Emirates on-line Pricing different to our travel agents

[Pug1]

I'm hoping the experts here can advise me! I'm trying to book paid return flights from Melbourne to Lisbon on Emirates next April. I know it's a busy and therefore expensive time to fly. My problem is that I get a total cost just under AUD$11K return for two of us flying our preferred class of PE Melbourne to Dubai and Y to and from Lisbon. However, the travel agent quote is over $2K dearer for Y all the way. Happy to book directly with Emirates on-line but our travel agent does offer additional assistance. We have no status with Emirates, but they are the only airline with a good direct connection into Lisbon.

 

[drron]

I experienced somewhat the same booking EK SIN-FRA. The Emirates price on line beat the consolidators.
I had no hesitation booking on line with Emirates.

 

[Mattg]

I might be missing something, but are you saying that your travel agent quoted you $13,000 for 2xY seats MEL-DXB-LIS and back?

You could almost fly J on another airline for that!

 

[serfty]

I might be missing something, but are you saying that your travel agent quoted you $13,000 for 2xY seats MEL-DXB-LIS and back?

You could almost fly J on another airline for that!

Premium Economy I believe.

 

[Mattg]

Premium Economy I believe.

The OP said "Y all the way".

 

[serfty]

The OP said "Y all the way".

Fair enough, I saw "flying our preferred class of PE Melbourne to Dubai and Y to and from Lisbon", i should have absorbed more.

Made the mistake of assuming the OP was comparing the same thing.

That makes it even worse.

 

[Pug1]

I experienced somewhat the same booking EK SIN-FRA. The Emirates price on line beat the consolidators.
I had no hesitation booking on line with Emirates.

thank you for the feedback drron. I'm beginning to think the travel agents don't add much value! The Emirates flight Dubai to Lisbon does not have PE at the moment so that is why I costed PE to Dubai and Y on to Lisbon, which we are happy with. What I really wanted to price was to fly direct to Lisbon via Dubai and back the same way with a stopover in Dubai. The Emirates site does not make that easy to price. I hope to hear back from the TA tomorrow. The bright side is that it is nice to be planning any travel again. We are doing a Viking Douro River cruise out of Porto.

 

[Pug1]

Premium Economy I believe.

Yes the TA quote on Emirates was Y all the way and back at just under $13K. I priced it at less than $11K with PE to and from Dubai and Y from Dubai to and from Lisbon.

 

[Pug1]

I might be missing something, but are you saying that your travel agent quoted you $13,000 for 2xY seats MEL-DXB-LIS and back?

You could almost fly J on another airline for that!

any suggestions for an airline in J Mattg? Being in our 70's and nervous of being stranded for any reason, we are trying to find flights with as few stops as possible. I know that Lisbon is not the easiest city to fly into from Oz.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

any suggestions for an airline in J Mattg? Being in our 70's and nervous of being stranded for any reason, we are trying to find flights with as few stops as possible. I know that Lisbon is not the easiest city to fly into from Oz.

Finnair business class from singapore to lisbon is just AUD4900 per person in april next year, return.

You could use points or buy an economy flight from Australia to Singapore and still come in under budget. Plus the comfort and convenience of business class. That’s just one example of an easy connection, and you could stop in singapore one or both ways to break you journey.

Singapore airlines from singapore would be $5700 return to lisbon, connecting in frankfurt.

Slightly above your current budget you could consider leaving from brisbane. singapore airlines business class the whole way to lisbon would be $6500 per person. You’d be protected on a single ticket all the way. The ticket is sold by lufthansa, with travel on Singapore and TAP air portugal.

The same flights in premium economy for the legs available, which is the SIN-FRA would be $3400 per person. It’s economy between brisbane and singapore return, and on the flight from Frankfurt to Lisbon.

 

[Pug1]

Finnair business class from singapore to lisbon is just AUD4900 per person in april next year, return.

You could use points or buy an economy flight from Australia to Singapore and still come in under budget. Plus the comfort and convenience of business class. That’s just one example of an easy connection, and you could stop in singapore one or both ways to break you journey.

Singapore airlines from singapore would be $5700 return to lisbon, connecting in frankfurt.

Slightly above your current budget you could consider leaving from brisbane. singapore airlines business class the whole way to lisbon would be $6500 per person. You’d be protected on a single ticket all the way. The ticket is sold by lufthansa, with travel on Singapore and TAP air portugal.

The same flights in premium economy for the legs available, which is the SIN-FRA would be $3400 per person. It’s economy between brisbane and singapore return, and on the flight from Frankfurt to Lisbon.

