Flying to Europe - who do you fly with?

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Starting to keep an eye on flights for our March trip to UK and France. Just wondering which airlines you've used for that part of the world, who you liked, who you didn't, who has good deals, etc.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Andona]

We've only ever flown QANTAS to Europe. The A380 was wonderful, the ageing 747s were not

It's not all the way there but we flew Virgin Atlantic to Hong Kong on one trip and they were great.

Andona

 

[welley]

DH & I went to Europe last year and we flew Qatar airlines. One of the best airlines I have ever flown.

The service was great the price for the flight was good.

The main reason I liked them was DH took really really sick flying home from Italy. We landed in Doha and my DH was violently ill. So much so we couldn't get on our connecting flight to Melbourne. Long story short DH ended up in hospital. The airline couldn't do enough to help us from putting us upon a really nice hotel and really accommodating gettin back to the airport and VIP treatment getting on our flight home. Honestly they couldn't do enough.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

We've only ever flown QANTAS to Europe. The A380 was wonderful, the ageing 747s were not

It's not all the way there but we flew Virgin Atlantic to Hong Kong on one trip and they were great.

Andona

We would like to fly Qantas because of the additional FF points we would get as my husband is a Gold member and the kids and I are all signed up with them as well. With that said, their pricing at the moment is ridiculously high in comparision to say V Australia or Etihad.

DH & I went to Europe last year and we flew Qatar airlines. One of the best airlines I have ever flown.

The service was great the price for the flight was good.

The main reason I liked them was DH took really really sick flying home from Italy. We landed in Doha and my DH was violently ill. So much so we couldn't get on our connecting flight to Melbourne. Long story short DH ended up in hospital. The airline couldn't do enough to help us from putting us upon a really nice hotel and really accommodating gettin back to the airport and VIP treatment getting on our flight home. Honestly they couldn't do enough.

I haven't really heard of Qatar before. Sounds like they really looked after your husband, how wonderful of them. What country does that airline come from?

 

[welley]

I haven't really heard of Qatar before. Sounds like they really looked after your husband, how wonderful of them. What country does that airline come from?

They did really look after him. They come from Qatar. Doha is their hub. Located near UAE (the middle east).

I've also flown Emirates to Europe as well. Another good airline.

 

[aussietravellers]

I have flown, Qantas, British Airways, Singapore, Malaysian, Swiss (from Hong Kong), Austrian Airlines, (now no longer flying out of AU, but they codeshare with Thai, so Thai to Bangkok, then Austrian from Bangkok to Vienna), Emirates and I'm trying to think if who else. That may be it.

To Europe, I have never flown economy on any of them, so I can't tell you if their economy is any good. But most reasonably priced is Malaysian and Austrian, they are always half the price of Qantas and Austrian particularly has always been just fantastic, my favourite actually. Well except for Emirates, I do think they are probably the best. British Airways (have a feeling they don't fly out of AU any more, thank goodness), last time I flew with them one of the crews (Singapore to Heathrow leg), were SOOOOO rude! I ended up emailing a complaint and getting a credit. Singapore is fabulous, but expensive, Qantas, well they are Qantas, certainly no where near the cheapest. Malaysian, Thai were good and for the price, well worth it! At half the price of Qantas, it was fine! Swiss, it's been a while, but they still have a great reputation.

A friend once, we flew out of Frankfurt on QF, through Singapore, my friend at the same time flew Air France, through Singapore and we both landed around the same time. She HATED Air France economy (she flew over Qantas), she was trying to get an upgrade in Singapore for the leg back to BNE. So I haven't flown Air France, but she said they were absolutely terrible!

So my first pick for service and price, Austrian. But we love Vienna so are always happy to fly there, then off to London, Switzerland, where ever. Price no option, Emirates. But really I'd be happy with any that I have flown, with the exception of BA.

 

[BigDisneyOE]

Singapore - lovely airline, great service. Great with kids.
Air New Zealand - great airline, bigger seat pitch. Flown them heaps. Plus I like getting on the plane and hearing 'home' in a voice.
Qantas - probably not to Europe again. I've done it a few times. Service levels weren't there. Done South African route with them and the codeshare with South African Air was much better. We will fly them back to South Africa as we've enough airpoints for a three free tickets. However, not to London again.
Lufthansa - only if you want to be woken at 0115 local time to have an Eskimo Pie thrust under your nose.
BA - can be good, can be just okay - depends on how the crew are.
Emirates - DH's favourites, he used to fly them London to Kuwait via Bahrain all the time.
Korean - a few friends have flown and raved about them. They often put you up in a free hotel overnight in Seoul in order to accomodate a long layover.

I've heard stunning reports on Qatar and Etihad alike. We'll fly either Emirates, Qatar or Etihad if we go back to the UK with the kids if we want to stop in the Middle East (which is an area we like) or Singapore or Air NZ (because they are so good with the kids).

 

[aussietravellers]

I've heard stunning reports on Qatar and Etihad alike. We'll fly either Emirates, Qatar or Etihad if we go back to the UK with the kids if we want to stop in the Middle East (which is an area we like) or Singapore or Air NZ (because they are so good with the kids).

I have heard really good reports of Etihad too I'd love to try them one day.

 

[mindy32]

We flew Melb-Europe with Emirates, loved them. Did lots of smaller international flights whilst over there and none came even close.

 

[dabecs]

Last trip I went with KLM who were a good price and I found the flight uneventful. I would fly with them again.

I have a friend who worked for Etihad and my parents have flown with them - good reports all around. Next time we go I will probably go with them unless there is someone much cheaper..

