lavandula

I hear you and feel the same pain!

Lavandula

Michael

We are going to Tunis via London and returning via Marseille and NYC, and the prices are about the same as they were pre-pandemic. The exception is flying from NYC to San Francisco, but that is at the end of the Thanksgiving weekend.

Breaking down the various legs to reduce the price was what I had to do. In other words, if I booked the trans-Atlantic portion with the legs to and from Tunis, the price came out to about $4000 per person using mainly Lufthansa. But we separated the London to Tunis and Tunis to Marseille legs out of the package, and the total package comes out to $3122 for the two of us. We could not get a decent flight out of London (Tunisair did not accept American credit cards) so we take the Eurostar in the morning to Paris and Air France to Tunis in the afternoon. That turns out no more expensive, and perhaps a shade cheaper than going via Tunisair from London because that airline charges $50 for each piece of luggage in the hold. Air France does not charge for the first suitcase.

Geordie

A couple of months ago I managed to get business on Vietnam Airlines over the Xmas period for $5600, I could not believe it, I couldn't book it quick enough as the other airlines I would normally book with, were in the 10K, 12K or even 14K range

One of the big problems is that there is reduced capacity as some countries like China are still in lockdown, so there are no cheap flights via China, same with Japan, Hong Kong and I think Korea has only just opened up

I have seen good deals as flight / hotel packages for example to London in Feb / March in particular with Singapore airlines, my favourite airline but when I looked to book a week in New York for the same period it came up with $20k per person, err.. no

millie2112

Airfares are really expensive from Australia to Europe and the US. I am flying Melbourne to LAX and the price premium is around the 6k mark. I used my points and managed to grab seats. No way I could pay that for premium economy when pre-covid it was half the price.

I have know people that have flown to Europe and they say all flights are pretty full. High prices are blamed on the price of fuel, war in Ukraine and the fact there is no Chinese airlines running at the moment. Have no idea what is true.

Melnq8

Airfares have definitely gone up here in the US. Pre-Covid I flew to Munich from Colorado and return for well under $1,000, inclusive of three nights in a hotel, this year the same routing is over $1,300, sans hotel, but fully refundable.

We're currently in Switzerland, having flown from Colorado on Monday - the routing options were a bit strange - one stop in the US and one in Brussels. In the past we've only had a stop in the US, but that might have been a function of using frequent flyer miles.

We recently checked flights to NZ - yowsa! Fares have nearly doubled. Looks like we won't be going back there anytime soon.

WeisserTee

We find that, generally, it's cheaper to fly from Europe to the US -- and back -- than vice versa. I might be going to the US in late January and the PE airfares from FRA or ZRH to PHL or EWR are not too bad for my dates (at the moment). However, I also have enough miles to cover round trip in PE or business and might just blow them on business class. The only other flights we have planned for 2023 would possibly be to Singapore and that would be extended work trip for me, so my airfare would be paid by my employer (we would pay for my husband's).

Adelaidean

I know of someone that bought tickets earlier this year Premium Economy from Sydney (currently in Europe) priced at nearly $4000, as departure approached price steadily rose and was $6000 closer to time. Plane was full.

Gardyloo

Lavandula, I was going to mention that Australia is actually one of the cheaper places to purchase "round the world" tickets, which (unsurprisingly) require that you travel around the world, crossing both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans in the same direction (E>W or v.v.) There are a couple of different "RTW" products sold by member airlines of the Oneworld alliance (Qantas, British Airways, American, Cathay Pacific et al) and Star alliance (Singapore, Lufthansa, Air NZ et al.) The Star tickets are based on flown mileage, from 26,000 miles to 39,000 miles with more miles = higher cost. Oneworld has two products, one of which is based on miles flown (the "Global Explorer") one based on the number of continents touched in the course of the trips. There are lots of rules, none of which are terribly hard to live with. Most of the products allow you to take up to 16 flights over the course of a year, provided you don't exceed the mileage or continent limit.

When I say that Oz is "one of the cheaper places," that's because the tickets have VERY different prices depending on the country where the RTW begins and ends. Even though it might touch the same airports, a trip starting in Australia costs less than half what it would cost if starting in the US. Another of the mysteries of airfare pricing. Base prices for these products (before taxes, surcharges and fees) can be good value considering they allow quite a lot of travel, include baggage, and allow a fair amount of zigzagging around, provided you don't backtrack between continents or over oceans. The fares aren't advertised because the taxes, fees and surcharges will vary depending on which countries you visit, what airport taxes are levied, what surcharges the airlines might charge, etc., and most countries don't permit advertising except for "all in" price quotes.

But for example, at present the base fare for a Star Alliance RTW good for up to 16 flights over the course of a year, not exceeding 26,000 flown miles, is A$3099. That would allow an itinerary something like this:



You could go in either direction, stopping over up to five times (at least 2) in someplace like Singapore or Brussels, or New York, San Francisco, or maybe Honolulu.

