Hi everybody, I've been lurking here for a while and have finally decided to create an account. I'm looking to travel PER-LHR/London area on the following dates:

Depart Perth between 6-10 December 2008
Depart London between 20-27 January 2009

I'd prefer QF, BA or SQ but I can get cheaper on other airlines. Is AF up to par with the other airlines? They're going cheap right now. I don't want TG as their safety record is apparently quite shocking...

Right now a QF fare is AU$2749 return (US$2555) and BA around about the same. SQ is slightly cheaper at AU$2666 (US$2478) and I would want to take their new A380 SIN-LHR. However, these prices are quite high and BI offers a AU$2110 (US$1961) PER-BWN-DXB-LHR (two stops, same as AF which goes PER-SIN on QF and SIN-CDG-LHR/LCY on AF). BI is on B767 and since these are slow the flight time is a bit more. Their aircraft also appear older, so if I have to I'd prefer to steer clear of BI.

I was told that there were specials in May, is this true? Does anyone have any predictions as to when I should book and what airline I should take? QF vs. BA vs. SQ vs. AF? Which is the best?

Thanks in advance.

Did I mention KLM was also flying for AU$2400?

Sales tend to occur about 2 months ahead, so the sales for the "Oct-Dec" low season are usually announced in August or September. But the real sale to watch for is Tiger Airways, if you can stomach it, to get to SIN and other points in SE Asia where they have genuine bargains. More info in the pages of FT

QF announced today they are putting fares up 3%

Have a look at Emirates

Predictions, no. Just observations and comments.

First of all, AF is certainly "up to par" even if lacking the elegance of airlines like SQ. For nontrivial savings, I wouldn't hesitate to fly them. BTW as is normal now a days, some of the "AF" flights are codeshares actually operated by others including Qantas.

Fares are difficult to predict. Understandably, the airlines will wait and see how sales go and only then announce discounts - if they feel the need, otherwise not.

Whether you decide to wait depends on the flexibility of your dates. For a normal trip, I would be willing to wait a little and see how the fares go. You should also know what a very good but realistic fare is, so you don't go on waiting further. Get some guidance from local travelers and agents. (I often travel a route where I know that for November $1150-$1200 would be very good and realistic. If I saw $1400, I would wait; at $1225 I'd be tempted to grab the available seats instead of waiting to save a few dollars.)

Other suggestions from personal experience: (1) Search for a city, not a specific airport (ie, LON instead of LHR; NYC instead of JFK; etc). You don't want to miss an occasional great fare just because it is for a different airport in the same area. (2) Don't rely on search engines alone; use them to short-list promising airlines and then check those airlines' websites as well, for any "web specials" and other fares not released to the outside world. Happens with some regularity.

Thanks for your replies. I think a reasonable fare a few years ago would have been AU$1900.

AF/KLM occasionally fly into LCY and this is cheaper sometimes, I agree. PER-SIN is a AF/QF codeshare (I fly QF all the time).

Thanks again for your help!