Flights to Australia

lippy11

Hey!
Booking our flights to Australia in the next week or two and I've just been checking flight prices at the moment through e-travel.
Seem to have an option of flying with Etihad, Singapore Airlines or Cathay Pacific.
Does anyone have any experience flying with any of these?
I've read a bit about Etihad not being up to standard? I know peoples opionion vary so maybe anybody who has flew to Aus recently would be able to give some advise.
Thanks

Kmc123

Flying to Sydney with Etihad on December 2nd, believe they are meant to be good. Try gohop.ie for flights, they seem to be the cheapest fairs by what iv seen! Where you heading to OP?

lippy11

Thanks, just checked out gohop.ie, e-travel seem to be slightly cheaper. We're heading for Sydney or Melbourne.. Still 50/50 on both, making our decision soon enough so we can get our flights booked!!
Less than 4 weeks until your travels, exciting times ahead!! Best of luck

Kmc123

lippy11 wrote: »

Thanks, just checked out gohop.ie, e-travel seem to be slightly cheaper.

must have forgot to check out that website! I know cannot wait, you too, hope you decide on a good spot!

sponge_bob

was looking at flights myself this morning for the new year and e-travel is quoting 80euros cheaper for the exact same flight cork-perth than skyscanner, which i allways had assumed was quoting the cheapest fares. and with 5 people travelling thats a handy 400euros right there.

lippy11

Yea I know the difference too sponge bob.
I was looking at flights from Dublin-Sydney for February.
Every penney counts!!

irishejit

I flew with Cathay to Brisbane in September and I can't speak highly enough of them.

Food was lovely, any amount of free drink and a huge selection of in-flight movies and music.

If i'd one small issue it's that the meal service runs 2 hours after take off, and then 2 hours before landing. On a 12 hr flight that leaves quite a space between meals although you can get snacks like small sandwiches crisps etc.

lippy11

Very helpful reply, thank you .
How you finding Brisbane?

woodzie

I flew to oz two years ago with Singapore airlines on the A380 and I can't speak highly enough of them. I was in economy and couldn't believe the service we got. Having said that emirates are starting flights from Dublin in January so if your going around then checkout their website. I'd check Etihads website too as I was looking at flights for may next year and they're both cheaper on their own website than on sites such as ebookers.

lippy11

woodzie wrote: »

Having said that emirates are starting flights from Dublin in January so if your going around then checkout their website. QUOTE]

Cheers Woodzie!
Just checked out Emirates website...
Over 300 euro dearer than e-travel :O! Needless to say I won't be booking with them!! :P

woodzie

lippy11 wrote: »

woodzie wrote: »

Having said that emirates are starting flights from Dublin in January so if your going around then checkout their website. QUOTE]

Cheers Woodzie!
Just checked out Emirates website...
Over 300 euro dearer than e-travel :O! Needless to say I won't be booking with them!! :P

That's pretty crap. Only advantage of going with etihad or emirates is that you only have one stop compared to at least two with other airlines. I checked flights for may to Sydney with etihad and they are costing €898 which is pretty good I think.

lippy11

Yes, one stop is the advantage!!
All the one's I have checked for mid February to Sydney through e-travel.ie have all been just under and just over 700 euro, really good prices I think! Here's hoping they stay at that price for another week and I'll be happy

karl bracken

One thing i didnt look into was frequent flyer points. I would definately look into it and sort it out because Ireland to Oz would get you a lot.
For Qantas you can join for free once your not Australian or from NZ.

irishejit

lippy11 wrote: »

Very helpful reply, thank you .
How you finding Brisbane?

Was only over for a holiday mores the pity! Really enjoyed the city though, very relaxed atmosphere compared to some of the cities I've been to.

If you prefer a bit of a quieter life theres some lovely medium sized towns just south of the Gold Coast, and you're not a massive drive away from Brisbane at the same time

Theimprover

I booked flights last week with ethiad, dub>brisbane with 2 stopovers in singapore and dubai on the way back, €950 all in and if you become a member with ethiad you get an extra 5kg in luggage.
I booked with heffernan travel as i have a friend that works there, if i was going direct with no stopover i could have booked it on there own site for €914, emirates was €918 on there own site, cut out the middle man and go book directly with the airlines own site.
From what i have been hearing is that ethiad on the best out there atm.

crushproof

Theimprover wrote: »

I booked flights last week with ethiad, dub>brisbane with 2 stopovers in singapore and dubai on the way back, €950 all in and if you become a member with ethiad you get an extra 5kg in luggage.
I booked with heffernan travel as i have a friend that works there, if i was going direct with no stopover i could have booked it on there own site for €914, emirates was €918 on there own site, cut out the middle man and go book directly with the airlines own site.
From what i have been hearing is that ethiad on the best out there atm.

