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#1
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Stopovers - Cairns (CNS) to London (LHR)
"Mark of Aus" wrote in message ... We are a family of four (2adults, 2 children) who are planning to travel from Australia to Europe next March/April. This is our first trip outside of Australia and we are trying to arrange a suitable place to stopover en route to avoid the crippling jetlag of such a long journey. I have a couple (read infinity) of questions (apologies if they are stupid): 1. Are stopovers of a standard duration? Is it more expensive to stay a few days (2/3) rather than 24 hours? I notice airline booking sites do not have a stopover option when booking. 2. I harbour a long held desire to visit Scotland but am unsure how cold and/or miserable it might be in Feb/March. Is Iona out of the question? Any info gratefully appreciated. I'm a fan of stopovers when time permits. Depending on what you're all interested in, you could do, say, Hong Kong and Dubai; both are reasonably family-friendly, I'm told. A few years ago, I took EK SIN-CMB-DXB-LHR because it was (a) a cheaper ticket and (b) included a place I'd never been. Stopovers can be of pretty much any length, depending upon flight availability, and can cost either more or less in terms of air tickets. (Plus of course the usual hotel charges, etc.) I imagine Scotland would be cold and wet, but that's possible in July too. I've crossposted to rec.travel.air because by the time you hit Europe, you're pretty much at your destination. Cheers, George W Russell Bangalore |
#2
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Stopovers - Cairns (CNS) to London (LHR)
"Martin" wrote in message ... On Sun, 7 Sep 2008 13:50:46 +0530, "grusl" wrote: "Mark of Aus" wrote in message ... We are a family of four (2adults, 2 children) who are planning to travel from Australia to Europe next March/April. This is our first trip outside of Australia and we are trying to arrange a suitable place to stopover en route to avoid the crippling jetlag of such a long journey. I have a couple (read infinity) of questions (apologies if they are stupid): 1. Are stopovers of a standard duration? Is it more expensive to stay a few days (2/3) rather than 24 hours? I notice airline booking sites do not have a stopover option when booking. 2. I harbour a long held desire to visit Scotland but am unsure how cold and/or miserable it might be in Feb/March. Is Iona out of the question? Any info gratefully appreciated. I'm a fan of stopovers when time permits. Depending on what you're all interested in, you could do, say, Hong Kong and Dubai; both are reasonably family-friendly, I'm told. A few years ago, I took EK SIN-CMB-DXB-LHR because it was (a) a cheaper ticket and (b) included a place I'd never been. Stopovers can be of pretty much any length, depending upon flight availability, and can cost either more or less in terms of air tickets. (Plus of course the usual hotel charges, etc.) Hotel charges increase dramatically after two or three days at some stopover destinations. They want you to go there to shop. And on certain days, too, I think, like Friday/Saturday nights. I think stopovers are great, but they can be very expensive. Cheers, George W Russell Bangalore |
#3
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Stopovers - Cairns (CNS) to London (LHR)
"Martin" wrote in message ... On Sun, 7 Sep 2008 13:50:46 +0530, "grusl" wrote: "Mark of Aus" wrote in message ... We are a family of four (2adults, 2 children) who are planning to travel from Australia to Europe next March/April. This is our first trip outside of Australia and we are trying to arrange a suitable place to stopover en route to avoid the crippling jetlag of such a long journey. I have a couple (read infinity) of questions (apologies if they are stupid): 1. Are stopovers of a standard duration? Is it more expensive to stay a few days (2/3) rather than 24 hours? I notice airline booking sites do not have a stopover option when booking. 2. I harbour a long held desire to visit Scotland but am unsure how cold and/or miserable it might be in Feb/March. Is Iona out of the question? Any info gratefully appreciated. I'm a fan of stopovers when time permits. Depending on what you're all interested in, you could do, say, Hong Kong and Dubai; both are reasonably family-friendly, I'm told. A few years ago, I took EK SIN-CMB-DXB-LHR because it was (a) a cheaper ticket and (b) included a place I'd never been. Stopovers can be of pretty much any length, depending upon flight availability, and can cost either more or less in terms of air tickets. (Plus of course the usual hotel charges, etc.) Hotel charges increase dramatically after two or three days at some stopover destinations. They want you to go there to shop. I don't get this comment Martin. Why is the "they" here and how does your "shopping" (presumably in the high street) allow hotels rates to be subsidised? tim |
#4
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Stopovers - Cairns (CNS) to London (LHR)
1. Are stopovers of a standard duration? Is it more expensive to stay a few days (2/3) rather than 24 hours? I notice airline booking sites do not have a stopover option when booking. For international fares, normally, a stop longer than 24 hours is considered a stopover. Once it is longer than 24 hours, it doesn't really matter, as long as the return trip is still within the fare rule's limits. So if you have a ticket with maximum stay of 1 month, you could stay 28 days at intermediary point, then travel to destination, stay there one or two days and then come back. (minimum stay rules may apply at final destination though). Not all fares allow a stopover. The dumbed down web based travel agencies may not give you the complete fare rules and may not "auto price" such itineraries. You want to look at all fares, and for each fare, check the complete fare rules to see if stopovers are allowed. Some airlines grant a free stopover at their main gateway. For instance, it is likely that Air Pacific would let you have a stopover in Nadi Fiji on the way to Los Angeles. If the lowest fares don't allow stopovers, you need to look at the next fares and check their fare rules. If the dumbed down web travel agency won't let you book a trip with a stopover even if you know that the fare exists and allows a stopover, you may have to go to the airline directly or through a travel agent. |
#5
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Stopovers - Cairns (CNS) to London (LHR)
