London to Oz - Which airline?

In the process of thinking of migrating to Oz but need to go on hols first to have a look around. Ideally looking at Melbourne or Brisbane.

I'm not a fan of long haul economy on VA as the last few flights in cattle were appaling, but my last flight was in PE so I'm spoilt now. Can't afford PE this time and its too expensive to use my miles to upgrade so looking at alternate airlines.

Whats a good economy class airline to go to Melbourne or Brisbane and why do you like them?

Thx!

Hi,

I have always liked SQ in Y, they were always very polite and good service. Also my family flew Cathay Pacific, they said they were very good.

Hope you have a great trip.

Dominic

The other half swears by SQ : good service and food, and - very important for a 25+ hour flight - audio and video on demand. He's happy paying the extra over Qantas and BA for that feature alone!

Thanks,

David.

Andy

We have flown SQ long haul economy - albeit not to Oz - and found them to be far better than BA. Friends have flown Malaysian Airlines to and from Oz a few times and say they are very good - not much different to SQ. 34" seat pitch I think. Like SQ they also connect through their hub to most of the Oz capitals.

We flew MH business last year and thought they were excellent.

Personally I would avoid any 'western airline' on this route.

We have not flown Qantas internationally but guys at work don't rave about them.

Hope that helps.

Rob

Number of options for you here.

SQ- have flown them to Ausralia and they have been excellent. They are 3 daily into BNE as well which is excellent.

QF- very dated these days.

EK- again an good Y service and some really good fares.

KE- just for something different!!

MH- often can be cheaper and new cabins being rolled out.

CX- if you want one world miles- Y product can be a bit dated but no more dated than VS ex LGW. 330s currently flying into australia.

NZ- can sometimes be just as quick depending on layover in SIN,DXB. Go either via HKG/AKL or LAX/AKL.

EY- apparently now have Australian rights although dates havent been confirmed- I would recomending keeping an eye on their website though.


International flights are being cut all the time into BNE although there still is a large choice- but my experiences of BNE have always been good a nice large modern international terminal that is often rathe quiet (ok I was arriving mid afternoon). MEL can like SYD get a tad busy.

Aussie/Kiwi airports tend to publish their international arrivals for the month- often can prove rather handy.

[mcmbenjamin]

There is UA via LAX or SFO. Worth a stopover of a few days in SFO and if you ate 3P or higher on UA, you get EconomyPlus. Also if you are not 3P or higher you can buy EconomyPlus Access (this is confirmed at book) to allow access to seats with about 36 inches on legroom. Only bad things are no PTV on UAs 747s USA to Australia and USA immigration (but some people have to enter the UK and that can be equally as fun).

Originally posted by mcmbenjamin
There is UA via LAX or SFO. Worth a stopover of a few days in SFO and if you ate 3P or higher on UA, you get EconomyPlus. Also if you are not 3P or higher you can buy EconomyPlus Access (this is confirmed at book) to allow access to seats with about 36 inches on legroom. Only bad things are no PTV on UAs 747s USA to Australia and USA immigration (but some people have to enter the UK and that can be equally as fun).

Do they fly into BNE/MEL? Thought UA only did SYD like AC.

thought of another- eva air on their brand new 773!

[Scrooge]

Yeah UA go via SYD on the MEL route.On the BNE route you fly to SYD then codeshare on Virgin Blue.

A good answer is in willd's signature, take a look at EVA, their economy deluxe is quite nice, though their website sucks.

You can't go wrong with SQ or MH IMO. Personally, I'd steer clear or EK, but many would disagree. However, I would be keen to try Etihad via Abu Dhabi on the route.

VS.

Etihad look great - especially with AVOD and 10.4 inch screens in economy I'd love to give them a go one time, but personally I would go with the tried and trusted SQ

Although EY havent announced routes/launch dates yet. They have just been given the green light- rather like VS are allowed to fly to Brazil. I do agree they will be excellent when they do start and you have more chance of an op up with EY as they dont have an established FFP....as my friend found out when he got op uped from Y to First with them!

Thanks everyone. Looks like Singapore is the preferred choice and looks the best for us. Hopefully they will have the new seats before we decide to go.

Having done the trip to BNE twice a year with a mixture of QF, BA, SQ and LH,and SYD with VS a number of times, SQ are miles ahead in terms of service, economy seat comfort and stopover airport facilities. Changi Airport is well ahead of HKG and BKK airports. QF service on the flights home is always great but if you get an older aircraft, the comfort isn't anywhere near SQ. They're also ahead of VS for me in economy.

You shouldn't go wrong with SQ so probably a wise choice:D

VS.