Cheapish business class flights to Australia or New Zealand

[Thedogswhiskers]

Has anyone ever found a cheapish (she laughs) business class flight to New Zealand or Australia? Which route did you take?

I don’t think this is a thing. Those two routes are usually the most expensive from the UK due to distance. The only thing I can think of is mixing and matching via Hong Kong or Singapore etc and working it out that way. Let us know if you find the holy grail!

Go on google flights and put your route in, then use date grid option - it shows you cheapest dates to go
any specific airport/month?

Apparently, the cheapest day to fly to Oz (or anywhere else) is Christmas Day... or so my DSis told me!

Might be a £1k cheaper on Christmas Eve.

I book through Google flights for the long haul part of the journey. Then buy onward flights when in the other country. So for example fly BC to Bangkok, spend a day or so then fly on from there to Bali or Vietnam using local carriers.
However NZ is long haul either way unless you split 3 ways.
You could do BKK then NZ as seperate flights. I don't know how much that would cost.

Be really interesting to check but I'm not sure that applies anymore..for Oz there may be a dip in prices relative to either side of the day but I think cheap flights to Oz tend to be a northern hemisphere summer thing.

More generally once upon a time Christmas Day Long Haul Flights ex/into UK used to be quiet/cheap as chips but nowadays people are so price conscious they'll accept replanning their holiday plans to get the good deals.

As an aside IMO the biggest problem at places like the London airports on Christmas Day is getting to/from the airport if you use public transport..

Forgot to mention that flying BC via the Chinese carriers can be cheaper .

I put some dates into Kayak which showed up Chinese carriers which are certainly cheaper. I’m guessing their business class not quite the same as Singapore airlines/Emirates etc but I guess more comfy than economy! I need to be there beginning of December for a wedding so fairly restricted for dates

Thanks, I’ll look into this

@Thedogswhiskers

The air passenger duty (APD) from the UK for long haul flights is the most expensive in the world afaik and even more expensive for business and first class fares.

You can bring the price down a lot by flying short haul from the UK to somewhere in mainland Europe eg: Amsterdam, Frankfurt or Paris and taking the long haul flight from these airports to Australia.

I fly UK to NZ frequently. Cheap business class is a misnomer im afraid. 27 hours of travelling is always going to cost a lot and I’ve never had the stomach to cough up the approx 5x the cost for BC. Work have paid for Emirates BC plenty of times and I’ve used airmiles but never paid with my own money.
The cheapest will always be the Chinese airlines. The reviews consistently say the hard product is good (seat) but soft product (meals, drinks, entertainment) can be under par and not designed for western expectations or non Chinese speakers. Check the reviews and go in eyes open.

If you do this you need to book separate tickets or have at least 24 hrs in Europe. Otherwise you pay the UK duty

We’ve done this, we’ve flown to Stockholm and then flown Turkish via Istanbul and Singapore to Melbourne, it saved us hundreds if not well over 1k and that’s factoring in the cost of the flight from the UK and an overnight in Stockholm in a cheapy hotel just off the airport. It’s tiring and you need to factor in the additional time if you’re taking annual leave and have a date to be at your destination by.
We were told the best short haul destinations to keep to lower APD are the Nordic countries and from my research, we found it was.
Edited to add (having just seen the post above mine), we had to do the overnight in Stockholm due to the flight times, so we landed in Stockholm late afternoon but didn’t leave from there until around 24 hours later, there was a lot of hanging around at the airport, although we had time to go into the city if we chose to, we didn’t as it was too cold!
We did have to book separate tickets though, which is why we did the overnight in Stockholm, we didn’t want to risk a delay leaving the UK which might’ve meant us missing our flight from there, hence the overnight stay.
On our return, we had about 8 hours in Stockholm airport, 3 of which we spent in a paid for lounge but it was a long day.

