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We’re planning what is probably going to be our last trip to Australia in October 2026; my body clock is taking longer and longer to recover after long haul travel. Getting older sucks!
We aim to fly into Sydney from LHR, then fly back from Cairns; almost certainly on a cash booking in business class. Arrival/Departure cities are preferred but not cast in stone.
Any advice on the optimum time to buy tickets? And the best airline?
@GillyDee – re airline, it’s a bit of a personal choice! I would definitely avoid BA because the flight timings are terrible, chucking you out in Sydney (the only BA gateway these days) around 6am after two overnights on the aircraft; no thanks. Added to which, the idea of almost 24hrs on a dirty BA aircraft with poor service and food is quite grim.
I go to Australia every other year and find Qatar works best in terms of timing and the overall good journey and its timings leave me without jet lag. Leave London early am, arrive Doha early evening, couple of hours to stretch your legs, then a super long flight which gives time to enjoy dinner and still have a long sleep, arrive late afternoon/early evening, have a nice dinner and go to bed. The Middle East feels like a much better stopover point than Asia.
In terms of timing, I usually book maybe nine or less months ahead ex-EU fiddling about with routings to get the best deal.
I’m sure you will be inundated with other suggestions!
@GillyDee, I sympathise! I am moving more and more towards daytime-only flying as I find this makes a big difference, especially when I often have a regional connection at the end of a long-haul flight, which tips it from being unpleasant to truly grim. With a destination as far as Australia (which we managed in economy 15 years ago, horrors), I think nowadays I’d stop over for at least a couple of days as near to half way as possible, get some sleep in a comfy bed, and continue on another day time flight.
I once tried a technique to minimise jet lag which involved fasting for 24 hours then eating your next meal in line with your destination. I managed 16 hours, half of which was sleeping, then ate my next meal on the plane en route to New Zealand. I don’t know if it worked or was psychosomatic, but it wasn’t the worst jet lag I’d ever had, even though it was the furthest I’d ever travelled.
Sleep aids are very much a personal preference, but on long overnight flights these days I take a small amount of Phenergan (which you can buy cheaply online) with a glass of red wine about 2 hours before I want to fall asleep. It doesn’t always work, however, especially if your seat isn’t comfortable (like old CW!) But I definitely aim for maximum sleep and don’t bother with F & B or IFE.
I can only share my own experience, which I have fond memories of.
CP T4 the night before, and then used the covered walkway to the Qatar check in desk. We had an early morning flight and arrived in Doha in the afternoon, where we then a couple hours in the lounge in Doha before our lengthy flight to Sydney. Spent a fair few hours at the Bar on board then had a few hours sleep before arriving early evening into Sydney. A quick wonder around Sydney Harbour, sleep for a few hours then wake up and start the day as normal.
I’d not forget that the old way to Oz was via the US. And for various reasons I think that direction routing makes a lot of sense to think about again.
If you work it backwards when finding flights ,- as the links to and from Oz to North America are the scarcer ones, and the links from UK or EU to and from US have many many options avilablec- I suspect you’ll be able to put together a trip that delivers you in relatively good condition at very reasonable cost. Particularly if at least part is done on miles vs cash.
Theŕe’s also TAM via South America but that’s not a volume option but if the flight in J and the underlying original airline was the same as their excellent trans-Tasman fligjt that I did then I’d do a quick check if via, say, SCL might work.
To fly from CNS without backtracking to SYD or BNE, there isn’t much choice: basically SQ. It would be possible to have the majority of flying time in “daytime” if that is what you want.
(CX isn’t flying to CNS this October, though perhaps they will next Oct.)
The problem with East Asia to Aus itineraries is that daytime flights require getting to the airport ridiculously early and landing very late, while on nighttime flights everyone else wants to spend the first 3 hours making a huge racket having “dinner” at 1-2am Aus time leaving no time to sleep.
I avoid transiting the US on principle (long before DJT even thought about running for office) but Canada could work, in fact I may do it on my next trip from Aus to the UK. Problem is the possible airlines are not great (AC, QF, NZ).
