Cheapest flights to Melbourne in September 2010 | Kayak Best Fares
Use Kayak’s Best Fare box to find best flight deals – such as £637 London to Melbourne return with Expedia and Malaysia Airlines.
Metasearch engine attributes
Kayak may not have fared so well in my metasearch engine test, but it does have one incredibly useful attribute that elevates it above the other metasearch engines.
Kayak Best Fares
As you’re putting in your departure airport and destination, a ‘Best Fares’ box appears on the right of the screen. This brings up a list of the best fares that other users have found on the same route within the last 48 hours, sorted by departure date.
Flexible dates
For those with flexible dates, this can be a brilliant place to start looking. For example, when I put in London and Melbourne as my departure and arrival locations, there was £646 deal in September.
Malaysia airlines sale fare
I clicked through, and the fare in question was with Malaysia Airlines, and had been found seven hours ago. Click on ‘check now’ from there and it searches properly with those dates (in this case, returning on 10 November).
Expedia’s Melbourne flight sale
When I went through, it turned out that the price was even lower – Expedia were offering London to Melbourne flights on those dates for just £637 per person. That’s a great deal at any time, but especially out of low season (mid-April to June).
Similar deals
Of course, not everyone will want to travel on those exact dates. But it’s a great indicator that similar deals with Expedia on Malaysia Airlines will be available around that time.
Cathay Pacific flights to Sydney, Perth & Brisbane | 2010 Austravel Flight Sale
Book cheap Cathay Pacific flights to Sydney, Perth and Brisbane in the April, May and June 2010 Austravel flight sale.
Great Melbourne travel deals
Yesterday I mentioned that Austravel is currently offering ridiculously good deals on flights to Melbourne via Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific. Well, it’s not just Melbourne flights that are on sale…
Austravel sale offers
The deals that Austravel is offering to other Australian cities aren’t quite as good, but they’re market-beating in most instances.
Cathay Pacific flight sale to Perth, Sydney & Brisbane
Departing from London Heathrow, Austravel is offering Cathay Pacific flights to Perth for from £589 return, with Sydney and Brisbane flights costing from £619.
Travel and booking dates
These deals are in economy class and involve a short change of planes in Hong Kong. The prices are available until the end of 11 March 2010, with departure dates between 14 April 2010 and 10 June 2010.
Business class Australia flights 2011 | China Airlines London to Sydney for £2001
Book cheap business class flights to Australia for January 2011 departures. Travel deals available with China Airlines for flights from London to Sydney via Taiwan.
London to Sydney flight deals
On Thursday 04 March, I highlighted some extraordinarily good deals on flights from London to Sydney via Taiwan in January 2011.
Business class deals
Well the good news for those who prefer to travel in comfort and style is that the China Airlines sale is not just restricted to economy class. The Taipei-based airline is also offering some remarkably good business class deals.
China Airlines flight sale 2011
Using the same dates (departing on 20 January 2011 and returning on 29 January 2011 or 05 January 2011), business class flights from London to Sydney with China Airlines are available for £2001. Given that business class flights to Australia usually cost at least £2,500, this is a superb deal.
Cheapest flights to Melbourne, Australia | Austravel & Cathay Pacific Sale 2010
Book return flights from London Heathrow to Melbourne via Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific for just £579 in the 2010 Austravel sale.
Best flight sales for Australia
Most of the best sales on flights from the UK to Australia in April, May and June 2010 have now passed. And the best sale prices on Australia flights tend to be for flights that are at least four or five months in advance.
Melbourne flight sale
Therefore it comes as a pleasant surprise to see Austravel launching a sale for April, May and June 2010 flights at the beginning of March. And there are some superb deals on offer too…
Austravel Cathay Pacific deals
Austravel is offering flights from London Heathrow airport to Melbourne for from just £579. That’s about as cheap as you can get for a Melbourne flight, and it’s on a top quality airline too – those who take advantage of the offer will be flying via Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific.
Booking deadline
To bite Austravel’s hand off and get a London to Melbourne flight for this price, you’ll need to book by the end of 11 March 2010, and travel between 14 April 2010 and 10 June 2010.
Gold Coast flight sale from Melbourne & Adelaide | Tiger Airways budget airline travel deals 2010
Don’t fly directly to the Gold Coast from the UK – consider cheap flights on budget airline Tiger Airways from Melbourne and Adelaide.
UK to Gold Coast flights
I have already pointed out that buying an international flight from the UK to the Gold Coast in Australia is, by and large, not worth the money.
Tiger Airways flights from Sydney
As part of that argument I highlighted the flight deals available from Sydney to the Gold Coast with Tiger Airways. Well you don’t just have to fly there from Sydney – special fares are also available from Melbourne and Adelaide.
