NZ to UK

[Capt.Oveur]

Hello people, I hope this is the correct place to post this.

I'm trying to get to the UK (London) from New Zealand (South Island) for as cheaply as possible (funds are low):

I'm looking to go in June though I'm ultra flexible about arrangements (direct or indirect, single or return etc.) and I've been looking at various options including flying from Australia and South East Asia using budget airlines.

Does anyone have any suggestions on routes I could try. I've also read about being a courier - is this an option and where can I inquire about it?

Thanks for any help.

[PAXboy]

Hi, welcome aboard.

There are many sites that scan a range of available routes and save you the trouble of checking each one individually.

Cheap Flights, Hotels, Airline Tickets, Cheap Tickets, Travel Deals - SideStep - Compare Hundreds of Travel Sites At Once (http://www.sidestep.com/)
Travel, Holidays, Flights & Hotels on Kelkoo UK (http://travel.kelkoo.co.uk/c-169901-travel.html)
ebookers - Cheap Flights, Hotels, Car Hire & Holiday Packages (http://www.ebookers.com/)

These are just three at random to start you off and there are tick boxes if you are flexible on travel dates. You can prioritise by Date or Price, as you need. Check the results carefully to see how many stops are involved and the overall time of the trip end-to-end. You may find that a cheaper flight as a layover (as it's called) in the middle east for 12 hours, for example.

[Hartington]

It may depend on how much time you are prepared to spend hanging around en route. For instance you could look at Jetstar/Virgin Blue to Melbourne then Air Asia to Kuala Lumpur and Air Asia again to London. The problems with that route are two fold. The flights may not connect - hence the hanging around.

The other problem is that the flights DO NOT connect. Hang on, I've already said that haven't I? Well no, that's not what I said before, I was simply referring to timing. The real problem is that even though two of the flights are on Air Asia each of the three flights is a separate contract. That means that you MUST present yourself at checkin on time. If the inbound flight is delayed and you miss checkin tough to the extent that you may have to pay for a new flight (if it's available). Plenty of people do this kind of thing successfully but you do need to understand the risks.

[PRD Area]

You can always try Royal Brunei - they seem to be very cheap. One ticket, ex Auckland (you can always get Pacific Blue/Jetstar/Air NZ to Auckland, or go overland), with stops in Brunei, and Dubai. You might have to wait a while in Brunei for your connection though.

[IamPAX]

Cheap flights, accommodation, holiday packages, hire cars - travel.com.au (http://www.travel.com.au/)


Cheap flights - the best flights & airline tickets from Australia & NZ (http://www.cheapflights.com.au/)


Flights - Compare Hundreds of Travel Sites At Once - KAYAK (http://www.kayak.com/flights)

[Capt.Oveur]

Thanks all, I'll check out those links.

Hartington: I did look at that route and wouldn't mind hanging around at all but it seems unless you can get the super special offers on each leg it doesn't seem to be any cheaper than flying direct.

Thanks PRD Area, Royal Brunei does look like one of the cheaper carriers.

Incidentally I've just checked Air New Zealand and the UK website has a special to New Zealand where it's actually cheaper to buy a return from the UK than a single from NZ! Not sure if there is a way to take advantage of this offer if departing from NZ though!?

Also is it possible to be an air courier for this journey?

[PAXboy]

As I understand it, the 'air courier' route closed some time ago. Professional companies now provide routine secure door-to-door with tracking and guarantees. For smaller stuff, it goes electronically. The things that do have to truly go 'by hand' are again done by the professional the companies.

[Pohutu]

CaptOveur
Incidentally I've just checked Air New Zealand and the UK website has a special to New Zealand where it's actually cheaper to buy a return from the UK than a single from NZ! Not sure if there is a way to take advantage of this offer if departing from NZ though!?


I've been travelling this route for many years, and this situation happens frequently with Air NZ's pricing. I've always assumed it's because people in the UK are more likely to look at other carriers (Singapore, Emirates, Thai, Royal Brunei, etc), whereas those in NZ are more inclined to fly with Air NZ, so there's more competition one way than the other.

