Flying to Australia

It isn’t always ridiculously expensive - any time I’ve gown Business Class out of my own pocket we’ve always booked it during the sales, and while still more than economy it’s not in the many thousands like a standard ticket would be.

Example - we booked to go to Toronto in 2019 with BA, and they had a companion sale on where buying two tickets was massively cheaper. I found BC returns for £1500 each, and there was one specific flight which, for whatever reason, First Class outbound was only £200 more. It was the only one at that price but we could be flexible enough to make it work. This is the key to a lot of good pricing - there are communities out there (flyertalk forum) dedicated to finding these things and developing strategies to get bargain luxury travel. TurningLeftForLess is also one of many websites that do the same thing.

We’ve managed two other holidays flying BC at bargain rates with BA (NYC and Mauritius) and quite a few more using Avios Air Miles and companion vouchers (Maldives and Vancouver included).

Personally, I would not enjoy flying economy for anything more than about 4 hours now as I’ve become a bit of a travel snob, but I will never pay full price for these things. Unlike to treat the holiday as starting from the moment I get to the airport, so dedicated check-ins and security, lounge access, separate boarding, a comfortable seat to fly in and lay back, better food and service (variable results…) and arriving at the destination feeling like I’ve enjoyed the journey.

I appreciate that I’m sat in the same metal tube as everyone in economy, taking the same time to get to the same place, but I eventually decided that I didn’t want to pay to be miserable in life, and I would make my holidays enjoyable from start to finish. It’s not for everyone, although I do think that everyone who goes on holidays should experience upper class travel of some sort once in their life.

You can, however, take it too far…
 
I'm potentially going over in November, looking at flights, one of them has a stop over in Dubai with two hours before the next flight, is that long enough? Never actually done a route long enough to involve a chageover.
That's with Etihad.
 
Uther said:
I'm potentially going over in November, looking at flights, one of them has a stop over in Dubai with two hours before the next flight, is that long enough? Never actually done a route long enough to involve a chageover.
That's with Etihad.
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Two hours should be more than enough - as long as it’s booked as one ticket you’ll be fine anyway as any delays become the airline’s issue.
 
I am slowly planning for late July 2026 (school holidays), planning a 5 night stop in Singapore then 4 weeks in Cairns, think it will be economy though, flights are not bookable yet, but planning it on this years prices. 2 adults, 2 kids (2&4). It will be their first flight as well. Fingers crossed!
Unless someone can figure a way to get business class flights without me selling the kids!
It’s a bit more faff, but a quick stop in Germany (1-2 hour transfer) can knock quite a chunk of the price.
Might be worth considering?
 
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Daaaavvveee said:
I am slowly planning for late July 2026 (school holidays), planning a 5 night stop in Singapore then 4 weeks in Cairns, think it will be economy though, flights are not bookable yet, but planning it on this years prices. 2 adults, 2 kids (2&4). It will be their first flight as well. Fingers crossed!
Unless someone can figure a way to get business class flights without me selling the kids!
It’s a bit more faff, but a quick stop in Germany (1-2 hour transfer) can knock quite a chunk of the price.
Might be worth considering?
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Airlines do sales events when BC is much cheaper - follow some of the travel blogs like turningleftforless and the forum flyertalk and you’ll get some hints/tricks.

Obviously though, you put the kids in economy regardless so they understand the value of business class in the future…
 
Daaaavvveee said:
I am slowly planning for late July 2026 (school holidays), planning a 5 night stop in Singapore then 4 weeks in Cairns, think it will be economy though, flights are not bookable yet, but planning it on this years prices. 2 adults, 2 kids (2&4). It will be their first flight as well. Fingers crossed!
Unless someone can figure a way to get business class flights without me selling the kids!
It’s a bit more faff, but a quick stop in Germany (1-2 hour transfer) can knock quite a chunk of the price.
Might be worth considering?
Click to expand...

Assume you have family/friends in Cairns? Otherwise why on earth are you spending a month in Cairns? :cry:
 
Daaaavvveee said:
I am slowly planning for late July 2026 (school holidays), planning a 5 night stop in Singapore then 4 weeks in Cairns, think it will be economy though, flights are not bookable yet, but planning it on this years prices. 2 adults, 2 kids (2&4). It will be their first flight as well. Fingers crossed!
Unless someone can figure a way to get business class flights without me selling the kids!
It’s a bit more faff, but a quick stop in Germany (1-2 hour transfer) can knock quite a chunk of the price.
Might be worth considering?
Click to expand...
Basically you can do business class really cheaply for 2 adults as explained in this thread, but it takes a year or so of planning if you are starting from scratch.
 