€950 return?! Wow, nice! Roughly what dates if you don't mind me asking?
Looking at going in Feb and the best I can find ~€700 one way.

Theimprover

crushproof wrote: »

€950 return?! Wow, nice! Roughly what dates if you don't mind me asking?
Looking at going in Feb and the best I can find ~€700 one way.

Ya return, flying out in March, check out the ethiad site

jank

Mods, can we get a sticky for flights as it seems to be croping up weekly.

lippy11

Theimprover wrote: »

Ya return, flying out in March, check out the ethiad site

Wow, that is a great price for return flights, going to check out the Etihad website now.

And yea good idea Jank on the sticky, gives people a specific are to share their thoughts and experiences on flights, airlines etc!

irishh_bob

lippy11 wrote: »

Theimprover wrote: »

Ya return, flying out in March, check out the ethiad site

Wow, that is a great price for return flights, going to check out the Etihad website now.

And yea good idea Jank on the sticky, gives people a specific are to share their thoughts and experiences on flights, airlines etc!

For long haul flights, it's cheaper to book through an agent, prices on the airline sites are more expensive in general

lippy11

irishh_bob wrote: »

For long haul flights, it's cheaper to book through an agent, prices on the airline sites are more expensive in general

I think your right, I've been comparing most prices from e-travel against the airline websites this morning and e-travel seem to be cheaper by about 20-30 euro. Not much I know!

sponge_bob

irishh_bob wrote: »

For long haul flights, it's cheaper to book through an agent, prices on the airline sites are more expensive in general

lippy11 wrote: »

I think your right, I've been comparing most prices from e-travel against the airline websites this morning and e-travel seem to be cheaper by about 20-30 euro. Not much I know!

i concur.
been checking this morning and return flights for 3 adults and 2 kids from cork-perth mid march on e-travel 1,020 a noggin, while the main airline sites cheapest quote is a whopping 1,152 a noggin:eek:

schemingbohemia

Having flown with both Etihad and Cathay, i'd say they're much of a muchness, both very good. It's a good while since I flew Cathay and they've probably improved their in-flight entertainment since. Etihads in-flight entertainment was superb, so many films to choose from!

That allied to just one stop (with usually just a 2-hour break) means I'd keep chosing them, especially given their prices seem to be very competitive. Though Emirates could be good for the same reasons when they start in the New Year.

irishh_bob

im going to nz for a few weeks early in the new year , have done a lot of research based on price and customer service + flight itinerry

etihad are by far the cheapest of any airline flying to that part of the world

thier by far the most modern fleet and according to skytrax have the most modern and wide ranging entertainment system

cutomer service isnt rated as high as the likes of singapore but gets a decent score none the less

one drawback i would see however is the uneven break up of the journey , dublin to abu dhabi is only seven hours where as the second leg to australia is a mamoth fourteen hours unless your going to perth , the likes of singapore or malaysian bring you there in two more or less evenly balanced legs

lippy11

From my research I can get flights with Cathay Pacific for 664, Singapore Airlines for 678 and Etihad for 672 (dearer on their website). Both Singapre and Cathay have two stopovers and yea Etihad has one in Abu Dhabi.

I have read some great reviews about Singapore Airlines and some not so great about Eithad, mainly relating to their customer service.
I think I'm swaying more towards Singapore.

I came across a handy site earlier too, seatguru.com, it gives you a great plan of seating arrangements on each aircraft! Very handy I thought.

schemingbohemia

yeah seatguru is great, usually when I'm going to Oz I want to get there and back as quickly as possible so having 1 2-hour layover is best for me. Second leg there is always a killer but I'd rather that than hanging around for ages in Singapore (though it is a better airport than abu dhabi) just to have 2 more even length flights.

I've never had any problems with customer service on Etihad, always found the attendants fine.

lippy11

I don't think the stopovers are too bad, 1hr45 wait in Heathrow to Singapore and then I think 2hr05 in Singapore for flight to Sydney.. Not too long, although when the time comes I might find that an eternity !!

