Opinions required on Emirates flights to Venice via Dubai.

[Portcbob]

Hi all you flight experts.

Just wonder what do you think of the price I received from my local T/A... I will be departing from Brisbane and flying to Dubai for stopover then onwards to Venice for cruise then return home via Dubai again.
Flying with Emirates and have been offered a flight price at the present time for $1989.00 including taxes. What do you think of this fare... Do you guys think I should take it now or wait a month or two until Emirates may??????? release " Early Bird Fares " to Europe.. Not flying until May, 2012.
Any advice/opinions would be warmly welcomed.

Regards Bob & Chris.

 

[Travel Guru]

Hi all you flight experts.

Just wonder what do you think of the price I received from my local T/A... I will be departing from Brisbane and flying to Dubai for stopover then onwards to Venice for cruise then return home via Dubai again.
Flying with Emirates and have been offered a flight price at the present time for $1989.00 including taxes. What do you think of this fare... Do you guys think I should take it now or wait a month or two until Emirates may??????? release " Early Bird Fares " to Europe.. Not flying until May, 2012.
Any advice/opinions would be warmly welcomed.

Regards Bob & Chris.

In my opinion (I'm a TA myself), I'd wait until mid-october when the Earlybird fares come out.

$1989 isn't a ridiculously high fare, but I suspect you'll save a bit by wait for the EB fares.

Hope that helps.

TG

 

[ChrisFlyer]

Hi there,

Without knowing the exact dates of your flights, it is difficult to offer a precise opinion - as discounts/early-bird specials can frequently occur on flights that are less popular, but are more unlikely on flights that are predicted to have a high passenger load (or where discounts are offered on predicted high-load flights, there are generally fewer discounted seats available, as they want to maximise revenue). I've had a quick look on the Emirates website, and they are generally charging 2045.62 for 1 adult return in May, so while your TA may be offering a lower price, also look into any undisclosed fees from the TA that are separate to the Emirates fees and taxes (eg. credit card surcharge of 1-3.5%, a fixed or percentage-based TA booking fee, etc)...

Also, be aware of the likely stopover time in DXB for your flight home - the outbound flight shouldn't be too bad (~5hr stopover), but the way home may require that you spend the night in DXB if booking the cheapest price possible. If you want to just transit DXB rather than visiting the city, it's only about $15AUD more expensive to book inbound flights that connect with about 3hrs between them, as opposed to ~11hrs for the cheapest ticket available.

To the sale part of the question, I haven't been following Emirates sales lately, so I can't offer any advice there! Also, as a new member of AFF, welcome!

 

[docjames]

+1, I dont feel you'll lose much by waiting, but there'll probably be some savings if a sale comes along. I'd be waiting until about November, and if you dont see a better price by then, book the $2k one and stop worrying.

 

[sinophile888]

Dear Portcbob,
Last Christmas, I flew PER -> SIN -> PER on QF, then SIN-> DXB -> FCO and LHR -> DXB –> SIN on EK. The EK fares were around $1200 return. This was considerably cheaper than EK all the way. If you could get a QF FF flight from BNE -> SIN, it may end up an even better deal. I used this routing to ensure all daytime flights with stopovers in Singapore and Dubai in both directions. But stopovers wouldn’t necessarily be what you want.