Lucy loves Australia

It’s a rare day that I don’t get a question about flying to Australia at Christmas. It seems you are all obsessed with being Down Under for the festive season!

I’ve written about this LOTS (most recent post about it here) so I will try not to repeat myself too much! BUT here’s my advice, and what’s out there to book NOW!!!

• If you can get a fare to Australia in peak season for around £1k BOOK IT – they don’t come much cheaper than this
• If you can travel earlier in December you can save £HUNDREDS
• If you can come home before New Year you’ll save a few £
• If you have dates you need to stick to do NOT wait for any ‘bargains’ – you’d have to be very very lucky to get a cheap fare (if there are any) on the dates you want
• Everyone wants to come back in the first few days of January, even if they’ve arrived in the previous 3 weeks. 3 weeks into 4 or 5 days doesn’t go, so it’s always going to be your RETURN date that will set availability for your flight ticket.
• LOTS of people want to visit family, take advantage of the holidays, or watch the cricket over Christmas time in Australia. Book now if you want to be one of them!
• Airlines will sell all their seats to Australia for the peak December departure dates, so don’t delay if you know you want to go…

Here’s some fares that are available to book now, and how can you get a bargain…

For flights to Sydney Australia at Christmas 2010, here’s what I’ve found:

• Qantas is coming in at approx £1350 for 14th December to 23rd December 2010 departures. This is what I would expect for this peak period. Qantas fly into all International Airports in Australia (and expect the fares to be similar on the East coast, and slightly cheaper for Perth on the West Coast).
• Thai Airways have flights to Sydney in December 2010 for approx £1200. Thai also fly to Brisbane, Melbourne, and Perth. This is a good fare with a decent airline. Their peak dates for Christmas are 10th December to 24th.

Both the Qantas and Thai Christmas fares kindly investigated by the lovely people at Bridge & Wickers.

• Using the fab comparison tool provided by TravelSupermarket I looked up some peak dates in December and found NetFlights have Cathay Pacific flights to Sydney for Christmas for £1316.10. I looked at departures on 17t h & 18th December (and return 5th January 2011).

BUT I can hear your wails of despair from here at the cost of these economy return flights to Australia at Christmas (don’t forget these are not front of the plane seats!). So DO NOT PANIC – I have found you some ‘cheap’ flights to Australia for Christmas 2011:

Netflights:

• 10 th & 11th December departures  for £1074 and £1049 returns to Sydney (returning 7th January 2011)
• 5th December departure returning 1st Jan for £861

AND… the cheapest I’ve spotted so far:

• 5th December returning 29th December Sydney Christmas flight for £796 (Malaysian Airlines)

Singapore Airlines (booking direct):

• 13th December departure (last ‘cheap’ day for Christmas 2010 flights on Singapore Airlines) returning early January 2011 (3rd or 6th for example). £1070. This gets even cheaper if you can come home before New Year, depart 13th December and return 27th or 28th December 2010 and the fare is only £1012.
  

Bear in mind that Singapore are a very good airline – and the departure date is within 2 weeks of Christmas THIS IS A VERY GOOD FARE!!! I have never seen the peak season dates be so late in December before prices rise. Usually it’s 5/6/7 December, so to have the ‘low’ fares until the 13th December is excellent. If you want to go, BOOK NOW (I would if I wanted to be in Australia for Christmas).

Just to explain how good a fare this is… if you travel on the 14th December 2010 (through to the 24th December) you’re looking at £1400+ to fly with Singapore Airlines (booking direct). So you SAVE almost £400 (or more) if you can fly on or before the 13th December.

I also looked at Christmas 2010 flights to Perth, Western Australia:

Again the same rules apply, if you can fly up to the 13th December you will save. There’s change from £1k for a Singapore Airlines return flight to Perth – £994.50. This compares with £1250 for ‘peak’ dates after 14th December.

NOTE: If you can fly with Singapore Airlines on the 11th, 12th or 13th December 2010 you can take only 2 weeks of holiday (10 working days), fly back the 27th/28th December and spend Christmas in Australia for under £1k (Perth) or just over £1k (Sydney).

PHEW!  That is my Christmas flights advice round up for now.

There might be other fares out there for earlier in December so do have a good look if you can travel then. And if you’d like some help ask me a question and I can get my trusted travel agents on the case for you.

*all fares were correct at time of writing. Availability and prices will change ALL the time so I cannot guarantee anything. Check online or with a travel agent for the latest information. Ask me and I can help.