Flying to Australia on business class
 

I am looking for the best deal flying to Australia on business class from Washington DC. Does anyone have some suggestion and information?
I forgot to mention that my plans are to visit Australia in August 2007. Are the flight fares in the Australian winter months cheaper than the Ausralian summer fares?

I don't know too much about business fare variations to Australia, but right now, Korean has fares about $8,500 and other airlines around $10K.

At this price range, a oneworld or Star Alliance round-the-world ticket may be cheaper. Add a brief stop in Europe on the way, and you should be set.

United and Emirates have a round-the-world ticket that's good for Oz routings that runs around $6200 plus taxes etc. in business class, which is probably the cheapest fare one could obtain easily. There may be a business fare sale sometime next year but if and when is anybody's guess.

Otherwise look at Air New Zealand (including their premium economy class) for alternates to straight business class.

The prices from the US do seem to be way over the top for Business Class.

To give an example I've flown fairly regularly to Australia from Frankfurt/Munich for around US3,000 Return with Emirates, Malaysian.

Here's a list of the pricing, the prices have risen recently but not that much.

http://www.australiaplus.de/Download...islisteAUS.pdf

http://www.australiaplus.de

Unfortunately it is in German but I think you can work it out, just take the price for the period you want to fly and add the cost of the Business Class Surcharge shown below. (Some prices also include 2 or 3 flights within Australia if you look at the last column)

It may be an option to fly economy return to Frankfurt or Munich then use one of these tickets. They all speak English and they will organise your itinerary/Visas in English.

Geordie

There's a severe lack on competition in the US-Australia market, with just two airlines flying non-stop - Qantas and United. Others require extra stops and significantly longer flight time. And there's no end in sight for this "problem".

Singapore Airlines applied, and was promptly turned down. None of the other US airlines seem to be interested, as they don't have strong Californian hubs to launch such routes.

In contrast, the Europe-Australia market has at least a dozen competitors, all offering one-stop or one-connection service.

As someone else mentioned, you should definitely check the prices for round-the-world, as well as circle pacific fares. I flew to Australia and/or New Zealand several times for business a few years ago. The first trip I booked as a straight there-and-back - at about 10,500 Canadian dollars (to Melbourne). The next two I booked as a RTW and Circle Pacific, respectively. The RTW was $9250 and the Circle Pacific was about $7800. The benefits of these kinds of tickets are that a) the base price is lower and b) you can add some free stopovers to your itinerary (well, almost free - there will be some airport taxes to pay for each stopover). For several thousand dollars less than a regular ticket Toronto-LAX-Sydney, I flew Toronto-LAX-Sydney, then Sydney-Brisbane-Gladstone (to dive great Barrier Reef), then Gladstone-Brisbane-Singapore, then Singapore-LAX, then LAX-home. The downsides are a) availability of seats is a little more limited than a regular full-fare business class ticket (for example, I could not get a seat on the better, overnight flight from LAX-Sydney and had to take the daylight flight) and you have to stay away for a minimum of about 7 days.

In addition to Oneworld routings (e.g. American, Qantas, etc), you can also fly to Australia with Star Alliance via Air New Zealand.

The best place to learn more about RTWs and Circle Pacific tickets is on the Oneworld and Star Alliance forums on flyertalk.com. The members of these discussion boards make various tools available for journey planning and have all sorts of expert tips for you, on how to save money and maximise your stopovers.

WOW! I honestly didn't expect to receive such detailed answers! Thank you, all of you. Actually I could do also with round trips from Europe. Being Israeli, I cannot, unfortunately fly with Emirate. I wish I could. Geordie, do you think that it is possible to get this rate with other Star Alliance airlines?
I will of course study all other suggestions.

I have been looking for BC fares to AU from Philly for next Oct. If you are still looking to go from DC, my findings is that the cheapest fare is with AirNZ. At present, the RT from DC in Aug is $8574. It is the same for Oct.

If you check with Expedia, United, Usair, etc, the cheapest is about $10K.

We may also try the Premium Economy, which is a much cheaper, although an inferior substitute. ((*))

I thought Air Canada was starting LAX-Oz service.

<i>Being Israeli, I cannot, unfortunately fly with Emirate. I wish I could. Geordie, do you think that it is possible to get this rate with other Star Alliance airlines?</i>

Aha. When information is provided, windows open.

There's a <i>really</i> obscure little RTW product sold by Qantas and El Al of all people - Use QF of LY metal only except in N. America where you can use QF flight numbers codeshared on AA planes. Business class price ex-USA is US$5342 (cheaper than the Emirates RTW) and ex-Israel the price is US$4599.

The fare isn't available year-round but works for northern summer/southern winter dates (like yours.) You'd need a pretty competent TA to book it for you, or maybe the Qantas office in DC - have them look for fare code DRWQFLY on Sabre or Amadeus. Or send me an email at my handle @comcast dot net and I'll cut and paste the rules for you to show someone.

The RTW suggestion may be your best option, but if you don't care about miles and/or have no problem with very restrictive ticket, then perhaps buying a Sunday's New York Times and reading the ads in their travel section may offer some price relief. Many of the consolidators do advertise there and they usually can sell you a ticket for about 1/2 price, especially on international routes and if you are looking for F or J ticket.

Just a word of caution, make sure the consolidator is NOT selling a mileage ticket. If the airline finds out you bought a mileage ticket they will refuse transport. Ask questions and make sure it's a revenue, deeply discounted business fare. It usually will be an I or D fare code.

Also, if you don't mind a layover in Tahiti, www.airtahitinui.com has an excellent business product and they sometimes have some great offers(~$5000) to Sydney from JFK, but it does involve a layover in Tahiti. Not a very exciting airport....

Good luck!