Tiger Airways Melbourne and Adelaide flight sale
Tiger Airways is offering flights from both Melbourne and Adelaide for from just AU$68. Expect to pay slightly more if you’re checking bags in or paying with anything other than an Australian-issued Mastercard.
Booking and travel dates
As with the Sydney to Gold Coast flights, these deals need to be booked before 11 March 2010. Available travel dates are between 09 March and 23 June from Melbourne and between 01 May and 30 June from Adelaide.
London to Perth with free Singapore stopover | Emirates & Tiger Airlines flights | September 2010
Travellers can make savings on flights to Australia and get a free stopover on the way by booking flights separately. And a classic example comes on London to Perth flights via Singapore with Emirates and Tiger Airways.
Free stopovers on way from UK to Australia
As I have explained previously, one of the best ways to get a free stopover when flying to Australia is to book a flight from the UK to Asia, then do the Asia to Australia leg on another airline – preferably one of the increasing number of budget airlines offering connections.
London to Perth | September 2010 flights
I discovered a classic example of this method whilst looking at London to Perth flights in September 2010. Using Travelsupermarket to search for flights, I discovered flights from London to Perth for from £774. This was with Cathay Pacific, booked through Major Travel, and with a short layover in Hong Kong but without a proper stopover.
This isn’t a bad deal, but it isn’t great either, so using the same set of dates (31 August 2010 departure and 25 September return, with three days flexibility either side), I decided to do a bit of investigating.
Gatwick to Singapore with Emirates
What I found was very interesting indeed. Departing on 31 August and returning on 25 September, it is possible to fly to Singapore from London Gatwick with Emirates (booked through Holiday Genie) for just £468.95.
Singapore to Perth with Tiger Airways
That’s a good price – but it all depends on how much it costs to get from Singapore to Perth from there. Well, with Tiger Airways, departing on 03 September and returning on 19 September, a return costs S$452 (£215). This is including credit card payment fees and checking in luggage – pay with an Australian-issued Mastercard and go hand-luggage only and it’s only S$410 (approx £195)
Budget airline destinations from Singapore
Add it together, and that’s £683.95 for to fly from London to Perth, with a few days in Singapore either side. It’s a substantial saving, and also opens up the possibility of doing another short trip from Singapore to somewhere else in Asia before going home. Singapore is a major hub for budget airlines in South East Asia, and flights to the likes of Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam can be incredibly cheap.
Exploring Asia AND Australia
Obviously, this is just what one person found for one set of dates. But it’s the principle that’s important. If you’re wanting to explore some of Asia on the way to or on the way back from Australia, look into the budget airline options from Asia to Oz.
2010 Sydney to Gold Coast flight sale: Tiger Airways domestic travel deals
Don’t fly direct to the Gold Coast from the UK – take the Airtrain from Brisbane or a cheap domestic flight from Sydney with Tiger Airways. Deals available in April, May and June 2010.
Gold Coast tourism
The Gold Coast is Australia’s premier holiday strip. Just to the south of Brisbane, it doesn’t tend to hold that much appeal for British holidaymakers – the Gold Coast is aimed more at domestic tourists and visitors from Asia.
Two centre holiday in Australia
However, it’s a great family holiday destination – there’s so much to do there – and it is worth considering the Gold Coast as part of a two centre holiday with Sydney. Also, enough British travellers go there to make it worth me advising on the best ways to get there.
International flights to the Gold Coast
The first important rule is that it is not worth buying an international flight that flies into the Gold Coast. This option is available with Air Asia X and Japan Airlines, while Qantas advertises flights that connect elsewhere in Australia.
Brisbane or Gold Coast?
Because the Gold Coast isn’t a major international hub, and competition flying there from overseas is low, prices on international flights to the Gold Coast tend to be higher. It is almost always cheaper to fly into Brisbane, then take the train south.
Airtrain from Brisbane Airport to Gold Coast
The Airtrain from Brisbane airport to the Gold Coast goes direct up to four times an hour, and takes around 90 minutes (depending at which station you get off at). Given that the Gold Coast’s airport is on the far south of the coastal strip in Coolangatta, there’s not an awful lot of difference.
Domestic flights to the Gold Coast
The second key reason is that domestic flights to the Gold Coast can be extremely cheap when booked with Australia’s budget airlines. Competition on routes to the Gold Coast is very strong, so it’s rarely worth buying the domestic flight alongside the international flight.
Tiger Airways Sydney to Gold Coast flight sale
For example, in the current Tiger Airways sale, one way flights from Sydney to the Gold Coast are available for from just AU$38. This price is on offer for bookings made by the end of 11 March 2010, for travel between 07 April 2010 and 23 June 2010. This said, similar prices are almost always available with Tiger Airways.