Flights to Australia 2023

[Steve Benson]

I am looking for flights to Australia early in January 2023, just one way.

I can fly into Sydney or Melbourne but the prices I am seeing are nearly double pre-pandemic.

I know a lot of capacity will have been cut but does anyone know if it is better to book now or wait a while and see how things develop?

Also, do the middle east carriers have sales at any time or do I just have to swallow the extra?

Business with the middle east carriers is looking at over £5k just one way.

[Tim330]

If you don't mind the extra hassle it's worth checking on prices for departing from another EU city. I assume you are UK based so check prices from Dublin, Paris, Oslo etc. You would need to book a low cost airline ticket with another carrier the day before and stay in a hotel but this can still work out cheaper. There is a risk if you miss your positioning flight of course.

[djc206]

Qatar tend to do reasonable promotions from time to time but as above the best deals won’t be from the UK, usually their cheapest fares are from Oslo or Stockholm.

[Imasurv]

You’ll just have to keep looking as that is how it appears to be now. We just booked flights to Cape Town for December, usually have paid £600-£800, now not much change from £1200…. A lot of the airlines have introduced those little extras like charging to choose seats, charging for checked bags etc, which on short haul I can understand, but on long haul it really adds up !

[captain_cynic]

Steve Benson said:

I am looking for flights to Australia early in January 2023, just one way.

I can fly into Sydney or Melbourne but the prices I am seeing are nearly double pre-pandemic.

I know a lot of capacity will have been cut but does anyone know if it is better to book now or wait a while and see how things develop?

Also, do the middle east carriers have sales at any time or do I just have to swallow the extra?

Business with the middle east carriers is looking at over £5k just one way.

The Ukraine war and the slide in the pound... The Oz govt aren't helping either (remains to be seen if the ALP will stop pandering to the xenophobes, some people will be happy if Australia never opens again).

Mainly the Ukraine war though, a lot flight paths from western/northern Europe to Asia/Australia went over Russia or the Ukraine. Both of which are now no-go zones and the alternative routes require burning more fuel.

I've been looking for around 6 months now, flight prices to Oz are absolutely insane. Also demand is down as both fewer Australians are travelling and fewer people are travelling to Oz. This hurts airlines as flights to and from most Australian cities require a larger plane (A330/350/B767/777/787) so they need the passenger numbers to make it profitable.

I'm looking at 2023 at this rate. Prices to Perth don't even look to be getting into the £800 range until Feb. Personally I'm waiting, I really don't want to travel back to Oz in the Australian summer anyway.

[Steve Benson]

Thanks all for your advice.

I have tried different routes like Oslo, Stockholm and Paris but can't see much difference at the moment, certainly not enough when you consider the hassle.

Singapore Airlines went up about 30% in the last 12 days so I've had to suck it up and booked with Qatar.

Hopefully, prices will become more competitive later on in 2023.

[Ridealong]

Looking to go to Oz myself - Brisbane which is always more expensive than Perth, Sydney and Melbourne. Just awaiting the airlines to go on sale or offer some sort of time limit promotion, Swiss and Lufthansa sometimes have a business class flight to Bangkok or Hong Kong for £1100 return. Heathrow to Zurich or Munich then get another flight from there.

[PomBstard]

It seems the bargains are booking in advance. We booked SYD-LHR return back in October and flew last month - cost was similar to pre-COVID. Looking at tickets for next June, same thing.

We know of many others who have also waited, expecting bargains, only to end up paying 2-3 times the expected price.

One option is to see if you can fly Qantas direct to Perth and pick up and internal flight from there. No idea how much from the UK though.

[Ridealong]

Ridealong said:

Looking to go to Oz myself - Brisbane which is always more expensive than Perth, Sydney and Melbourne. Just awaiting the airlines to go on sale or offer some sort of time limit promotion, Swiss and Lufthansa sometimes have a business class flight to Bangkok or Hong Kong for £1100 return. Heathrow to Zurich or Munich then get another flight from there.

Sorry that was meant to say Heathrow to Zurich or Munich then onto Bangkok or Hong Kong then buy/get another flight from there to Australia.

