I'm beginning to look at a trip back to the UK next July/August and wondering what general advice I can pick the forum's collective brains for to try and get the best deal!

- is any particular day of the week/weekend likely to be cheaper/more expensive?
- what are the more expensive/cheaper times of year to travel from Aus? Or from UK for that matter, for the benefit of those over there still.
- any other little hints to try and minimise cost?

I'm a bit scared by the prospect of trying to save up around $10,000 for the 4 of us, but I guess that's just the way it is....

Let's collect some good info here and then we can tuck it all over in FAQ for future reference :P

Went to that holiday expo last Sunday at the convention centre, it was all Flight Centre shops. Anyway we enquired about flights. the cheapest from Adelaide was Cathay, but on the way out it goes via Melbourne and adds about a 4 to 5 hours to the trip, hence its cheap, next were Japan, again a detour, then Scandinavian again a detour, then Singapore and the other big boys. But the catch is taxes and in some cases you have to book land travel of some sort. Already we are looking ourselves for 2007 and getting a feel. Look at the Virgin atlantic site from Sydney, great prices but theres the Sydney trip to add on, but if you do book your international flight, then go on virgin blues happy hour you could get a $79 return to sydney

Stevo

I'm looking to coming back to the Uk next Aug ( if I ever get to Adelaide that is !) & have been checking out prices & it seems to cost a lot more to fly from Oz to the UK than it does the other way round :(

I will keep a close eye on this post :D

Might be worth a check of Britannia charters out of Sydney and Perth too - I know they're doing them for $899 return (plus about $300 taxes) over the Christmas period this year. Also worth registering with www.bestflights.com.au - they do a regular e-mail round-up of all the special offers etc - I think there's some called 'Early Bird Deals' around at the moment.

One of my parents' friends uses a Diners Club card for everything and gets loads of airmiles on that - I mean EVERYTHING (including car purchases!) - but I've heard they may be cutting back on that, and a lot of places now won't take Diners. Might be worth looking into though (wonder if you can buy a house with Diners??!)

There was also talk of deregulation making it possible to buy a Oz-Uk-Oz flight from a UK travel agent, rather than having to buy it in the originating country, so could be worth checking the normal Expedia type places in the UK.

Good luck!

Diane

Hi Elaine

I'm still in the UK and therefore only have experience of UK based companies. I have used a company called Lee's Travel who are based in London and specialise in travel to South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand. They have always quoted me the best price. It may be worthwhile you dropping them an email to enquire further. To give you an idea of "peak" fare times, have a look at the link below - hopefully it will give you some indication (these are 2005 prices), in addition you will have airport taxes. Hope this is of help. :D

http://www.leestravel.com/fares.htm#oz

Jenny

I've flown back and forth with Cathay twice and although you go to Melbourne it's not that bad. The maximum time I have spent in Tullamarine was just 2 hours, and the first time back to Britain the stopover was 6 hours at Hong Kong each way, but last year my stopover was one hour and twenty minutes, which is a lot shorter than you get on most flights through Singapore or Kuala Lumpur. Also on the way back Cathay fly into Adelaide first, then onto Melbourne so you save an hour that way.

Could you get an open return ticket on your way out, then a one-way flight from UK back to Oz? (if that makes sense :huh: ) Might work out cheaper

In Sept 2004 I had to make an emergency dash to the UK. Flight Centre was advertising return tickets from $1600 at the time. I had to book and leave within 24 hours. My flight, including the various add on taxes of almost $400, cost around $2800 ish all up.

There are actually very few 'cheap' seats on each aircraft. Even cattle class is divided into varying tickets prices and the cheaper ones go very quickly.

My mum's credit card spontaneously combusted when I charged my flight cost to it.

Even if you don't think you will fly back to the UK very often, it is still worth joining the airline loyalty clubs such as Singapore Airlines' free Krisflyer scheme. From what I can gather, if you fly 3 return trips you will get a single for free! Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

clop

I would certainly agree with Clop's comment above. It is always worth joining even if you never get to use them, thing is you never know what life will bring and it does no harm.

On our first trip I asked the travel agent about joining Krisflyer "No point" was her reply. This year we joined and now it looks like we will have to validate, making it 3 return trips in 3 years. As Clop says, we would then have got our final flight to Oz free. Bit bugged, but there are worse things in life. ;)

For what it is worth, I've heard it is best to ask for fares departing on a Tuesday - you are more likely to get the cheapest as Tuesdays are the least popular day to fly...

You could always find a long lost relative that works for Virgin - our friend's sister is senior cabin crew and you would not believe the bargain flights they have had around the world in first class!!

Andrea

Thanks for all the advice guys - will be checking it ALL out and trying to find the best deal!

Andrea, I know what you mean about airline staff discounts - my Uncle used to work for Danair at Gatwick till he retired a few years back, he gets incredibly good deals, free or nearly so, whenever he wants to go anywhere. I'm green with envy :rolleyes:

Just trying a selection of dates at random throughout the year, it seems a Feb/March trip to England would be cheapest at around $1300 return - if you want to miss the Oz summer in order to catch the UK winter, and all in term time too :lol:

I've just come across this website which may be of use Elaine.

http://www.bestflights.com.au/