You sound like you've clocked up a fair amount of air miles, thanks for your help

Could go with Etihad yet !

CatFromHue

irishh_bob wrote: »

one drawback i would see however is the uneven break up of the journey , dublin to abu dhabi is only seven hours where as the second leg to australia is a mamoth fourteen hours unless your going to perth , the likes of singapore or malaysian bring you there in two more or less evenly balanced legs

That mighten be so bad. You could try and stay awake until the 14 hour flight and then hopefully you'd be able to have a good long sleep on that.

Diar

Kmc123 wrote: »

Flying to Sydney with Etihad on December 2nd, believe they are meant to be good. Try gohop.ie for flights, they seem to be the cheapest fairs by what iv seen! Where you heading to OP?

I went on this flight. Very good airline and was very happy with the service. you have access to a touch screen that you can have a choice of watching over 50 film or over 100 tv shows.

Mykal23

Have flown Ethiad and found them fine. Make sure you minimise the legs ie if your going to Brisbane make sure it doesn't go to Sydney and then Brisbane as this adds hours to the trip.

sponge_bob

Theimprover wrote: »

I booked flights last week with ethiad, dub>brisbane with 2 stopovers in singapore and dubai on the way back, €950 all in and if you become a member with ethiad you get an extra 5kg in luggage.
I booked with heffernan travel as i have a friend that works there, if i was going direct with no stopover i could have booked it on there own site for €914, emirates was €918 on there own site, cut out the middle man and go book directly with the airlines own site.
From what i have been hearing is that ethiad on the best out there atm.

just checked heffernans travel in cork, i presume this is the same crowd that you booked with?
flying cork-perth return on the 1/3/2012 and i can ship the whole family out for an average of 945euros a head (4 adults and 1 child).

Theimprover

sponge_bob wrote: »

Theimprover wrote: »

I booked flights last week with ethiad, dub>brisbane with 2 stopovers in singapore and dubai on the way back, €950 all in and if you become a member with ethiad you get an extra 5kg in luggage.
I booked with heffernan travel as i have a friend that works there, if i was going direct with no stopover i could have booked it on there own site for €914, emirates was €918 on there own site, cut out the middle man and go book directly with the airlines own site.
From what i have been hearing is that ethiad on the best out there atm.

just checked heffernans travel in cork, i presume this is the same crowd that you booked with?
flying cork-perth return on the 1/3/2012 and i can ship the whole family out for an average of 945euros a head (4 adults and 1 child).

Ya that's them, the wifes friend works for them, if you were willing to from Dublin you would get it for about 910 with eithiad

lippy11

Hey guys,

Just checking out baggage allowances this morning... Singapore Airlines you are allowed 20KG and then an extra $22 per excess kilo :O!!!
Whilst with Etihad you are allowed 23KG or 28 KG when you become an Etihad member *scrambling to become an Etihad member*!!!

I think this could really influence my decision whether to fly with Singapore or Etihad... I was just below 15KG flying with Ryanair during the summer and that was just for a week haha!!

sponge_bob

Theimprover wrote: »

Ya that's them, the wifes friend works for them, if you were willing to from Dublin you would get it for about 910 with eithiad

changed my departure airport to dublin and emirates will do it for 798euros a head:eek: with one stopover in dubai, using skyscanners.
on the way back its an overnight stopover in dubai, does anyone know if the airline pays for your hotel and transfers?
overnighted with JAL once in tokyo and the airline paid for it then just wondering if it is still the same now.

Theimprover

sponge_bob wrote: »

changed my departure airport to dublin and emirates will do it for 798euros a head:eek: with one stopover in dubai, using skyscanners.
on the way back its an overnight stopover in dubai, does anyone know if the airline pays for your hotel and transfers?
overnighted with JAL once in tokyo and the airline paid for it then just wondering if it is still the same now.

wow, thats cheap, emirates and ethiad seem to be droping down in price every week, they are in big copmetition with each other, i went with heffernans as 2 of the lads could only pay a deposit so it suited better and we got free transfers from abu dabai to dubai which is about 75min, but you got a great deal there, did you book it so?

sponge_bob

Theimprover wrote: »

wow, thats cheap, emirates and ethiad seem to be droping down in price every week, they are in big copmetition with each other, i went with heffernans as 2 of the lads could only pay a deposit so it suited better and we got free transfers from abu dabai to dubai which is about 75min, but you got a great deal there, did you book it so?

