Need help - Getting to Melbourne in small hops

Fionn101

Hmm,

It seems my Mom isn't able to take a one-stop flight to Melbourne for a family reunion so now I'm looking for alternatives.

I'm thinking of flying her and my dad to frankfurt , and from there I'm looking for suggestions as to how to plan the rest of the trip , by the way , we are travelling next week !!!

Is there a carrier that will do Frankfurt - Tokyo - Melbourne ?? I'm thinking this is the best way to go .

Due to illness they will spend a night in frankfurt and tokyo if possible, just to give time to recoup.
I've been lookng on the JAL website and Qantas , but I can't get the Qantas schedule for Frankfurt -> Melbourne as I don't read German ,doh .

If you have any advice it would be greatly appreciated, nice one.

Fionn

Ozeire

Well Fionn

I went to Melb in July of last year and flew Emirates and was really pleased . I used australianholidays to arrange the whole thing and even though i traveled non stop i could have stoped over a few places if i wanted .

I hope i'm wrong but for me to get my flights i had to book a few months in advance . But its worth a try going to the above website . Also found Gohop good .

Regards

Al

therecklessone

Fionn101 wrote:

Is there a carrier that will do Frankfurt - Tokyo - Melbourne ?? I'm thinking this is the best way to go .

Due to illness they will spend a night in frankfurt and tokyo if possible, just to give time to recoup.
I've been lookng on the JAL website and Qantas , but I can't get the Qantas schedule for Frankfurt -> Melbourne as I don't read German ,doh .

Have you looked at Lufthansa as an option?

In the meantime, Quantas fly from Frankfurt to Melbourne with a stop-off in Singapore. Could be worth looking at.

I would discount Tokyo straight away, unless my geography is failing me I think Fra-Tok and then Tok-Mel is longer than Fra-Sin + Sin-Mel.

I recommend you contact Trailfinders first thing tomorrow morning. Check www.trailfinders.ie for contact details. Explain to them you're constrained by your mother's medical complications, and ask them to limit the length of the legs of your journey if possible.

You will find yourselves paying through the nose at this late stage though.

Best of luck.

Borzoi

therecklessone wrote:

In the meantime, Quantas fly from Frankfurt to Melbourne with a stop-off in Singapore. Could be worth looking at.
.

Actually they'll do a Dublin-F'furt-Singapore-Melbourne ticket too. Did it myself last year. Should be able to do it with stopovers in any or all locations though I did it without. Both the Mel - Sing and Sing - F'furt are about 12 hours duration.

Best of

Darren

I've done the Australia run from London many times with many different airlines on many different routes.

I work for an airline hence a lot of my travel is done via standbys so sometimes some unusual routings are required due to heavy loads and embargoes.

If I was to recommend a route to you and money is not too much of an option I would go on Emirates from LHR-DXB (7ish hours), Then either Emirates or Singapore airlines DXB-SIN (7 hours) and then there is a deluge of airlines operating from SIN-MEL(7 hours).

Good luck.

Bluehair

Darren wrote:

I've done the Australia run from London many times with many different airlines on many different routes.

I work for an airline hence a lot of my travel is done via standbys so sometimes some unusual routings are required due to heavy loads and embargoes.

If I was to recommend a route to you and money is not too much of an option I would go on Emirates from LHR-DXB (7ish hours), Then either Emirates or Singapore airlines DXB-SIN (7 hours) and then there is a deluge of airlines operating from SIN-MEL(7 hours).

Good luck.

If you're looking for 'shorter' flights for medical reasons there isn't a dramatic difference between what your planning a a straight Dublin nonstop to LA(Aer Lingus), take a break for a week and then non-stop onto Melbourne(Qantas).

Just two flights and a sunny break in between would be much easier to handle than four flights and the stress of all that traveling.

therecklessone is bang on though I would guess that booking this late in the day you're going to be lucky to get away with less than 2k euro each (a quick search on expedia was closer to 3k). If you have that kind of means then go for it but with more foresight that kind of money isn't far short of business class with some airlines! (booked waaaay in advance)

Good luck!

Darren

Bluehair wrote:

If you're looking for 'shorter' flights for medical reasons there isn't a dramatic difference between what your planning a a straight Dublin nonstop to LA(Aer Lingus), take a break for a week and then non-stop onto Melbourne(Qantas).

Just two flights and a sunny break in between would be much easier to handle than four flights and the stress of all that traveling.

therecklessone is bang on though I would guess that booking this late in the day you're going to be lucky to get away with less than 2k euro each (a quick search on expedia was closer to 3k). If you have that kind of means then go for it but with more foresight that kind of money isn't far short of business class with some airlines! (booked waaaay in advance)

Good luck!

I agree. My favourite route is LHR-SIN (12 hrs) and then only a 5 hour hop to Perth but he did ask for short hops.

Eurorunner

Apologies for getting away from the core topic, but just a quick question for darren.

I work for an airline hence a lot of my travel is done via standbys so sometimes some unusual routings are required due to heavy loads and embargoes.

Is there any scope for standby flights for regular punters on longhaul flights or are those days gone?

Darren

Not as far as I am aware but when I look up some flights commercial customers do from time to time appear on a waitlist which is a non confirmed seat. I have no idea if someone can book a standby.

Bluehair

Eurorunner wrote:

Is there any scope for standby flights for regular punters on longhaul flights or are those days gone?

As someone who also works in the industry I can tell you this is a non-runner from the start.

What Darren describes is where a customer already has a seat on one flight but wants to try and change to another (already full) flight. In rare occasions for very expensive tickets (read biz and above) they may be allowed to 'waitlist' for the other flight in the hope others will cancel and free up some availability.

The only way joe punter can get standby tickets is through 'buddy' passes of airline employees. (which increasingly are not much of a saving and a damn stressful way to travel anyway, I'm doing most of my travel full-fare these days).

Eurorunner

Thanks for the clarification. I thought as much but better to ask than not know for sure.