How do I judge what is a good business class fare?
Nov 10, 2018, 5:02 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2018
Posts: 30
How do I judge what is a good business class fare?
I am new to this forum, so thanks for your patience with a newcomer. I have recently experienced an increase in income and a desire to travel further afield as we can now afford to do so in comfort.
We are considering a trip from our home in New York to Australia next March and I started looking at fares. NY to Sydney has round trip 1-stop business class fares for $3900 per person on China Eastern, or $5100 on Etihad. I wish there was a non-stop but the distance appears to be too far. In any case, I am thinking to go with Etihad with a stop in Doha based on what seems to be their better reputation for quality cabins, food and service. How do I know if this is a good fare for this route? Right now this trip is about 5 months out. Is there any way to know when to time a purchase of business class tickets to get the best deal?
Thanks for any advice you might be able to offer.
We are considering a trip from our home in New York to Australia next March and I started looking at fares. NY to Sydney has round trip 1-stop business class fares for $3900 per person on China Eastern, or $5100 on Etihad. I wish there was a non-stop but the distance appears to be too far. In any case, I am thinking to go with Etihad with a stop in Doha based on what seems to be their better reputation for quality cabins, food and service. How do I know if this is a good fare for this route? Right now this trip is about 5 months out. Is there any way to know when to time a purchase of business class tickets to get the best deal?
Thanks for any advice you might be able to offer.
Nov 10, 2018, 6:29 pm
#2
Moderator: Delta SkyMiles, Luxury Hotels, TravelBuzz! and Italy
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 26,543
Welcome to Flyertalk, Vesalius
This is a tricky question and I believe that the best Forum is the Information Desk.
Please follow there...
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator
This is a tricky question and I believe that the best Forum is the Information Desk.
Please follow there...
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator
Nov 10, 2018, 6:45 pm
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: MEL CHC
Posts: 21,027
Vesalius Welcome to FT
Etihad Airways EY fly via home hub of Abu Dhabi, UAE
Qatar Airways QR fly via home hub of Doha, Qatar
Qatar & UAE are not on friendly terms these days
Middle east route Great Circle Mapper
NYC via USA west coast is a shorter trip.
Routes --->Great Circle Mapper
For Australia consider BNE SYD MEL and maybe even ADL or PER if you want to see that part on the country.
Airlines that fly USA/Canada to/from Australia (not from all airports to all airports)
I am new to this forum, so thanks for your patience with a newcomer. I have recently experienced an increase in income and a desire to travel further afield as we can now afford to do so in comfort.
We are considering a trip from our home in New York to Australia next March and I started looking at fares. NY to Sydney has round trip 1-stop business class fares for $3900 per person on China Eastern, or $5100 on Etihad. I wish there was a non-stop but the distance appears to be too far. In any case, I am thinking to go with Etihad with a stop in Doha based on what seems to be their better reputation for quality cabins, food and service. How do I know if this is a good fare for this route? Right now this trip is about 5 months out. Is there any way to know when to time a purchase of business class tickets to get the best deal?
Thanks for any advice you might be able to offer.
We are considering a trip from our home in New York to Australia next March and I started looking at fares. NY to Sydney has round trip 1-stop business class fares for $3900 per person on China Eastern, or $5100 on Etihad. I wish there was a non-stop but the distance appears to be too far. In any case, I am thinking to go with Etihad with a stop in Doha based on what seems to be their better reputation for quality cabins, food and service. How do I know if this is a good fare for this route? Right now this trip is about 5 months out. Is there any way to know when to time a purchase of business class tickets to get the best deal?
Thanks for any advice you might be able to offer.
Qatar Airways QR fly via home hub of Doha, Qatar
Qatar & UAE are not on friendly terms these days
Middle east route Great Circle Mapper
NYC via USA west coast is a shorter trip.
Routes --->Great Circle Mapper
For Australia consider BNE SYD MEL and maybe even ADL or PER if you want to see that part on the country.
