Exhaustive list of sites to find economy flight deals (to and from Australia)!

Exhaustive list of sites to find economy flight deals (to and from Australia)!

Hi guys.

I travel between Lon and Syd twice a year (back and forth), so four journeys. I pay for it myself, Economy.

And with this travelling, I've always been a Qantas boy (a Qantas A380 boy once it came out ;) ). I figured, if I keep loyal and earn ff points all the time, it saves a 6th of the price and ends up being cheaper than everything else in this way. I ONLY used points for getting that free leg one in every 6 one-way flights.

But also if I only bought a full economy ticket for one leg, I'd then earn enough status credits in one year to go up to silver (which I did, for one year), which means I could finally bring 32 KG on my flights again!!! (like they used to allow you, or at least 27 for ff members and up).....baggage weight is important for me as I often have heavy stuff related to my work to bring back and forth.

But I'm not a Qantas boy anymore. that was so stupid. I finally realised that if I just find the cheapest DEAL with another airline, it actually is cheaper with that deal, than Qantas's best price, minus 1/6 of that price (USUALLY.....but I do know the first time I went with another airline a year ago, with singapore, it was an incredible £800 return Lon-Syd).

So now, I need to hone my skills in finding the best deals out there for this Lon-Syd/Syd-Lon route. Though, not just that, sometimes I might need to look for flights to China, so it's more just considerations for ANY flights TO Australia, or FROM it.

I don't care about 35 hour flights with a 12 hour stopover at singapore, dubai or elsewhere: if it saves more than the $80 it costs to stay at a transit hotel (and a meal or two) in between flight legs, it's worth it for me plus this tends to give better rest anyway! (since I'm alllllways in economy.)

I've made a list, here. http://db.tt/Jz0L85Xm

I'd appreciate it if anyone is interested to poke through it, comment, give suggestions for additions (and even comments on which are the best comparison sites! i've sorta listed them in order of what i reckon are the best but i haven't used them much - not until now tbh.)

I suppose I've just realised that really, there's tonnes more airlines than I've listed, that go to/from australia, like lufthansa, air france, the american ones etc etc - i just never go to america much at the moment. but tbh, i think i've found sometimes that even if it's not a 'uk-based' airline, e.g. lufthansa might have some ridiculous (and plain weird) route going through frankfurt that STILL is the cheapest out there, even if it's tiring and weird.

so please, if you know anything in the way of other good airlines to add to my 'check out' list when finding that rock bottom deal, let me know.

I will say, that A380 is a pretty important factor for me when choosing, it'd have to be a saving of more than $300 (or something) for me to give up A380 for an older model - though I should remember that older aircrafts are being cabin-upgraded all the time....just one of the 1000 reasons I check Ausbt :).

Also - from now on, 30KG is a pretty important factor too. But I won't ALWAYS need to bring more than 23KG so I'll still keep all my options in front of me.

Thanks guys...

@frenchglen: I had a look at your list. You're working with the assumption that tickets sold through 3rd party agents are cheaper than those direct from the airline?

I'm uncertain that is a fair assumption. Perhaps your analysis should focus on the carriers offering the "kangaroo route" and assessing the cost/benefits of each vis a vis your desired objective, which at this stage seems unclear.

Perhaps establish parameters to define your objectives. Parameters could include Cost, Comfort, Frequent Flyer Status, Convenience etc. etc.

Exactly. The only time I have found a travel agent cheaper than tickets direct from the airline are through Flight Centre's mixed flight/airline deals, and you can do this yourself anyway. I'd instead go on maybe a few, at the most, of these agent's websites, look what airlines are the cheapest, and go on the airline's website directly (unless there is a sale on). Hope it helps.

CL9 that sounds interesting about mixed airline deals! never thought of that idea. is it just Flight Centre that you know of that does that? Thanks for that advice...

Your welcome, as far as I know only Flight Centre does it, but just remember even Flight Centre isn't cheapest- Do it yourself and go on individual airline website. For example, my favourite cheap way SYD-LON is booking it directly with scoot to singapore, then another cheapest airline onwards. :)

Hi TheRealBabushka.
ummm - did I say that??? [in response to your first question] :)

Maybe it looks that way on the document - if so I'll explain: I'm actually listing the airline's own names, with the PURPOSE of going to check their own websites, because yeah I KNOW it's essential to check their own websites and not just 'flight deal' ones/travel agents - often cheaper! I wrote 'NO' against all the ones apart from emirates/etihad to merely indicate what I don't like in terms of baggage. If looking specifically for 30KG airlines, I'd look out for cheapest emirates/etihad deals on the deals websites, then check their own respective websites.

But I aren't always needing 30KG so still want to find out the best methods and know all the places to find the deals....

I think I've listed exactly my paremeters, no? I wrote everything out in a lot of detail..... cost mostly, just with baggage and a380 some things I sometimes will care about in conjunction with that...

From now on I'm just going to join the ff program of any new airline I ever have a first flight with. it seems points/miles don't expire on most (maybe all?) airlines, so what do I have to lose - going for the status credits thing just isn't worth it if you're a 'rock bottom deals' type flyer, which I am at this point in my life!

Dear frenchglen,

Amid the swirl of narrative, I'm getting the impression cost reduction is your objective. If that is the case then your current strategy appears appropriate.

Consider this however: There may be a missed opportunity to obtain tangible benefits by way of status or future flight redemption/upgrades, if the focus is solely on cost reduction.

What I would do is forecast my travel budget for the year and extrapolate the value proposition of each carrier/frequent flyer programme with respect to that budget.

You do not want to be frittering away your travel budget by choosing the cheapest option, when a marginal price difference may offer you better value.

I usually use www.bestflights.com.au to compared prices.

They also give you codeshare flights.

Booking and credit cards fees are reasonable.

Several occassions I quoted the price from this site with Qantas to get a better price.