recommended airlines to Australia

[poundoflard]

Can anyone recommend China Southern airlines?
I've flown with Etihad, Emirates, Qantas, BA, Singapore, Virgin.

But as I want to fly out in July the cheapest options are with Vietnam, EVA and China Southern who I have never heard of.

any good?

Haven't flown China Southern. Emirates and Singapore were both awesome. Virgin were absolute shite.

I like Cathay Pacific (via HKG) but they can be pricey unless they've got deals on with particular destinations.

@netflixoriginal

glad you said that about virgin I thought so too but daren't say! They completely couldn't careless. I was so disappointed. Emirates and Singapore have been the best IMO.
Who is EVA though?

I have seen reviews for Southern China, which is based in Taiwan and is meant to be good but haven't seen any cheap flights this time though. And that's not the same as China Southern , so very confusing!

I did see some good deals with Cathay Pacific @chatwoo ( Dh has been with them via HK) but it was a while ago and we weren't ready to book.

I'll keep looking.....

EVA are the national airline of Taiwan and normally do Bangkok Taipei ex LHR. Don’t think they have an extensive network beyond that though, what route are they offering? I’ve flown on them and they were perfectly fine. I liked the way they have you individual duvets instead of blankets. Singapore are obvs wonderful.

I love Cathay, Qatar and Emirates.

Have you looked at Qatar (sorry no info on China southern but Qatar are sometimes cheap and v good)

Thai airways are great. I love Bangkok airport, and their staff and service have always been amazing. Due to fly with them again in June, Perth to UK.

We always fly Qatar, the flight times wok really well for us, they supply good airports in the uk, they are awesome with kids, the planes are new and about as comfy as you can get for economy I reckon! Doha is a great stopover, lovely airport. Just booked again for August. They're not as cheap as eg China southern but very competitive compared to BA/Emirates/Singapore/Etihad/Cathay Pacific. We looked at China southern once, apparently the flights are longer and you have to do 2 stopovers, making the overall journey much longer, for us with 2 young kids that isn't really an option.

Sorry, we fly from Adelaide so our choices are a bit more limited if we don't want 2 stopovers.

Yes I have flown with Qatar, only to Doha though.
I am a little put off with the two stopovers only because of the waiting around, but its not a deal breaker.
I'm not sure whether we're going to fly into Brisbane or Sydney yet or even in one and out the other.
It will totally depend on price!
I'll look into EVA if they come up again, but I have to book soon as the price is increasing daily and the deals are going.

(interestingly to the right of this chat is a HUGE advert for Qatar airlines....!)

Cathay were friendly and helpful recently. Qantas flights and on board staff are nice but my god the booking process was a nightmare I will never go through again. Think turning up at the airport after 3 x phone calls over an hour and days of twitter messages all saying booking looks great to be told at the check in we don’t have any record of your 8mo on this flight...
Emirates and Singapore air are my usual preferred now I’ve consigned Qantas to the depths of hell.

Hi @poundoflard, If one just looks at flights to Sydney in September for a month for example, there are 21 airlines flying there. You get a different emphasis on customer reviews between Tripadvisor and Skytrax (which I have better faith in).
You'll get lots of personal, anecdotal reviews based on individual experiences, but I look for an overall rating. e.g China Southern has an 8/10 overall, Quantas gets 7/10 based on dozens of reviews.
Just fyi - here's a list of the ones I found starting with the cheapest:
China Southern Airlines
Etihad
Cathay Pacific
Malaysian
Thai
Virgin
United
Singapore
BA
Emirates
Asiana
Korean
Air France
Quantas
Lufthansa
Swissair
Quatar
Finnair
Vietnam
Air Canada
Air New Zealand
American.
Prices for flight only are usually higher than ones where you book a flight and hotel / car.

Thank you for all the info!
I'm not too worried about Southern China now,after reading some reviews.
I've had crappy flights with so called popular airlines and good with lesser known ones, it all depends.
I have seen a cheapish deal with Cathay Pacific and will look into in more.

I flew EVA last summer home from Bangkok and was really disappointed. Their in flight entertainment was really limited for Western movies and the seats even in premium economy were horribly uncomfortable. Not worth the savings in my opinion

ooh thankyou @puppylucky

The in flight entertainment is essential (I'm travelling with my 10 yo)

Hi @poundoflard, I agree - entertaining 10 year olds is critical to your sanity! In addition to the flight entertainment (the novelty wears off after a couple of hours), we used to take Lego, colouring kits, old fashioned games (you get 100 game sets) and healthy snacks.

Just to point out many of the above flights are code shares, so you won't be flying with the named airline but another one in their group. Best to check the actual carriers and what kit they use on your route.

What is the difference in fare between the cheaper options and Emirates, Singapore, Qatar etc? I'd divide that difference by the hours travelling and use that as a measure for if it's worth paying the extra.

I always look for shortest travel time, shortest stopover and time of arrival, its a balancing act, that's for sure! Not always the cheapest but £100 + extra for the flight is better than a 40 hr flight with a huge stopover.
Quite like night flights as regardless of where we are we can usually sleep a bit.
We've done it several times before so my DC knows the routine.!

We have flown with etihad a few times now to Australia and find they are very good, yes agree pay a little more than a long stopover. I flew with malaysia but didn’t rate it. My sister flew with emirates but didn’t have a good flight. Read reviews check out seat guru for size of seats etc

I flew to Australia with China Southern 3 years ago and didn't find them great but it's so long ago that things could be completely different.
We were delayed 3 hours during the stopover and when I tried to ask the airline staff what was happening they either didn't understand me or pretended not to. Plus the second half of the journey they didn't have TVs in the back of the seat. Not terrible but I've had better flights.

I’ve flown BA out there but I really don’t like them. Rude staff, knackered planes, rude staff, dreadful food, rude staff. Did I mention the rude staff?

I’ve been to the states with Virgin and they were absolutely brilliant. Very nice and accommodating staff, comfy seats, not bad food, easy and fast check in - altogether a very nice experienced (and I loathe long distance flights these days).

I live in china and china Southern would not be my first choice, particularly if you have to transit through Guangzhou.
Cathay is vg and the entertainment system is excellent.

We've have flown with Etihad and BA to Australia from the UK. Highly recommend Etihad