CX Business Class Fares whois the cheapest

[Fleetz]

Looking to travel from Cairns to Hong Kong and then onto London return next year sometime. Wondering who offers the best CX business class fares online?

We will be flexible when we travel pretty much. Given we are getting on in age the flight times worry us we don't travel well. Looked at the business class fares and ouch ...realise that are going to be a lot more expensive than economy just trying to lession the pain.

Appreciate any suggestions.

Regards,

Fleetz

 

[winfred]

I suggest that you fly economy Mel-HKG, then business to LHR.

Alternatives such as Singapore airlines, etc would be cheaper as long as stopover in HKG is not a must.

I would start my research websites such as webjet, travel.com, etc. I normally use webjet as it is easy to use. I would then check prices with the airlines own website.

If you start with webjet for flights from Cairns to LHR, it will list a no of alternatives.

1st-air.net is another site that may be worthwhile looking at.

Good luck.

 

[NM]

Cairns to London, shortest way is going to be CX via HKG as you have suggested. The base fare for business class is pretty much set by the airline so buying from different places is not going to provide much variation in price, unless you can find a travel agent with access to either consolidator fares or corporate fares. Our resident travel agent expert, Travel Guru, may be able to better comment on those options.

From time to time various airlines offer some special business class fares. For CX, these would book into I class. These can be good deals. Other deals can include 2-for-1 specials. But these only pop up on certain routes when the airline is expecting low demand for business class travel.

You could consider doing the CNS-HKG in economy as its fairly short and daytime flight. Then business class HKG-LHR. But the problem will be the return where HKG-CNS will involve an overnight flight.

Another option would be to route via SYD or MEL and purchase a Premium Economy fare, which provides a good compromise between cost and comfort. But will add several hours of travel time and another transit to the itinerary.

 

[Fleetz]

Thanks for the feedback a good info.

Never heard of premium economy before is this a new class recently added? What does it offer over standard economy? Basically we would like a comfortable seat not too fussed with business class total offering.

Do we have to head south to get access to premium econmy, NM posts seems to infer that is the case. Would you not be able to do it from Cairns on to HKG > LHR etc?

Good idea to split the sectors up worth researching.

Regards,

Fleetz

 

[Travel Guru]

Another option you might want to look at is booking 2 separate tickets, an economy CNS-HKG-CNS and then Business or Premium Economy HKG-LHR-HKG.

Business Class wise, you've got BA, Virgin Atlantic and Air NZ to choose from, Air NZ is coming in at the cheapest when I use 15 June as a departure at $4294 inc taxes HKG-LHR-HKG.
BA and Virgin are both around 5k

Premium Economy on Air NZ from HKG to London and back is $2100 inc taxes. Virgin Atlantic and BA are both $2275 inc taxes

Qantas have an earlybird fare on Premium Economy ex Cairns via Sydney to London at $4096 plus taxes, on sale to 5 Jan.


CX generally dont have corporate fares, its just whats on the market, at the moment the best I can see if over 8k pls taxes.


Let me know if you need any more info.

TG

 

[markis10]

CX have J class for $4500 ex HKG to LHR, do you need to go via HKG, JQ are offering some cheap CNS-SIN flights for instance.

 

[2muchplastic]

Another option you might want to look at is booking 2 separate tickets, an economy CNX-HKG-CNS and then Business or Premium Economy HKG-LHR-HKG.....

errrr TG, Chiang Mai Intl seems a bit of a diversion?:mrgreen:

(/smartarse moment)

 

[winfred]

Do you have to go via hong Kong?

 

[NM]

Premium Economy is link of what business class was like about 15 years ago. The seats are more domestic business class seats, with around 36-38 inches of pitch (compared with 31-32 for regular economy), and more recline. They are generally wider also.

On some airlines the difference is really only the seat and you get the same meals, beverages and other amenities as regular economy. But on some airlines (like Qantas) you get better meals, beverages and amenities.

As I said previously, its a good compromise between cost and comfort.

 

[Travel Guru]

errrr TG, Chiang Mai Intl seems a bit of a diversion?:mrgreen:

(/smartarse moment)

HAHA oops...I guess that just goes to prove the old adage that guys can't multi task! :mrgreen::mrgreen:

Now lets just hope I didn't send my client to Chiang Mai instead of Cairns!

TG

 

[Fleetz]

Thanks folks you have opened up options that I never knew off!

No I don't have to go to HKG I do have soe friends there that I was thinking of catching up with but that was mainly me thinking that was my only option.

Cairns is very small international airport I have found out and there are very limited companies that fly in and out in the general direction we want to head.

Premium economy looks like exactly what we are after more comfortable roomier seating on the long haul to LHR.

Jetstar to SIN is via Darwin not ideal but as Markis10 correctly points out is cheap. Day flight short stopover in DRW so a possibility. Are there more SIN > LHR premiuim economy options than HKG > LHR ??