"grusl" wrote in message ... "Mark of Aus" wrote in message ... We are a family of four (2adults, 2 children) who are planning to travel from Australia to Europe next March/April. This is our first trip outside of Australia and we are trying to arrange a suitable place to stopover en route to avoid the crippling jetlag of such a long journey. I have a couple (read infinity) of questions (apologies if they are stupid): 1. Are stopovers of a standard duration? Is it more expensive to stay a few days (2/3) rather than 24 hours? I notice airline booking sites do not have a stopover option when booking. 2. I harbour a long held desire to visit Scotland but am unsure how cold and/or miserable it might be in Feb/March. Is Iona out of the question? Any info gratefully appreciated. I'm a fan of stopovers when time permits. Depending on what you're all interested in, you could do, say, Hong Kong and Dubai; both are reasonably family-friendly, I'm told. A few years ago, I took EK SIN-CMB-DXB-LHR because it was (a) a cheaper ticket and (b) included a place I'd never been. Stopovers can be of pretty much any length, depending upon flight availability, and can cost either more or less in terms of air tickets. (Plus of course the usual hotel charges, etc.) I imagine Scotland would be cold and wet, but that's possible in July too. I've crossposted to rec.travel.air because by the time you hit Europe, you're pretty much at your destination. Cheers, George W Russell Bangalore I would strongly recommend talking to a *specialist* travel agency. In the UK one such I would recommend is Trailfinders. I can't find the reference on their website but Google says: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?ie=UTF...=1 &ct=result Also try STA. The reason why most web sites don't provide tools for the kind of trip you want is they fall outside the 80/20 rule. The websites are designed to provide 80% of the bookings that people want (which are usually simple A/B/A. The other 20% have too many variables to be handled through the web. Generally, you will find that airlines will offer generous terms if you stop at their hub. So, Cathay will be good for a stop in Hong Long, Singapore for... Singapore etc. Unfortunately, they also offer the best fare if you travel everywhere with them. Thus Cathay will expect you to come home via Hong Kong. But, that's where an agency can come in. They can sometimes put together (for example) an Australia/Singapore/Bangkok fare on Singapore with a Bangkok/Dubai/UK fare on Emirates. But you take a risk doing things like this. If the EK flight mis connects at Dubai they will simply put you on another flight. But, because you will have two separate tickets a misconnect in Bangkok could end up with having to buy a new ticket so leave time (like a night minimum) where you change tickets in both directions. Think about where you want to fly from in Australia then do the same in the UK. Emirates have flights to a number of UK airports (Heathrow, Gatwick, Newcastle and Glasgow come to mind but do check). Most airlines will allow you to fly into one place and out from another without penalty so you don't *have* to go through London both ways, if you don't want to. Consider a round the world fare. Probably slightly more expensive than a simple round trip but the way they are structured you might be able to do something like Australia, Hong Kong, Dubai, London, New York, San Francisco, Australia using a combination of Qantas, Cathay, British Airways and American Airlines (who are all members of the oneWorld alliance) or Singapore, Cairo, London, Washington, Los Angeles using Star Alliance carriers. gain, a good, specialist, agency will be able to guide you through the maze. But remember, agencies are there to sell. You need to ask all the questions you want answered. You do also need to know some of the questions (like where do you want to go). Don't always accept their first answer. Hang up, think, call again, get someone different to talk to, ask different questions. Ask more than one agency. Scotland (even the UK in general) in February. Daylight will be short (and get shorter the further North you go). Weather has a fairly strong possibility of inclemency and that applies to the whole of the UK, not just Scotland. But that's a big generalisation and different parts of the country have significant microclimates. The positive side is that there will be fewer tourists around so you get more space and (hopefully) better rates. |
#6
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Stopovers - Cairns (CNS) to London (LHR)
The government subsidises the stopover holidays. Do you think it is
charity Martin What planet are you from ? There is no such thing as government subsidised "stopover holidays" here |
#7
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Stopovers - Cairns (CNS) to London (LHR)
Rudy wrote:
What planet are you from ? There is no such thing as government subsidised "stopover holidays" here I am not 100% sure, but I think that the Fiji government provides incentives to Air Pacific when customers stop in Fiji. A stop in Fiji provides good return on investment since you will be spending money locally on local goods, food and services. (as opposed to a stop in Singapore where just about everything you would buy is imported from abroad so it has lesser impact on local economy) |
#8
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Stopovers - Cairns (CNS) to London (LHR)
In message Martin
wrote: Hotel charges increase dramatically after two or three days at some stopover destinations. They want you to go there to shop. I've never seen that, but if it were the case, wouldn't you just move hotels? |
#9
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Stopovers - Cairns (CNS) to London (LHR)
Once it is longer than 24 hours, it doesn't
really matter, as long as the return trip is still within the fare rule's limits. So if you have a ticket with maximum stay of 1 month, you could stay 28 days at intermediary point, then travel to destination, stay there one or two days and then come back. (minimum stay rules may apply at final destination though). Not all fares allow a stopover. The dumbed down web based travel agencies may not give you the complete fare rules and may not "auto price" such itineraries. You want to look at all fares, and for each fare, check the complete fare rules to see if stopovers are allowed. Some airlines grant a free stopover at their main gateway. For instance, it is likely that Air Pacific would let you have a stopover in Nadi Fiji on the way to Los Angeles. If the lowest fares don't allow stopovers, you need to look at the next fares and check their fare rules. If the dumbed down web travel agency won't let you book a trip with a stopover even if you know that the fare exists and allows a stopover, you may have to go to the airline directly or through a travel agent. Excellent points. Thanks for the info, particularly about gateways (hubs?) and fare rules. -- Posted on news://freenews.netfront.net - Complaints to -- |
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