Recommendations on getting a reasonable priced flight to the UK

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pumperman

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#80783 4-Apr-2011 18:17

Been over in your wonderful country for 16 months now, with another 2 years to go on a contract.

Anyhow, Missus Pumper and myself would like to get back to the UK for a couple of weeks to visit family, but the flight prices appear crippling, no matter what date, airline or route I go for. This includes AirAsia which is rocking up near on $5k where flights are still available.

Is it possible to get a return flight nowdays for less than $2k return?

Any help would be much appreciated.

PS: Being a Noob, if the forum is not for such questions, feel free to tell me to bugger off!

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#455212 4-Apr-2011 18:27

Hate to break it to you but it's still around $2.5k PP return at the cheapest :( You may have some luck finding a cheap flight to AU or something and flying on from there, Might mean a 1 day layover but could save you some cash?

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Batman

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#455214 4-Apr-2011 18:30

look out in June. guarantee that the airlines will scramble to fill seats for the sept/oct period ... (extrapolating from recent history). in fact keep looking out ... could be anytime this year - ie anytime that they need to fill seats there'll be a promotion.

pumperman

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#455216 4-Apr-2011 18:30

A stop over for one night each way would really suit us (Oz, Singapore, Bangkok) but still having no joy.

So annoying as flights starting in the UK to NZ return are around $1500.

Would be so grateful for any tips.

NonprayingMantis

6434 posts

Uber Geek

#455221 4-Apr-2011 18:47

in October flight centre do an expo in auckland.
We got flights to UK from there (leaving just under 1 year later) which were $1600pp flying with Brunei. they also had flights with Air Korea for around $1800.
However I would not reccommend either of those airlines, especially if you have kids.

to ge the cheapest rates you need to book as far in advance as you possibly can. this normally means just under 1 year in advance because that is when they flights become available to book.

Yes, the pricing is absurd. You can go to the Air NZ UK website and get the same flights in reverse for about 30% less than if you book through NZ website. (and yes, that takes taxes etc into account)

timmmay

20575 posts

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#455226 4-Apr-2011 18:57

You could sign up to Air NZ grab a seat, sometimes they have worthwhile specials.

silverbirch

275 posts

Ultimate Geek

#455247 4-Apr-2011 19:39

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPyl2tOaKxM

It did say off topic and to be warned :-) for this forum.

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wmoore

510 posts

Ultimate Geek

#455250 4-Apr-2011 19:40

pumperman: Been over in your wonderful country for 16 months now, with another 2 years to go on a contract.

Anyhow, Missus Pumper and myself would like to get back to the UK for a couple of weeks to visit family, but the flight prices appear crippling, no matter what date, airline or route I go for. This includes AirAsia which is rocking up near on $5k where flights are still available.

Is it possible to get a return flight nowdays for less than $2k return?

Any help would be much appreciated.

PS: Being a Noob, if the forum is not for such questions, feel free to tell me to bugger off!

Homesick already. And is two weeks long enough to fly all that way ?

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silverbirch

275 posts

Ultimate Geek

#455252 4-Apr-2011 19:44

wmoore:
pumperman: Been over in your wonderful country for 16 months now, with another 2 years to go on a contract.

Anyhow, Missus Pumper and myself would like to get back to the UK for a couple of weeks to visit family, but the flight prices appear crippling, no matter what date, airline or route I go for. This includes AirAsia which is rocking up near on $5k where flights are still available.

Is it possible to get a return flight nowdays for less than $2k return?

Any help would be much appreciated.

PS: Being a Noob, if the forum is not for such questions, feel free to tell me to bugger off!

Homesick already. And is two weeks long enough to fly all that way ?

Did you look at the video - it is a send up of cheap flights and the risks involved. It was meant to lighten things - hope I haven't offended.

"Dance among the moonbeams, feel the magic in the air".

Registered Linux user #386597 http://counter.li.org/

pumperman

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#455283 4-Apr-2011 20:28

silverbirch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPyl2tOaKxM

It did say off topic and to be warned :-) for this forum.

hahahahaha.....quality and too true

jbard

1377 posts

Uber Geek

#455295 4-Apr-2011 20:49

Just booked flight for a family of 4 back to uk - now that was expensive.

