Flights from Aus to U.K.

Ive been looking for flights to go back home for a wedding. Been doing a bit or research on a few different options and came across a few companies on sky scanner, mainly Zuji and Travel2be, who are much cheaper than any other airline. Has anyone booked with these companies before as they do not seem to have the best reviews when doing a quick google search on them?

Zuji has been around for a while, never heard of Travel2be.

Where in the UK do you need to get to? In the past, I've made some good savings by not flying into London. For instance, when I used to go to Aberdeen, I used to book a return flight to Amsterdam, then go on a UK booking site to book a local flight (e.g. Flybe, Easyjet) from Amsterdam to Aberdeen. You could do the same to many European cities - if you fancy a break in Europe as well as visiting relos in the UK, it can work out cheaper AND more convenient.

One thing to watch out for is the currency they are quoting the flights in. I booked a flight a few months ago on travelocity as it was 30% cheaper than anywhere else. However, I didn't realise that the price they were quoting me was in USD, not AUD! As a result, the price ended up being the same as on all the other sites Doh!

Zuji has been around for a while, never heard of Travel2be.

 

Where in the UK do you need to get to? In the past, I've made some good savings by not flying into London. For instance, when I used to go to Aberdeen, I used to book a return flight to Amsterdam, then go on a UK booking site to book a local flight (e.g. Flybe, Easyjet) from Amsterdam to Aberdeen. You could do the same to many European cities - if you fancy a break in Europe as well as visiting relos in the UK, it can work out cheaper AND more convenient.

A few people have said this before and I have researched this several times for my flights and have as yet not found it to be a conveniently cheaper option. The timings, greater risk of missed connections - especially on the return leg, the cost of luggage on the cheap flights, lugging your luggage about the airports and checking in again.

So if travelling light and/or as a large family group and prepared to take on the hassles and risks then maybe one could save a few quid, but for myself and the wife with luggage then no.

as an aside in May my brother and his wife got a flight (Qantas) from Brisbane connected right through to Leeds (via LHR ) for the same price as the normal Brisbane-London flight, no hassle with bags all cleared / checked-in at Leeds.

Some random stranger in the market the other day told me Cathay are offering some good deals at the moment! No idea if it's true but perhaps worth checking? And I've booked with Zuji before, no trouble. Also with Hello World who used to be Bestflights. Prices are good, but I did find Helloworld's staff on the phone were pretty hopeless with queries. Booked in the end with them anyway as they were cheapest, and luckily I know my way around travel pretty well, but for someone less confident it might perhaps not be the best...

A few people have said this before and I have researched this several times for my flights and have as yet not found it to be a conveniently cheaper option. The timings, greater risk of missed connections - especially on the return leg, the cost of luggage on the cheap flights, lugging your luggage about the airports and checking in again.

So if travelling light and/or as a large family group and prepared to take on the hassles and risks then maybe one could save a few quid, but for myself and the wife with luggage then no.

 

as an aside in May my brother and his wife got a flight (Qantas) from Brisbane connected right through to Leeds (via LHR ) for the same price as the normal Brisbane-London flight, no hassle with bags all cleared / checked-in at Leeds.

Agreed. I'd be wary of having multiple tickets for one journey. We've done it in the past and it's a risk. Miss your connection for whatever reason and you're left pleading with the onwards airline to transfer you to another flight. If you've paid for an unrestricted ticket then fine, but presumably the only reason you'd do this is cost and your ticket will be completely restricted and non-changeable. Personally, I wouldn't fancy rolling up in Amsterdam and being faced with $1000+ for new tickets on SleasyJet.

Re booking, if you're not sure of the travel agent just get the flight details and go to somewhere like FlightCentre for a price match:

http://www.flightcentre.com.au/lowest-airfare-guarantee

Personally though, price wouldn't be my biggest factor, it'd be a combination of duration, comfort and price. No point saving $100 to spend an extra 10 hours on a journey or to have a small, uncomfortable seat with rubbish entertainment and service. Stick with the major Asian and Middle Eastern airlines and pay a bit more in my opinion. Don't be tempted to fly on any Chinese plane!

Some random stranger in the market the other day told me Cathay are offering some good deals at the moment! No idea if it's true but perhaps worth checking? And I've booked with Zuji before, no trouble. Also with Hello World who used to be Bestflights. Prices are good, but I did find Helloworld's staff on the phone were pretty hopeless with queries. Booked in the end with them anyway as they were cheapest, and luckily I know my way around travel pretty well, but for someone less confident it might perhaps not be the best...

I used to use best flights a lot especially for my around the world flights, they then got bought out by Hello world, but basically were shut down, hello world is just a normal high street travel agent. A useful link to a round the world specialist http://www.roundabouttravel.com.au/ have not used them yet though so cannot vouch for them but appear to be ok.

Agreed. I'd be wary of having multiple tickets for one journey. We've done it in the past and it's a risk. Miss your connection for whatever reason and you're left pleading with the onwards airline to transfer you to another flight. If you've paid for an unrestricted ticket then fine, but presumably the only reason you'd do this is cost and your ticket will be completely restricted and non-changeable. Personally, I wouldn't fancy rolling up in Amsterdam and being faced with $1000+ for new tickets on SleasyJet.

