Lucy loves Australia

If you want to be on the beach for Christmas Down Under this year — Book NOW!!

It’s still possible to book flights to Australia in the peak December period (departing approx 7th December ’til 23rd or 24th December, and back in January 2010) for around £1k if you are flexible with your dates… or from just £615 if you can fly by 7th December.

I do blog about this a lot, I know… like here… and here… BUT it is one of the most frequently asked questions I get (see ask me a question here). “How much is a flight to Australia this Christmas 2009?“,  or often even more specifically: “I want to visit my Nan/friends/son/etc. this Christmas in Perth/Sydney/Brisbane from xx December to xx Jan (insert peak travel dates where xx are!) how much is a flight?”, etc.

Of course I don’t mind getting all these questions (that’s what the button’s for! — see top right) BUT I have to remind you all that I am not a travel agent, so I won’t know up-to-the-minute precise fares for every date combination. However, I do ‘know a man who does’

So I asked my friendly travel agent Rob at Travelmood (robert.blamey@travelmood.com) for a quick low down on fares for this Christmas, and this is what’s he’s found (he didn’t check every single date, I hasten to add, but just selected a few where the ‘cheaper’ fares were available):

To Perth:

• Malaysian Airlines (flies via Kuala Lumpur) – £1095, Dep 21/12 return 11/01
• Royal Brunei – £1065, same dates

To Sydney:

• Asiana – £1120, Dep 22/12 return 09/01. This flies via Seoul 10/01 on to London, with a complimentary hotel stopover provided by airline
• Cathay Pacific – £1000, Dep 23/12 return 12/01. Also note offers that include 1 Free Night stopover in Hong Kong (good deal).

All the above are economy fares btw … I know …I know…  it’s not the most affordable time to travel to Australia!

As you might have spotted, it’s the dates quite near to Christmas that are still fairly cheap (and when I say that of course, it’s all relative — but compare with the £1300-£1400+ other airlines will be charging at this time for economy fares around £1k is ‘cheaper’).

The only way to save on flights to Australia for Christmas is travel really early in December (the first few days). Obviously this isn’t always possible, I realise, for taking time off — but if you can travel then, it is a way of getting some MUCH more affordable airfares. For example, you can fly with Qantas up to the 7th December for between £615 and £625 (price depends on city in Australia) or from £619 to £635 also up to 7th December with Singapore Airlines (Brisbane, Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide for both airlines, plus Darwin and Cairns for Qantas). So now you can see there’s almost £400 of savings per flight to leave early December… worth booking the time off!!

These early December fares with Qantas and Singapore need to be booked by 31st August.

And for everyone who’s asked me about Christmas flights to Australia this year: if you really want to be there I wouldn’t advise hanging out for a ‘bargain’ — cheapest I’ve ever seen is usually around £1k for peak December dates, so if you want to be on the beach for Christmas Down Under this year — Book NOW!! (especially if you want to grab the ‘bargains’ for early December — you MUST book by 31st August).