Tips for getting an empty flight to London

[myfavouritescar]

I need to fly to London from Sydney (one way flight) leaving after 20th of November and arriving sometime before 9th of December. Anytime in these 2.5 weeks is fine. I'm happy to fly on any airline via any city. Unfortunately I have no status or points and can't afford to fly anything but Y.

I received an op up on QF from Y to J earlier in the year and now have a taste for the higher life! I'm hoping to choose (to the best of my ability) the emptiest flight I can to optimise my chances of an empty seat or seats next to me for a poor man's business class. Does anyone have any insight to help me achieve this?

Thanks for any help offered

 

[opusman]

Some days are on average busier than others but it depends on the time of year. Probably the best thing is to sign up for a trial ExpertFlyer account, pick an airline, and check the loadings on the dates you're interested in travelling.

 

[Boogs]

On PPrune there has been mention that QF9 from MEL has had light loads to DXB (but higher loads on the next leg to LHR) but the closer you get to Xmas the loads are going to get higher. Also try flightstats.com availability tool as its free

 

[Happy Trails]

I'd have thought that whatever dates have the lowest prices would have the lightest loads.
Though, with the vagaries of yield management, who knows?

 

[Aussie_flyer]

you are not going to be able to really know what the load is like just from GDS availability, even if its showing all 9's there may be only 30 seats left. Depends on how they are managing the inventory.

 

[myfavouritescar]

Thanks for the input so far.

I know airlines are basically a matter of personal preference but I'm overwhelmed with choice all at the same price point. Flights are all within $100 of one another on Qantas, Emirates, Etihad, Virgin, Singapore, Thai, Malaysian, and Air NZ. Would you say any of these are better than the other? I've flown QF on this route before on the A380 and found it pretty good except the cabin was extremely warm for the last 1/3 of the flight. I'm intrigued with the idea of flying Air NZ via the USA, I found them great a few years ago on a trans pac flight and ended up on a sky couch seat at no extra cost but have heard quality has declined recently. I've never flown Singapore before so I'd quite like to try them out but should I just stick with what I know?

 

[Mattg]

Thanks for the input so far.

I know airlines are basically a matter of personal preference but I'm overwhelmed with choice all at the same price point. Flights are all within $100 of one another on Qantas, Emirates, Etihad, Virgin, Singapore, Thai, Malaysian, and Air NZ. Would you say any of these are better than the other? I've flown QF on this route before on the A380 and found it pretty good except the cabin was extremely warm for the last 1/3 of the flight. I'm intrigued with the idea of flying Air NZ via the USA, I found them great a few years ago on a trans pac flight and ended up on a sky couch seat at no extra cost but have heard quality has declined recently. I've never flown Singapore before so I'd quite like to try them out but should I just stick with what I know?

I guess it comes down to personal preference. If you are planning to break up the trip with a stopover then you could choose based on which city (Dubai, Los Angeles, Bangkok, Singapore etc.) you prefer. Personally I would choose Qantas, but most of the above are pretty good. I possibly wouldn't choose Air NZ as it will be a longer flight overall and their economy on the 777 is a bit cramped in the 3-4-3 configuration (note that Emirates is the same on 777 flights, but many are operated by A380s).

I must say, I was having a look at all the options for SYD-LHR the other day too and was also surprised by the wide range of choice but little variation in price.

 

[opusman]

you are not going to be able to really know what the load is like just from GDS availability, even if its showing all 9's there may be only 30 seats left. Depends on how they are managing the inventory.

True although if there are only 30 Y seats left there are unlikely to be any deep discount fares available. 9's in all fare classes tends to indicate fairly light loading.

 

[bobe]

Why don't you fly Sri Lankan , you will get a J flight for for about the same as a Y in $, also fly to Paris then get the Eurostar to London even cheaper than flying to LHR.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

True although if there are only 30 Y seats left there are unlikely to be any deep discount fares available. 9's in all fare classes tends to indicate fairly light loading.

No this is not always the case, it can not be relied upon. Airlines are much more complicated than that. They know the likelihood of selling expensive fares last minute at certain times of the year so they may be willing to let the last 20 seats go in the last week at the cheapest price knowing it's the best they will likely get. Obviously if everything is 0'ed it is full but seeing 9's in all buckets is not an accurate way of knowing the load is light.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Matrix - ITA Software

Using the above link it looks like the cheapest one way faer for that time range is AUD858.00 flying China Eastern LHR/PVG/SYD for AUD858.00 departing LHR on 28 November.

