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OZ - UK Christmas/NY Flights


LB93

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Hi Everyone,

 

Currently been looking through the forum but cant find anything up-to date on this topic,

 

Me and the misses are looking to fly back to scotland for christmas and hogmany this year, and spending 3 weeks with the family over there, the only problem we have run into is that they are looking in excess of $6000 just for 2 flights! I knew we would have to pay quite a bit as it is peak time of the year but this just seems insane.

 

The above price is with emirates (Brisbane - Dubai - Glasgow) as we dont want to spend hours and hours in an airport waiting on a connecting flight, but i have shopped around and they are all pretty much the same cost. Does anyone have any tips on booking these flights?

 

Any advice would be much appreciated

 

Cheers

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I just entered Brisbane to Heathrow return 19/12 to 02/01 and was quoted around $2K on http://www.skyscanner.net

 

I was quoted same figure as you for Brisbane to Glasgow for those dates on Emirates.

 

I would book book one fare to London then book a separate flight to Glasgow leaving yourself some time either way in case of adverse weather etc.

 

There is a clear saving to be made there.

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it can often be cheaper to avoid UK airports for the main Oz flight - ie, Emirates fly to Dublin, or look at Amsterdam and whatever German airports Emirates go to. If there are offers on at the time you look, it can produce a really good saving, particularly if you look at premium economy or business. The return short haul flight between your end Emirates destination and your actual end destination should be less than £100 if you look around.

 

It will take a bit of time to look up and compare the various options though.

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KLM can be a cheaper option to Glasgow - you do need to transit in Amsterdam as well as Singapore or KL but since the suggestions above would require changing at Heathrow or elsewhere then a through flight with KLM might be a better option as you do not need to collect your luggage or worry about missing a connection.

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Act fast if you want this I'd say...this date combo, which is almost perfect for Xmas, seemed to be the only one coming up way under 3k. (This is from BYOJet).

 

You'll need to get yourself a room for the day in KL on the way as you won't want to spend that many hours in the airport.

 

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Hey everyone thanks for the responses so fast, i appreciate the help :)

 

I think the way to go is to go with KLM after looking at there flights and connivence of just staying with one airline, i wanted to try not have to do an extra stop over but for a saving of $800+ per flight i can deal with it!

 

Just another thing, i have been told that when booking flights to the UK its like the stock market, in that one day the price will be X and the next it will dramatically change and be Y, so do you reckon i should book flights asap, or try wait it out for a couple months?

 

Cheers

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Hey everyone thanks for the responses so fast, i appreciate the help :)

 

I think the way to go is to go with KLM after looking at there flights and connivence of just staying with one airline, i wanted to try not have to do an extra stop over but for a saving of $800+ per flight i can deal with it!

 

Just another thing, i have been told that when booking flights to the UK its like the stock market, in that one day the price will be X and the next it will dramatically change and be Y, so do you reckon i should book flights asap, or try wait it out for a couple months?

 

 

 

If you look at that itinerary, while it's ticketed by KL its actually on a mix of KLM, Malaysian and Korean...so not really one airline, but as all one ticket it offers all the same protections.

 

You would be very unwise to hold out for anything cheaper than the low 2000s for Xmas. Like I said, when I searched this was literally the only date combo that came up at this price. You are highly unlikely to see sub 2000 fares appear.

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Just another thing, i have been told that when booking flights to the UK its like the stock market, in that one day the price will be X and the next it will dramatically change and be Y, so do you reckon i should book flights asap, or try wait it out for a couple months?

Cheers

 

Nobody really knows what the algorithm is, but it's very complex with preferred dates and times, stopovers, long gaps between flights. Some routes are more valuable than others.

The objective is to get a full plane and maximum revenue.

Because the sales period is about 255 days, they come in a drip. Each ticket sold lessens the chance of them being left with a non-full plane, each few weeks without a sale may encourage them to drop the price. They base it on risk management to extract the maximum amount they can but by ensuring they've sold all seats. You don't see many half empty planes these days.

On a popular route over a holiday period, if they've sold 95% of the tickets already then they may not need to drop the price again and might in fact stick an extra $1000 on to collect the desperate late booker (i think they break even after selling 92% or something).

 

Best advice is to find a price you're happy with, book it, then never go back and check the price again. You may only save a few hundred dollars, but might end up paying substantially more.

KL is a nice clean airport with a decent hotel and pool on site. You might be able to get a day room, have a swim and sunbathe, nice meal, then carry on at night.

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