Airlines that fly USA/Canada to/from Australia (not from all airports to all airports)
- American Airlines AA(LAX - SYD) [OneWorld Alliance] (AS partner)
- Air Canada AC (YVR – SYD BNE MEL) [Star Alliance]
- Air New Zealand NZ (LAX SFO IAH ORD YVR via AKL)[Star Alliance]
- Air Tahiti Nui TN (LAX via Tahiti. Last segments on codeshares) (AA & DL partner)
- Delta DL (LAX – SYD) (VA & AS partner) [Skyteam Alliance]
- Fiji Airways FJ (LAX SFO HNL – BNE SYD MEL ADL via Fiji) (QF, AA & AS partner)
- Hawaiian HA (HNL – BNE SYD) (AA & VA partner)
- Jetstar JQ (HNL – BNE SYD MEL)
- Qantas QF (LAX SFO JFK(via LAX) DFW HNL YVR*– SYD; LAX-BNE; LAX SFO-MEL) [OneWorld Alliance] (AS partner){* seasonal}
- United UA (LAX-MEL, LAX SFO IAH– SYD) [Star Alliance]
- Virgin Australia VA (LAX – BNE SYD MEL) (codeshares with AC*) (Delta & AC* partner) [*= some routes in 2017-18 link
Last edited by Mwenenzi; Nov 10, 2018 at 8:01 pm Reason: edir route map
Nov 10, 2018, 7:41 pm
#5
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Eastern_Airlines
Nov 11, 2018, 1:04 am
#6
Join Date: Apr 2017
Programs: Qatar, Turkish, Aeroflot
Posts: 546
I'd go with China Eastern - cheaper and China is FAR more interesting to stop off in than Abu Dhabi or Doha, both of them are mere plastic cities of nothingness in a giant sandbox. At least Shanghai has culture, history, etc.
Nov 11, 2018, 2:40 am
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2018
Posts: 30
We are thinking about visiting South Australia. Maybe Sydney, Melbourne, Tasmania and Elephant Island near Adelaide. I have a fun conference I would like to go to for a few days in Sydney, and my nephew is an expat working in Melbourne and we would like to visit.
Nov 11, 2018, 2:40 am
#8
Join Date: May 2017
Location: SIN
Programs: AS MVPG75k, AA Plat
Posts: 741
I am new to this forum, so thanks for your patience with a newcomer. I have recently experienced an increase in income and a desire to travel further afield as we can now afford to do so in comfort.
We are considering a trip from our home in New York to Australia next March and I started looking at fares. NY to Sydney has round trip 1-stop business class fares for $3900 per person on China Eastern, or $5100 on Etihad. I wish there was a non-stop but the distance appears to be too far. In any case, I am thinking to go with Etihad with a stop in Doha based on what seems to be their better reputation for quality cabins, food and service. How do I know if this is a good fare for this route? Right now this trip is about 5 months out. Is there any way to know when to time a purchase of business class tickets to get the best deal?
Thanks for any advice you might be able to offer.
We are considering a trip from our home in New York to Australia next March and I started looking at fares. NY to Sydney has round trip 1-stop business class fares for $3900 per person on China Eastern, or $5100 on Etihad. I wish there was a non-stop but the distance appears to be too far. In any case, I am thinking to go with Etihad with a stop in Doha based on what seems to be their better reputation for quality cabins, food and service. How do I know if this is a good fare for this route? Right now this trip is about 5 months out. Is there any way to know when to time a purchase of business class tickets to get the best deal?
Thanks for any advice you might be able to offer.
That being said, unfortunately for you, US to Australia has commanded high business class prices historically. You might want to look into repositioning to Canada (e.g. Toronto, Vancouver), Scandinavia (e.g. Gothenburg) or Italy in economy, and then fly onward to Australia on a cheaper business class ticket. Another way to get your cash outlay down would be buying Avianca LifeMiles for cash and redeeming those for business or even first class tickets.
