Cheapest paid business route London to Oz

[james747]

Hi all
Can anyone share their tips for a good route to get from London to Australia in business class CASH tickets. I don’t mind multi stop. Cheers

[davefl]

You’ve not said when, but try this, filtered by destination https://travel-dealz.com/category/flights/business-class/?ep_filter_destinations=australia

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

Start with google flights.

Also look at starting at one of the major European hubs as well.

[Richie]

Avoid chinese airlines and royal brunei.

[MilesOnPoint]

Hi James, take a look at Sri Lankan, starting in Milan, Italy.

For example:

MXP-DOH-CMB-SYD is £2,300 return in business
(First leg Qatar Airways, other legs Sri Lankan)
Earns 840 tier points.

Also possible to do MXP-DOH-CMB-MEL, if preferred.

Nb. There’s a long-ish (20 hour) stop in Colombo but Sri Lankan will provide free transit hotel near the airport that has a pool.

I would recommend pricing these up using the “Multi city” tool on the Sri Lankan airlines website. (MXP-CMB, then CMB-SYD 3 days later, it departs at 00:10, on the way back, SYD-CMB, then CMB-MXP 1 day later).

You’ll want to make sure you use a credit card, especially given that Sri Lankan airlines are not the most stable airlines financially but their onboard product is good (reverse herringbone seats, like Cathay Pacific).

[Candor]

Just had this whole situation with booking tickets for my brother 2 months ago
KLM & Lufthansa Ex-Europe were the cheapest, around £2200 , and short-ish stop over, journey times around 27-29 hours compared to BA’s 26hrs

[Lady London]

I hate to say it but Google Flights is your friend.

@Candor reflects same as I’ve seen in recent years.

Also slowly, via North America is slowly returning as a way to do that journey as slowly the US and Oz airlines are adding a flight or two each year or two. For a while now it’s been via Asia. Although much longer ago there was more via US. Slowly but surely the components of via-North America routings are building back up. There’s even ways via South America especially via Santiago.

The one thing is to get a through ticket end to end if you can so you have the best hope of protection if flights misconnect on the way. However tempting some pricing might be if you break the journey into separate tickets, generally it’s just not worth the risk and hassle.

[BBbetter]

Doesn’t flying through US require passing immigration? It needs to be massively cheaper to make the hassle worth it.

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

BBbetter wrote:

Doesn’t flying through US require passing immigration? It needs to be massively cheaper to make the hassle worth it.

Yes. You always have to clear the US Border and so need an ESTA as a minimum.

[John]

Richie wrote:

Avoid chinese airlines and royal brunei.

What’s wrong with Brunei

[drdan]

Dry airline.
Politics of the Country.
Can’t comment on quality of J.

Each to their own.

[JDB]

John wrote:

Richie wrote:

Avoid chinese airlines and royal brunei.

What’s wrong with Brunei

What’s wrong with the Chinese airlines?

[james747]

Thanks everyone, will take a look at those suggestions. I have global entry for US so immigration not too much of a hassle if going that way. Would definitely recommend anyone going to the US gets that. Re travel dates I am looking for next July to go to the Lions tour. Cheers

[NICK N]

Morning. Can I tag omto this please. I am doing same search but with specific dates in mind and breaking the journey up on route with few days in each place. Is there any risk using someone like Travelup to book flights?

[BJ]

No experience of getting to Oz but just want to add if using Sri Lanka Airlines appeals call them and ask about next fsre class up. IME paying just a little more can get you much more flexible and refundable tickers. It is not a bad airline at all in business class and unless TP were critical I would not add an extra sector to get to CMB via DOH unless the price worked.

[Lady London]

@ Nick N DYOR on Travelup, and the various names it trades under.

Ditto eDreams if you come across it.

And to some extent, pretty much any OTA.

Appreciated if when or if your journey goes all wrong mid-trip or if flight reschedulings or cancellations before, mean what you booked – and paid – months before just can’t be flown, and if no help or possibility perhaps not even contactibility from OTA…. If that happens then please don’t bring it back here because options to help you will be limited or possibly zero.

[Richie]

My friend had awful catering on China Eastern.

Human rights in Brunei.

[Richie]

Also double check any transit visa requirements for China and the possible cost.

[NICK N]

Lady London wrote:

@ Nick N DYOR on Travelup, and the various names it trades under.

Ditto eDreams if you come across it.

And to some extent, pretty much any OTA.

Appreciated if when or if your journey goes all wrong mid-trip or if flight reschedulings or cancellations before, mean what you booked – and paid – months before just can’t be flown, and if no help or possibility perhaps not even contactibility from OTA…. If that happens then please don’t bring it back here because options to help you will be limited or possibly zero.

Hi Lady London, I appreciate your warnings and if it did go wrong I expect no sympathy or indeed help.