Flights to Melbourne, What route is best?

Old Apr 9, 2018, 11:13 am
  #1  
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Flights to Melbourne, What route is best?

Hi

I am looking to go to Melbourne in November this year. I am looking for good J fares and dont mind going ex-Eu. Im struggling to find good BA FARES OR EVEN OW Fares, SQ have some good fares just over 2.1k return in J but want to fly OW Ideally.

What routes have people taken, did you get a good price? Any reviews?

All help as ever is gladly appreciated
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Old Apr 9, 2018, 11:15 am
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MEL is consistently 30 flight from SYD. If you can get a decent OW to SYD exEU grab that
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Old Apr 9, 2018, 11:18 am
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CAI-MEL on Oman Air / Malaysian right now for $1500 with dates over xmas. Not that many tier points, but crazy good price!

Look at EK flights too, these can be booked at QF codeshares.
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Old Apr 9, 2018, 11:19 am
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QR from ARN or OSL, but also had BA from OSL via (LHR obv) then SIN or HKG (HKG-MEL in CX usually, SIN-MEL QF or SIN-SYD-MEL BA/QF) for 2200-2400. Sometimes CX is similar too, but also via LHR. Going through HKG the lounges are excellent with CX and QF.

Bear in mind if you can get SYD, BNE or ADL, the domestic flight to MEL can be booked fairly cheaply separately (but only in Y, C fares domestically in Australia are often 3-6x Y). Cheap QR can be found to ADL, SYD is harder to get good ex.EU J fares.
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Old Apr 9, 2018, 11:23 am
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Don't be afraid of the SYD-MEL leg if you book oneworld and do the last leg as SYD-MEL: Qantas runs so many flights between the east coast cities and their irregular operations are very efficient. If you're delayed you just go to a transfer desk and Qantas staff will happily just issue you BPs for the next flight you can make and move you.

This was my experience booking through BA, flying with a random smattering of BA/CX/QF codeshares.
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Old Apr 9, 2018, 11:34 am
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I wouldn't prioritise BA on this route, frankly. There's absolutely no reason to as you're totally spoiled for choice as a oneworld flier looking to fly to MEL. My order of preference in J would be:

- QR into MEL
- CX into MEL
- QF into MEL
- QR into SYD
- CX into SYD
- QF/BA into SYD
- QR/CX into ADL, QR into CBR

At least one of the above will be on sale ex-EU in the next month or two, just a case of biding your time if you can't find anything attractive currently.

There's also:
i) the QF LHR via PER option, but imagine this will never be the cheap option so excluding this
ii) JL who have a superb product, but they're seldom near the cheapest and SYD and MEL both depart from NRT which makes a connection from LHR or CDG more difficult (could keep an eye out for Ex-HEL fares though)
iii) EK flights sold under QF codes if you'd like to try out EK J and still earn TPs

Last edited by lost_in_translation; Apr 9, 2018 at 11:40 am
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Old Apr 9, 2018, 11:49 am
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Originally Posted by jerub
Don't be afraid of the SYD-MEL leg if you book oneworld and do the last leg as SYD-MEL: Qantas runs so many flights between the east coast cities and their irregular operations are very efficient. If you're delayed you just go to a transfer desk and Qantas staff will happily just issue you BPs for the next flight you can make and move you.
I would echo this. There can't be many routes on which there is at some times of the day one QF flight every 15 minutes.

The last time that I had a big delay was when MEL was fogged in in the morning. Once flights eventually started boarding, I took a punt on one that looked like it was about ready to depart, went up to the gate and asked if I could be moved to it. A few minutes later, as boarding of confirmed passengers finished, I was on.
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Old Apr 9, 2018, 12:30 pm
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Originally Posted by tomparskate
Hi

I am looking to go to Melbourne in November this year. I am looking for good J fares and dont mind going ex-Eu. Im struggling to find good BA FARES OR EVEN OW Fares, SQ have some good fares just over 2.1k return in J but want to fly OW Ideally.