If not redeeming miles, best time to book I would say is around Feb-March, or if you want to push your luck there could possibly be better prices around May-June.
I’ve done Oz 3 or 4 times, with only the last visit in business (all that way in economy when you’re below 50 is a distant dream now).
My entry point is generally Perth, and I’ve always found flights that land mid afternoon/evening so adjusting to local time is easier. Sometimes I’ve stopped over en route, sometimes not.Connections via middle east work, also have a look at One World connections via Haneda, not sure on their timings.
+1 that Perth does make the transition easier (although direct flights from Cairns would only be about x3/wk I think?)
From many cycles of looking, I’d say that 9-12 months is often poor while 3 months out is often the best in terms of price but I’ve usually bottled it and booked somewhere between 5 and 4 months out.
My friend who has to go to Sydney frequently, sometimes at very short notice, always chooses Singapore Airlines SQ.
Here’s my pick of the better timed SQ flights.
SQ319 LHR-SIN
SQ211 SIN-SYD
SQ204 CNS-SIN
SQ308 SIN-LHRThe longer you can stop over in Singapore, the better.
If you fancy a middle east airline, there’s a Jetstar flight CNS-PER, stop over at PERth, then do long haul to the middle east. The sectors from the middle east to australia are long giving plenty of time for a long sleep, you can maximise value from the flat bed.
If you’re going for cash, simply keep alert and when you see a deal you’re happy with, jump in! I’m currently, very smugly, awaiting my Saturday departure from MAN to MEL with Cathay, 11.10 departure after a night in the Radisson Blu, getting into MEL 21.15 on Sunday. Secured in the “flash” 2 day sale in October, at an almost pre-COVID beating £2500.
Had previously booked in September with IBE, MAD via NRT, and thankfully paid the extra EUR100 to make it flexible, bringing it to EUR 3100. So there are good fares out there, for short periods, if you keep your web ears open.
If cash is absolute driver, various China airlines generally available from Europe for around EUR2000, but often a long layover somewhere in China, but then again might be nice to break up th3 trip…If you are paying cash for your flights and flying from the UK, it best to book as early as possible. Flights are released around 11 months in advance.
Budget will help make your choice easier, as some airlines will have a much better rates than others. Singapore Airlines are one of the best, but they can be expensive. I see good rate regularly with the Chinese Airlines or Malaysian Airlines. Etihad will have good rates in their sale and Emirates and Qatar have upped their prices recently.
If you can get good rates with Singapore, they fly out of Cairns, which will help to cut down on your travel time, and spend some time in Singapore – its amazing!
If you are paying cash for your flights and flying from the UK, it best to book as early as possible. Flights are released around 11 months in advance.
Sorry but outside of unique markets (Olympics, World Cup Final etc), this simply isn’t correct for 99.9% of long-haul travel. Prices will generally be released very high (exactly to take advantage of people who have zero flexibility and feel they MUST book a specific flight ASAP, as well as to guage demand without the risk of throwing away lots of revenue and mop up the odd naive traveller doing a once-in-a-lifetime type trip). October isn’t an ultra-peak Xmas date; prices will always fall from their initial release.
Unless you have to be literally on a specific plane at a specific time of a specific day and anticipate it might sell out thanks to a big event then you should always wait past the initial feeler prices.
I totally agree with those who suggest with breaking the journey in Singapore (KL or HK works too) – take an overnight flight for the first longer bit of the journey getting there in the late afternoon so that it’s only a short time before you go to bed then after 3 or 4 days continue your journey down under.
We’ve done this many times over the years even when flying with the family in economy over 20 years ago. Our latest flight was with BA and we did fly straight there on the way out. We both slept well in the club suites and even after a connecting flight to MEL we suffered minimal jet lag. On the way back we did have a stopover in SIN (and a week in Bali).
I’m not as big a fan of QR as many on here are – I don’t like the stop in Doha where you have to deplane by steps usually in the middle of the night. We flew to KUL on MH last year and would certainly use them again if flying east.
Thank you all for the input.
Doesn’t look like the timings will work for the Amex tier point spend. Pity!
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