[djc206]

PomBstard said:

It seems the bargains are booking in advance. We booked SYD-LHR return back in October and flew last month - cost was similar to pre-COVID. Looking at tickets for next June, same thing.

We know of many others who have also waited, expecting bargains, only to end up paying 2-3 times the expected price.

One option is to see if you can fly Qantas direct to Perth and pick up and internal flight from there. No idea how much from the UK though.

Cheapest economy ticket on the London Perth route seems to be about £1200 return. Cheapest premium just shy of £3k and business £6k. It’s not a cheap route!

[captain_cynic]

djc206 said:

PomBstard said:

It seems the bargains are booking in advance. We booked SYD-LHR return back in October and flew last month - cost was similar to pre-COVID. Looking at tickets for next June, same thing.

We know of many others who have also waited, expecting bargains, only to end up paying 2-3 times the expected price.

One option is to see if you can fly Qantas direct to Perth and pick up and internal flight from there. No idea how much from the UK though.

Cheapest economy ticket on the London Perth route seems to be about £1200 return. Cheapest premium just shy of £3k and business £6k. It’s not a cheap route!

And you can get a flight on Singapore for £800-£1000. The QANTAS flights seem consistently £500 more expensive.

Why would you?

Yeah I'd really like to pay 50% more to fly on crappier planes with a third rate airline over one of the words best air services.

And if your final destination isn't Perth then you're not saving any time as you'll still be doing a stopover (if your final destination is Perth you have my sympathies)

[PomBstard]

captain_cynic said:

djc206 said:

PomBstard said:

It seems the bargains are booking in advance. We booked SYD-LHR return back in October and flew last month - cost was similar to pre-COVID. Looking at tickets for next June, same thing.

We know of many others who have also waited, expecting bargains, only to end up paying 2-3 times the expected price.

One option is to see if you can fly Qantas direct to Perth and pick up and internal flight from there. No idea how much from the UK though.

Cheapest economy ticket on the London Perth route seems to be about £1200 return. Cheapest premium just shy of £3k and business £6k. It’s not a cheap route!

And you can get a flight on Singapore for £800-£1000. The QANTAS flights seem consistently £500 more expensive.

Why would you?

Yeah I'd really like to pay 50% more to fly on crappier planes with a third rate airline over one of the words best air services.

And if your final destination isn't Perth then you're not saving any time as you'll still be doing a stopover (if your final destination is Perth you have my sympathies)

I know a few who have done LHR-PER direct, inc a friend who was on the inaugural flight. The lack of international stop is the appeal although the idea of a 5 hour flight to SYD at the end of it puts a nail in it for me. Apparently 2025 sees the start of SYD-LHR non stop - 18-19 hrs on an A350 - I’d pay for that.

Having done just about every combination of SYD-LHR return over the years, inc via LAX and SFO, I’d recommend Singapore through SIN every time, even if it costs a little more. Cathay through HKG was my Mum’s fave too. Haven’t done Thai through BKK for a while but used to be a good service.

[Earl of Hazzard]

I'm flying from London to Sydney in October and returning circa a month later. It's an economy ticket and it cost me £1200 for a flight with a half decent travel time.

I started looking at flights in the last week of June, and they were around £800 - £1000. Of course I left it a couple of weeks to book in which time the price jumped up, hence the £1200 price.

Still, I've never been and it'll be nice to get out there and see the place.

[rfsteel]

I've been watching OneWorld Club flights from Helsinki to Melbourne, initially looking to travel in October 2022, via Google Flights

7th April prices

10 July prices


Note that some of these prices are using JetStar from SIN-MEL, which is a no go for me as I'm wanting the Tier Points/Avios Miles.

Now due to the above prices, I started this week have to look at April/May 2023 for Stockholm to Melbourne and astonished to see prices are still around the £4k mark;



In comparison, a flight to LAX can be booked for £1600 for the same dates



I'm just hoping that once the travel and airline sectors have made it through summer 2022 without any major incident, the airlines with be putting my A380s back on the flight schedules which will bring back down the prices due to availability.

