Cheap Flights to New Zealand?

[WEHGuy]

Hi guys, does anybody know where the best place to get cheap flights to New Zealand? Ideally I would fly from Scotland/North East of England but, I am flexible for a good price. Also 22/12/10-18/01/11 would be the ideal dates but, again I am flexible for a cheap price. 2 of my best friends are out there so, would be good to spend Christmas and New Year with them. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[-crookedtail-]

Have you looked at www.airasia.com?

Very cheap flights but do not expect many luxuries en route...think long haul ryanair! Failing that Etihad via Abu Dhabi are cheaper than the legacy carriers and get great reviews.

Edited by -crookedtail- on Monday 13th December 01:33

Edited by -crookedtail- on Monday 13th December 01:33

[WEHGuy]

I am now going to go mid to late January. Any other suggestions? I don't think I could handle Ryanair type flight to New Zealand. Ideally I wouldn't want to spend more than £1000 but, if a luxurious flight is slightly over, I wouldn't be too bothered.

[OilyRagMan]

i would be supprised if you couldnt get a flight to NZ with BA or similar carrier for about £600-£700 at that time, try the flight center they were pretty helpful when i last traveled out there! but you would probably have to transit through sydney rather than direct to NZ

[WEHGuy]

The best price I seem to be getting is from Royal Brunei. Anyone got any experience using them?

[petemurphy]

spend a couple of hundred more and get a round the world ticket and really have fun..

[WEHGuy]

petemurphy said:

spend a couple of hundred more and get a round the world ticket and really have fun..

How does that work and how much does it cost?

[The Lukas]

WEHGuy said:

petemurphy said:

spend a couple of hundred more and get a round the world ticket and really have fun..

How does that work and how much does it cost?

+1

[petemurphy]

when i did it 5 years ago it was 990 and you could do as many stops as you liked anywhere you liked as long as you didnt exceed a certain mileage.

that was for my round the world trip. did the same for a trip to nz for a wedding - instead of long haul straight there and back I went to sydney for a few days then 2 weeks in nz couple of days in bali and couple of days in hong kong.

look up star alliance and ring trailfinders

its so worth the extra bit of cash you're going all that way go explore!

ps nz is fab!

[petemurphy]

quick google reveals this site looks good - not gonna look too much as i'll want to go!

http://www.roundtheworldflights.com

[WEHGuy]

Well I used Sky Scanner and got Heathrow to Queenstown return with Qantas for £877 in mid February. I am reasonbly happy with that. Does anyone know how good Qantas are?

[GlenMH]

They aren't the very best but at that price, I wouldn't complain. You might want to check the seat pitch if you have got long legs...

[Super Slo Mo]

Qantas are fine. Did Oz and back with them just over a year ago. Air NZ are a little nicer, but as long haul carriers go, you shouldn't have an issue. It may be a code share flight anyway, do you know for certain that it's on Qantas aircraft?

[RobDickinson]

Super Slo Mo said:

It may be a code share flight anyway, do you know for certain that it's on Qantas aircraft?

This - check it out we booked 'Quantas' for a NZ-UK trip and half the flight was on a BA plane and it sucked in comparison.

[WEHGuy]

It is BA from Heathrow to Sydney and then Jetstar from Sydney to Queenstown. On the way back it's Jetstar from Queenstown to Auckland, Jetstar from Aukland to Sydney and Qantas from Sydney to Heathrow. Why is this? Any experience with any of these airliners?

[RobDickinson]

Jetstar are like ryanair, not quite as bad tho.

Quantas are OK , BA I found terrible in cattle class.

[WEHGuy]

RobDickinson said:

Jetstar are like ryanair, not quite as bad tho.

Quantas are OK , BA I found terrible in cattle class.

Is it easy to upgrade for cheap on any of them?