What routes have people taken, did you get a good price? Any reviews?

All help as ever is gladly appreciated
This, just for the sheer hell of it. Easy B2B at GOT on the way out and you get to enjoy the superb Qantas food, wine, seat and service.

Then take a quick hop over to MEL from SYD. Weirdly, having MEL as the destination almost doubles the fare.
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Old Apr 9, 2018, 12:35 pm
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My go to route is BA OSL-LHR-SIN-SYD-MEL, in fact I'll be taking my fourth of the year mid May. I use a TA to book J and use a GUF to get F. I typically take BA11 to SIN and BA15 to SYD. This maximises the TP's and also gets me on the A380 on the long leg.

The average price I pay is about GBP2.3K.......I should say that BA works for me because of BAEC. I earned 8 GUF1's and a GUF2 in my last membership year as well as three jokers. These extras allow me to use points for rewards on my additional trips as well as booking J and flying F pretty much wherever BA flies. (with an F cabin.)

The BA J product is not the best but the seat is one of the better lie flat beds in my experience. If you can snag a rear facing bulkhead window seat it is private without the need to stumble over the aisle pax.

With all of that said the JL J product is my preferred option, but that tends to be the reverse - as in MEL-NRT-HEL-LHR. Also like CX J .....apart from the very narrow footwells.

The QF A380 J seat is widely known as the "droop bed" because after 7 or so years in service it is not quite as 180 degrees flat as I would like it. It is also not very private either. (I am a QF refugee having been P1 for three years.) (edit to add the 787 seat is not bad at all......but has a narrow footwell too!!)

UL are about to start flying from CMB to MEL and there newer A330's have pretty much the same J seat as CX. (If only the footwells were wider!!!) Not sure about the prices from Europe but some very competitive pricing has been advertised going the other way.

Last edited by TonyHancock; Apr 9, 2018 at 12:50 pm Reason: Clarify QF A380 v 787
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Old Apr 9, 2018, 12:53 pm
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Originally Posted by choosethedrew
This, just for the sheer hell of it. Easy B2B at GOT on the way out and you get to enjoy the superb Qantas food, wine, seat and service.

Then take a quick hop over to MEL from SYD. Weirdly, having MEL as the destination almost doubles the fare.
Bear in mind you wont get a SYD-MEL flight that late, you would have to stay overnight at SYD airport.
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Old Apr 9, 2018, 12:58 pm
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Originally Posted by libertyuk
Bear in mind you wont get a SYD-MEL flight that late, you would have to stay overnight at SYD airport.
I think there is a PER - SYD flight you can take that gets in around 9 p.m. but that obviously means a tight connection in PER.
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Old Apr 9, 2018, 1:12 pm
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I paid under 2k for LHR to MEL with Malaysian last year. It’s not QR but it was fine and there’s also no faffing with exEU. Think they are using the new a350 now.
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Old Apr 9, 2018, 1:35 pm
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Originally Posted by dpark74
I paid under 2k for LHR to MEL with Malaysian last year. Its not QR but it was fine and theres also no faffing with exEU. Think they are using the new a350 now.
Now I would be keen to try MH, I was Uber impressed with QR but dont think it justifies another 1k haha!
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Old Apr 9, 2018, 1:48 pm
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You could use miles rather than pay for an internal. I recently flew SYD-MEL in LH J for just 9000 miles and 10. An absolute bargain! The QF J seat on teh A330 is amazingly good, beating CW hands down. A shame the flight wasn't longer!
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Old Apr 9, 2018, 2:19 pm
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Just be aware that ITA Matrix is showing quite a lot of CX availability from LHR to MEL in I class (circa 3K) that doesn't seem to be there. I'm looking at some flights for late April for a meeting (out 24th back 28th) and ITA showing lots of 3,100 options on CX but the cheapest CX web or phone availability is more like 5.5K. It's been a frustrating day!
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