Which Airline to Oz??

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w8pmc

Original Poster:

3,345 posts

237 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
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About to book a trip to Melbourne for March 2019 & have narrowed it down to 3 airlines, but only have recent experience of 1.

Basically the 3 options are Qatar, Cathay & Emirates, all flying from Manchester to Melbourne. Cabin will be Business Class & all 3 offer similar total journey times & at a similar price point.

Obviously the connecting airports are different, so Doha for Qatar, Hong Kong for Cathay & Dubai for Emirates. All have similar layovers in their respective Airports. I've flown Emirates Business a few times, but this was about 4yrs ago & their Business Class cabin in the A380's out of MAN were a little tired, i'm sure this is improved now as i believe Emirates have been rolling out their new Business Class product.

Cathay looks interesting as the first leg is much longer & may mean a better quality sleep pattern.

Obvious advantage with Emirates is the Chauffeur both ends, although MAN is only a 30min journey from home & i can get picked up from Melbourne Airport.

So is any one of these airlines on this route & in Business Class, so good that it's worth selecting? Last point is I do collect AVIOS so Cathay & Qatar perhaps give the option being OneWorld of contributing to my points pot.

Thanks in advance.

SlackBladder

2,579 posts

202 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
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Have a check on Seatguru but from what I remember I think Cathay are a lot more generous on their seat size.

Boz123

74 posts

87 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
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Second vote for Cathay biz class to oz.

An alternative 'value' option would be Korean, up and over the top via Seoul in an A380. Found prices cheaper vs Cathay but if avios (and tier points!) are important then go Oneworld routes. (Not sure re Manc routes though).

12hr leg to HK very much worth it for better sleep!

captain_cynic

11,872 posts

94 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
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I'd recommend Singapore Airlines for economy or business.

A Cathay business seat is 20" wide, a Singapore economy seat is 18-19" wide. Their business class seats are 28-30" wide, plus on flights out of Singapore you can Book the Cook (a larger selection of meals you can choose before hand). As far as business class products go, Singapore's is hard to beat, their economy product takes some beating as well.


w8pmc

Original Poster:

3,345 posts

237 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
quotequote all
captain_cynic said:
I'd recommend Singapore Airlines for economy or business.

A Cathay business seat is 20" wide, a Singapore economy seat is 18-19" wide. Their business class seats are 28-30" wide, plus on flights out of Singapore you can Book the Cook (a larger selection of meals you can choose before hand). As far as business class products go, Singapore's is hard to beat, their economy product takes some beating as well.
I don't think they have a route out of MAN to Singapore (will check though).

captain_cynic

11,872 posts

94 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
quotequote all
w8pmc said:
I don't think they have a route out of MAN to Singapore (will check though).
Singapore definitely have a direct flight from MAN to SIN, they fly their new A350's there.

Google Flights is pretty good for finding out who flies where and has links to let you book direct with the airline.
https://www.google.co.uk/flights

Gingerbread Man

9,171 posts

212 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
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I fly Singapore when going Aus to UK too. Good if you can get them.

WyrleyD

1,883 posts

147 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
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captain_cynic said:
w8pmc said:
I don't think they have a route out of MAN to Singapore (will check though).
Singapore definitely have a direct flight from MAN to SIN, they fly their new A350's there.

Google Flights is pretty good for finding out who flies where and has links to let you book direct with the airline.
https://www.google.co.uk/flights
If in Business Class on the Singapore Airlines A350 you have to be careful about seat selection as there are reports that the leg position when in lie-flat is not good on most seats (your feet have to go into a very small cubby hole apparently). Anyway have a search on the Flyertalk site under Singapore Airlines to get more info.

GT03ROB

13,207 posts

220 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
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anonymous said:
[redacted]
Aren't they dry? yikes

Zetec-S

5,832 posts

92 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
quotequote all
captain_cynic said:
I'd recommend Singapore Airlines for economy or business.

A Cathay business seat is 20" wide, a Singapore economy seat is 18-19" wide. Their business class seats are 28-30" wide, plus on flights out of Singapore you can Book the Cook (a larger selection of meals you can choose before hand). As far as business class products go, Singapore's is hard to beat, their economy product takes some beating as well.
+1

Travelled with both Singapore and Emirates, albeit cattle class, and although nothing wrong with Emirates I'd choose Singapore in the future. Felt like a slightly better service, plus if there is any delay or you miss your connection then (IMHO) Singapore is a nicer place to get stuck.

recordman

384 posts

124 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
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I took Cathay to Auckland (ex LGW) earlier in the year and found the foot space in J class on the A350 quite narrow. Didn't think the food was wonderful either.

Biggest disappointment was the lack of movies that were of interest to me. By the time I had completed the four sectors (returned from SYD) I was bored to death.

It might be worth checking out, but I think one can collect Avios and tier points using Emirates, but buying the ticket through Qantas and ensuring that the flights numbers have QF prefixes.

