Airlines for flights to Australia

Hi,

I am traveling to Sydney, Australia in the next couple of months. Which airlines would you recommend from Munich? and how much it typically costs?

The cheapest one I ever flew was Olympic Airways via Athens and the food was very good too. Also when the stewardesses had a break everyone was allowed to help themselves from the bar!

Try and get an airline that has its own in-seat entertainment unit (in economy I presume). It's a long flight and it helps pass the time a lot more than the other option (bigger screen showing of something you don't want to see).

i always take my own in-seat entertainment with me, the Archos AV700. Never rely on airline entertainments.

I've used various airlines and have finally settled on Emirates, so personally I'd say check them first. With in-seat entertainment.
You'd be looking at roughly a thousand euros.

However they are talking of allowing the use of mobiles on their flights in the near future, so I might have to go look somewhere else next time.

yeah I flew Emirates too this year and they were really cool, changing in Dubai. I heard the thing about the mobiles too but then read an artilce that it was going to be really restricted with only five people being able to call at a time or something.

I would always recommend a break in between of maybe a one night stop over? As we flew from Heathrow to ChristChurch in NZ and it was HELL, we had one hour off the plane in Bangkok and it wasn't a good enough break.

How would they be able to monitor that?? 5 people at a time..

I flew in on Thai, they dont have in-seat entertainment (economy) but fly at night and you sleep most of the way.

Enjoy your time in Aus, I cant wait till I get back there..

Thai would be my second choice. However like mentioned above, I too didn't get enough time in Bangkok to stretch my legs and was feeling pretty crumpled by the time I got to Sydney.
On the way back the first leg was late and I was forced to overnight in Bangkok at the airline's expense. Damn was that hard

I almost always fly Thai to NZ and would definitely recommend them. If you are a LH/Miles and More member, you also get airpoints for flying with them.

I'm not sure if this is true for all flights (like to Oz), but last year they had introduced the new planes to NZ and did in fact have in-seat video in economy. They sare also reasonably priced and have good service.

But do try to get at least a night in Bangkok to lie down - hotels in Bangkok are super cheap - and if you have the time, a few days would be better.

Nah, bugger the break.
Get it all over and done with in one hit.
Wash down a couple of Temazepam with a glass of Pinot, and you're right for the flight.

As for airlines, it depends where you leave from.
From Munich, Singapore and BA are good, since they have direct flights to Oz via Frankfurt and Singapore.
The former codeshares with Lufthansa for the first part of the leg, so you don't have to re-ticket along the way, although I think you do need to do so with the latter.
These two aren't the cheapest though, but at least you don't have to dick around in London or Dubai.
Singapore is a good airport too, with the option to pay by the hour in hotels, so you can have a kip during the stopover. Haven't explored the options for a "happy ending" in the hotel rooms, Bangkok is probably your best bet for those kind of shennanigans.

no advice to offer, sorry ...

Roughly what kind of money does it cost to get to Australia from Munich? Not necessarily during peak times or holiday season, just wondering what the minimum would be ...

From Munich, Austrian Air is one of the best options. It's near on the cheapest without doing silly stuff like flying to Frankfurt or London (ie farther from your destination) first. You fly to Vienna, then onto Singapore or KL, then Sydney. Planes are new, with in-seat entertainment and you get Lufthansa Miles and More points.

As for the cost, go to any travel agents website and put in some dates to get a rough idea of costs. Actually Lufty's home page is much improved and pretty easy to use too for that sort of thing (though I'm not sure about longer flights).

I would strongly recommend Emirates as they have personal screens for each passenger, good food, great service, comfortable seats and newer planes.

Moreover, with a long flight like this, you probably would rather have stopovers to stretch your legs.

I heard Etihadairways is not too bad either.

Emirates ... decent food; good inflight entertainment; frequent flights; and usually the cheapest airfare.

Do Etihad fly to Australia?
I'd be interested in people's experiences with them as they've only relatively recently started flying out of Munich.

If you can afford it spend the money and go business or upgrade...this trip is hell.

Baring that, I think the stopever option is great, and it is what we did last time. Thai air has some "stopever packages" from 1 to 5 days.

Thai.

Really good timetable as its mostly over night.
Its a direct line from Munich to Oz so quick flying time
Service was really good.
Price was cheapest too.

Will DEFINITELY fly Thai again.

Whether stopovers are A Good Thing or not is a matter of personal taste. I like to whack on through on the way out because I just want to get there. However I do like a break of about 4 hours in order to relieve general pain and remove my big toe from my left ear.

On the way back I like to stop over somewhere for a couple of nights because it lets me down gently after the holiday. And it seems daft not to if you’re in Bangkok, KL, Singapore, Dubai etc anyway.

However since Koshary is Egyptian he would need a visa to enter any of these countries making it not quite so practical for him just to pop in for a couple of nights.

Like a lot of people have mentioned, Emirates seems the best option from Munich. We booked a flight for next year at the end of March and the ticket came to just under 1000 euros including everything. They were much cheaper than other airlines (going at that time anyway), and they even have a fare for under 30's which is slightly cheaper. I think what really helps out Emirates on the price though is the taxes. They were only 200 euros I think, whereas with Qantas for example, they were 350.