no didn't book anything yet as iam still unsure of exact dates, (still waiting for the visa to be granted).
iam astonished tbh, cos when i started checking flights for march a few mths back the cheapest i could get was €5,100 for the whole lot of us and that price seemed to dissapear after a week or two, and then it was allways in around €5,500. just started checking flights again there in the last week or two and now i can get the whole lot of us over and back for €3,912, a saving of €1,600 on what i was expecting to pay:eek:

one other thing i did notice is that most sites class childern as between 2-11, but skyscanner class childern as between 2-12. so our kids will be 13, 11, and 9 at the time of travel and by booking with skyscanner we will have 2 kids fares in stead of 1 by going through other sites which is about €200 of a difference.

mairt86

hey there,
Not sure if this is the proper place for this but here goes. Goin headin to australia in feburary for a working holiday and maybe more but just wondering should i book the flights before xmas or after.....im goin the 1st week of feburary but im thinkin there might be some sales on after xmas....at the minute the cheapest i can get on skyscanner is 660 with ethiad with one stop.
Thanks guys

lippy11

mairt86 wrote: »

hey there,
Not sure if this is the proper place for this but here goes. Goin headin to australia in feburary for a working holiday and maybe more but just wondering should i book the flights before xmas or after.....im goin the 1st week of feburary but im thinkin there might be some sales on after xmas....at the minute the cheapest i can get on skyscanner is 660 with ethiad with one stop.
Thanks guys

Hey Mairt86,

I'm going to Aus the first week in March and booked my flights last Friday.. I was thinking of waiting until January too, thinking there maybe sales on at that time.. But I didn't want to take the chance to be honest! So I also went with Etihad!
It's personal choice really but I'd hate to go back and check in January to see that they have gone up a couple of hundred! But in saying that, I'll be raging if I check flights in January to see that there cheaper.. But what can you do!!
Good luck

mairt86

Well to be honest i wouldnt say there goina be too much cheaper....but not really sure what to do...they mightnt be much more expensive either hopefully!!

irishh_bob

thats not how it works with flights , in nearly all cases ,the longer you book in advance , the cheaper the flight , that said , the time of year is just as important , no matter if you were to book a year in advance , it would always be more expensive to fly to australia in the second half of december and all of january than it would be in june or even march , the middle of winter in ireland is peak season in australia

coco_lola

Just to add my two cents, I'm flying with China Airlines on 16th Dec, returning on 9th Jan (going for a holiday). Being Christmas time, they were the cheapest flights around at only 1300euro (most flights were about 2300). I haven't flown with them before but I looked at their site and the services look great, airplane looks comfy and roomy (electronically controlled adjustable seats), on board entertainment and food looks good. I fly from London to Taipei (Taiwan), and onto Sydney from there. I'll let you know how they were once I fly

castie

For anyone looking at the frequent flyer stuff be sure to check the class you fly.
Airlines will restrict the percentage of miles/points you get if any depending on this.

I would think its likely these cheap fares will come with no miles.

crushproof

Flights for Emirates Dublin - Sydney return are only €895 at the moment, very very cheap.

gustafo

coco_lola wrote: »

Just to add my two cents, I'm flying with China Airlines on 16th Dec, returning on 9th Jan (going for a holiday). Being Christmas time, they were the cheapest flights around at only 1300euro (most flights were about 2300). I haven't flown with them before but I looked at their site and the services look great, airplane looks comfy and roomy (electronically controlled adjustable seats), on board entertainment and food looks good. I fly from London to Taipei (Taiwan), and onto Sydney from there. I'll let you know how they were once I fly

by the reviews out there about china air they seem to be pretty bad flying with them, make sure you have some sleeping tablets as the entertainment is supposed to be terrible.

digiman

Has anyone flown with Lufthansa before? I was thinking of getting them from Frankfurt to Singapore and then Singapore Airlines to Sydney. They have wifi on board the Frankfurt leg and both airlines use an A380 with power sockets in the seat. It would be Aer Lingus to Frankfurt.

On the baggage allowance, are you restricted to who ever gives you the least? Like say Aer Lingus allow 20Kg, but the others are 30Kg, does that mean that Aer Lingus will charge you for the extra 10Kg, even if you book all the flights through Lufthansa?