Best time to buy flights to Europe?

[Dublin]

Perhaps a silly question, but I'm looking to buy 6 tickets to Europe (flexible between Zurich, Frankfurt or even Paris) for late June/ early July and returning to Melbourne early August.

Is there any ideal times to buy to get the best prices? I'm OK with leaving it to late to book.


Thanks.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Now! There are currently airfrares to all of those cities in the $1000 range - being offered by various airlines on an almost weekly basis. It's not going to get any cheaper than that.

If you have a specific airline in mind that's not offering a $1000 fare you either have to commit now, or wait. School holidays are usually excluded from the ultra cheap deals by the major airlines like Qantas. Not so much so by the minor airlines.

 

[Dublin]

$1000 range for those cities?? I haven't seen any that cheap.
Example 02 July to 04 August ...

Am i missing something?

 

[Dublin]

02 July is school holidays but I'm happy late June.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

$1000 range for those cities?? I haven't seen any that cheap.
Example 02 July to 04 August ...

Am i missing something?

It can be a case of needing to keep an eye out as not all the special fares make it to the major booking engines.

Googleflights currently has Zurich for $1460 return for those dates flying Qantas and Lufthansa. But the real cheapies like Air China and China Southern, even Singapore Airlines might be 'flash sales' that come via web banners or their newsletter.

Now tat we konw you are looking it will be easy to post a special when we come across them

 

[Dublin]

Thx i'll check them out.


Out of curiosity, do ppl happily use the Chinese airlines for family trips here from Oz?

 

[Blinky]

April-May. Not so much for cheaper airfares (they are) but fewer crowds and shorter queues. We’ve done this reic.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Out of curiosity, do ppl happily use the Chinese airlines for family trips here from Oz?

Any second tier airline can be a trade off... Chinese airlines don't have all the bells and whistles you will find on Singapore Airlines, but you will get new planes, good legroom, and hot meals (alcoholic drinks in the main cabin are usually limited to beer, red wine and whiskey). The choice of inflight entertainment can be on the poor side, and layovers can be longish (6 hours or so - but you don't need a visa for China for this purpose).

There is a dedicated forum here on AFF for cheap international airfares - the latest on was China Eastern Airlines offering $748 return from Brisbane to London (available in June). You really can't go wrong with something like that. Just keep an eye out for departures from other cities.

Also worth breaing in mind that once fares start creeping towards $2000 on the major carriers, you can get premium economy on smaller carriers for the same price these days.

 

[Dublin]

Thanks for that, very educated response.

So from a naive Australia perspective - there is no paranoia with flying with non traditional airlines? E.g. you would fly on those airlines with your kids? No offence intended to anyone.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks for that, very educated response.

So from a naive Australia perspective - there is no paranoia with flying with non traditional airlines? E.g. you would fly on those airlines with your kids? No offence intended to anyone.

There are probably several airlines that should be on people's 'no fly' list, but most of those won't come anywhere near Australia. From Australia the single carrier I won't even consider is Malaysia Airlines. Air Asia and Malindo would be on my 'caution' list. The Chinese government has a vested interest to ensure their airlines and planes operate safely and there is nothing to suggest otherwise.

 

[jch]

Just a comment if you are planning to fly Chinese airlines from Hainan group (Hainan, Captial, Tianjin etc...). They have great J fares to the mainland for around A$2k to net ~400 Velocity SCs. But you will only accrue SCs for the Australia to China leg. Just something to consider if you are transferring to Europe from one of these flights.

 

[dxwell]

Personally, I think you may have left it a bit late to book flights for a peak period and expect to get heavily discounted fares.
Nevertheless, keep an eye out here:
Cheap International Airfares
Premium Fare Deals - FlyerTalk Forums

Sign up to the email newsletter for all international airlines to get first notice of any fare discounts
Join the facebook and instagram pages of all international airlines for the same

Best of luck.

 

[Dublin]

There are probably several airlines that should be on people's 'no fly' list, but most of those won't come anywhere near Australia. From Australia the single carrier I won't even consider is Malaysia Airlines. Air Asia and Malindo would be on my 'caution' list. The Chinese government has a vested interest to ensure their airlines and planes operate safely and there is nothing to suggest otherwise.

Damn, i would have thought Malaysian would be safe, as I always thought the extra focus after tragic events improves safety/security.

 

[andye]

FWIW I'd be happy to fly MH with family

 

[Must...Fly!]

Damn, i would have thought Malaysian would be safe, as I always thought the extra focus after tragic events improves safety/security.

This is only opinion.

I have the complete opposite opinion to the other member. I will not even consider Air Asia/Malindo/Batik/Lion, but would happily step on board a Malaysian Airlines aircraft without a second thought.

As for the Chinese - they're probably fine in every way. New planes are nice for passengers but don't mean you're going to be safe. I guess kind of like jumping in to a brand new Mercedes taxi and having a lunatic at the wheel...not saying the Chinese airlines are like this but you get the point, I'm sure.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Damn, i would have thought Malaysian would be safe, as I always thought the extra focus after tragic events improves safety/security.

This is only opinion.

I have the complete opposite opinion to the other member. I will not even consider Air Asia/Malindo/Batik/Lion, but would happily step on board a Malaysian Airlines aircraft without a second thought.

As for the Chinese - they're probably fine in every way. New planes are nice for passengers but don't mean you're going to be safe. I guess kind of like jumping in to a brand new Mercedes taxi and having a lunatic at the wheel...not saying the Chinese airlines are like this but you get the point, I'm sure.

Not sure I share the point regarding your analogy for Chinese carriers. As I mentioned, the Chinese government has a vested interest to ensure the safety of their airlines and aircraft. And that's a pretty strong incentive. Air China, China Eastern, China Southern, Hainan airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Sichuan Airlines - all score 7 stars for safety by AirlineRatings (same score as Qantas).

While this is slightly off topic and has already been discussed in its dedicated thread here on AFF, MH's commerical director is on record, well after the incident, saying 'airlines such as [Malaysia Airlnes] should be left to focus on the quality of our product in the air'... and not on the safety of where they fly. That's fact rather than my opinion. Although it does possibly suggest a deeper cultural issue relating to the safety of operations rather than something which can be solved by an increased focus on maintenance or providing additional training.

 

[jase05]

I’d fly pretty much every Chinese carrier over QF any day. Hainan and CI in particular have pretty decent Y products IMO.

 

[odysseus]

I’d fly pretty much every Chinese carrier over QF any day. Hainan and CI in particular have pretty decent Y products IMO.

Except CI isn't a Chinese carrier (in the generally accepted sense).

 

[jase05]

Except CI isn't a Chinese carrier (in the generally accepted sense).

They generally get lumped in with them though which as you correctly point out is incorrect.
I should know better though as despite all the excellent flights we have had with them as soon as we tell people we are flying with CI the majority screw their noses up and say “Oh that Chinese coughpy airline” or something similar