I've never flown from the UK to NZ in business class, but last time I came back in a business class seat because the Trailfinders lady said it would be cheaper than premium economy on the date I wanted if I didn't mind flying into Gatwick rather than Heathrow. I thought I could probably handle that :-) And I have to say...it really wasn't that amazing. I flew with Cathay, so it was good, but I remember thinking I wouldn't spend all the extra money on it. I was happy with premium economy, which I've always flown to and from NZ since they invented it. All that travelling is a heinous experience however you do it, and I don't think a flat bed and a fancy menu really do anything to make it materially better. You're still a dehydrated, jet-lagged mess at the end of it. I'd spend the money on better accommodation while you're out there.

Yep: we’re currently in Copenhagen, Denmark right now (had a full day of sightseeing here) and flying tomorrow morning to Singapore. My husband says it’s saved 1k on the flight price, although we too have stayed a couple of nights in a budget hotel one short train stop from the airport, but it’s fine.

Have a look at Turkish Airlines. My rels got a great deal via Istanbul, including a night there, which apparently is a new route.

I travelled premium economy to China with Air China was really impressed especially as it was slightly cheaper and quicker than economy in British Airways. It was a small section of the plane with 9 passengers in 24 seats so once we took off everyone moved at had 2 or more seats each. I had 2 bulk head seats coming home.
I would definitely fly with them again.

I'm looking at some of the Chinese airlines for longhaul business, they've really improved in recent years. I realised that all I really need is a lie flat bed. Youtube videos are really helpful in preparing you for what to expect.

This would be more of a long time project but you could get a premium
Amex ( £300) and accumulate Avios points madly. It may take a couple of years - spend over £15k in one year to get the companion voucher so you only need points for one person. You may need to buy some extra points, but still likely cheaper than paying directly.

China southeast (I think that’s the name) is ok apparently. Flat beds which is what you want. But service a bit perfunctory.

I fly Cathay or Singapore. I do the trip several times a year for work. The lounges, service and space, and no queuing like cattle, is what I pay for.

I travelled premium economy to China with Air China was really impressed especially as it was slightly cheaper and quicker than economy in British Airways

Not passing nudgement but for info/background

The reason they are quicker is because Chinese airlines don't comply with the EU/UK economic sanctions around the Ukraine conflict, which in part means not using Russian airspace.

Overflight charges are big foreign currency earners for many states, Russia being one of them.

As a result ATM Chinese carriers get to fly shorter routes between Europe and China than the likes of BA.

Of.course shorter flight times also means lower costs and so potentially cheaper fares.

My parents used to fly business class to both destinations and shopped around for the cheapest deals. Sometimes this involved looking at flights leaving from Dublin or Frankfurt, so bear these options in mind.
Also look at a reverse search from your destinations back to Europe and think outside the box regarding airlines.
Perhaps start with a general Kayak or Skyscanner search and see what is suggested. Try different days of the week, too, if you are not constrained by exact travel dates.

I havent compared prices for sometime, but some other options to consider:

-London to Perth direct, then get internal flights using Virgin Aus, Tiger air, Jetstar. Likely still expensive due to the LHR-PER leg.
-Air asia used to offer flat beds which were much cheaper than regular BC in other carriers. My in-laws always travel BC, including to Aus, and used them a few times. They were impressed which is hard to do! Air Asia fly from gatwick and also istambul or you can pick it up in Kuala lumpar.

-I've always avoided China Southern, Air China and China eastern due to reviews and safety records
-China Airlines (their logo has a pink flower on it) though is Taiwanese and were excellent when we went with this via Taipei. That trip was economy though.

I always read reviews and compare airlines on this site https://skytraxratings.com/

So much helpful advice from people thank you! I’m being kept busy investigating it all.

I posted up thread about airasia. I did a mock test London - sydney and all the results came up with different airlines, almost like it was a search engine and not their own fleet of planes anymore. Some of the options were China southern and Eastern which I'd never travel with. Maybe they only fly their own planes to Europe on certain days of the week now, but IF you use their website, do check which airlines they are using.

I must admit I thought AirAsia was/is these days a shorthaul/mediumhaul outfit, though they have some Longhaul A320 family aircraft on order.

If you're seeing Longhaul sectors with them chances are, you say, they'll be operated as a codeshare with other carriers.