best options for Perth-Europe flights

[fabsnake]

hello, my first posting at last! I am off to Europe in September, doing one of the river cruises from Amsterdam to Budapest. I intend to start in Paris and finish in Lyon, with the cruise and land travel between.

Am I best to get a return flight to Paris, with a one way flight from Lyon to Paris (or the fast train), or fly one-way to Paris, then return to Perth from Lyon/Geneva/Zurich and attempt to bypass Paris or other major European hub? Or I could get a return flight to Geneva/Zurich/Lyon and a one-way flight to Paris?

I realise it limits my choices of airlines if I try this, and probably my cheapest option is to get return flight Paris-Perth, especially if I want to maximise my QFF points and status credits.

Someone I know who regularly goes between Lyon & Sydney claims it's better arriving & leaving at smaller airports like Geneva/Zurich than Charles de Gaulle, but that's probably ok if someone else is paying for your flights...
I look forward to reading of others' experiences & recommendations.....

 

[JohnK]

Not an easy choice.

Have you spoken to a travel agent about an open jaw itinerary? Something like PER-SIN-CDG//FRA-SIN-PER should be possible and would not cost much more than a return airfare to either destination.

It is possible to book it on the Qantas website. I just used Tuesday 6 September and return Wednesday 28 September and it prices to AUD1998.13 for the open jaw itinerary.

Flight 1 FromToFlightDurationDeparture
TerminalFare TypeBaggage
Tue 6 Sep 11 11:55 Perth17:15 Singapore QF07724h 15m 1 Sale Checked: 23kg
Tue 6 Sep 11 23:05 Singapore06:10 (Wed) Paris (Charles De Gaulle) QF39771

Flight 2
Wed 28 Sep 11 23:50 Frankfurt18:00 (Thu) Singapore QF00618h 40m 2 Sale Checked: 23kg
Thu 29 Sep 11 19:20 (Thu) Singapore00:30 (Fri) Perth QF0781

It should be relatively easy to get to FRA (Frankfurt) from either Lyon/Geneva/Zurich either by aircraft or train.

 

[fabsnake]

Thanks JohnK, I haven't heard of the term "open jaw flights" before, but it's probably in a glossary of terms somewhere on this website if I looked for it. I'll mention the term to the agent I have investigating possibilities for me.

I was getting to the point of just doing a Perth-Paris return trip as connections between the smaller airports like Lyon, Geneva & Zurich are not as numerous or have to have extra stopovers going the wrong direction for me, and seem to be more expensive. Business class looks way too prohibitive unless I do Perth-Paris return, and even then it's a lot when not for work.

Hopefully some other viewers can make some comments from previous experience.

 

[casanovawa]

Haven't checked individual flight segments on Qantas, but is it possible to get a deal where you fly to London and get a stopover in Europe included??? Say fly to London on Qantas and then fly on to Paris (or Amsterdam direct) with BA i suppose like this package here:

Qantas & British AirwaysSale to Over 95 Cities Feb-Dec

And then depending on what city you finish in get a BA flight or maybe a cheaper Easyjet/Ryanair flight back to London and then fly out??? not sure if your up for LCC flights or will just fly BA but for instance, from Grenoble (close to Lyon) Ryanair fly back to Stansted in London and then just get a connection through to Heathrow and back to Oz???

Or else fly into London and take the stopover in Lyon (obviously miss your flight out and maybe take a fast train or cheap flight from London to Paris) and catch the return BA ticket from Lyon back to London and back to Oz???

$2000 isn't too bad for Qantas i suppose for this ticket plus one cheap flight...

 

[alieninperth]

I am actually looking at exactly the same thing (well Paris and Manchester as opposed to Paris - Lyon).

It actually works out marginally cheaper for me to do a rtn to Paris, then the internal (within EU) flights on a LCC (including baggage and seats) and then Eurostar back to Paris.

I also looked at the open jaw into Man and out of Par and vv and the cost was very similar to the cost of a PER-PAR/MAN rtn. I also looked at Emirates and Singapore if you are not completly committed to flying on the roo. FWIW the journey time on Emirates is much shorter (4 hrs or so) that Qantas, especially if you are routed through London and are not able to get the AF codeshare.

what about PER-PAR//NCE(Nice)-PER its coming in at $1981 for 9/9 dep and rtn on 23/9. And only one stopover.