Webby
Sun 11 Mar 2007
I am currently looking at the cheapest way to get from Australia to the UK by air. The cheapest flight in the month of April that I have found (one way) is GBP 414 from Sydney to London Heathrow with Eitihad Airways based in the Middle East.
So with the introduction of no-frills Oasis Air that flys Hong Kong to London it should be possible to beat this fare. I am currently looking at this flight route…
Brisbane > Darwin (Jetstar)
Darwin > Singapore (Tiger)
Singapore > Macau (Tiger)
Macau > Hong Kong (1 hour ferry transfer)
Hong Kong > London (Oasis Air)
I have a rough figure of GBP 330.00 so far that will give me optional time in Singapore and Macau / HK which I have yet to visit and would like to explore.
This is the early stages of my research and I am not even sure about the Visa situation for Macau / HK and whether I would need a Chinese visa.
I had thought about going home via the Americas but cannot find any reasonably priced flights across the Pacific. It will be cheaper for me to fly from Europe.
Of course it would be much less hassle to fly Qantas or BA straight through but where would be the fun in that?
March 11th, 2007 at 5:45 am
You don’t need any visa’s for Macau or Hong Kong as a Brit. I flew from BKK to Macau (AirAsia) and then ferry over to Hong Kong last year, no problems.
Are Oasis Air actually up and running now?
March 11th, 2007 at 8:35 am
Yes they are up and running and I have read some really good reports as well, they are suppose to be better than Cathay in terms of leg room. You have to pay for beer though…
March 11th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
Yep Oasis is even hiring for staff here in HK. Flying into Macau is relaxing. Might even be worth your while staying there for a night. There’s a hospitality institute there in a 19th century structure that charges only 600MOP’s/night. While it’s steep compared to Thailand/Bali, it’s not bad, either.
And Macau’s lovely. So is Lamma Island, HK, where I live. There’s some affordable accommodation here, if you don’t mind catching a 30-minute ferry to Central.
March 12th, 2007 at 8:37 am
Sounds like you want to go to all these places but as you will well know, the only downer about so many stops (except the time) is the costs of getting into and out of all those airports! But you’ll know about all that anyway.
March 12th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
Have you been watching for round-trip specials. I’ve done pretty well buying tickets for weekend or one-week specials and never using the return part of the ticket. They can be cheaper than one way.
March 13th, 2007 at 6:54 am
You have to be really careful with connections when you book a series of independent flights. If you are stopping over, you will be fine. But if you are connecting at an airport, these are not official connections. You can’t check your bags through. If the feeding flight is late and you miss your non-refundable onward flight, you’ve just lost the money, even if you are on the same airline, because they were not ticketed as a continuous flight.
March 13th, 2007 at 7:36 am
Yea the Brisbane - Dariwn flight leaves plenty of time for luggage and I’ll probably stop for some days in the others, thanks for pointing it out though as I am not sure people are always that aware that budget airlines won’t put your luggage theough to the next sector…
March 14th, 2007 at 7:20 am
It isn’t just budget airlines, if the ticket is separate. If you book a package leaving out of city A, and book the connecting flight separately, thinking you will get a better deal, you can’t check luggage through either. The bigger problem is if you flight is late, and you count as a no-show for your onward flight, not as a missed connection.
Also, if you are connecting to an international flight certain domestic taxes aren’t applied on true connections, so your chances of getting a better deal are reduced.
March 15th, 2007 at 1:09 pm
have u heared about this
New budget airline from Malaysia to fly to India, China and Europe
Malaysian domestic airline FlyAsianXpress (FAX) and low-cost airline AirAsia have shared plans of launching a low-cost long-haul service, AirAsia X in July this year. The proposed airline will fly to destinations in India, China and Europe.
p.s. i know the fun in it all, but true enough, with so many stops just to get from a to b, it might not beat the savings and hassle then the best straight flight….says experience
New budget airline from Malaysia to fly to India, China and Europe
March 19th, 2007 at 5:21 am
I read this new Air Asia X service has run into problems. One of which is not having any planes!