Strangely the cheapest economy flights from London I could and can still find are with Royal Brunei Airlines



Unfortunately their club fare is over £4.5k

Edited by rfsteel on Sunday 24th July 12:46

[K77 CTR]

Im looking at travelling to townsville from Heathrow and then Sydney to Heathrow 3 weeks later. Currently coming in at £1700 in October, would that be a half decent price seeing how close I am to traveling?

Edited by K77 CTR on Sunday 24th July 14:19

[captain_cynic]

PomBstard said:

captain_cynic said:

djc206 said:

PomBstard said:

It seems the bargains are booking in advance. We booked SYD-LHR return back in October and flew last month - cost was similar to pre-COVID. Looking at tickets for next June, same thing.

We know of many others who have also waited, expecting bargains, only to end up paying 2-3 times the expected price.

One option is to see if you can fly Qantas direct to Perth and pick up and internal flight from there. No idea how much from the UK though.

Cheapest economy ticket on the London Perth route seems to be about £1200 return. Cheapest premium just shy of £3k and business £6k. It’s not a cheap route!

And you can get a flight on Singapore for £800-£1000. The QANTAS flights seem consistently £500 more expensive.

Why would you?

Yeah I'd really like to pay 50% more to fly on crappier planes with a third rate airline over one of the words best air services.

And if your final destination isn't Perth then you're not saving any time as you'll still be doing a stopover (if your final destination is Perth you have my sympathies)

I know a few who have done LHR-PER direct, inc a friend who was on the inaugural flight. The lack of international stop is the appeal although the idea of a 5 hour flight to SYD at the end of it puts a nail in it for me. Apparently 2025 sees the start of SYD-LHR non stop - 18-19 hrs on an A350 - I’d pay for that.

Having done just about every combination of SYD-LHR return over the years, inc via LAX and SFO, I’d recommend Singapore through SIN every time, even if it costs a little more. Cathay through HKG was my Mum’s fave too. Haven’t done Thai through BKK for a while but used to be a good service.

I've always said half the problem is that the PER-LHR route was going from nowhere to somewhere. Plus you have to clear immigration in Perth. The other half is spending 17 hours on a QANTAS seat on a 787 squeezeliner. The SYD-LHR proposal solves the first issue, but you're still stuck on QANTAS.

Stopovers are underrated IMHO, Being able to stop on a long flight, stretch your legs, get some decent food (even though I highly rate Singapore, even they can only do so much with aeroplane food) and spending some time not breathing in other people's farts. When you've got 14+ hours in a flight, what's an extra 2 or 3 spent in comfort. You're spending all day travelling anyway. Breaking a 14 hour flight up into an 8 and a 6 hour flight would be perfect.

SIN is also my preferred stopover from the UK to Oz (Sadly my final destination is usually Perth, although my parents moved to Adelaide during the pandemic) and have always been willing to pay a little bit more to fly on SIA. BKK is good for stopovers, but you definitely don't want to try to pass customs there (or deal with any kind of Thai officialdom really). When going to Thailand, I prefer to enter and leave at the smaller airports (Phuket or Chang Mai).

Edited by captain_cynic on Sunday 24th July 21:40

[Earl of Hazzard]

captain_cynic said:

PomBstard said:

captain_cynic said:

djc206 said:

PomBstard said:

It seems the bargains are booking in advance. We booked SYD-LHR return back in October and flew last month - cost was similar to pre-COVID. Looking at tickets for next June, same thing.

We know of many others who have also waited, expecting bargains, only to end up paying 2-3 times the expected price.

One option is to see if you can fly Qantas direct to Perth and pick up and internal flight from there. No idea how much from the UK though.

Cheapest economy ticket on the London Perth route seems to be about £1200 return. Cheapest premium just shy of £3k and business £6k. It’s not a cheap route!

And you can get a flight on Singapore for £800-£1000. The QANTAS flights seem consistently £500 more expensive.

Why would you?

Yeah I'd really like to pay 50% more to fly on crappier planes with a third rate airline over one of the words best air services.

And if your final destination isn't Perth then you're not saving any time as you'll still be doing a stopover (if your final destination is Perth you have my sympathies)

I know a few who have done LHR-PER direct, inc a friend who was on the inaugural flight. The lack of international stop is the appeal although the idea of a 5 hour flight to SYD at the end of it puts a nail in it for me. Apparently 2025 sees the start of SYD-LHR non stop - 18-19 hrs on an A350 - I’d pay for that.