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Megahurtz400 said:
Assume you have family/friends in Cairns? Otherwise why on earth are you spending a month in Cairns? :cry:
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Ha, yeah family, it’s going to be our base, will be looking at a few days around Brisbane too, so we can go to the Zoo and Bluey World, then maybe a quick trip to NZ to see other family.
 
Daaaavvveee said:
Ha, yeah family, it’s going to be our base, will be looking at a few days around Brisbane too, so we can go to the Zoo and Bluey World, then maybe a quick trip to NZ to see other family.
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Ah amazing, Queensland is really good fun!

I’ve just spent 6 weeks here and partner is from Brisbane so if you need any recommendations feel free to send me a dm :cool:
 
Megahurtz400 said:
Ah amazing, Queensland is really good fun!

I’ve just spent 6 weeks here and partner is from Brisbane so if you need any recommendations feel free to send me a dm :cool:
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Cheers :) we have family there too, just hoping to have a chilled out trip, just looking forward to decent temps and nice weather! My previous visits have mainly been Brisbane/Sunshine Coast(Noosa)
 
Daaaavvveee said:
Cheers :) we have family there too, just hoping to have a chilled out trip, just looking forward to decent temps and nice weather! My previous visits have mainly been Brisbane/Sunshine Coast(Noosa)
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It’s Queensland, of course the weather will be fantastic, it’s actually a joke :cry:

I was arguing with the in laws this morning, they were saying it’s going to get “cold” soon, and by cold, they mean it’s 15° in the morning and 22° by lunch :rolleyes:
 
Flown with Singapore pre-covid and more recently with Emirates. All flights in economy and on A380 and B777. Can just say that A380 vs B777 is night an day different. Not just space but in smoothness and quietness.

Biggest difference is the level of service between Singapore Airlines and Emirate. Can't recommend Singapore enough and the airport is the best I've ever visit, really wish that I had booked them for the recent trip but no tickets left. 14 hours was no problem and I am 5'10" and my son is 6' 1" and neither of had a problem.
 
Daaaavvveee said:
I am slowly planning for late July 2026 (school holidays), planning a 5 night stop in Singapore then 4 weeks in Cairns, think it will be economy though, flights are not bookable yet, but planning it on this years prices. 2 adults, 2 kids (2&4). It will be their first flight as well. Fingers crossed!
Unless someone can figure a way to get business class flights without me selling the kids!
It’s a bit more faff, but a quick stop in Germany (1-2 hour transfer) can knock quite a chunk of the price.
Might be worth considering?
Click to expand...

Don't know how I found myself reading this thread again, but if you want something to do in Singapore Airport, check out the rooftop pool!

Probably not a difference maker for you if you're stopping for 5 nights, but not a lot of people seem to talk about it!

For £15 it allowed us to stretch out, have a shower and it wasn't really that busy on our 6 hour stop over :D
 
Booked to fly to Adelaide in December just before xmas allowing us to spend it with partners brother and sister in law, with a return flight mid Jan. Going with Qatar Airways, first time using them so will be interesting to see what they are like.
 
shaynemawer said:
Booked to fly to Adelaide in December just before xmas allowing us to spend it with partners brother and sister in law, with a return flight mid Jan. Going with Qatar Airways, first time using them so will be interesting to see what they are like.
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Flew with them on my last minute flight in 2022.

Didn't have extra leg room and was massively unprepared so can't say I enjoyed it, but it was fine along with all the other big names :)

Doha airport is quite cool, massive and really modern too!
 
Megahurtz400 said:
Flew with them on my last minute flight in 2022.

Didn't have extra leg room and was massively unprepared so can't say I enjoyed it, but it was fine along with all the other big names :)

Doha airport is quite cool, massive and really modern too!
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Luckily even though we've booked late mainly due to prices been stupid and had come down to something reasonable, we've still managed to get extra legroom seats for all flights.
Also our layover times are pretty short 2hr 50min and 3hr 45min so it's not a large chunk of time to try and kill in the airport. But it'll be nice to have a wonder around a different airport. Previously done a long layover in Hong Kong and an overnight stopover in Kuala Lumpur and hated both times.
 
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