I'm afraid that I've never managed to find a way round it, with the result that I still, despite now living in NZ, book my flights from the UK. I'm fortunate enough to travel backwards and forwards often enough to be able to do this.

P.S. Royal Brunei - a good option on a budget, but worth knowing that they don't serve alcohol on board. Not a big deal if you know about it in advance, but they don't exactly advertise the fact.

[PAXboy]

The same imbalance of pricing occurs between South Africa and Europe and it is cheaper to travel to Europe than from. In this case, I think the reason is that the exchange rate of the Rand is so bad that, once the pax gets to Europe they have to spend a lot of money.

By making the flight cheaper - they encourage pax to travel. For the Europeans - once they get to South Africa the exchange rate in their favour and so the trip is cheap. Consequently, the airlines lower the cost at one end and raise it at the other to balance the revenue and the loads. Just my personal guess from having travelled the route for over 40 years.

[OverRun]

Paxboy has covered the differential pricing issue nicely. One important point is that this is obviously a risk for revenue leakage and the airlines try really hard to make sure people don't beat the system. They generally win, so don't go pinning your hopes on this !

Your booking should be made very quickly - you are well into the period of steadily rising fares as the seats get filled and the yield managers are fine-tuning the system. By now, they are tweaking the fares and availability at least daily.

Low cost fares starting from the Antipodes: I have found Bestflights to often be very good and I recommend subscribing to their newsletter to learn of breaking specials. Australian Travel Agent : Best Flights Online Travel Agency Australia (http://www.bestflights.com.au/) No linkage with them of course.

My best was a round the world business class fare for $6000 last year, and the Bestflights guy was laughing so hard he had trouble making the bookings. He explained himself that his last customer had booked Qantas Melbourne to LA and back for $20,000, and here was I on the same plane and class, for basically peanuts.

[Metro man]

By making the flight cheaper - they encourage pax to travel. For the Europeans - once they get to South Africa the exchange rate in their favour and so the trip is cheap. Consequently, the airlines lower the cost at one end and raise it at the other to balance the revenue and the loads.

Look at return air fares from Miami to Kansas and vice versa.

Someone going from Miami to Kansas is either visiting relatives or on business and therefore has no choice but to pay what's asked.

Someone going from Kansas to Miami is going on holiday and could go somewhere else if the alternative was a better deal, therefore fares are kept competative.

[Capt.Oveur]

Pohutu: Interesting point - that's something I've found across the board in NZ, the shortage of competition results in higher prices.

PAXboy: Makes sense. It doesn't help that the GBP has lost soo much value against the NZD (amongst others). Is this an all time low for the GBP vs NZD?

OverRun: thanks for tip and link - seems like the best prices so far.

[Big Harvey]

As Pohutu says, you might find it cheaper to book on-line from UK sites. You may find that not all UK agents will let you do it, since some insist on a UK address, or at least they used to. This may have changed however now that e-tickets are the norm, so I'll give you some pointers. No single site is always cheapest, but one that is pretty good most of the time nowadays is www.lastminute.com (http://www.lastminute.com) . Do a flexible date search.

Try also www.travelsupermarket.com (http://www.travelsupermarket.com) and the less user-friendly www.kelkoo.co.uk (http://www.kelkoo.co.uk) , which are both price comparison sites dealing with a number of agents. Before using these, check with Royal Brunei's website to see which dates they fly the route (I don't think it's every day), and concentrate your searches on those dates. They're not always the cheapest to fly with, and there are two stops for refuelling as well as one for a change of aircraft, but their fares are generally pretty good, and last time I went from the UK to NZ the experience was just about bearable. Take a good book and/or an ipod though, because their in-flight entertainment system is hopelessly unreliable. You'll nearly always get a better fare booking your flight through an agent than direct with the airline for reasons I don't understand. You would think the opposite would be true, wouldn't you?

