How to get cheap long haul flights?

[swee'pea99]

I know there are some seasoned travellers hereabouts so...any tips? My eldest is going to NZ early in the new year - any handy hints on how I should help her get the cheapest possible flight? She's pretty flexible over dates, which I assume will help - 'sometime mid-Jan' is about as tight as it gets. Any advice much appreciated.

 

[Beebo]

Go for Christmas Day or New Years eve, no one would want to fly then so it might be cheaper.
Apart from that either side of Christmas and New Year is usually quite expensive.
NZ has a number of options, with various routes and break points, you could do it as 2 or even 3 separate flights.. You can go east or west, it doesnt make much difference, with stop overs in USA or Asia.
I would suggest Trailfinders or similar to search out the best prices.

 

[Durian]

As mentioned before Trailfinders are usually a good choice and have people on the phones who know what they're talking about. Rather than just a return to NZ you may get a cheaper ticket by doing a 'round the world' ticket.

 

[Globalti]

Yes talk to a professional as they should know all the dodges. Look at Turkish Airlines, they are competing heavily with Emirates at the moment, the service is good and Istanbul isn't too far out of line if you're heading east.

 

[nickyboy]

I fly a fair bit long haul. I've stopped using travel agents as I found I could get exactly the same deals as them and they then added on their profit on top.

I use this website www.kayak.co.uk

Key things you need to consider:

1) Where are you happy to start from in UK
2) How many stops are you willing to have (more stops = cheaper usually)
3) Which airlines
4) Dates of travel (there is a +/- 3 day option that makes it cheaper too)

Pop those into the website and it will show a one month calendar with prices for each day. Cheapest in mid Jan is about £900 with China Southern (I fly with them a lot and they are very good)

 

[swee'pea99]

Thanks everyone - some very good leads to follow up there. Much appreciated. Any further ideas, I'm all ears...

 

[Cycleops]

If you can go with China Southern for £900 as @nickyby says that's a cracking price. If there are a few stop overs it makes for a very tiring journey, but if you're young you don't mind so much. It costs me that to get down here.
I remember in the 70/80s Garuda and Aeroflot were the fave cheap carriers for students. The hostesses on the Russian airline were like nurses in a mental hospital, how things have changed.

 

[mustang1]

Get rich then everything will seem cheap. Other than that, idk. Except everything is expensive for me.

 

[nickyboy]

If you can go with China Southern for £900 as @nickyby says that's a cracking price. If there are a few stop overs it makes for a very tiring journey, but if you're young you don't mind so much. It costs me that to get down here.
I remember in the 70/80s Garuda and Aeroflot were the fave cheap carriers for students. The hostesses on the Russian airline were like nurses in a mental hospital, how things have changed.

£900 from LHR with a stop in CAN (Guangzhou, China). Or MAN to AMS, then onto CAN. Don't know where the OP lives

 

[gavintc]

Go for Christmas Day or New Years eve, no one would want to fly then so it might be cheaper.
Apart from that either side of Christmas and New Year is usually quite expensive.
NZ has a number of options, with various routes and break points, you could do it as 2 or even 3 separate flights.. You can go east or west, it doesnt make much difference, with stop overs in USA or Asia.
I would suggest Trailfinders or similar to search out the best prices.

I flew to Canada a few years ago on Christmas Day. It was definitely a multi-national flight!

 

[AndyRM]

Disguise her as a suitcase.

 

[TVC]

Try a Round the World ticket, particularly if she wants to see other parts of the planet on the way, she should get some internal NZ legs in that too.