Spec me an Airline

Vanquish-Storm

Vanquish-Storm

Vanquish-Storm

Soldato
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Hi all,

I know a lot of you frequent flyers are clued up on long distance air travel so I was hoping to pick your brains.

We are looking to have our Honeymoon in May 2017, we are looking at either Bali or Thailand.

We have been quoted for a trip to Bali with a stopover in Singapore with Singapore Airlines but they want a large deposit compared to other airlines. (the stopover was 2 days in Singapore going over and just a flight transfer coming back)

I know there a few airlines that fly to that region but who would you say to avoid and who would you say is the best?

We do not want a stop over in Dubai so I think that narrows the options to a stop in Singapore or Hong Kong or even direct.

Thanks in advance.
 
It is very easy to both overthink and underthink the situation when picking a long-haul airline. Let me give you an example.

Singapore Airlines are renowned for being consistently ranked in the top 3 airlines worldwide. Their planes are generally newer, their staff are unbeatable and the level of service is very high.

However, if flying from Manchester, they currently have generally older planes on the MAN->SIN leg, which stop off in Munich (this will stop at the end of September).

Realistically, the level of service you receive from the top few (Singapore, Emirates, Ethiad, Qatar, Cathat Pacific) will be fairly similar. Check reviews, Skytrax ratings, check how old the planes on your journey are, check flight times, prices, cancellation policies etc. With this being a one off, and so far in the future, it's unlikely there's a "right" answer. But more importantly, it hardly matters, as you won't be picking that airline to become your new frequent flyer one.
 
Deposit? Surely the full payment is required at the time of booking unless it's some sort of package holiday. A scheduled airline offering flights only and not requiring payment then and there would be odd.

Singapore Airlines are excellent.
 
We flew to Australia over Christmas and had a similar question. We didn't want to stop in Dubai so were basically choosing whether to fly with Cathay and stop in HK, or Singapore and stop there. We chose Singapore. They were great and we really enjoyed being on the A380 (another thing we wanted). Having said that as Singapore had the first lot of A380s, our other flight on Air NZ made it looks quite dated! Still a great plane and experience though.

As said above, the experience itself will be much the same. We went with Singapore because of the stop, the plane and because they codeshare with Virgin Atlantic who I fly with for work. So I got tons of airmiles :)

EDIT: The Singapore stewardesses were damn hot, from memory. Maybe that'll swing it? :p
 
Echo what Fox said about this deposit thing being odd.

Singapore Airlines are excellent. Oh and Singapore is a good place to have a stop-over if that's what happens. Amazing airport.
 
@Fox & Sudden - Sorry, to make it clearer it is a packaged honeymoon holiday with the place sorting the whole thing out. The reason for such a high deposit is that they said Singapore Airlines want the payment in full. I have looked around and other airlines such as Qatar and Emirates with the same package do not need the payment upfront.

@Scam - its a honeymoon flight - don't think I could use that to sway my missus to go with them haha! :p - good point on the airmiles though - I have 50,000 would that get me anything haha!

@Redgie - Thanks I will check the Skytrax


Overall it sounds like I may have to bite the bullet on the deposit if I want Singapore Airlines but the others are pretty much the same standard anyhow.

Is there anyone to avoid?
 
Vanquish-Storm said:
@Scam - its a honeymoon flight - don't think I could use that to sway my missus to go with them haha! :p - good point on the airmiles though - I have 50,000 would that get me anything haha!
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50k with who? With Virgin Atlantic that would definitely get you something. Always worth topping up one set of airmiles rather than getting another amount in a different scheme.
 
Scam said:
50k with who? With Virgin Atlantic that would definitely get you something. Always worth topping up one set of airmiles rather than getting another amount in a different scheme.
Click to expand...

50k With Virgin Atlantic Airmiles. Flying Club.

Can you spend them with Singapore? Even if it was just for upgrades or would it be best to save them and add them to whatever from the flights if we do use Singapore.
 
How have you got 50k flying club miles and not deem yourself a frequent traveller? Are you sure it's not 500? :p

I'd definitely go Singapore. I don't think it works out particularly well spending miles with them, but you'll earn them. Can't be bothered to figure out how much for Thailand but you may end up with enough for a cash+upgrade return flight somewhere decent like Boston, New York etc. That's what we're aiming to do with our miles.

EDIT: http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/gb/en/flying-club/spend-miles.html
Using miles to upgrade usually works out better than trying to get a whole flight for free.
 
Scam said:
How have you got 50k flying club miles and not deem yourself a frequent traveller? Are you sure it's not 500? :p

I'd definitely go Singapore. I don't think it works out particularly well spending miles with them, but you'll earn them. Can't be bothered to figure out how much for Thailand but you may end up with enough for a cash+upgrade return flight somewhere decent like Boston, New York etc. That's what we're aiming to do with our miles.

EDIT: http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/gb/en/flying-club/spend-miles.html
Using miles to upgrade usually works out better than trying to get a whole flight for free.
Click to expand...

I have only ever flew Virgin Atlantic once - our credit cards are Virgin Atlantic and when we moved into our new house we used the Virgin "shops way" referrals to AO and John Lewis and what not for appliances. I use Virgin trains a lot too.

Might be worth stacking them up as we are planning on going to New York in December 2017.

It is defiantly Singapore Airlines that forms the deposit though because all the other holidays with different airlines only want a £300 deposit.
 
That's the deposit explained then - Singapore are acting normally and it's Emirates that are being interesting in not needing payment in full.
 
Emirates is good too so would have no reservations going for them instead of Singapore airlines. Would pick either one over Qatar (haven't flown with them, but Singapore and Emirates would be my preference).

Avoid Aeroflot :p.
 
Sudden said:
Emirates is good too so would have no reservations going for them instead of Singapore airlines. Would pick either one over Qatar (haven't flown with them, but Singapore and Emirates would be my preference).

Avoid Aeroflot :p.
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I think there are enough good airlines going that way so as it would not matter then by the sounds of it. So we will go back to the drawing board and come up with a plan.

[TW]Fox;29854086 said:
That's the deposit explained then - Singapore are acting normally and it's Emirates that are being interesting in not needing payment in full.
Click to expand...

Is that normal for "package" holidays? Emirates must just have an agreement with the agents.
 
Also without really knowing the cost would it be worth upgrading seats?

The only experience I have as an adult flying long haul is going to Calgary on an old Air Canada plane and that was cramped.

If premium is a little bit more (i.e. not double) would it be worth it or is cattle class fine on these airlines?
 
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