Fantastic thank you. I will check those options out.

 

[Pug1]

Finnair business class from singapore to lisbon is just AUD4900 per person in april next year, return.

You could use points or buy an economy flight from Australia to Singapore and still come in under budget. Plus the comfort and convenience of business class. That’s just one example of an easy connection, and you could stop in singapore one or both ways to break you journey.

Singapore airlines from singapore would be $5700 return to lisbon, connecting in frankfurt.

Slightly above your current budget you could consider leaving from brisbane. singapore airlines business class the whole way to lisbon would be $6500 per person. You’d be protected on a single ticket all the way. The ticket is sold by lufthansa, with travel on Singapore and TAP air portugal.

The same flights in premium economy for the legs available, which is the SIN-FRA would be $3400 per person. It’s economy between brisbane and singapore return, and on the flight from Frankfurt to Lisbon.

Sorry dumb question but where are you getting those costs from?

 

[Mattg]

any suggestions for an airline in J Mattg? Being in our 70's and nervous of being stranded for any reason, we are trying to find flights with as few stops as possible. I know that Lisbon is not the easiest city to fly into from Oz.

Perhaps you could ask your travel agent to look at the special Finnair or Lufthansa Group fares to Europe.

For example, I just found this on ITA Matrix for $13,425 for 2 passengers in business class:



Or this for $13,407 for 2 people:

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Sorry dumb question but where are you getting those costs from?

I’m doing the initial search through google flights. While they also provide links to book, but you may need to exercise some caution choosing which one. Some are better than others when it comes to customer service.

$5500 for a mixed premium economy/economy fare is the airline taking us for a ride. $250 more per sector and your in a full flat bed with all the perks.

The issue of airfares to europe came up in another thread and Japan Airlines had a premium economy fare of $3500 return to London… and that fare comes complete with lounge access at all ports and upgraded beverage service including champagne as a standard offering. I know separate tickets isn’t ideal, but as an example it shows that even throwing in a day or two in London as a buffer and the connecting flight to Lisbon, is still way under $5500 per person!

 

[Pug1]

Perhaps you could ask your travel agent to look at the special Finnair or Lufthansa Group fares to Europe.

For example, I just found this on ITA Matrix for $13,425 for 2 passengers in business class:

View attachment 300932

Or this for $13,407 for 2 people:

View attachment 300934

thank you mattg. I will be chatting to her today.

 

[Pug1]

I’m doing the initial search through google flights. While they also provide links to book, but you may need to exercise some caution choosing which one. Some are better than others when it comes to customer service.

$5500 for a mixed premium economy/economy fare is the airline taking us for a ride. $250 more per sector and your in a full flat bed with all the perks.

The issue of airfares to europe came up in another thread and Japan Airlines had a premium economy fare of $3500 return to London… and that fare comes complete with lounge access at all ports and upgraded beverage service including champagne as a standard offering. I know separate tickets isn’t ideal, but as an example it shows that even throwing in a day or two in London as a buffer and the connecting flight to Lisbon, is still way under $5500 per person!

I agree. I did price the PE Emirates fares for February next year as a matter of interest and they were around half the price of April. I realise April is getting into Europe high season and with school holidays and the Easter break our fares are not going to be bargain price. I will check out JAL too as we like it and would love to get back to Japan. I would probably not book with any on-line agent - just too "nervous" to do so!

 

[Pug1]

Thought I would let people know what we decided as I did appreciate all of your advice and suggestions.
1. We booked the Emirates flights with PE Melbourne to Dubai and back and Y Dubai Lisbon and return at a cost just under $13K for the two of us. I thought our TA had booked Y all the way but in fact she had booked PE on the long legs and that is shown on some records as Y - W class.
2. I know that is expensive, but we preferred a Dubai stopover as opposed to anywhere else and it had the best connections for us in getting into Lisbon to join our Douro cruise from Porto.
3. I could not match the cheaper prices mentioned above, for our dates in April, and ended up with similar costs to Emirates in PE, with longer journeys and more stops on the way. When I priced J class, I got costs in excess of $19K for the two of us, again with more tortuous routing.
4. Tried to book the same Emirates routing on Qantas, (with QF flight numbers for status credits), but the site would not let me select PE for Mel/Dubai. Nobody answered the Qantas phone and my message to them last Saturday morning remains unread and unanswered. Qantas service is appalling now.
5. Have just spent a few tiring hours checking out the travel insurance cover and signed up with Allianz after falling asleep reading pds from various others!
6. We booked through a local Canberra Travel Agency.