Airlines for flights to Australia

[TroyBoy 7]

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

[MonksTown 96]

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. <_<

[Showem 865]

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

[Owain Glyndwr 884]

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.

[Renia 59]

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).

[nixe 9]

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.

[IRISHBOY24 0]

E M I R A T E S

 

you certainly wont be bored on the flight with 500 channels

[Owain Glyndwr 884]

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

[MonksTown 96]

With Thai in second place. :)

[Showem 865]

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

[FX5 0]

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.

[Showem 865]

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.

[Owain Glyndwr 884]

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.

[ruapehu 3,736]

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.

[Hutcho 2,225]

 

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

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

[Owain Glyndwr 884]

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.

[nomis 252]

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.

[MonksTown 96]

 

Basically, I reckon you have to look after yourself (iPod, water, etc.) instead of hoping that the airline will provide everything for you.

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. <_<

[Frigid Brigid 0]

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.

[chook 1]

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.