If you had more time, the Oneworld Explorer, the continent-based ticket, could be used for very extensive travel, with up to 15 stopovers, and could include routing via Africa or Asia as well as Europe. For example, this route



..would have a base price of A$4069 and would include South Africa, Qatar, California, Alaska and Hawaii. By starting in Melbourne instead of Sydney, you could "save" some of the allowed segments (4) for travel within Australia/NZ for a subsequent domestic trip. I "imagined" a holiday trip to Lord Howe Island, but it could be pretty much anywhere Qantas fly in Oz. (You can't transit the city of origin, hence the start in Melbourne.) Remember, the ticket is good for a year.

Now one of the drawbacks (there had to be some) for these tickets is that they require using specific "fare buckets," - the subdivisions of seats according to the details of the fare - and not all buckets are available on all flights. For example, most of the Star Alliance RTW fare buckets are in "Q" class - a discounted economy bucket - not the lowest by any means, but "medium low" I guess, and the Oneworld economy RTW tickets book into "L" class.

I looked at availability in those classes for flights departing Australia in early January and, what do you know, none of the Star or Oneworld airlines have any seats for sale in those classes. That resolves itself by later in January, and the problem is mainly on longhaul flights to and from Oz. "Q" and "L" availability around the rest of the world is fine in January.

So this might not be of any use, but what I'd do soon is contact one of the Aussie travel agencies who claim to specialize in these fares, so see if their diplomas from Hogwarts are worth the parchments they're written on. I can't vouch for these people but they're aggressive advertisers: Australia's Round The World Airfare Specialist (roundabouttravel.com.au)

Might be worth a call, or file it away for possible future use.

balthy

It’s peak season for travelling, right after Xmas & NY & looking now for that timeframe is a little late. We’re already at the end of September. A lot of people book this type of trip well in advance. Add to that, decreased capacity, increased fuel prices etc etc.

crellston

Currently in Australia having arrived a few weeks ago to visit family in Sydney. I originally booked "bargain" Business Class flights with ANA last October, connecting in Tokyo on the way out with a week stopover on the way back. Cost £3200. Of course I assumed that Japan couldn’t possibly remain closed all that time - wrong!!!

A few weeks before departure the TA called me to say that I should get a refund and rearrange. Looked at just converting the last leg from stopover to connecting and a date change. This would have increased the fare from £3200 to £8700pp. Unsurprisingly, I decided to cancel.

I looked at rebooking business class with a different airline but they were all >£6000 pp. I then looked at Premium Economy, saw Vietnam Airways @ £1800 pp so jumped on those tickets. I chose business class for a reason comfort on board and the use of lounges has been a prerequisite for a 25hr + flight. As it happens we took a 14 hours break in Saigon on the way out. Time for a bowl of Bun Mam at a hole in the wall and a shower and sleep at the Ibis hotel at the airport. Love Hanoi so am actually looking forward to a week there on the way back.

Comfort on board was reasonable. LHR -SAI was on a new plane , 42 in pitch , small cabin. For 13 hours it was ok though the food was below par. The next leg was in an older plane. 38 in pitch, almost as comfortable and marginally better food.

Given the price difference of nearly £3k for the two of us, I am actually ok with the way it worked out. The extra funds have come in handy for the exhorbitant prices for food and accomodation here in Oz!

Lavandula - I think you will find Europe cheap by comparison!

lavandula

Thanks, Gardyloo, for that insight into how RTW fares work. I might investigate that further. I can only get about a fortnight off work in January so we are a bit limited by how much time we can take, but I suppose we don't necessarily have to have all the possible stops. I have actually had a RTW fare once in the past, and I went across the US before visiting the UK and Europe. That was in about 1994, so I am a bit familiar with the concept but would never have thought to exploit it for this trip. Good idea!

Balthy, yes, I know it's peak season, but I had been looking at mid-December just a short time before, which is within our holiday period in Australia. Prices fall again a bit after 10 January but are still up around A$3400 and even then it's Frankfurt and not Brussels. I don't see why prices should rise from around A$2400 up to A$6200 for the same airline within a very similar time period (Lufthansa or Cathay/Lufthansa in this case). In fact I don't see why anyone would pay A$6200 for a basic economy fare from here to Europe EVER, but that's just me and what I am prepared to pay.

Much fewer people are travelling in later January from Australia because families are getting ready to go back to school - the end point is around 26 January, which is a public holiday here and schools return in the couple of days after that; ours goes back on 30 January. We pretty much have to travel during school and university holidays as I teach at a university and have a high school-aged daughter, so we will always be affected by slightly higher prices, but that's something we do just have to cop. And yes, I opted for January not December, because I am covering for a colleague who is away at the moment and who has responsibilities in December. There are other reasons too but I won't go into those, TMI . So yes, a choice, but not without reasons.

Thanks everybody for your insights. I had never thought how much S.E. Asian / Chinese airlines contributed to cheaper flights (as per millie2112 and Geordie's comments), but you are right, that's what is missing and that must really drive competition too. I will let you all know what we decide, and will fiddle with breaking apart the different legs and look perhaps also at RTW as an option if I don't find an acceptable fare the conventional way. We have done the breaking apart of airfares before, a fare from SYD-SIN-SYD, a stopover in SIN, a fare from SIN-FRA-SIN and another stopover in SIN. That was when our daughter was small and we used to break up the journey on the way for the sake of sanity and sleep. OK, time to get creative!