 

Re booking, if you're not sure of the travel agent just get the flight details and go to somewhere like FlightCentre for a price match:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.flightcentre.com.au/lowest-airfare-guarantee

 

Personally though, price wouldn't be my biggest factor, it'd be a combination of duration, comfort and price. No point saving $100 to spend an extra 10 hours on a journey or to have a small, uncomfortable seat with rubbish entertainment and service. Stick with the major Asian and Middle Eastern airlines and pay a bit more in my opinion. Don't be tempted to fly on any Chinese plane!

Our last flight to UK we got the best price from 'bestjet' they also have no credit card fee, we then went to Flight center and got their price beat promise on the whole deal -$1 dollar less. We had to use flight center as we also needed to use our com bank rewards.

But as you say cheapest is not always the best we assess price, airline, route, timings, plane type. Do not accept what travel agents tell you, do your own research. also booking direct with the airline enables you to choose your seat at time of booking, if showing not available on the web site then call them up and book over the phone they can open up closed seating.

A few people have said this before and I have researched this several times for my flights and have as yet not found it to be a conveniently cheaper option. The timings, greater risk of missed connections - especially on the return leg, the cost of luggage on the cheap flights, lugging your luggage about the airports and checking in again.

So if travelling light and/or as a large family group and prepared to take on the hassles and risks then maybe one could save a few quid, but for myself and the wife with luggage then no.

 

as an aside in May my brother and his wife got a flight (Qantas) from Brisbane connected right through to Leeds (via LHR ) for the same price as the normal Brisbane-London flight, no hassle with bags all cleared / checked-in at Leeds.

Same here. I have looked a few times in the past and never found a saving by flying into a European city. Just decided to look now though and I found the same airlines on the same dates were flying to Paris for about A$100 less than London. But the trouble is you are then in Paris, have to find flights from there to London and are on a non connecting ticket.

Agreed. I'd be wary of having multiple tickets for one journey. We've done it in the past and it's a risk. Miss your connection for whatever reason and you're left pleading with the onwards airline to transfer you to another flight. If you've paid for an unrestricted ticket then fine, but presumably the only reason you'd do this is cost and your ticket will be completely restricted and non-changeable. Personally, I wouldn't fancy rolling up in Amsterdam and being faced with $1000+ for new tickets on SleasyJet.

 

It's less of a risk if you have an overnight stay in your connecting city. That may not work for you, but I always liked to see a bit of Europe on my UK visits anyway - so having a few days in Paris on my way to the UK, and a few days in Amsterdam on the way back, was a positive rather than a negative for me, and ensured I'd have no worries about connecting. And I've always been a light traveller.

Some random stranger in the market the other day told me Cathay are offering some good deals at the moment! No idea if it's true but perhaps worth checking? And I've booked with Zuji before, no trouble. Also with Hello World who used to be Bestflights. Prices are good, but I did find Helloworld's staff on the phone were pretty hopeless with queries. Booked in the end with them anyway as they were cheapest, and luckily I know my way around travel pretty well, but for someone less confident it might perhaps not be the best...

I checked the other week and Cathay were offering LHR to SYD at £1600 for Prem Econ, so 38" seats all the way.

Didn't check the other way.

I checked the other week and Cathay were offering LHR to SYD at £1600 for Prem Econ, so 38" seats all the way.

Didn't check the other way.

That's expensive! is it really worth it?

It's less of a risk if you have an overnight stay in your connecting city. That may not work for you, but I always liked to see a bit of Europe on my UK visits anyway - so having a few days in Paris on my way to the UK, and a few days in Amsterdam on the way back, was a positive rather than a negative for me, and ensured I'd have no worries about connecting. And I've always been a light traveller.

That's fine if you have the time -both ways- and the money! (doesn't make the fare cheaper does it?) but many people generally do not.

Due to the limited holidays and costs of flying and the big draw back to the grandchildren and family in the UK, I will generally take all my leave in one big lump and maybe add some long service leave in too and then have add-ons to our uk trip, hence our several around the world air tickets. We have found Europe cheaper to do once in the UK and you can travel lighter and timings are not as critical.

That's fine if you have the time -both ways- and the money! (doesn't make the fare cheaper does it?) .

Well, yes it does, that's the whole point. By using a European city as my changeover point instead of London, I used to save quite a bit. I agree it's not cheaper if you're going to Heathrow or Gatwick anyway, or if you end up having to transit through them - but I was usually going to Aberdeen or Glasgow. And it had the added bonus of meaning I didn't have to go through the big London airports which are never a nice experience!

I'm like you - with limited holidays I used to save up all my leave and take it in one big chunk every two years. Since it was always my only holiday, I treated myself to some "Europe time" as part of the trip, but I found it cheaper and easier to "bookend" my UK visit with a stopover each way. That way I saved on the Oz-UK fare and also didn't have to buy a separate fare to get back to Europe for a break.

Travelling lighter was never a big consideration for me.

That's expensive! is it really worth it?

It depends, how old you are, how fast you want to go, how tall you are, how comfortable, how much do you feel is expensive etc.

Air China was about £560 return to Sydney but the reviews are not good at all.