Best site to use for cheap Australia to Europe fares?

[JerseyVics]

I'm curious to learn which site would be ideal to check cheap fares between Australia and Europe.

I'd like to do a quick side trip at the end of May... departing from MEL or SYD and destination Paris... but any part of Europe will do as I'm sure I could get an LLC to where I need to go in France. Does something like WebJet exist?


It doesn't have to be on a legacy carrier either, whatever is cheaper... no limit on stop overs, etc... as long as I don't have to jump through too many hoops.

thanks,
--Russ

 

[docjames]

. Does something like WebJet exist?



thanks,
--Russ

Funny you ask - the "sponsored advertisement" I got when i opened the page with your post was webjet.com.au!!

 

[mat1984]

I'm curious to learn which site would be ideal to check cheap fares between Australia and Europe.

thanks,
--Russ

this doesnt really answer your question but nonetheless, in my book Etihad have the best value fares to PAR. they are published levels so you should get the same price on the etihad website as any other website or a TA. TA's are unlikely to mark up/charge a service fee for EY as they pay decent commission.
the only fares you should see large differences on between websites are NETT fares which are offered most notably by CX and SQ as long as many minnow carriers or mixed carriers who dont fly to AUS such as AY, LX, SK. The AY fare is particularly good and v hard to book on the internet as it is a nett combination fare. nett fares are more difficult for websites to offer as they aren't loaded into a GDS [global distribution system]. this is why many websites, expedia zuji etc, will often display Qantas fares before anything else because every single qantas fare is published and thus very user friendly for internet sites etc. also this should help explain why NETT fares are different at most places as there is no RRP so each agent/website puts their own markup on the cost price...

 

[JerseyVics]

$2,000 AUD feels a bit much, I'd like to find a better deal.

 

[mat1984]

$2,000 AUD feels a bit much, I'd like to find a better deal.

depends on your time of year but u can get that EY deal for $1942 in low season with taxes. thats about the cheapest on the market and offers great connections thru abu dhabi to paris with in seat entertainment etc. they are a 5* rated airline.

air austral would be the other way to look at, via reunion island. relatively new service.

besides that gulf air, qf, sq, cx, af, qr (qatar), kl [klm], oz [asiana] etc are all more expensive. anything under $2k to europe with taxes on an airline with good seats and entertainment with good connections, in my book, is damn good.

but u could always hold on and hope the market continues to stagger and better deals may come out. it'll all depend on demand.

 

[dajop]

I've never used it to book ... but Bestflights have a good guide to available fares (that doesn't mean they're available though when you want to fly). Australian Travel Agent : Best Flights - discount travel - Travel Agent Australia or Australian Travel Agent : Best Flights - discount travel - Travel Agent Australia

Also try a few airlines websites, such as Malaysian, Singapore Airlines, Qantas, Emirates, etc as often have deals on their own websites. Last week for example fares on Malaysian to Paris were $1411 return including taxes. I'm not going to advise one way or the other, but many think holding out for discounts at the moment is wise, given the current economic conditions.

 

[wandering_fred]

I would suspect I could beat AU$2000 exPerth.....
Cheap flight (Tiger or Jet*) to SIN and a Y ticket in a discount bucket from there. Don't know how much Turkish or Royal Jordanian add in taxes. But the QF/BA cheap fares exSIN aren't all that bad even at current exchange rates.

A bit harder from over east.......

Fred

 

[JerseyVics]

I've never used it to book ... but Bestflights have a good guide to available fares (that doesn't mean they're available though when you want to fly). Australian Travel Agent : Best Flights - discount travel - Travel Agent Australia or Australian Travel Agent : Best Flights - discount travel - Travel Agent Australia

Also try a few airlines websites, such as Malaysian, Singapore Airlines, Qantas, Emirates, etc as often have deals on their own websites. Last week for example fares on Malaysian to Paris were $1411 return including taxes. I'm not going to advise one way or the other, but many think holding out for discounts at the moment is wise, given the current economic conditions.

$1411 ex SIN or ex SYD? that would have been perfect...

Always a day late, and a dollar short!

 

[wandering_fred]

$1411 ex SIN or ex SYD? that would have been perfect...

Always a day late, and a dollar short!

I suspect it was exOz but I don't closely follow MH fares - in any case it might be worth a call to the local MH office for a quote. Royal Brunei sometimes have sale fares as well.

Fred

 

[AVM]

I like the Zuji website as the fares quoted include taxes.

 

[trooper]

I realise the question was asked back in feb.... but you can fly late May to FRA from MEL on SQ for $1358....:shock:

Bookable on XP..... haven't checked the SQ site...

Should be possible to get the 77W SIN-FRA and vv....

 

[JerseyVics]

I realise the question was asked back in feb.... but you can fly late May to FRA from MEL on SQ for $1358....:shock:

Bookable on XP..... haven't checked the SQ site...

Should be possible to get the 77W SIN-FRA and vv....

Booked SYD-BKK-LHR-SIN-SYD for $1495 on Qantas

Should have enough points when I come back for a free domestic roundtrip... although I'm hearing stories that its hard to redeem award flights within Australia...

 

[trooper]

Good one!

I naturally lean toward the *A airlines... being Gold with NZ that just makes sense....... and I had a bad experience on QF a while back which soured me on their long haul product.. To each their own of course!

At current prices (1358 to FRA on SQ or 1000 to LAX on NZ) I am really tempted to book another trip this year.. just for the hell of it...

I KNOW I'm not the only one.. in fact on FT there is a long thread dicussing what folks are doing as Mileage runs on UA.... SFO-HNL-LAX-SYD-LAX-HNL-SFO etc with an immediate turn in SYD!!! One maniac has a LAX-SYD-LAX-SYD-LAX run booked... (IIRC it cost about USD$700 :shock

 

[Evan]

<..>
I KNOW I'm not the only one.. in fact on FT there is a long thread dicussing what folks are doing as Mileage runs on UA.... SFO-HNL-LAX-SYD-LAX-HNL-SFO etc with an immediate turn in SYD!!! One maniac has a LAX-SYD-LAX-SYD-LAX run booked... (IIRC it cost about USD$700 :shock

I was thinking of making on of my LHR-MCT-LHR a turn around on the same plane going back the other way :shock: and i thought that was pretty crazy, i only threw that flight in for miles and sc anyway since i had another LHR-MCT-LHR already for when i want to visit MCT.

EK have $414 SGD all-in SIN-MEL-SIN but i dont think that helps any milage runners at all, just a cheap fare.

E

 

[AnonymousCoward]

Should have enough points when I come back for a free domestic roundtrip... although I'm hearing stories that its hard to redeem award flights within Australia...

It's not particularly difficult. Just don't fly when everyone else wants to fly (i.e. SYD-MEL in peak hour, or SYD-OOL on the first day of school holidays etc)

 

[JohnK]

One maniac has a LAX-SYD-LAX-SYD-LAX run booked... (IIRC it cost about USD$700 :shock

Who needs status or FF points/miles that badly to want to sit in WHY for ~54 hours?

 

[Evan]

Who needs status or FF points/miles that badly to want to sit in WHY for ~54 hours?

Not me thats for sure... whY !!! OMG !
In F even then i would want a day at each end.

 

[trooper]

That's why I used the word maniac!! :mrgreen:

I rack up my extra "miles" through premium cabin "runs".... (Domestic US F runs and long haul good deals....)

Much nicer that way.....