After hours of searching we found emerites to be cheapest by a long shot.

This does exclude a $1500 Korean Air flight we were offered - but we had to travel between august and septemeber which wasn't ideal and we weren;t that game on Korean air.

That deal was a flight centre expo they had here in Dunedin last month.

pumperman

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#455296 4-Apr-2011 20:52

jbard: Just booked flight for a family of 4 back to uk - now that was expensive.

After hours of searching we found emerites to be cheapest by a long shot.

This does exclude a $1500 Korean Air flight we were offered - but we had to travel between august and septemeber which wasn't ideal and we weren;t that game on Korean air.

That deal was a flight centre expo they had here in Dunedin last month.

mmmmm....may follow up tomorrow on Korean Air to see if they have cheap Sept flights still available. Do Flight Centre do these expo's often??

jbard

1377 posts

Uber Geek

#455298 4-Apr-2011 20:54

I'm not sure, i didn;t even know their was an expo on i just happened to walk in that day, i do know that i had to pay that day to get the deal though.

NonprayingMantis

6434 posts

Uber Geek

#455314 4-Apr-2011 21:16

pumperman:
jbard: Just booked flight for a family of 4 back to uk - now that was expensive.

After hours of searching we found emerites to be cheapest by a long shot.

This does exclude a $1500 Korean Air flight we were offered - but we had to travel between august and septemeber which wasn't ideal and we weren;t that game on Korean air.

That deal was a flight centre expo they had here in Dunedin last month.

mmmmm....may follow up tomorrow on Korean Air to see if they have cheap Sept flights still available. Do Flight Centre do these expo's often??

a word of warning, I have flown back to the UK with Korean Air and if you go with them you need to make a some preparation,

1) Unless you are a major fan of Korean food make sure you take enough food to last you the entire long haul journey, although they do have western options they massively underprovide for them and the only options I ever had were fish porridge or Korean beef noodles (which was gross)
2) unless you happen to speak Korean make sure you take enough entertainment. I flew with them about 3 years ago so this might have changed, but back then they didn't have individual screens, and you had to watch whaetever they put on the main screens, which was mostly Korean stuff with no english dubbing or subtitles.

If you take an ipad or something and lots of food you will probably be fine

My leg from Korea to London was delayed and to their credit they put me up for the night, for free, in the airport Hiilton which was VERY nice.

knoydart

904 posts

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#455334 4-Apr-2011 22:31

Try to travel outside UK School holidays if you can and genrally the further in advance you book the cheaper. You'll struggle to get anything for less than 2K pp return AKL - LON to be honest. Also if your not in Chch or Auckland, then try looking to fares from these 2 for starters as domestic add ons can be $$$

Elpie

1304 posts

Uber Geek

#455475 5-Apr-2011 12:10

I almost never use a travel agent but I did last year when I found I could get some better deals from STA Travel than I could by booking online myself. You don't have to be a student to use their service and they are really good at sorting out cheap flights.

I flew Korean Air Auckland to Paris. On the way over it was Korean Air to Korea (where you get a night's accommodation in 5-star luxury with dinner and breakfast included) and Air France from Korea to Paris. The Air France leg was horrible. The Korean Air leg was one of the best experiences I've had with flying. The return flight was Korean Air all the way.

I would fly Korean Air again in a heartbeat. I've never seen so many cabin crew on any other flight and they were courteous, attentive, and really went the extra mile to make sure I was comfortable. Their English was excellent, service fantastic, and the food was really, really good.

It used to be cheaper to book return flights to Australia then book for Australia - Europe flights out of there. That's no longer the case. With the Australian dollar being so high against the US dollar and the extra government taxes they now have on flights it tends to be cheaper to go out from here.

Booking well ahead gets the best deals. Also, for NZ - England, consider travelling to Europe instead and getting a high-speed train across the Channel. The UK has increased departure taxes over the past couple of years. In November 2010 the Air Passenger Duty increased 55%. This gets included in the price of flights from the UK. For a family, this can mean you pay £300+ extra just for the privilege of flying back from the UK. If you are trying to save money you may find that flying into Paris, Amsterdam or Frankfurt, then travelling on from there could save a lot.

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