Help with travel Heathrow/Melbourne/Perth

Hi,

Two friends of mine wish to travel in the following manner:-

Approx 06/12/08 London Heathrow to Melbourne

Approx 09/01/09 Melbourne to London Heathrow

In between they want to travel from Melbourne to Perth and stop there
for about five days. They do not particularly have to return to
Melbourne after the five day period in Perth (i.e. the five day can,
if need be, be at the end of their stay in Aus). But if it's easiest
and cheapest to get a return flight from Melbourne to Perth that would
be fine.

They are looking towards BA, Quantas and Malaysia Airline for the
journeys at the moment. Can anyone advise on the most effective way to
do this holiday (in terms of cost, airlines to use, and 'ease'?). They
are a retired couple and not too familiar with travel etc. and I have
never done such a journey either!

They are flexible about both departure and return dates, and recognise
that will have to stop overnight on the London to Melbourne journeys.
They do not want to go via Dubai (I don't know why).

Thanks, Mark.

Approx 06/12/08 London Heathrow to Melbourne

Approx 09/01/09 Melbourne to London Heathrow

In between they want to travel from Melbourne to Perth and stop there
for about five days.

Poking around at ITA Software (www.itasoftware.com), it shows a variety
of reasonable routings for £1361 per person give or take a few quid.

For example, they could go LON-HKG-MEL or LON-SIN-MEL on BA and/or
Qantas (they code share so their flights are somewhat interchangable),
then MEL-PER on Qantas, then PER-SIN-LON on BA/QF again. The
stopovers in HKG and SIN are two or three hours, no need to stay
overnight. There's a through fare from MEL-LON via Perth, which is be
cheaper than backtracking from Perth to Melbourne, a five hour flight
in the wrong direction.

This is a complex enough itinerary that it's probably worth finding a
travel agent that specializes in trips to the antipodes and asking
them to do it, even if they charge you something to write the tickets.

R's,
John

"John Levine" wrote in message
...
Approx 06/12/08 London Heathrow to Melbourne

Approx 09/01/09 Melbourne to London Heathrow

In between they want to travel from Melbourne to Perth and stop there
for about five days.

Poking around at ITA Software (www.itasoftware.com), it shows a variety
of reasonable routings for £1361 per person give or take a few quid.

For example, they could go LON-HKG-MEL or LON-SIN-MEL on BA and/or
Qantas (they code share so their flights are somewhat interchangable),
then MEL-PER on Qantas, then PER-SIN-LON on BA/QF again. The
stopovers in HKG and SIN are two or three hours, no need to stay
overnight. There's a through fare from MEL-LON via Perth, which is be
cheaper than backtracking from Perth to Melbourne, a five hour flight
in the wrong direction.

This is a complex enough itinerary that it's probably worth finding a
travel agent that specializes in trips to the antipodes and asking
them to do it, even if they charge you something to write the tickets.

R's,
John

Go to the Qantas site (www.qantas.com) and select Bookings, then Flights and
then next to "one way"

Select "Multi City"

Select London as the depart point then click Melbourne on the map then Perth
on the map and lastly London on the map. Change the dates and away you go.
It gave me GBP1548.00 for that trip.

Note that no flights operate from UK to Australia non stop. Qantas route
through various places in the Far East usually Bangkok, Hong Kong or
Singapore. Going to Melbourne it's the same plane throughout (but there
are some options offered where you do change so take care.) Coming home
from Perth you have to change (probably Singapore).

Three points:

1) Book NOW. Those dates are too close to Christmas for comfort.
2) Get a copy of the Saturday Telegraph and Sunday Times and look at the
adverts in the travel sections. Do some telephoning, do NOT rely on the
internet in this case. You may even find that a round the world ticket is
a good deal (in which case the route might be London via the USA to
Melbourne then Perth and back from there via Singapore). The internet is
rubbish at RTW fares.
3) Whichever route they take it would probably make very little difference
to the fare to stopover en route - there would be an hotel cost. The
benefit is to help a little with jetlag.

"Mark, Devon" wrote in message
...
Hi,

Two friends of mine wish to travel in the following manner:-

Approx 06/12/08 London Heathrow to Melbourne

Approx 09/01/09 Melbourne to London Heathrow

In between they want to travel from Melbourne to Perth and stop there
for about five days. They do not particularly have to return to
Melbourne after the five day period in Perth (i.e. the five day can,
if need be, be at the end of their stay in Aus). But if it's easiest
and cheapest to get a return flight from Melbourne to Perth that would
be fine.

They are looking towards BA, Quantas and Malaysia Airline for the
journeys at the moment. Can anyone advise on the most effective way to
do this holiday (in terms of cost, airlines to use, and 'ease'?). They
are a retired couple and not too familiar with travel etc. and I have
never done such a journey either!

They are flexible about both departure and return dates, and recognise
that will have to stop overnight on the London to Melbourne journeys.
They do not want to go via Dubai (I don't know why).

Thanks, Mark.

I'd first check Qantas' "Visit Australia" fares, which are available to
people residing outside of Australia, but I'd also look at local fares
within the country on JetStar (a Qantas affiliate), Virgin Blue, and Qantas
itself. Another interesting possibility might be the Indian Pacific, the
trans-continental train service that operates between Sydney and Perth via
Melbourne (and other cities). It is one of the great train journeys of the
world.

Jeff

www.jetstar.com especially cheap weekdays (..not Fridays)
In between they want to travel from Melbourne to Perth and stop there
for about five days. They do not particularly have to return to
Melbourne after the five day period in Perth

One option is to look for london-Perth fare that would allow a stopover
in australia, and then check if aopplicable to a flight from london to
melbourne (where your stopver would be).

Beware of jetstar and virgin: their luggage allowance may be much less
than your overseas baggage allowance and you may find yourself having to
pay megabucks for your extra luggage which would have made a more
expensive Qantas domestic ticket cheaper in the end. Something to consider.

Thank you to everyone who replied. All answers very useful and much
appreciated :-)

"John Doe" wrote in message
...
Beware of jetstar and virgin: their luggage allowance may be much less
than your overseas baggage allowance and you may find yourself having to
pay megabucks for your extra luggage which would have made a more
expensive Qantas domestic ticket cheaper in the end. Something to
consider.

If you're doing a 5 day sidetrip while in OZ.. DON"T, of course take ALL the
luggage you brought with you to Australia. Just take a bag with what you
need for the 5 days. I'm sure you can find somewhere to leave the other
baggage: At a friends, hotel where you stay(ed) will often store your
"extra" bags in their back room. etc