I'm really looking forward to hearing more about your Europe plans - what countries will you visit?

 

[queenie82]

I've a newish coworker from Scotland originally who has flown Etihad a LOT...
He RAVES about them.

His wife flew Emirates to Australia on Monday and described them as Etihad budget. She LOATHED them.

As for me I NEVER plan to fly via the UAE.

I loved the service on KLM and Air France but you'll have to put up with the Qantas crap half the way. Seriously I couldn't be helped enough (even in cattle class) by Air France But I WILL not fly Qantas after the crap they've put me through.

I'm going to be flying Virgin Atlantic, Thai and Swiss in a few months. The service with Swiss so far has been excellent and I haven't even hopped on the aircraft yet. I'm flying Virgin for part of the way because the Thai option was a 6 hour layover in the not so wonderful Bangkok airport (although newish and large...they are spending MILLIONS on a refurb for a reason.)

Swiss are offering VERY good deals at the moment. I wasn't too flexible on dates but I'm still doing very well comparatively with my october fare.

Be aware with Thai that depending on you ticket class (like pretty much every airline other than United) you may well not get any points. No matter what class you're in United give you points. Thai gave NONE with one class...and 50% with another. Singpore are the stingiest I've encountered.

Another game they play is with allocating seats. With the Thai one they only offer from row 50 to my class until check in.

In December I'll be flying Business class on a Thai 747, Thai A380, and Thai A340.

ETA - DBF swears by Cathay. He's moaned about aspects of the flight (fellow passengers) but the service has always been good and the food good.
And they do have multiple Syd-HKG options which can be handy.

 

[quasar4legs]

We like to fly with airlines that go via Singapore or hong kong as we always spend a few days relaxing in Asia on the way home.

Our favs tend to be qantas, British air, Singapore or Cathay. We did fly JAL a few years ago and although the planes were pretty old we did enjoy stopping off in Tokyo and going to Disney. The staff on Singapore air are wonderful and in our experience they are the most attentive.

We are not big fans of Bangkok airport so we try to avoid it where possible but it just depends on the schedules and prices available at the time. We always fly business class to Europe but if I was going to fly in economy I would stop in Asia in both directions to break up the journey.

We tend to book companion fares when they become available, they work out to be the best option for our family.

good luck finding a great fare.


Quasar

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Thank you everyone for chiming in with your experiences. It is really giving me a great perspective.

I was really thinking probably Etihad, Emirates, Qantas or Virgin would come up with the best prices for this trip and then a friend forwarded me this airline review site and it has really thrown me for a loop.

Etihad does not rate well AT ALL....4.8 out of 10 from 811 reviews and the big thing that gets mentioned is the lack of comfortable seats. See the reviews here:- http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/etihad.htm

Emirates doesn't fare that much better:- 5.8 out of 10 from 1634 reviews. See the reviews here:- http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/emrts.htm

Qantas gets 7.8 out of 10 from 1203 reviews. See the reviews here:- http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/qantas.htm

Virgin is a little more complicated. It seems to be spread between the names Virgin Australia and Virgin Atlantic for the international flights from Aus. The ratings are:- Virgin Australia 7.7 out of 10 from 366 reviews, link http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/vir_blue.htm and Virgin Atlantic is 3.9 out of 10 from 1345 reviews, link http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/vir_atl.htm.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

We are looking to fly out around 28 March to London. We are looking to fly home 23 April from Paris, but could fly out of London if need be.

At the moment the pricing I have found is:-

Etihad the whole way (with a 2 night stop over in Abu Dhabi on the way home because it fascinates me) $8293 for the 5 of us (fam of 4 plus grandma)

Virgin to Abu Dhabi and then Etihad onto London $8177 for the 5 of us

Qantas - $13,863 for 5 of us

I think Singapore airline were about $1k less than Qantas

Emirates - $12,299.

It pretty much makes the Virgin/Etihad options hard to pass up really. I'd love the Qantas FF points but they would have to come up with a much better price than that.

I don't know whether the Virgin/Etihad price is amazing for 5 people and I should jump on it - or whether I should just sit tight and wait for something cheaper.

Thoughts??????

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I wanted to mention that we would be keen to stop over for a couple of nights to enjoy another city if possible. Abu Dhabi or Dubai sound very exotic and I think a great cultural change for the kidlets. Hong Kong appeals because I could see another Disney Castle.

I wouldn't mind anywhere else either to be honest.

Anyone care to have a play with my dates and see what you can come up with????

 

[aussietravellers]

I wanted to mention that we would be keen to stop over for a couple of nights to enjoy another city if possible. Abu Dhabi or Dubai sound very exotic and I think a great cultural change for the kidlets. Hong Kong appeals because I could see another Disney Castle.

I wouldn't mind anywhere else either to be honest.

Anyone care to have a play with my dates and see what you can come up with????

Cathay come in at $12,913 for 5
Thai comes in at $9042 for 5 (but thats coming back on 22nd, 23rd sold out)

Will look at more tomorrow, but the Virgin/Ethiad sounds the best

 

[aussietravellers]

You will get better prices closer to the time too, when the bring out the specials for that time of year.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

You will get better prices closer to the time too, when the bring out the specials for that time of year.

Any idea when they bring out the specials for that time of year?

My dates are sort of flexible. I could fly out a day earlier and I could fly home later, not earlier.

 

[aussietravellers]

Any idea when they bring out the specials for that time of year?

My dates are sort of flexible. I could fly out a day earlier and I could fly home later, not earlier.

I can't remember. I was going to say, between now and March

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

. thanks for that detailed information