I've never flown with them, but they are meant to be quite a good airline too with good quality in flight entertainment. We're stopping at Dubai on the way there, and Singapore on the way back.

www.charterconcierge.com

The best way to fly back to OZ.

Your own private jet.

My advice, stay clear of Lufty, when I first flew to London, I booked with Singapore Air (the best I have flown with) however when I got to Singapore for the first stop, we were changed onto a Lufty flight... it was hell.

Like everyone else has said, Emirates or if you can do it, Fly BA and travel world travel Class (The seats are bigger then economy and you have a lot more room, and at times you can get world trav for an extra few hundred euros.

Im going back next year, and am flying BA (my best mate in Sydney is one of BA's managers, get great discounts and always upgraded)...mmmm heaven

I went to Oz once with BA (cos it was free and loads upgrades etc, fab ) BUT from Munich you have to think it adds I'd say at least 5 hours onto the total journey time and you have to go through the hell of Theifrow.

Emirates is only about 100 Euros less than Lufthansa on average. I'd rather take the points for such a long flight.

I've flown long haul on Lufthansa a fair bit recently. business class, so can't say anything economy. In general i found them to be ok (much better than Austrian for example) but i find the stewardesses to be very grumpy, hardly a smile in sight. Cathay Pacific stewardesses always smile and make a point of remembering your name, etc. makes a huge difference, especially where other things are so similar, and doesn't cost anything for the airline.

We flew Emirates here in May with a stopover in Dubai for the third or fourth time. Highly recommended airline and stopover (esp with kids).

My father flew from Sydney to Düsseldorf and back again with Emirates in August this year and he had nothing but praise for the quality of service and the food. (It was his first trip overseas though so he has no other airline experience to compare it to).

Have not had the pleasure of flying with Emirates myself yet, but a couple of my friends, and another family member all insist on using Emirates for flights between Oz and Europe so they can't be a bad choice.

My own experience flying between Australia and Europe has been with Qantas-Cathay Pacific (Sydney to Rome via Hong Kong) and Qantas/British Airways (Sydney to Munich via Singapore and London). Can't really say that there was that much of a difference in standards between them (although the Qantas flight attendants have a lot more attitude which can be either amusing or appalling depending on your perspective) - a flight to Oz from Europe in Economy class will always be a tad on the uncomfortable side.

Have used Singapore Airlines and JAL (amongst others) for long haul flights before too (but not quite as long as Sydney-Germany) and they were really good in terms of service.

E M I R A T E S

you certainly wont be bored on the flight with 500 channels

so i think we can agree that Emirates is TT's choice of Airline to Oz then, oder?

With Thai in second place.

I'll still cast my vote for Lufthansa or partner airline. More flights & more points.

then i guess i'm the only one who doesn't like emirates. i flew from oz to munich with them in august (and even went business class - well work paid for it) and thought the plane was pretty old. the entertainment system is excellent in theory - @500 channels but really there's maybe a handful of things worth watching on there. also, dubai airport really sucked when i was there - it was my first time and i thought i had just walked in on a slum. peeps were sleeping everywhere, it was quite dirty and the bathrooms were filthy (both public and the ones in the lounge). the car service ain't bad though.

i went singapore airlines last month to oz (economy - i paid for this one) but had an emergency exit row seat - found it generally to be better than emirates (and singapore airport is great).

best so far has been qantas - going to heathrow sucks but you can also catch flights out of the furt (am doing so in jan). business class rocks. but if price is a key driver, then it's a toss up between emirates and austrian. never been austrian but all my colleagues swear by them.

Austrian is a Lufthansa partner.

God, I have to stop, I sound like I work for the bloody airline PR department. Okay, I've said my piece, I'll stop now.

yes, you are right, Austrian is a member of Star Alliance. However, their business class seats and entertainment systems really suck. So does Vienna airport. The food was quite good, though. Better than Lufty. BUt on the whole I find Lufthansa miles better than Austrian.

Don't forget Thai - also Star Alliance. I have flown with them around the world about 5 times over the last 20 years - and with several other airlines once each. Thai's service has been consistently good, their fares are among the lowest - and as long as you get the newer planes you get the video entertainment too.

How is this valid? What if you don't have a FF account with Lufthansa, but instead have one with Emirates?

i think living in Germany, people are probably more likely to have a Lufty Miles & More Card than any other. I have a number of FF cards, M&M being just one of them. The others I use most frequently are BA Executive Club and the Asian Miles Programme. I have the latter because european resident BA Executive Club members can no longer earn miles on Asian Miles partners, yet I can still redeem Asian Miles on British Airways flights.

My attitude is that even though you are paying a lot of money, you cannot expect good service in economy class because most of what you paying for is the fuel, not for stewardesses to look after your every need. Basically, I reckon you have to look after yourself (iPod, water, etc.) instead of hoping that the airline will provide everything for you.

I have flown to/from OZ on Japan Airlines. When flying to Europe, they give you a Tokyo airport hotel room for free and you can get get a good nights sleep (same time zone as OZ) and breakfast before doing the other half of the trip. Downside is there is a 5 hour wait in Tokyo going the other way and they only fly into Frankfurt, not Munich.