Having done just about every combination of SYD-LHR return over the years, inc via LAX and SFO, I’d recommend Singapore through SIN every time, even if it costs a little more. Cathay through HKG was my Mum’s fave too. Haven’t done Thai through BKK for a while but used to be a good service.

I've always said half the problem is that the PER-LHR route was going from nowhere to somewhere. Plus you have to clear immigration in Perth. The other half is spending 17 hours on a QANTAS seat on a 787 squeezeliner. The SYD-LHR proposal solves the first issue, but you're still stuck on QANTAS.

Stopovers are underrated IMHO, Being able to stop on a long flight, stretch your legs, get some decent food (even though I highly rate Singapore, even they can only do so much with aeroplane food) and spending some time not breathing in other people's farts. When you've got 14+ hours in a flight, what's an extra 2 or 3 spent in comfort. You're spending all day travelling anyway. Breaking a 14 hour flight up into an 8 and a 6 hour flight would be perfect.

SIN is also my preferred stopover from the UK to Oz (Sadly my final destination is usually Perth, although my parents moved to Adelaide during the pandemic) and have always been willing to pay a little bit more to fly on SIA. BKK is good for stopovers, but you definitely don't want to try to pass customs there (or deal with any kind of Thai officialdom really). When going to Thailand, I prefer to enter and leave at the smaller airports (Phuket or Chang Mai).

Edited by captain_cynic on Sunday 24th July 21:40

My flight from London to Sydney includes a stop in Singapore (good that you recommend it). Flight time is 23 hours
My longest flight so far is Los Angeles to London direct. That was bad enough...

[djc206]

Earl of Hazzard said:

My flight from London to Sydney includes a stop in Singapore (good that you recommend it). Flight time is 23 hours
My longest flight so far is Los Angeles to London direct. That was bad enough...

It’s not that bad really. I find that refreshing during the layover helps so pack a spare change of clothes in your hand luggage, have a st, shower and shave at Singapore and you’ll feel brand new. Try to eat 3 meals sensibly spaced and as tempting as it is to get pissed when flying on long haul like that you’re best avoiding the booze. Drink lots of water.

[PomBstard]

djc206 said:

Earl of Hazzard said:

My flight from London to Sydney includes a stop in Singapore (good that you recommend it). Flight time is 23 hours
My longest flight so far is Los Angeles to London direct. That was bad enough...

It’s not that bad really. I find that refreshing during the layover helps so pack a spare change of clothes in your hand luggage, have a st, shower and shave at Singapore and you’ll feel brand new. Try to eat 3 meals sensibly spaced and as tempting as it is to get pissed when flying on long haul like that you’re best avoiding the booze. Drink lots of water.

Travel time of 23hrs means about 2hrs in SIN (its about 21hrs in the air LHR-SYD), and refreshing as suggested by djc is a good thing to do. An eye mask is handy too - just to force your lids shut for the LHR-SIN stretch.

BA used to do the quickest SYD-LHR route, which was 21.5hrs through SIN. On the ground for 50mins which was enough time to get off the plane and go back round to the gate, to get back on the same plane, which had been restocked/refueled and given a light cleansing before taking off again. Used to get allocated the same seat the whole way.

Of course, don't get excited when you cross the coast to be finally over Australia - its still about 4.5 hours to SYD...

Edited by PomBstard on Tuesday 26th July 10:36

[Ynox]

Flying LHR to MEL in September here. Ended up paying £1.3k in economy with SQ. Flights are expensive and busy. I'd usually want to be in something nicer than economy, but at £3k for premium economy and £5k+ for business I figured to stick with economy for this trip (especially as it's just me going and I'm leaving my wife and daughter here).

My brother is flying MEL to LHR in January - $4k/person AUD in economy on SQ for the 2 of them!

Annoyingly I was due to be in MEL back in December, but their border was shut (immediate family only, my dad could get in but siblings weren't allowed). I paid £4k/person for Qatar QSuites that time. At least the border closure meant my decision was made for me (my wife was 8 months pregnant at the time so wouldn't have been happy if I'd gone!).