Flying to oz

[lukeysmummy]

whoop whoop hubby has finally said i can sell my car to fund a trip to oz to see my sister who has got in youch with me i havent seen her for 20 years and in jan its my 30th birthday so we are going for this and her birthday is the day after mine
i cant wait

whoo do i book with to get the best price on the tickets as we have 3 kids so its quite expensive and how do i cope with the kids on such a long flight i hate flying myself
how long is the stop for when they re fuel i take it everyone gets off

sorry if i sound thick only even flown to spain

check out this website www.cheapflights.com for best prices.
How long you stop over will depend entirely on
a) who you fly with
b) where your stop over is
c) the times of your flight
d) whether you want to break your journey or not

How old are your DC? It will make a difference. We took DS when he was 10mo to visit his grandma in Australia last year and he was fine until the last 2 hours, both ways.

We prefer to travel BA, despite it not being the cheapest (DH has ishoos with the bargain carriers, especially the Asian ones, since he was on a plane that had to turn back shortly after take-off due to electrical problems - he is a nervous flier and it did nothing for his confidence in the process!) and we usually stop over at Bangkok and/or Singapore. The shortest stopover is usually about 45 mins but more often they are about 1.5 hours. Everyone has to get off, yes - and go through security again to get back on (tiresome).

Good luck and have a lovely time!

sorry, I meant cheapflights.co.uk

Singapore airlines are at present having a sale. Get in there quick, just check out there website. If you have children BA/Quantas are not the best, pretty rough service, where emirates and singapore are fantastic with children. Also singapore airport is the cleanest airport on the planet, and loads of play areas plus a pool.

Do not fly with BA - they are horrible if you are travelling with kids!!

Singapore Airlines are fantastic! As are JAL and Malaysian Airlines. I would not consider these to be bargain airlines tho. The service you get is great especially if you are travelling with children or babies.

I am an Aussie, I lived in London for 10yrs so have done the trip many times by myself and with DD.

Our last trip here to Oz when we moved back was with Singapore Airlines and we had a 4 day stopover in Singapore. It is a fabulous city and has loads to do with kids.

We stayed on Sentosa Island here.

You can have a stopover for a couple of hours and stay in the airport, overnight in a hotel or a few days. You chose!

We flew Singapore with our two in December (they were 2.5 and 4.5 years). They were very good. We had a three nights stop in Singapore and got a 'Singapore Airlines Stopover' which you can book through the website when you book the flights. It was a VERY easy way of booking the hotel stopover, and also included airport transfers and some tickets to things like the zoo and bird park etc.

A few tips - fly out of Heathrow at about 10pm - that way the kids will sleep most of way to Singapore (about 14 hours I think), and then get a day flight for the Singapore-Aus trip. We got a midnight flight from Singapore to Aus, which ended up being a nighmare as it was only 7 hours, so by the time they settled us on the plane, brought food, and then brought food again at the end of the trip and opened all the windows to the bright rising sun, the kids only got about 2 hours sleep and were terribly distressed by the time we arrived at Sydney.

Also, if you kids are still in car seats and you are hiring or borrowing a car in Aus, tell the ataff when you book that you will be bringing car seats on the plane. You can bring them right on and use them in the plane and they don't count it as part of your luggage allowence (Of course if you are hiring, they may be included when you hire?).

Have fun!

Another vote for Singapore airlines - (Esselle we stayed at the Sentasarasa too. The boys still talk of it/dream of it, as their perfect holiday resort. We just couldn't get them out of the pool.)

Totally agree with the idea of a 10pm flight from UK. By the time everyone wakes up, there is only about 5 hours to go until Singapore.

If you decide not to stop over in Singapore there is a cinema and a swimming pool at the airport, which you can use whilst you wait for your next flight, if you have time.

hi thanks my kids are older but i have a slight hyperactive 6 year old she is the youngest but she is so impatient and cant sit still for a minute so maybe a dose of medised may help

i cant really afford to spend days at the stop as we will only have 3 weeks in total due to work so want to get there as quick as poss

thanks for the advice just need to sell my car so i can book my flight

Definitely try Emirates. You don't pay the fuel surcharge which you pay on all other Oz-bound airlines and this will save you around £1000+ for all of you - a huge saving. I've just booked to go to NZ and the same journey on Qantas was £4300 for three of us, on Emirates it's £2450 (in July - peak season). I've flown with both and while Qantas is very good, Emirates is superb and they're great with children. Their telephone customer service is fantastic too - answered immediately, whereas with Qantas I was still waiting to be answered after 20 minutes. Emirates aircraft on this route are all 777s or the new big A380s so lots of room. Their flights go via Dubai but the connection time to the Sydney flight is just under two hours, which is perfect. If you can book online you'll save again.

They have a 2215 flight from Heathrow which touches down in Dubai 7.5 hours later (a bit of a pain because it means you have to rouse sleepy kids) you then get bussed to the terminal to your next flight which goes soonafter. You'll then fly direct to Sydney which is long - 14.5 hours.

Worth calling a couple of Australian travel expert agents to get a feel for what else is available - I'd recommend Austravel and Trailfinders. They can plan a route for you, hold flights in your names for up to 5 or so days, meanwhile you can do other research in case you can find something better.

I've also flown Singapore Airlines many times and they're great too. Their inflight entertainment for kids isn't as extensive as others, and for me, that's a big factor in keeping kids occupied on long flights. Service is excellent though.

How exciting - have fun!

Do ask if you can get on an A380 - its more spacious and also quieter than the older ones. Singapore have some, I think Qantas do too?