Long Haul flight tips...

[Surfer]

Just taking a couple of sample dates, London to Singapore 25th Sep -> 17 Oct.
Standard: GBP 489
Business: GBP 3500
First: 5800

3500 is a little bit of an exaggeration. Quick check of a long haul flight London to Taipei £1140 business class. Though it is with China Airlines 13 hr flight on a A340 airbus

ahh whoops thats one way. return price is £1800

 

[Swifty123]

I want to do these long flights when im older to Aus and NZ and such! But damn, don't think i could stand the flight!

I get bored enough on a 3hour, my longest has been 11 hour. Dont know how long the stop is but still long !

Bored, hungry, comfortable, eww food, need toilet.... 1st class, private jet seems to the way to go

 

[Jimbeam3678]

3500 is a little bit of an exaggeration. Quick check of a long haul flight London to Taipei £1140 business class. Though it is with China Airlines 13 hr flight on a A340 airbus

ahh whoops thats one way. return price is £1800

And I just booked one way back to LHR from Taipei for little over 370 GBP so still over 3 times the amount not worth it IMO if you do your homework and book with a decent airline like fox said. Why settle for crappy BA's 32 " pitch when others are cheaper , better and have a greater pitch baffles me why people fly BA , Qantas and the like.

For the record flown with china airlines and they were none to shabby

 

[z3b3dy]

I have also flown Swiss Air business class (Singapore to Switzerland) and TBH would not recommend.

The service was fine, the seats were fine but when they converted in to beds, they had a slope to them (i.e. were not flat) so the feet end was lower and had pretty bad issues trying to sleep as it felt like I would just slide off the end at any moment .

It is probabily not just Swiss Air who has those sorts of seats but they are the only airline I have done long haul with in Business class.

RB

How long ago? You must have been in one of their older cabins. I usualy use them to get to New York and their new business class is very good with flat seats and individual seating on the right-hand side of the cabin (a brilliant idea).

 

[starfighter]

I have never done a long haul flight and I don't want to unless it is business class. I don't have the mental stamina. I would be walking up and down the plane after a couple of films if I couldn't sleep. I hate sitting in a confined space, a middle seat especially would be hell.

I really want to go to the USA and Japan/Thailand so better get used to it.

 

[mjt]

How long ago? You must have been in one of their older cabins. I usualy use them to get to New York and their new business class is very good with flat seats and individual seating on the right-hand side of the cabin (a brilliant idea).

Lufthansa have flat seats up front, but they're not horizontal and as a result you find yourself slowly sliding down the seat.
That, and they're too complicated and fiddly to get comfortable.

The best is when you get an übercheap economy ticket, say like the £350 return flight to Singapore I got last year, and then upgrade to business using vouchers/miles.
It's even better when they forget to deduct them from your account.

Lufthansa Business is nothing special in the grand scheme of things though.

 

[z3b3dy]

Lufthansa have flat seats up front, but they're not horizontal and as a result you find yourself slowly sliding down the seat.
That, and they're too complicated and fiddly to get comfortable.

The best is when you get an übercheap economy ticket, say like the £350 return flight to Singapore I got last year, and then upgrade to business using vouchers/miles.
It's even better when they forget to deduct them from your account.

Lufthansa Business is nothing special in the grand scheme of things though.

On the latest A330s from Swiss the seats go fully flat in business and are comfortable to sleep in. Yes I've experienced the Lufthansa (and Air France and KLM for that mater) slide also and it can be very annoying.

 

[drew]

Continentals new lie flats, $500 + 20K miles on upgrade bargain!

My usual routine is collecting 5-6 cans of free beer from the lounge, inserting ear plugs, 4 advil PM's + 3 cans of beer and sleep like a baby. Unless i'm flying business, then I make the most of the non stop alcohol/good food.

 

[thepharcyde]

Just flew 11 hours with Thai Airways, a projector for movies on the 747 I flew on so had to entertain myself. But on the flip side I had a whole row of 4 seats 33" pitch to myself and food and drink on tap all the way. 6 pillows, blankets, noise cancelling headphones comedy stand ups on my music player enjoyed flat out on my back all the way awesome flight

 

[Ironic Namesake]

Just flew 11 hours with Thai Airways, a projector for movies on the 747 I flew on so had to entertain myself. But on the flip side I had a whole row of 4 seats 33" pitch to myself and food and drink on tap all the way. 6 pillows, blankets, noise cancelling headphones comedy stand ups on my music player enjoyed flat out on my back all the way awesome flight

I love that , when you get a whole row for yourself

 

[Moonpie]

I'd take a neck support pillow - maybe something inflatable would be better to carry onto the plane (though not as supportive!). I hate the fact that I can't get comfortable when I try and sleep so this is what I would do if I was going to fly long-haul.

 

[RimBlock]

3500 is a little bit of an exaggeration. Quick check of a long haul flight London to Taipei £1140 business class. Though it is with China Airlines 13 hr flight on a A340 airbus

ahh whoops thats one way. return price is £1800

You did check for the same dates didn't you ?. Surely you didn't just check for some random midweek dates to get the lowest fare ?.

Sept 25th -> Oct 17
Economy
Quantas: 434 (683)
BA: 473 (711)
Virgin: 577 (779)

Business
Quantas: 2,653 (3,000 inc. tax)
BA: approx same as Quantas.
Virgin: No availability.

First Class
Quantas: 3,515 (3,863)
BA: 3,687 (4,034)

Prices in brackets inc tax / surcharge.

China Airways does not seem to travel to Singapore, certainly not directly according to their website. China airways also seems to be very cheap compared to the other airlines comparing like for like. Direct from their website for the days specified, it is 1,500 approx not including tax / surcharge to Taipei. The China Airlines website is also very poor with flights offered to destinations they seem not to travel to and even with a week long spread, no flights are listed and no suggestions are given. Hope they manage their flights better than they design their website .

Doing another like for like as travelling to Singapore does seem to be a bit more expensive, Flying to Phuket from London ranges from 1,800 -> 2,400 exc tax/surcharge (Cathay and Sin Airways excluded as they were quite a bit more expensive) Business Class. Economy Class ranged from 461 -> 700 (BA excluded as it was over 3,000). All flights were 1 stop (Bangkok) for the connecting flight. Prices taken from EBookers for a quick comparison.

Obviously flight prices are subject to time of day, availability and the dates booked so getting exact like for live comparisons is very difficult but these are the cheapest fares offered by the different airlines.

RB

 

[RimBlock]

How long ago? You must have been in one of their older cabins. I usualy use them to get to New York and their new business class is very good with flat seats and individual seating on the right-hand side of the cabin (a brilliant idea).

The flight would have been around 1.5 years ago and yes the cabin was looking a little shabby.

Swiss friends are always quick to point out they Swissair is in fact now owned by Lufthuansa now .

RB

 

[crisbduck]

go for a wee