good stopover places via aus?

zweton

Hi Guys,

Can anyone recommend good stopover places via australia?
Can be anywhere, going in March and just doing a bit of research.:)

Cheers

Stinicker

Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur & Singapore are good places to break the journey as they are about half between Sydney and London, Dubai or Abu Dhabi is only breaking the Journey about a third of the way there and there is not much in either place that would interest me anyway.

Bangkok is the best bet if your younger and up for anything, Singapore if your older wealthier and more boring, can't comment of KL as I haven't been there.

irishh_bob

Stinicker wrote: »

Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur & Singapore are good places to break the journey as they are about half between Sydney and London, Dubai or Abu Dhabi is only breaking the Journey about a third of the way there and there is not much in either place that would interest me anyway.

Bangkok is the best bet if your younger and up for anything, Singapore if your older wealthier and more boring, can't comment of KL as I haven't been there.

good points raised here , while the airline eithad is the cheapest carrier by a long shot most of the time , making a stop only seven hours in on a 24 hour trip seems a bit pointless , last time i was in that part of the world ( 1998 ) , i stopped in bangkok , great city but the only drawback now is that thai airways have become a very expensive airline , perhaps qantas make stops in bangkok however , malaysian airlines are reasonabley priced and they say kuala lumpur is a pretty good city for a few days , its cheaper than bangkok from what i hear and a fraction of the cost of singapore or hong kong

Stinicker

irishh_bob wrote: »

good points raised here , while the airline eithad is the cheapest carrier by a long shot most of the time , making a stop only seven hours in on a 24 hour trip seems a bit pointless , last time i was in that part of the world ( 1998 ) , i stopped in bangkok , great city but the only drawback now is that thai airways have become a very expensive airline , perhaps qantas make stops in bangkok however , malaysian airlines are reasonabley priced and they say kuala lumpur is a pretty good city for a few days , its cheaper than bangkok from what i hear and a fraction of the cost of singapore or hong kong

You can fly British Airways and Qantas via Bangkok, the only drawback is that it will most likely be a 747-400 which ok on Qantas but horrid with BA, no airline as yet have begun operating the A380 on the Kangaroo route via Bangkok as Qantas and Singapore Airlines route their A380's through Singapore. Emirates fly non-stop from Dubai to

Next year though Malaysian Airlines will have the A380 and Thai Airways near the end of 2012 so there will be more choice for those who who wish to take the A380 on the longhaul, although both airlines will only use the A380 on their core European legs eg. Heathrow or Frankfurt to Bangkok or KL until they get more aircraft delivered.

If it were me Bangkok would win for the stop-over hands down especially when you will have a non-stop A380 service in a years time. For the cheapest flight Etihad or Emirates will probably win and Emirates seem much cheaper than Etihad from Dublin now on some routes, flying through the UK will become insanely expensive from January as the UK Government are trying their darndest to kill off aviation over there it seems with about 60% of every air fare from there soon to be tax.

irishh_bob

Stinicker wrote: »

You can fly British Airways and Qantas via Bangkok, the only drawback is that it will most likely be a 747-400 which ok on Qantas but horrid with BA, no airline as yet have begun operating the A380 on the Kangaroo route via Bangkok as Qantas and Singapore Airlines route their A380's through Singapore. Emirates fly non-stop from Dubai to

Next year though Malaysian Airlines will have the A380 and Thai Airways near the end of 2012 so there will be more choice for those who who wish to take the A380 on the longhaul, although both airlines will only use the A380 on their core European legs eg. Heathrow or Frankfurt to Bangkok or KL until they get more aircraft delivered.

If it were me Bangkok would win for the stop-over hands down especially when you will have a non-stop A380 service in a years time. For the cheapest flight Etihad or Emirates will probably win and Emirates seem much cheaper than Etihad from Dublin now on some routes, flying through the UK will become insanely expensive from January as the UK Government are trying their darndest to kill off aviation over there it seems with about 60% of every air fare from there soon to be tax.

which is better , emirates or etihad , anytime i select a flight to australia , etihad always comes up cheapest , emirates is nowhere to be seen

basillarkin

zweton wrote: »

Hi Guys,

Can anyone recommend good stopover places via australia?
Can be anywhere, going in March and just doing a bit of research.:)

Cheers

I have been over and back to Australia on a number of occasions, I found Singapore Airlines the best but they can be quiet expenisve.

