Am heading on a working holiday to New Zealand from London but would like to travel through India and S.E Asia on my way there. Looking at four to six months before I actually get to somewhere in New Zealand.

Simply put: What would be the general rule of thumb I should be following when booking flights?

Should I look for an alliance of airlines and book some sort of "x number of flights on any of y number of airlines within z number of weeks/months" ticket or should I book individual flights as I go? Low cost versus paying more for a regular airline but get the perks as the air miles add up?

Newbie here so will work on learning the jargon used in these forums.

Any advice much appreciated. If not spoon fed advice, given a pointer towards the right direction, am happy to dig around and do the research myself,.. and share what I find here :-)

Thanks muchly!

GLG

HI & welcome to FT.. Are you part of any Frequent Flyer program already..?? There are multiple options for the route that you plan to take..Both Star Alliance and One world would work in getting you from London - India (via a stop in Asia, depending on which you choose)

If your on a budget, then Air Asia is a good bet for flights within Asia...

Hi QuarryKing, Thank You for your email. I am not a privilege member yet.. I do have a "Privilege Number" from Jet Airways but no miles :D (only signed up online y'see). Am thinking of taking Jet Airways to India from London when I move there August end.

A couple of months later I plan to start my South East Asia holiday... pretty flexible but thought I could use the Jet Miles (or get more Jet Miles perhaps) by flying to Bangkok, for example, on Jet Airways and taking the Discovery Pass from Bangkok Air from there. Alternatively I could take the Discovery Pass ticket from Bangalore to Bangkok for 200 USD and then a couple of local flights if need be. Apparently one can use six coupons as part of the Discovery Pass.

Then there is the New Zealand hop from South East Asia at the end of my journeys to think about.

The Bangkok airpass for 200$ seems like a good deal. And Jetairways also on the London - Mumbai sector would also be good. You could also do Mumbai - Bangkok as well on jet airways if i'm not mistaken..

True that about Jet Airways on the London-Mumbai route. Might just do that. However from Chennai to BKK, Thai Air is offerinf really cheap deals at under £100/$150. Think I will use the Discovery Pass for Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang, Vientiane to Hanoi and Seam Reap to BKK sectrs (within S.E Asia during my travels).

Vietnam Airlines will lauch autumn promotion soon, you might want to consider.

Return ticket, below price are all in price,

Destination From HN From Hochiminh City
Bangkok 172 174
Rangoon 242 244
Singapore 177 169
Kuala Lumpur 193 185
Jakarta NA 353
Phom Penh/ Siemreap 247 199
Vientian/ Luang Prabang 212 214
Shanghai 321 323
Guangzhou 245 267
Beijing/ Chengdu 301/289 NA
Hong Kong 252 254
Kaohsiung 360 362
Taipei 360 362
Pussan 397 390
Seoul 395 392
Fukoka 593 595
Nagoya 562 564
Osaka 564 566
Tokyo 563 565
Melbourne 790 792
Sydney 810 812
Frankfurt 946 952
Moscow 820 818
Pari 912 919
London 900 898

Nice one Haivan. Thanks! Will deffo look into them now. Was planning to take a motorcycle ride from Nha Trang to Saigon and then bus it into Cambodia and fly out of Seam Reap, however if the flights turn out to be really cheap, then might consider returning to Saigon to fly out of there instead.

Ohh forgot to mention, the promotion will be started from 15 Aug

Nice one Haivan. Thanks! Will deffo look into them now. Was planning to take a motorcycle ride from Nha Trang to Saigon and then bus it into Cambodia and fly out of Seam Reap, however if the flights turn out to be really cheap, then might consider returning to Saigon to fly out of there instead.

I did a similar route some years back, although didn't ride Nha Trang - Saigon, but flew that sector as there some dirt cheap fares back then when Jetstar Pacific was plying that route. Then did the bus, Saigon - Phnom Penh. Lots of companies do the route and so shouldn't be a problem.