Flights to Australia

[robm3]

I do this route a bit (but Sydney/USA much more). If you want a budget Premium Economy then try China Southern who fly LHR/Shenzen/SYD. Also their economy is well priced.

Currently Chinese government is backing this airline, much like Emirates was backed (but not now) so prices are low and aircraft are new (Boeing Dreamliner), also their economy leg room is the largest currently. Downside is Shenzen stopover is about 4 hours and the airport is sparse. Surprisingly though the flight time is quicker than LHR/Singapore( or HK)/Syd.

That said I'm Platinum One World member so I generally fly Qantas. Only use China Southern for the Syd/LHR route.

[W8PMC]

schmalex said:

I fly a long haul a lot (in 2016, I managed 52 sectors over 8 hours!). Due to the amount of travel we do, we are fortunate that we fly J or F on anything over 6 hours but to be honest, regardless of class of service, I would chose pretty much any carrier over BA. For a run to Aus, I would be looking at either Qantas, Emirates (my favourite), Etihad or Qatar. Air NewZealand and Singapore are pretty good (very good in J).

I find BA seats to be pretty uncomfortable, the AVOD is poor compared to others and the food not brill.

Emirates, for example, have 5,000+ movies in the ICE AVOD, a frequently changing menu (often the Y meal is one of the choices on the J menu) and stopppng through DXB means you have a roughly 7 hour leg, followed by a 15 hour leg. They have a sale on at the moment, so it's worth looking at.

Other than that, you really can't beat Skyscanner for the best prices

I always find the AV point a little strange, as who is going to have the ability to watch 5000 films on any flight. Pretty much all carriers have the new/current must watch films which more than covers any long haul flight.

If one's intention is to watch a variety of Films for an entire flight, then perhaps having a choice of so many could be a benefit, but on a long haul daytime flight i usually just drink/eat & watch 1-2 new films & on an overnight flight i'll forgo the films for sleep. Same rule for me applies in Economy, Business or First, albeit in Business or First the drink/eat take even more precedence.

I've flown BA/Emirates in Economy & Business & would rate the BA experience slightly higher in both classes, however i've not flown BA on an A380 but Emirates i have & i do overall prefer that aircraft due purely to the feeling of more space. Between the 2 i'd purely book based on cost & convenience.

[rallycross]

Have done this a few times and would recommend Emirates if going economy they deliver a good service, new planes, good on board media. Also worth looking into splitting up the flight with a short stop in the Dubai Emirates airport hotel (10-14 hr stop over breaks up the journey nicely and you dont even have to check in/check out the airport).

https://www.emirates.com/uk/english/plan_book/duba...

[jamoor]

W8PMC said:

I always find the AV point a little strange, as who is going to have the ability to watch 5000 films on any flight. Pretty much all carriers have the new/current must watch films which more than covers any long haul flight.

If one's intention is to watch a variety of Films for an entire flight, then perhaps having a choice of so many could be a benefit, but on a long haul daytime flight i usually just drink/eat & watch 1-2 new films & on an overnight flight i'll forgo the films for sleep. Same rule for me applies in Economy, Business or First, albeit in Business or First the drink/eat take even more precedence.

I've flown BA/Emirates in Economy & Business & would rate the BA experience slightly higher in both classes, however i've not flown BA on an A380 but Emirates i have & i do overall prefer that aircraft due purely to the feeling of more space. Between the 2 i'd purely book based on cost & convenience.

You have the strike problem with BA.

And 5000 means you have lots of choice. I've binge watched seasons on Emirates, whereas on other airlines they only give you a few episoedes.

That said I usually take my tablet onboard.

[W8PMC]

jamoor said:

You have the strike problem with BA.

And 5000 means you have lots of choice. I've binge watched seasons on Emirates, whereas on other airlines they only give you a few episoedes.

That said I usually take my tablet onboard.

That's true but like you i take my iPad on board with anything i desperately want to watch or read on it & be it BA or Emirates, the newly released films will be available on board. One thing i will give to Emirates but i guess this only applies to the newest A380's in the fleet is the video screens in Economy are far larger than BA & have a much better resolution (not flown BA Economy for a while so they may have improved too on newer aircraft), however i've always found the actual 'service' from BA to be more natural than Emirates & getting a drink on an Emirates flights is a real chore as they don't appear to have a bar service before dinner & then offer you wine & the bar service with dinner which is a bit of a pain as it all comes at once. Also i often find the smiles more than a tad fake.

Balancing this, the last time i flew Emirates Business i was departing Manchester & the Business cabin (upstairs on an A380) was very tired & looked well used. Not terrible but clearly an older aircraft, however the bar experience was something to behold. On one of the return legs we were in a new 777 & that Business cabin was considerably better. Last flight was to/from Vegas in BA Club World on a 747 in December & although like Emirates the cabin did look a little tired, but being a tourist destination will no doubt be one of the last routes to get the upgraded Club cabin, the overall service was perfect & far more enjoyable start to finish. I still have a strange draw to our National carrier & as yet have not had a bad experience & (i know i'll regret saying this), the only airline ever to lose my luggage (twice) was Emirates, however due to a delay coming back from Vegas in December & a missed connection to MAN, many of my travelling companions lost their luggage with BA but for whatever reason mine was on the carousel at LHR waiting for me when i got through immigration.