BigJonMcQuimm

975 posts

211 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
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I would avoid Qantas at all costs.

Very old and tired a380s from LHR -> Wellington -> SYD -> MEL -> LHR. Stuffy and shirty staff. (Last trip was Xmas '17)

Appalling service air side and a don't give a ***t attitude. Worse than BA long haul.

I thought Cathay was OK - but this was a couple of years back to SYD.

I have to say I thought Emirates LHR -> SYD was the best - good food and drinks, and a bar a stand up bar.

Worst was China Southern. OK, it was a brand new A380 - but all films are dubbed, heavily redacted and ruined! Food woeful, and strange, shell suit wearing "Party" people running around the plane.


captain_cynic

11,872 posts

94 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
quotequote all
BigJonMcQuimm said:
I would avoid Qantas at all costs.

Very old and tired a380s from LHR -> Wellington -> SYD -> MEL -> LHR. Stuffy and shirty staff. (Last trip was Xmas '17)

Appalling service air side and a don't give a ***t attitude. Worse than BA long haul.
Or worse, be stuck in one of their Squeezeliners for 17 hours and ending up in Perth (I don't care how many kittens you've mercilessly slaughtered, no-one deserves to end up in Perth). Avoid QANTAS at all costs.


Johnniem

2,658 posts

222 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
quotequote all
Have flown business class with Emirates to CHCH New Zealand and I thought they were fantastic. Food was amazing and the space is good. They'll pick you up and take you to the airport too, at both ends if you need it.


recordman

384 posts

124 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
quotequote all
Another negative for Qantas, at the slightest sign of turbulence the seat belt signs go on, nothing wrong with that, but the cabin crew also get told to sit down. What about my empty glass????

Norfolkit

2,394 posts

189 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
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We fly out to Oz fairly frequently (daughter lives there), we've used Qantas, Singapore, Thai and Emirates, in my opinion Singapore is head and shoulders above the rest plus you get to transit in Singapore which in my opinion is the best airport in the world, even in transit there are places where you can get outside and get some fresh air (the bar in the cactus garden in Terminal 1 being my favourite).

Ridealong

542 posts

69 months

Thursday 25th October 2018
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I've flown LHR to HKG to Brisbane by Cathay and LHR to HKG by Cathay and to Brisbane by Qantas all business class and all overnight flights.

Cathay was very good, sat in the mini cabin (a smaller business class section of the plane) to HK. I only can compare it to BA and Cathay was easily better from the lounge, to the seating layout, lie flat bed seat, food and drink.
Flying on a Boeing 777-300 to HK then Airbus 350 to Brisbane, same seating layout and lie flat bed seat, your feet go into a coffin shape space so if you sleep with your legs akimbo then Cathay may not suite you.

Flying on an Airbus 330, the Qantas flight was very good it had a slightly larger foot space, the food and drink was OK, as it was overnight I was given a sleeping T-shirt, bottoms and a folded mattress/long cushion, the crew asks you when you are going sleep and "make up" your lie flat bed seat by putting the mattress down for you. I slept better on Qantas thanks to the mattress.

Both journeys were booked on Expedia from £3 to 3.5k per person in January 2017 & February 2018 period, I got the airmiles transfer to avios as I'm a BAEC member and got I think paltry 200 nectar points from Expedia.

Plenty of photos and videos on the internet and YouTube for yourself to judge.
Cathay are upgrading the business class service (food/drink) in May 2019.
Emirates/Qantas can be dearer but usually have a Black Friday weekend sale, either or both the business class will be cheaper or you can get the 1st class seat for a business class price.
I don't know for sure but was told Singapore to Australia leg is an angled seat in business class.

w8pmc

Original Poster:

3,345 posts

237 months

Thursday 25th October 2018
quotequote all
Thanks everyone, some good insight.

Will look at Singapore Airlines, although from MAN it wasn't coming up as an option on Expedia.

Any idea when the next Emirates sale is due as a First Class for Business Class price sounds appealing? Also, any other websites that perhaps offer additional route options &/or lower costs for these flights over & above Expedia?

thebraketester

14,191 posts

137 months

Thursday 25th October 2018
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I did two 7.5hr back to back flights earlier this year on emirates cattle class and found. Decent sized seat, pleasant staff and really good in flight entertainment.

Booked emirates again to Dubai in December.

djc206

12,239 posts

124 months

Thursday 25th October 2018
quotequote all
w8pmc said:
Thanks everyone, some good insight.

Will look at Singapore Airlines, although from MAN it wasn't coming up as an option on Expedia.

Any idea when the next Emirates sale is due as a First Class for Business Class price sounds appealing? Also, any other websites that perhaps offer additional route options &/or lower costs for these flights over & above Expedia?
Qatar will likely have a Black Friday sale (23rd Nov) so probably worth waiting if you can.

We gave up waiting and have booked an ex EU Stockholm to Melbourne with Etihad for ~£2k for January.