I have never gone through Thailand but did fly with British Airways to Bejing from there I took I travelled throgh China and ended up in Hong Kong. I then flew with QANTAS to Sydney. If you have time and money call in to Usit and get a 12 stopper, thats what I purchased at the time. China is class, I would goback there again in a second if I could afford it.

Stinicker

irishh_bob wrote: »

which is better , emirates or etihad , anytime i select a flight to australia , etihad always comes up cheapest , emirates is nowhere to be seen

Haven't flown with Emirates myself yet but have heard very good things about them, I have flown with Etihad from London to Bangkok via Abu Dhabi and they were very good. Both airlines will be competing from Dublin from January and the advantage Emirates has over Etihad is the A380, which is roomier and quite nice to fly on. However if you were going to fly Emirates you'd be as well to fly from London so you'd have the A380 all the way rather than their older A330 from Dublin. Emirates also give a 30KG baggage allowance which is good for those emigrating.

Not having flown both airlines I can't make a fair comparison however everything I have read usually puts Emirates ahead of Etihad and they are well over a hundred euro cheaper than Etihad on some of their Dublin fares to Asia, wheras Etihad were usually considered the cheaper airline in the past.

mandrake04

Stinicker wrote: »

Haven't flown with Emirates myself yet but have heard very good things about them, I have flown with Etihad from London to Bangkok via Abu Dhabi and they were very good. Both airlines will be competing from Dublin from January and the advantage Emirates has over Etihad is the A380, which is roomier and quite nice to fly on. However if you were going to fly Emirates you'd be as well to fly from London so you'd have the A380 all the way rather than their older A330 from Dublin. Emirates also give a 30KG baggage allowance which is good for those emigrating.

Not having flown both airlines I can't make a fair comparison however everything I have read usually puts Emirates ahead of Etihad and they are well over a hundred euro cheaper than Etihad on some of their Dublin fares to Asia, wheras Etihad were usually considered the cheaper airline in the past.

30kgs is the standard.

If you are emigrating from Ireland I think its 40kg but you have to phone them prior to turning up at the Airport. You have to have an unused Permanent visa.

UK passport holders get 50Kg

http://www.emirates.com/ch/italian/ibe/CUGO/moving_planet/additional_baggage_allowance.aspx

jank

Well first of all what do want to do on this stop over. It is like saying to someone "Recommend me something nice to eat" How long is a peice of string?

Anyway, one shouldnt get too hung up on the A380 vs others planes as there are advantages of flying on a non A380 route. That being that there is likely to be more empty seats on those flights where you can get an empty seat or even row of seats to yourself. The A380 flights (have flown lots of times seperately with Qantas, SA, Emirates) are always PACKED! Very nice planes though!

In terms of airlines I would go

1) Singapore Airlines
2)Emirates (close run thing)
3)Air New Zealand (Great staff and nice planes)
4)Qantas
...
..

9999)BA (uugh, never again!)

Havent flown Eithad.
If it were me I would pick Emirates or if the price is right Singapore Airlines. Eithad do offer very good fares sometimes though, think I will be flying back to Ireland with them next year.

jank

mandrake04 wrote: »

30kgs is the standard.

If you are emigrating from Ireland I think its 40kg but you have to phone them prior to turning up at the Airport. You have to have an unused Permanent visa.

UK passport holders get 50Kg

http://www.emirates.com/ch/italian/ibe/CUGO/moving_planet/additional_baggage_allowance.aspx

30Kg is the standard for Emirates but others are not so generous. Qantas is 23KG for example

mandrake04

jank wrote: »

30Kg is the standard for Emirates but others are not so generous. Qantas is 23KG for example

Yeah Emirates seem the best when it comes to the standard, most other are like you say only 23Kg

Its crap for a holiday, but like Stinicker mentioned if you are emigrating (on a PR visa) most carriers offer more baggage allowance. Just google Emigrating Baggage allowance plenty of threads and information on it. Although most carriers don't mention on their websites it seems you can get at least 40kg per person if you phone around.

Stinicker

mandrake04 wrote: »

Yeah its crap for a holiday, but like Stinicker mentioned if you are emigrating (on a PR visa) most carriers offer more baggage allowance. Just google Emigrating Baggage allowance plenty of threads and information on it. Although most carriers don't mention on their websites it seems you can get at least 40kg per person if you phone around.

