Price Battle: Leeds or Manchester to Australia

[Galaxy]

Hi All,

I'm looking for some general advice re airlines and routes. My wife and I are looking at flying from either Leeds or Manchester to Sydney on (or around) the weekend of 15/16 August 2015, and returning from Brisbane on or around the weekend of 5/6 September, 2015. On our way either to or from Sydney / Brisbane, we would like to visit Perth for 3-4 days.

We are mainly going to Australia to spend a couple of weeks with our eldest daughter who is now living in Brisbane. We want to fly out to Sydney (where I lived 20 years ago) and spend around a week there with friends, and for our daughter and her boyfriend to come and join us in Sydney for the time we are there. We then want to go up to Brisbane for around a week to our daughter's home, and from there visit family in Bundaberg for a couple of days. All the internal Australian travel will be via flights rather than driving.

My wife is not a good flyer, and has never flown beyond a 4 hour flight, she is 6 foot 1 inch and gets restless legs, the prospect of such a long journey being cramped into a seat isn't something that she is relishing. I myself am 6 foot, and pretty wide. Again for me I don't much fancy cramped seating. So into the mix of routes and airline choice comes comfort also. We probably can't afford First or Business Class, unless there are some good deals, and I don't want an extra leg room seat that comes at the cost of having a window seat (I would rather look out of the window than watch TV). So that might also throw aircraft type into the mix!

At a first glance search on Skyscanner, Malaysian comes top of the list in terms of price (probably for obvious reasons), but I have no idea what the comfort factor would be on this airline...

If anyone can offer any hints, tips or advice, it would be very much appreciated.

Cheers!

 

[User0001]

Hi Galaxy.

Flying from Leeds, the best option is to take BA down to LHR, and then, it opens you up to many many routings.

From MAN, I would personally avoid Etihad in economy if you are tall, there are ardine cans, but then there is the Etihad B777 experience, which is not really one of enjoyment for those of taller persuasion.

One of the best ways from MAN is the Emirates A380 to DXB, as its quite spacious, then onto the qantas network (which could work out well for those domestic flights), which, now that the EK/QF partnership is in full force, means the Qantas flights can be booked all the way to MAN.

If you did go with Etihad, then their partnership with Virgin Australia could also work in your favour in terms of the domestic legs.

Two of the more comfortable ways, both from personal experience and other friends/family feedback, is either Cathay Pacific MAN-HKG-Aus or Singapore MAN-MUC-SIN-Aus. The Munich stop could help your wife have the little break she needs before the main flight, and, both Singapore and Honk Kong are both pure delights to transit, Sinpapore in particuar offeres free city tours and rooftop swimming pools in the terminals if you have a long layover.

Hope that helps

 

[Galaxy]

Thanks for that, very good info, I'll further investigate.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Galaxy

I've just PM'd you.

 

[Galaxy]

Thanks for helpful responses, just to add an interesting alternative, I found out that Emirates are starting the A380 to Dubai from DUS this Summer, the DUS - Dubai - Perth option is considerably shorter than most I have looked at time wise, as the connection is only 2h 30m. The price is better than some others too - even with the Friday night Jet2 flight from Leeds and a night at the Dusseldorf Maritim factored in.

I've almost entirely decided to go on an A380 now, having read too many tails of woe from travellers on board 777s. But am still investigating, I'm intending to book something by the end of the month.

 

[Aviador]

Although I've never made the trip myself I have relatives who live in Brisbane that have and they swear by the Heathrow option with a connection flight up to Leeds Bradford with British Airways. They used BMI mainline before they gave up the route.

 

[kevinbev]

Hi Galaxy, I am also looking at going over to Brisbane later this year. If you look at sites such as Momondo or Skyscanner they can give you good ideas on the pricing and different routes. You can also add filters eg length of flight, airlines, cost etc.
One of the things I have noticed again is that to go from Leeds is more expensive that going from Manchester, Heathrow or Newcastle. One option to consider is booking the flight from Heathrow and then to add the LBA-Heathrow on separately. One flight I looked at came out at £747 from LHR-BNE and the LBA-LHR was £88. To do this on one booking direct with Skyscanner was £1092. Surprisingly it can save quite a bit of money doing it this way than booking LBA to Australia on one booking. Only down side to this I think is that you have to pick up your luggage at LHR and check it in again rather that have it checked in straight through at LBA.

I have done Manchester-Brisbane about 2 years ago using Etihad on the evening flight, this was on a A330. I did some reading up before I booked comparing the 777 to the 330 (think it was called Seatguru) which is why I booked from Man on that occasion. Not sure if LBA-LHR was operational then. I found the Etihad A330 to be quite comfortable and I need a bit of legroom. I had previously been on a Qantas 747 from Heathrow and that was bad, it felt like being in a cattle truck.

One of my work colleagues has just come back from New Zealand, he went from Man via Dubai with Emirates on the A380. I asked him what he thought of Emirates and he said they were nothing to write home about as they lost his suitcases twice. Once on the way out and also on the way home. When he eventually got delivery of his cases to his home one of them was badly damaged and has had to take photos of them to make a claim.

I have used China Southern from LHR as well using the 787 to Changzou (cant remember how to spell it) and then a A330 from there to BNE via Singapore. They wer`nt too bad but not too much choice on food, alot of rice with everything. My only issue with this trip was I was due to fly from LBA to LHR but the flight was cancelled as I was on route to the airport. Fortunately BA got me to MAN and a flight from there to LHR. Coming back to LBA was via AMS.

The fares can change fairly frequently so best to grab something when you think its cheap. Look at the multi-city option with the booking sites as well, this can sometimes save you a bit of money.


Good luck.