Travel to Belfast

Possible business trip Perth to Belfast late Nov/early Dec.

Assuming flights available, NI not completely locked down and so on, any tips for best flights and good connections? Return trip possibly many months after that, so nobody knows what we face meantime.

Getting from Heathrow to Belfast on first pass maybe not so easy, but BA and Aer Lingus must go there.

2 1/2 hours stopover in Dubai with EK used to work well for me going to other Euro ports some years ago. No experience of Doha.

Anybody been thru either Dubai or Doha airports recently?

Thanks

I can only imagine that the trip is staggeringly important if you're going to go through the rigmarole of getting out and back into Aus, but assuming it is and you are going to go.

Very dangerous to hypothesise as to what is going to go on in terms of travel options, but if you can get the flights then I would say either EK or QR would be your best bet, haven't been through either hub recently but in the current world I think you have to take what you get. In my humble opinion these are the airlines most likely to be maintaining services. Given reduced schedules you may not have ideal connection times, but, as mentioned above, you are presumably making this trip because you have to rather than you want to.

In terms of Heathrow to Belfast - well there are options available from BA or Aer Lingus showing at present.. I suspect its unlikely they would be shut down. What is an unknown is the situation in NI (and the rest of the UK). As I sit typing this response in London, there is speculation that further measures will be taken. I don't wish to join the ranks of the amateur Epidemiologists that have sprung up over the last few months, but I think common sense would say that any restrictions into and within the UK will only be tighter in the near terms and extremely unlikely to be wound back prior to Christmas.

You also need to be prepared that the rules may be changed between booking and travelling.

Brianb and assuming you’re not an Australian citizen/resident or have permission, and have resources to get back, as well as UK being very close to a tight lockdown with various quarantines etc making for a much much longer than anticipated stopover at London or on arrival at Belfast, the choice between Dubai and Doha is the least of your worries.

Another option I have used via DXB is to fly into DUB and using the chauffeur service (paying the difference over the free miles). It worked out cheaper when the UK taxes were added in. Depends on your ticket class though.

Both BA and EI fly the route (LHR-BHD). BA's lounge at BHD might be small but you can always get a seat and you can board direct from the lounge. Its a friendly place and is one of my favourite lounges in UK. Service there outshone the BA Flounge in LHR when connecting to SYD (pre QF lounge) later in the day.

As expected, trip cancelled. We'll look again mid next year. Perth-Dubai-Amsterdam-Belfast seems the best route. Not sure of best return route though. May be very diffferent next year, and may never happen anyway, given current disaster.