Nov 11, 2018, 2:53 am
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2018
Posts: 30
We aren’t planning to stop over in the connecting city. We have been to China before and this trip is going to focus on Australia, as this will be our first time to visit. I am thinking China Eastern might be the way to go if the airline is safe and not full of smoke. Given the trip time of 20+ hours, having a flat bed is most important to us. Good food would be nice, but that is secondary and not worth paying much more. For this trip, the cost of the flight will be as much as the cost of a couple of weeks of travel.
Nov 11, 2018, 3:50 am
#10
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: MEL CHC
Posts: 21,027
<snip>
We are thinking about visiting South Australia. Maybe Sydney, Melbourne, Tasmania and Elephant Island near Adelaide. I have a fun conference I would like to go to for a few days in Sydney, and my nephew is an expat working in Melbourne and we would like to visit.
We are thinking about visiting South Australia. Maybe Sydney, Melbourne, Tasmania and Elephant Island near Adelaide. I have a fun conference I would like to go to for a few days in Sydney, and my nephew is an expat working in Melbourne and we would like to visit.
Air fares between the main cities can be reasonable. (Or not)
Australia is big. Great Circle Mapper
Elephant Island is near Antarctica (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_Island) ?
Maybe you mean Kangaroo Island. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangaroo_Island
However you are not be able to visit all those place in a couple of weeks.
Suggest you check out the cost on hotels, meals, rental cars & general transport in Australia. You may be surprised. However the exchange rate is moving in your favour.
Nov 11, 2018, 6:22 am
#12
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 3,383
There are sites like hopper/kayak that run their own prediction algorithms to tell you whether it's a good price
if you want hard data, get an expertflyer subscription and you can run your own historical regression (manually doing what hopper/kayak does)
if you want hard data, get an expertflyer subscription and you can run your own historical regression (manually doing what hopper/kayak does)
Nov 11, 2018, 7:47 am
#13
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: NYC
Posts: 9,124
Also consider the additional time spent in the air. I know people (though I am not one of them) who prefer the most direct route in Y or PE to save on additional flying and hassle (whcih adds up).China Eastern sounds like torture both ways.
Also worth checking is Fiji air from LAX, Hawaiian, and CX to CNS or PER.. Also check with a TA as online doesn't always give you the best fares.
Your land cost will be much more than the flights for a few weeks. I'd would be very unwise to spend your money on business class and do low budget once there.
The determining factor is how much budget you have, what the added comfort is, and how much will additional money once there improve your trip.
Also worth checking is Fiji air from LAX, Hawaiian, and CX to CNS or PER.. Also check with a TA as online doesn't always give you the best fares.
Your land cost will be much more than the flights for a few weeks. I'd would be very unwise to spend your money on business class and do low budget once there.
The determining factor is how much budget you have, what the added comfort is, and how much will additional money once there improve your trip.
Last edited by erik123; Nov 11, 2018 at 7:55 am
Nov 11, 2018, 8:01 am
#14
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2018
Posts: 30
I think you need to play around with Google Flights and some OTA aggregator like Momondo for at least two weeks to get the general sensing of prices. Everyone needs to develop their own price appetite as a rule of thumb in their head. For example for round trip itineraries, I don't look at anything more expensive than $2,400 (intercontinental between non-adjacent continents), $1,600 (intercontinental between adjacent continents) and $800 (intracontinental).
That being said, unfortunately for you, US to Australia has commanded high business class prices historically. You might want to look into repositioning to Canada (e.g. Toronto, Vancouver), Scandinavia (e.g. Gothenburg) or Italy in economy, and then fly onward to Australia on a cheaper business class ticket. Another way to get your cash outlay down would be buying Avianca LifeMiles for cash and redeeming those for business or even first class tickets.
That being said, unfortunately for you, US to Australia has commanded high business class prices historically. You might want to look into repositioning to Canada (e.g. Toronto, Vancouver), Scandinavia (e.g. Gothenburg) or Italy in economy, and then fly onward to Australia on a cheaper business class ticket. Another way to get your cash outlay down would be buying Avianca LifeMiles for cash and redeeming those for business or even first class tickets.
Momondo gave some interesting results. Thanks for that tip.
