bmi Gold

Have just been offered £2000 as a contribution to a flight to SYD 17/11 returning LHR on 26/11. Can't find a *A C fare for under £3000, which is the max I can afford...

Anyone got any clever ideas?

Would an ex-somewhere fare be cheaper, or RTW?

All help gratefully received - thought I was going to be able to book in C, but now might be forced back to Y.

Thanks for any help.

AJLondon

Two tickets might be the solution.

LON-BKK-LON in Business class is available for £ 1927 on TG (from expedia.co.uk) on those dates.

Buy BKK-SYD-BKK separately. EK has a Business fare of about £ 1200, while CX, TG etc are available for about £1700 on zuji.com. Local TAs would have even cheaper business fares.

If these are still too steep, then you could always buy the J ticket upto BKK and buy an economy for BKK-SYD-BKK. (Economy is around £400 for BKK-SYD-BKK.)

Or even consider WT+ (premium economy) on BA for BKK-SYD-BKK. exBKK fares to SYD in T class are really competitive.

harryhv

Check Austrian Airlines on Opodo.de or kelkoo, or thru your TA. They are winding up their Australia service.

Incidentally £2000 would get you a return SYD-LHR-SYD in C on a number of airlines - Thai, Virgin, Malaysia, Brunei...

Guy Betsy

Learn from one thing... don't depart from UK.

From EU fares are cheaper. You just have to get the add-on seperately.

From VIE-SYD return.
SQ : GBP 2657 + tax. Book in J class. 6 month ticket

From ZRH-SYD return.
SQ: GBP 2422 + tax. Book in D class. 1 month ticket.
SQ: GBP 2507 + tax. Book in J class. 90 day ticket.

From ROM-SYD return.
SQ: GBP 2057 + tax. Book in D class. 12 month ticket. ^
SQ: GBP 2412 + tax. Book in J class. 12 month ticket.

All tickets above may be issued by SQ anywhere in Europe or any European based TA.
===========================================
Or if you really want to live it up....

From CAI-SYD return.
SQ: GBP 1931 + tax. Book in C class. 12 month ticket
SQ: GBP 2585 + tax. FIRST CLASS -A-. 12 month ticket.

NickB

If you can leave a day earlier and return a day later: OS LHR-SYD out on 16/11 and returning on 27/11 for £2187.10 all in available from airline network (www.airline-network.co.uk) and probably other consolidators too.

Guy Betsy

That's a great deal... ! ^

As OS has their new Business Class seats now too!

bmi Gold

Thank you all very much for suggestions so far! But I think I need more help...

Unfortunately I can't get availabilty online for the SQ ROM-SYD fares which Guy Betsy talks about, nor for the OS fares mentioned by NickB.

I might have to take up AJLondon's option to travel part way in C to BKK, but then do the second leg in Y.

Please could someone also explain to me whether I can use local Thai TAs for cheaper tickets, or would I need to live in Thailand for that?

Thanks again.

Guy Betsy

No you don't. You can get the Thai fares from any local TA there. But why the hassle?

PS - In order to take advantage of the SQ fare from FCO, all sectors must be confirmed , ie no waitlisting allowed. For the dates that you want, there is no Business class seat available on the SIN-SYD and the return on 26th NOV, there are no seats on the FCO flight. Can you be more flexible?

Your problem with the OS fare from LHR too is because there is no availability in J class (the booking class) from VIE to SYD. You don't have to book through the abovementioned TA. It is a published fare so any TA or OS ticket agent can issue the ticket in UK. Problem is finding the space.

RE: OS fare from LHR
It has to do with the booking class.
For the GBP 2090 fare, you must book in J class.
Pay a little more for D class, and it's GBP 2610
And more for C class, and it's GBP 3350.

Problem is the OS is full from 17NOV onwards even in C class to SYD.

bmi Gold

Could be a bit flexible - can't leave any earlier though... Could always come back a bit later, but only 12 hrs or so, otherwise would have to be earlier. Guess I can't do SIN-LHR-FCO on the return leg?

Is there anywhere I can look up these seat availabilities myself without having the kit available to a TA?

Thanks.


PS Thought the bit about the Thai TAs was that they would be cheaper than booking it from UK. Am I wrong?

NickB

according to ITA, on your chosen dates:

ex-HEL: £2630
out: SK9421+OS1
in: TG996+SK972+SK6621

ex-FCO: £2882
out: SQ365+SQ221 (C class)
in: SQ220+SQ366 (D class)

ex-BRU: £2882
out:OS358+OS1
in:OS2+351

ex-ARN: £2894
out: OS318+OS1
in: OS2+OS311

Guy Betsy

From UK & Europe, it is cheaper to buy the ticket thru to Australia/NZ than to break up and book tickets to Thailand and another from there onwards.

Alternatively, you may try CX with a fare of GBP 2217 from LHR.
https://www.cathaypacific.com/cpa/en...6&WAemail=HOME

SQ also has a special fare of GBP 2875 from LHR if you don't want the hassle.
http://www.singaporeair.com/saa/en_U...ares/index.jsp

Remember, it is the SIN-SYD that is having seat availability problems. Even with 4 flights a day, premium classes are running full almost every day!

Bjornstrom

You pay £3000 for a CRWSTAR ex-Sweden. If you have the time - why not visit a few nice places on the way home? 29.000 miles and 24 flights / 15 stopovers available.

Example:
ARN-FRA-SIN-SYD-AKL-RAR-PPT-LAX-MIA-FRA-LHR-(ARN)

^

Flying Lawyer

Good advise ^

BUT: Avoid SQ from CAI to SIN. They use worn out 777 equipment with a F class no dime better than old LH C-Class and you have to leave the plane during the stop in Dubai. This one is not really a deal.

2035

If the problem flights are SIN-SYD or VIE-SYD, how about looking for availablity to MEL or BNE on the cheaper fares (Open Jaw), and getting a cheap MEL/BNE - SYD ? You can normally get MEL/BNE - SYD for A$90 or so.

bmi Gold

Thanks all.

In the end - I think it cannot be done for under £3000 which is the absolute limit of my budget.

Seems I am going to have to fly EK. Y to DXB and then C from there. Bargain at £1200, but means bmi Gold becomes bmi Silver

Ho hum.