Emirates have jacked up their fares by over €300 from Dublin today, whether it is a glitch or response to the ongoing sinking Euro I don't know, Etihad are now out ahead in the race for low fares, which are now a thing of the past with Airfare inflation running at around 15% this year.

cailineile

Hi there, noticed that none of you guys have mentioned Qatar,

Top class even in cattle class, flew with them from brussels to melb last week, top notch. Quick stopover in Doha,
bru-doha- 6 hrs,
doha, 1 hr
doha-melb just under 14 hours...
Def the way to go and the most direct.

When you stay stopover, do you want to spend x amount of time there, or what is the plan/reason why?

mandrake04

Stinicker wrote: »

Emirates have jacked up their fares by over €300 from Dublin today, whether it is a glitch or response to the ongoing sinking Euro I don't know, Etihad are now out ahead in the race for low fares, which are now a thing of the past with Airfare inflation running at around 15% this year.

Etihad 72hr Sale

http://www.etihadairways.com/sites/Etihad/ie/en/home/pages/sales.aspx

Theimprover

I am doing a stopover in Singapore next March, Dub>Singapore>Brisbane>Dublin €918 all in with Ethiad

irishh_bob

Theimprover wrote: »

I am doing a stopover in Singapore next March, Dub>Singapore>Brisbane>Dublin €918 all in with Ethiad

didnt know etihad stop in singapore , used to be dublin - abu dhabi - wherever in oz

Theimprover

irishh_bob wrote: »

Theimprover wrote: »

I am doing a stopover in Singapore next March, Dub>Singapore>Brisbane>Dublin €918 all in with Ethiad

didnt know etihad stop in singapore , used to be dublin - abu dhabi - wherever in oz

Sorry, Dub-Abu-Singapore-Brisbane-Dublin

Stinicker

irishh_bob wrote: »

didnt know etihad stop in singapore , used to be dublin - abu dhabi - wherever in oz

They only stop-over in Singapore when going from Abu-Dhabi to Brisbane via Singapore. Presumably the demand for a Brisbane - Abu Dhabi flight on its own would not justify the long flight wheras with the Singapore leg it helps fill the plane. It also allows Etihad to use the smaller A330's on the Singapore-Brisbane leg.

irishh_bob

Stinicker wrote: »

They only stop-over in Singapore when going from Abu-Dhabi to Brisbane via Singapore. Presumably the demand for a Brisbane - Abu Dhabi flight on its own would not justify the long flight wheras with the Singapore leg it helps fill the plane. It also allows Etihad to use the smaller A330's on the Singapore-Brisbane leg.

im going to new zealand for 18 days early in the new year , etihad have the best prices but i fear a direct flight would drive me crazy and stopping in abu dhabi for a day is a waste of time as its only seven hours in , as such i think il either go with singapore or malaysian and stop for a day or two in south east asia , long time since ive been in either oz or nz but i remember thinking at the time , its a trip you would only be able for every ten years such is the epic journey :mad:

Stinicker

irishh_bob wrote: »

im going to new zealand for 18 days early in the new year , etihad have the best prices but i fear a direct flight would drive me crazy and stopping in abu dhabi for a day is a waste of time as its only seven hours in , as such i think il either go with singapore or malaysian and stop for a day or two in south east asia , long time since ive been in either oz or nz but i remember thinking at the time , its a trip you would only be able for every ten years such is the epic journey :mad:

Eithad do not fly direct to New Zealand, but you can buy a ticket for eg. Dublin - Abu Dhabi - Sydney (all with Etihad) and then onwards to Auckland with Air New Zealand or Virgin Australia who have an agreement with Etihad.

Dublin - Abu Dhabi 7hrs 35mins

Layover 2hrs 55mins

Abu Dhabi - Sydney 14hrs 10mins

Layover 2hrs 20mins

Sydney to Auckland 3hrs 0mins

You are looking at a 30 hour journey if you went with Etihad all the way to Auckland, that would be pretty brutal even for the most seasoned of travellers, and if you live outside Dublin in Kerry or Donegal for example that could easily become a 38 - 40hour journey.

Best bet would fly longhaul for around 12hours and break the journey somewhere like Singapore, Bangkok or Los Angeles, rest there for a few days and continue onwards then to New Zealand.