Please help: "Cheap" travel advice from EU to Australia?

Hi Lisbeth,

I don't think there really is a "cheap" way to get to Australia. It will likely depend how far you are located from Australia. Not yet an expat but I have traveled to Australia on two different occasions, one from the US and another from a Southeast asia country.

To find a "cheaper" ticket, you will likely need to use an airline that has a lot of departures to head to Australia. The most common destinations are to Sydney and Melbourne. Coming from the US, Qantas Airlines offers sales during the Jan-March..etc. sales to travel to Australia during the winter months of Australia. In 2009, I was able to travel from NY --> Los Angeles, CA --> Sydney, Australia --> Auckland, New Zealand --> Melbourne, Australia --> Sydney, Australia (connection) then finally back to the US. This was all for only about $1,489(USD). This would normally be a lot higher. The qantas airline fare sale was within the cities of Australia and destinations to New Zealand.

Right now, I think qantas.com is starting their sales now. Maybe you and your family can do a connection to either New York or Los Angeles to get on one of the qantas flights? Or find similar routes with another airline?

Usually if the airline location such as the Netherlands does not have frequent departures to an Australian city, then the cost of the ticket would be higher. This isn't any different compared to other locations in the world.

Check out:  qantas airlines, vaustralia, jetstar airlines (travel within mostly asian countries and NZ to Australia), Air New Zealand..

I believe Jetstar Airlines is owned or is a subsidiary of Qantas Airlines. It has cheaper flights. But it's due to a restriction on checked baggage at a lower weight limit compared to an international luggage limit of 50 lbs. I know this from having to pay excess luggage when I had a connection between Qantas (international flight) and Jetstar (for domestic flight). I didn't know there was a difference until I reached the airport.

Even my flight to Australia on a different time from a Southeast Asia country cost around about $900 (USD) since not too many flights leave from that airport destination. The country was located a lot closer than the US but the cost still wasn't cheap.

I guess my suggestion if you want to travel to Australia on a "cheaper" way is to travel on non-peak seasons according to the Australian season.

Good Luck!

Woow, thanks a lot for your comprehensive answer

I've been checking several European departure cities, and generally it's cheaper when the trip includes a transit within Europe ... like, if I fly with British Airways, it's actually cheaper to start from Holland, transit in London and then head for whatever route British Airways has to Australia, than if I started the trip in London.

My next step is to try some travel agencies, in case they have special agreements with airlines, or have insight in how to compose a "cheap" itinerary. We would like to spend some days in one of the transits in Asia, unless it will heavily increase the overall price.

We'll have to travel in July or August because of school holidays, and it seems to be cheapest to travel in July.

... the search is still on

Again, thanks a lot
lisbeth

Hi,

I thought you might like to hear the outcome of my search. In principle we're "restricted" in flight dates by the school vacation beginning Saturday 2nd of july. When checking "flexible dates" on the various flight reservation sites, it became obvious that departing in June would save us a lot of money. With Cathay it would shave € 400,00 off the ticket price!!!! We're 4 people travelling, so that's a lot. Thus, we're leaving before school vacation begins.

One other airline was cheaper -I think it was China Airlines or something like it- but it had an under average incident rating ... don't want to save €100 / ticket on playing that kind of Russian roulette!

To further save money we decided to go for 3 weeks in stead of 4 ... a pity perhaps but still, 3 weeks are fine, certainly if the alternative would be staying home.

And now the exiting part is coming: planning the 3 weeks ... Which sights? How are we going to travel? Train? Domestic flights? Where are we staying? What kind of accomodation? Hotels, motels, hostels, B&B ...

Thanks for the kind interest you've shown in answering my post
Lisbeth

I'm glad to hear that you have found an airfare that is suitable for your family. You are asking which sights to visit? Wow there are so many places to see in Australia. I can probably give recommendations of places that I visited in Sydney & Melbourne.

Does your local cable/satellite tv offer The Oprah Show? Just last week, there were 4 shows about Oprah's Ultimate Australian Adventure in which she brought over 302 audience members. They showed the common tourist places that first time visitors usually visit. If it happens to be a delay telecast in your country, I highly recommend you watch it to get some ideas if those would be some of the places you and your family would be interested to visit.

I'll try to send you an email to your expat email with recommendations sometime this week or this weekend.