to ask for you tips with booking cheap long haul flights?

Pre covid I had a few August holidays in Thailand with my children. Not much more than £3k for flights and hotel for the 3 of us. That was a four star beach hotel so I could have done it cheaper. Now, flights are so much more expensive. We're going to Thailand for Christmas this year and, for 4 people this time flights alone are over £6k, although that is peak season.

If China doesn't work then Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan? I've really enjoyed them all, some as packages and some travelling round. Flights are shorter and cheaper.

I used to build a holiday around whatever long haul flights popped up on Jack's Flight Club (I've been a member since before Covid), been to New York, Vietnam, India, Malaysia for dirt cheap - comparatively.

But I'm restricted to school holidays and since Covid there is very very little around. Lots of airlines have cut routes so the stuff that would be discounted just isn't there any more, and demand has gone up.

If you get on JFC now and have a look at the black friday offers you'll see what I mean. Very slim pickings. You might get something in Europe, but lots of the places that come up I've been to before. I still renew my membership every year but I purchase hardly anything now.

Ah and factor in the visas for China - I was on a different visa but I believe the regular tourist one is about £100 each and it requires a trip to a Consulate/embassy.
Thailand/Malaysia are much better especially with kids. You might touch lucky with flights into Bangkok as it’s a regional hub then take the overnight bus and ferry to the islands or hop a Thai air flight.

We did Thailand start of Aug 2adults + 2kids over 16 (so 4 adult fares) for less than £5k for two wks including travel days. Was so amazing and cheap once there

Did b&b on the loveliest hotel I've ever stayed in the good in the nearby town was the cheapest we have ever had. This was thru Tui

Also if you do go to China, under no circumstances mention the three Ts - Tibet, Taiwan and Tianamen. It won’t be taken well.

@Extraordinarytimes yes. Pre-covid and I believe things are a bit rougher now. Absolutely not somewhere I’d recommend for anyone with additional needs or mobility issues. Very difficult to get about unless you’re fluent in Chinese, you’re with a tour or have a guide. I had the latter which helped but what you’re allowed to see is quite strictly controlled even in HK. It’s a huge country and if you want to do more than one place then you’ll end up with internal flights or long train/bus journeys. The cities, away from the main attractions are quite stark concrete jungles and exceptionally polluted. You’ll need a VPN to use certain social media or apps there. I’ll be honest - the food (outside of HK and Hainan) was one of the worst parts. Interesting at points but not somewhere I’d go again. If you’re keen, definitely use a tour, especially with kids.

South Korea and Taiwan are much nicer as is pretty much anywhere in SE Asia.

I have started following this person on instagram- they have so many great ideas for cheap travel, some of them really far flung, they’re currently in Korea I think.

www.instagram.com/cheapholidayexp?igsh=MWZ0N2gwdm9raHIzcg==

If you build a stopover into your itinerary, this can really bring down the price of flights. I’ve just booked a flight to NZ. Without stopover it was £1800, with stopover it dropped to £1300 using a mix of airlines.

If Zanzibar is an option then it may be better to fly in to Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania, and then get the ferry to Zanzibar.

The flights to Dar es Salaam are quite a lot cheaper and then the ferry costs US$35 (£27.50) for adults and US$30 (£23.50) for children for economy seats - more for luxury seats. The ferry takes two hours and if there are at least five people in your party then they offer a free transfer to/from the airport.

https://www.zanzibarquest.com/ferries-flights/ferry-dar-es-salaam-zanzibar.html

If you have a look on Tripadvisor then there are a lot of low cost hotels and guesthouses available to book in Zanzibar in August.

Have a look at Africa, there are some great beaches and it's more or less in the same time zone so there is no jet lag to worry about.

South Africa may be an option. There are flights from £700 from Gatwick to Cape Town via Addis Ababa with Ethiopian Airlines. Leaving on 18 Aug returning 31 Aug.

Or the island of Zanzibar (part of Tanzania) for £800 with Kenya Airways via Nairobi. Or Dar Es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania for £650 with Ethiopian Airlines.

I did look at flights at the beginning of August on Skyscanner and the cheapest was £890, so I checked Tui for comparison. august is one of the cheapest times to go to Thailand as the weather can be so bad - rainy, 100% humidity, and temps well over 35C.

You can still fly to SE Asia for £6-700 if you don't mind a weird layover - we have been via Shanghai a few times or some other city in China. Try a lesser known airline. If you budget £700 pp for flights that's 3500 though - you'd be hard pressed to do the rest for £500, but if you could stretch to 5k it's doable in cheap hotels. We do the same sort of holiday but it's got a lot more expensive since covid due to flights - we went to Thailand in 2018 for £300 each!

Because of the flight costs recently we have been staying in Europe and flying into Geneva or Milan which is cheap and then going on from there. Air bnb apartments way cheaper than hotels and you can move around to make it more interesting.

I think you have to decide it's one or the other - expensive flights but cheaper once you're there, or cheaper flights to Europe but spend more on food, accommodation etc. currently making the same choices for next summer! Good luck

South East Asia is a long and relatively costly trip for what would be rainy season in most parts in August. Why not consider mid haul - Oman, Egypt, Cape Verde, Azores, Kenya? Tips wise: sign up for deals, try looking at the Google flights grid and travelling mid week not over weekends.

Long haul flights alone for that many people are going to eat up your budget

pre covid I used to fly to Australia for £700. It’s now double

I take your point about booking separately and I know it varies but do have a look at BA flight + hotel deals, they are often not much more than flight only. We've had some amazing deals over the years, better than TUI.

It's much much easier if you're not fixed on dates. I like Google flights to check mine - you can put in a country (or area) and your requirements and it will come back with options, it also provides a matrix for adjusting your outgoing and incoming flight details as sometimes 10 days / 15 days can be cheaper than exactly 14. If you're happy not staying 'on resort' you can definitely get everything far, far cheaper than doing what people would consider to be a standard long haul package.

The cheapest Tui holiday to Thailand next August, for 10 days, would cost you £7k.
Your flights alone are likely to cost around £1k each.

Depending on where you are travelling from you find find good flight deals on Scoot which is run by Singapore airlines, where will you travel from.

I use a Virgin credit card and pay for absolutely everything with it, settling up at the end of the month without fail. I earn points (air miles) which really add up. You need to look at booking a package and might have to rein in your travel plans eg Spain, the Canaries or Crete.

Depending on the airline, your 12 and 14 year olds may count as adults.
£4k for flights + accommodation for two weeks for five people, especially in school holidays, is optimistic.
You might manage eg Egypt on that budget but may do best with a package as PP suggested.