I endorse Hartington's comments re. the no-frills options, and unless you fancy long (planned) stopovers en route, it would only take one late arriving flight and resultant missed connection for your cunning plan to end up costing you substantially more than flying with a normal airline. As long as the connection time you've allowed is reasonable, it's possible that your travel insurance might cover such an eventuality, but it'll take months to recover your costs, which is not ideal if you're short of funds.

[Winch-control]

Hello people, I hope this is the correct place to post this.

I'm trying to get to the UK (London) from New Zealand (South Island) for as cheaply as possible (funds are low):

Hmm.. peddle boat to Oz (eastren side across the pond) then, cycle to Freemantle; now row boat the Indian ocean;then back on your bike to New Delhi.... You get the drift!:ok:

Well it was just a thought, and price shouldnt be a problem, call it $500Nz all in?

Good luck!

[OverRun]

As Pohutu says, you might find it cheaper to book on-line from UK sites. You may find that not all UK agents will let you do it, since some insist on a UK address, or at least they used to. This may have changed however now that e-tickets are the norm,

E-tickets, no problem. But on routes where serious differential pricing exists and there is a potential problem over people in one country buying the ticket in the other, then the airlines look for proof of permanent residence for the country of ticket purchase at the time of check-in. For example, on a route with serious differential pricing, if you buy the ticket in the UK, this could mean having a valid UK passport held by you, or a passport from another country with the UK permanent residence visa stamped in it [or whatever system is used in UK to show permanent residence]. Of course, your frequent flyer address will be in the UK, won't it :ooh: In case of doubt, they could also ask for you to show them more proof of residence such as a valid drivers license from the UK.

And this is before the big guns get turned loose. Such as the 'Revenue Integrity' program from Sabre, or Flash or Zeus, or the Calidris Operational Data Store to analyse the various revenue leakages that occur. Travelport have 'Fare Verified' to make audits to check that tickets have been issued correctly with respect to fare class, rules, taxes, fees and commissions. Most ticketing errors come from six revenue integrity issues: fare errors, exchange rate calculation errors, incorrect commissions and taxes, incorrect refunds, incorrect segment and booking fees, and booking and ticketing violations. They know where to look, and the software systems are helping them.

The revenue leakage software audits fares issued and then makes a report that lists the locator code of each ticket and passenger name, the ticket number, the agent ID number, where ticketing errors have come from, the old fare, the new fare, and the difference that has to be applied. And does it quickly enough that the airline can go looking for the source of leakage (pre and post flight), and then move to plug it. This includes not honouring the ticket when you show up at the airport (and if they cancel the one leg of your ticket, the remaining ones get canceled automatically). Or they rebook you at the proper fare, prevailing at the time, which can be the very fullest economy fare (i.e. about 4 times more than you paid in the first place).

This is not an issue when there is uniform pricing, and many airlines with such pricing allow online ticket buying from anywhere . The low cost carriers are very good with this. I've brought online Easyjet tickets to fly all all over Europe and internal Aegean tickets in Greece, all done from Australia. And bought Emirates tickets from anywhere to anywhere using a laptop that is always in some other location.

So when the pricing is transparent and the airline allows you, online buying can be done from anywhere. It is only where there are significant fare differentials, and you know that you are bending the rules to buy the cheaper fare, that problems can occur for you.

[Capt.Oveur]

It seems if I'm booking from the UK then I have to depart from the UK.

China Airlines appears to be the cheapest but I'm not too keen on their past safety record.

Winch-control: Any reason why the need for a peddle boat AND a row boat? I'd need to travel fairly light so maybe I could use one for both bodies of water!? ;)

[IamPAX]

Isn't NZ-KUL an option, then flying to STN using

Welcome to AirAsia.com... Now everyone can fly (http://www.airasia.com/au/en/home.html)

OR

Cheap Flights with mixandmatch, Airfares, Package Holidays - House of Travel (http://www.houseoftravel.co.nz/home.htm)

[Capt.Oveur]

IamPAX that's the route I think I going to take except it'll have to be NZ-AU-KUL unless you know of a good deal from NZ-KUL direct?