You can't take a bottle of water with you naymore can you.
Bloody terrorists / that fucker Blair, delete as appropriate,.

If they want to offer no frills drop the price.
Unlike they've done in Europe where they have dropped the frills but kept the prices the same.

Cathay Pacific is the best and has been voted the best airline - their rates display this.

I flew with Quantas before and found them very good.

I normally fly out of Frankfurt as the in-laws live near there. But we have flown with JAL, Korean Air and Royal Brunei. I found JAL the best of these and Korean is not far behind. Both had fairly good service. Royal Brunei had good service on board but we had two stopovers. One in Thailand for an hour and one in Brunei where we had to line up for an hour to get our boarding passes for the next leg.

I've flown Cathay (but not from Germany) and found them really good as well. Qantas can be a mixed bag in terms of service and they are usually more expensive. A friend who does lots of travel to Europe from Australia swears by Singapore Air (although he gets to fly first class) as being the best.

Our strategy is to normally go for the cheapest since there is three of us flying and we have to do it every year or two. But there are certain airlines we wouldn't fly with: Vietnam, China, United, to name a few. We also look at doing a stopover at least in one direction.

I have flown Singapore Airlines from Australia to London before, and they were probably the best airline I've ever gone with. However, I don't believe they fly directly to Munich, so its a bit of a hassle if you're not in Frankfurt.

One flight to Oz with Lufty will get you a free flight practically anywhere within Europe most times. Where will the same flight with Emirates get you?

In the last 5 years I've flown between Oz and Europe with BA, Qantas, JAL, Cathay and Egypt Air.

Of that lot I think JAL was the top choice for service and comfort. I always find Asian airlines to have better service.

Egypt Air was a tought trip, but for the price, I didn't expect much more.

Qantas fly out of Frankfurt and do a deal for 50 eur train connection from anywhere in Germany, or 100 eur for a flight connection.

Its a pain to fly via London, Frankfurt, etc, but when you are talking 24 hours of travel, whats an extra 5 hours?

I always try stop in Asia for a at least a few days.

In the last 2 years, I've flown back to Sydney twice with Thai Airways and they've never had individual screens. I felt as though their plane was quite old. But the service is great, the food is good and it's a direct flight to Oz. I've flown with them from London 3 or 4 times and their machines were more modern and had those personal entertainment screens. I think they probably assign their older planes to smaller cities.

Here's a really helpful site on which they give you all sorts of infos on airlines like for eg. best seats, worst seats on different types of airlines, airline ranking, airport ranking, passenger opinions and so on. Worth a look I thought.

http://www.airlinequality.com/index.htm

You can also check the site below for airplane layouts from different airlines. This site also tells you about seating.

http://www.seatexpert.com/_SQ_Boeing_747_400_V1.html

Qantas has special offers at the moment but you need to book before the end of November.

http://www.qantas.com.au/international/de/...alien_1049.html

I'm flying next May with Singapore airline. It seemed to have a good rating overall, and is the only airline with a 5-star rating. I even think that I've read somewhere that their economy class had the most leg room!
And I've only heard great things about them so far from people who have flown with them.

Hope this helps a little.
Happy travel

Went economy on singapore there and back again...was great, not much legroom but great service, food, and entertainment...u even get Super Nintendo games to play with anyone on the plane...(although on the way back it was a different plane and it just had Gameboy games...but good enough!:))

Was also the cheapest fare by a long way...800e

kimf - great links!

Austrian are OK, and often amongst the cheapest, but I believe they will stop flying to Oz from the end of March 2007.

Thank you all so much for your help.

I finally settled for Emirates. Thai was also recommended to me by a collegue, but economy class was always fully booked, maybe due to popularity. And since I will take Emirates I will stop for 2 nights in Dubai, and I heard they get me a visa easily to Dubai. The BA, Austrian give me higher prices because I booked just 6 weeks in advance.

hey just wanted to bring this thread back from the dead, albeit with a probably very stupid but necessary question - when you guys book flights to australia do you do it over the net or through travel agents? maybe i'm living in the past but i can't get my head around the idea of organising such a big and expensive thing on the net?!? and if you do use travel agents, does anyone have any they can recommend in berlin? i can speak german, so that's not a problem.

hey, i haven't been to australia, but in the past 5 or 10 years, i haven't booked anything by physically going to a travel agent, only the net (flights, hostels, hotels, rental cars, train tickets...anything). but i attribute that more to lazyness, rather than some promise of saving money. flying to the u.s. i usually spend a few hours spread out over a few days, researching different web sights, before picking a fare. i don't know why that seems easier to me, than just popping into an agency and asking how much they would charge. did you say you live in berlin? i think being in a big city, the best would be to go through a quick scan of several web sites (try typing something like billigflüge on a german search engine, and compare the rates with english speaking travel sites). write down the cheapest fares, and then go into maybe two different agent's offices in the city and ask them about the cheapest rates within your timeframe. i'd be curious to know if you got a cheaper rate through a physical agent rather than over the web, i might get off my ass some day and try it.