 

[harvyk]

The trick I would use, find a lighter loaded flight (look at histories to look at when that is likely to be), be a solo traveler, and pay for advance seat selection. When selecting your seat select a seat in the 3-4-3 section, assuming an A380 (lower deck) / B747 (lower deck, although most 747's only have premium classes up stairs) / B777 and select either the window or the aisle of one of the 3 sections where a person has already selected a aisle / window. So if a person has already selected the window, select the aisle. Very few people will actively pick the spare middle seat next to you, as such it only really becomes a risk that someone will seat there if the other person is moved or the plane starts filling up.

This trick will not help you if you select an A330 / A340 flight or a B767 flight (assuming you could even find an operator using said aircraft on said route)

 

[myfavouritescar]

Why don't you fly Sri Lankan , you will get a J flight for for about the same as a Y in $, also fly to Paris then get the Eurostar to London even cheaper than flying to LHR.

Cheapest I can see is around $4000, but it sounded great!

 

[dajop]

Cheapest I can see is around $4000, but it sounded great!

A tip: use expedia.com.br (there's a whole thread on that) to buy an economy ticket to Singapore and buy Sri Lankan in business from there.

For original question, it could be worth getting to Asia and buying a separate ticket from Asia to Europe. Generally it seems the morning and lunchtime departures from Asia are more lightly loaded than the late night departures. But this a general observation, it may vary by time of year.

Good luck!

 

[drewbles]

True although if there are only 30 Y seats left there are unlikely to be any deep discount fares available. 9's in all fare classes tends to indicate fairly light loading.

I have on a fairly regular occurrence seen a seat purchased in one fare bucket, to see all remaining fare buckets deplete by a single digit (this was an O fare, and E, Q and N also depleted by 1).

Airlines often tie buckets together. It just allows them to group things together for their own accounting, and hope that people will select a higher fare over a lower one.

It's yield management. Bring your voodoo doll, rubber chicken and best chant, and perhaps you'll understand it (and when you do, please tell us all how it works ).

 

[drewbles]

Matrix - ITA Software

Using the above link it looks like the cheapest one way faer for that time range is AUD858.00 flying China Eastern LHR/PVG/SYD for AUD858.00 departing LHR on 28 November.

When using Matrix, learn the advanced routing codes. Alas they're not as flexible as it was prior to Google acquiring the company, but it's still not bad.

Coupled with EF or KVS, armed with some knowledge from here and other FF forums, you can often get very good deals. There's a reason people use flightfox though; it's because all the 'experts' on there are clued up on all the right websites.

Another thing to consider, if you know your return date, is to nest fares. Say you wanted to go SYD-SIN-LHR, you would look at a SYD-SIN return and a SIN-LHR return. I know you're not doing a return in this case, but it still may actually work out cheaper (One way fares to LHR are typically very high). Also nesting these would mean hidden city ticketing is quite doable.

I looked at doing some nesting a few months back with a sale QF had out of Asia to Europe (before the DXB move) in J, and found something return with Premium Economy to Asia and Business from Asia to Europe, for a few hundred more than the equivalent Premium Economy AU-Asia-LHR fare.

It's time consuming, but you can save quite a few dollars.

 

[myfavouritescar]

Massive thanks to everyone who responded I've learnt lots of great tips. Managed to score a cheap QF flight so jumped on it today. Here's hoping it's an empty flight!

 

[Paddy55]

Massive thanks to everyone who responded I've learnt lots of great tips. Managed to score a cheap QF flight so jumped on it today. Here's hoping it's an empty flight!

No, no, no... Paddy Jnr and I will be enjoying F on award tix

 

[Edge]

I flew MEL-LHR on QF9 on Oct 9th.. a Wednesday. Economy on both legs was EMPTY, everyone could move around and have a whole row to themselves if they wanted.

Flights back were full for a Thursday London departure.

 

[spudseamus]

But having tasted the power of the dark side the OP dosent realise that nothing but turning left will appease the inner force!!!! Grin