Lavandula

lavandula

Crellston - the food in NSW is ultra expensive right now because of all the flooding we have had. Parts of the Northern Rivers are about to get their 3rd flood this year, and each time the farmers have to start from scratch. Lettuces cost A$12 for a while - that's about £7 each. Petrol is through the roof but fuel everywhere must be expensive. Rents have been expensive for a while. We are the Lucky Country but no-one ever said anything about the Expensive Country!

Lavandula

crellston

“Parts of the Northern Rivers are about to get their 3rd flood this year,” I know! We were in a b&b outside of Dorrigo in the middle of the storms . Had to cancel our plans and stay put as the roads to the farm flooded!

Christina

I live in the US so don't know anything about airfares from Australia, but I don't see anything particularly unusual for air fare prices to Europe from here. In fact, some are a lot cheaper than I would expect given the uptick in fuel costs. Of course it depends when you want to go and what class you are willing to accept. I would not accept the cheapest economy flight but if I would, right now I could book a RT from Washington DC to Paris for only about $600 in early December on Aer Lingus (changing in Dublin) and only about $700-800 RT nonstop on Air France or Delta. I can fly nonstop to/from London at that time for about $650 on several different airlines. Those are the airlines' own prices, also, not some dubious third party.

tony_hop

Yes, prices go up since the major Europe's economies have ben severely damaged during the COVID-19 pandemic, now there's also russia's aggression that caused the energy crisis. However, it's still possible to find cheap flights to Europe and various ticket booking websites can get you good deals.

lavandula

Bookend and a compromise - OK, lovely people, we finally booked a trip to Europe for next January. It wasn't at the good price that I unearthed the other day; I had to delay a little while I sorted out my leave at work. All the while prices were ticking over and I explored a couple of options before deciding I had to bite the bullet or risk not going altogether. I finally booked two fares of A$2435 SYD-FRA-SYD with a stopover of a night in Incheon (Seoul, Korea). We have done this same route with Korean Air before, but this time it was with Asiana, which I understand is soon to be merged with Korean Air. I ended up booking via the airline's own website as that had a pretty good fare. I also spoke with a travel agent from a major firm here who could not offer me better than $2900, and when I said it was expensive he found a better day of departure and offered $2700 (also flying Asiana; the other options were just not realistic, like $4000 for economy), but I was also not that happy with the dates. I also had a look at an online vendor who got me in with what I thought was a good price, $2300 and a bit, but when I got to the pay screen and after putting in all my credit card details, the price suddenly jumped up to $2800 and a bit each, without really good explanation. Then there was the option of delaying payment; I got to think about it for an hour before I thought, "You know what, I don't want to reward a company that does this to its customers,", and I let the fare expire. I still have to organise insurance (and if you have a favourite, Aussie Fodorites, let me know). I also had to pay for a night in Incheon and as we have stayed in the Grand Hyatt there before, and I know it's a really nice hotel, I thought we would stay there again. It's really close to Terminal 1, and not as expensive as I first thought. When it's not a pandemic the Korean airlines pay for your accommodation (STPC, stopover paid by carrier), but this has been suspended because of Covid. So it wasn't a fare to Brussels, we will split our time between Germany and Belgium, but will go to Belgium by train. I don't drive in Europe and it's just me and my daughter on this occasion (dad is spending quality time at home with the dogs). Some language practice and visiting friends, and some time I haven't yet planned for, but will try to interest my daughter in expressing what she would like to do. She is 13, and not very forthcoming, but doesn't complain if I plan for her.

Interestingly the travel agent I spoke to told me that a lot of carriers stopped coming to Sydney with Covid and that supply wasn't meeting demand; that's why planes are packed and prices are nuts. He is really busy, so I don't worry that he didn't get his fare from me, but I did let him know very politely that we made other plans.

Lavandula

janisj

Good job. I've only flown Asiana once and it was several years ago -- R-T SFO > HKG via Seoul and it was hands down the best service I've ever had in Coach/Economy. Hopefully things haven't gone downhill since then but if I wasn't semi-tied to One World I'd not hesitate to use them again.

DreamOfItalia

I booked from Newark, NJ to Venice/Rome with Austrian/United at $850/rt.

Best to check fares on Tuesday and Wednesday when they are lower. I used Kayak to book this.

lavandula

Thanks janisj! We are frequently Star Alliance people so this is ideal for us, wonder how SkyTeam and Star Alliance will manage the merger with Korean Air.

DreamofItalia, that's a good trick. It helps if you can be a little flexible around your flight dates, which we could, and we indeed are departing on a Wednesday, so there is perhaps something to your theory.

I may start another thread as we might spend a night in Cologne and I haven't been there for a long while. Thanks everyone for your support and good tips and tricks. None are wasted, I will file them away for successive trips. Hope they can be useful for other people also!

Lavandula