We would like to probably from a London base (our Daughter/Son-in-Law are there) do some hops back and forth to europe maybe 2 or 3 countries while we over there. Would Premium Economy ticket offer any benefits with other stopovers??

Really glad I connected here on this forum the advice and suggestions have been great!

BTW our approx travel time is April May next year and flexible as we are retired,

Regards,

Fleetz

 

[wandering_fred]

The reality is that with a great deal more competition in both SIN and HKG the fares ex those points will be much more passenger friendly. Especially if you can plan ahead and watch for the sales fares - in particular Y+ HKG-LHR on QF

Happy wandering

Fred

 

[markis10]

You are looking at $2600 return SIN-LHR in premium economy with QF on the A380 for April, so around $3K with some stops in SIN and DRW making for a comfortable trip, you might want to extend the SiN stopover and do a sidetrip to HKG, the SIN-HKG legs are pretty competitive.

 

[NM]

Cairns is very small international airport I have found out and there are very limited companies that fly in and out in the general direction we want to head.

Indeed and CX via HKG is going to be the shortest route to London.

Jetstar to SIN is via Darwin not ideal but as Markis10 correctly points out is cheap. Day flight short stopover in DRW so a possibility.

With Jetstar you can pay a little extra to pre-book an exit row seat. Well worth the extra I would expect. Remember to pre-purchase other options you may want, like food.

Are there more SIN > LHR premiuim economy options than HKG > LHR ??

Certainly more options from HKG (QF, BA, NZ, VS). I think only QF or BA from SIN. An obvious choice would be Qantas, who operate the A380 on the SIN-LHR route. I don't think BA's product is as good. QF is really J- while BA is Y+.

We would like to probably from a London base (our Daughter/Son-in-Law are there) do some hops back and forth to europe maybe 2 or 3 countries while we over there. Would Premium Economy ticket offer any benefits with other stopovers??

You may be able to get one side-trip included in the fare. But travel within Europe can be very cheap and mostly short flights. Also consider travelling by train, which can be very comfortable and has the benefit of delivering you to the city centres and not to far flug out-lying airports pretending to serve the adjacent cities. Consider buying Eurail passes before leaving Australia as these passes are not available for purchase within Europe.

 

[Mal]

Especially if you can plan ahead and watch for the sales fares - in particular Y+ HKG-LHR on QF

Like the sale they've just announced ex HKG! Shouldn't be much more than about $A1400 in PE.

 

[ataline]

You could fly economy to Singapore, then business on Cathay to London (which is around AUD$3800 return at the moment)

 

[Fleetz]

Re: CX Business Class Fares who is the cheapest

Thanks for the feedback to date it has been great

Booked HKG > LHR > HKG QF Premium Economy cost around $1430 AUD sweet.

Cairns to Hong Kong is the next challenge. We plan on getting into Hong Kong 3 or 4 days before our flight to London for a look around never been there. Currently Cathay have their direct CX-102 Cairns to Hong Kong flight at $1615 AUD....ouch.

Do Cathay have regular specials?? Should I wait for awhile? I think they are the only direct carrier CNS to HKG.

Is there other suggested options getting to HKG obviously not directly but more economically.

Not sure how all the airline specials works it might be a case of sitting on my hands and waiting. Is there some online booking people that will have better rates on the CX-102 flights?

Thanks again for your input todate.

Regards,

Fleetz

 

[markis10]

Re: CX Business Class Fares who is the cheapest

Thanks for the feedback to date it has been great

Booked HKG > LHR > HKG QF Premium Economy cost around $1430 AUD sweet.

JQ SIN-HKG is $250 SGD return for April, and $600 return for CNS-SIN but the flights are not conencting and not exactly at the nicest hours! Of possibly grab a $500 return to Narita from CNS with JQ and then CX down to HKG on the A330.

 

[NM]

Re: CX Business Class Fares who is the cheapest

Cairns to Hong Kong is the next challenge. We plan on getting into Hong Kong 3 or 4 days before our flight to London for a look around never been there. Currently Cathay have their direct CX-102 Cairns to Hong Kong flight at $1615 AUD....ouch.

Do Cathay have regular specials?? Should I wait for awhile? I think they are the only direct carrier CNS to HKG.

CX is only direct option ex CNS. Unfortunately it would seem you are not travelling on "low" season, so paying either "shoulder" or "peak" season rates.

Its not going to get much less than that unless you go with the Low Cost Carriers and that is going to mean at least one and possibly 2 stops to get to HKG.

Note that you can save some cost by buying a QF fare VKBB (shoulder season) for $892 + taxes as a CNS-SIN fare with a valid routing of CNS-BNE-HKG-SIN where CNS-BNE-HKG is on Qantas and HKG-SIN is on CX. Shoulder season is 27/03/2010 to 16/04/2010 for this fare. It drops to $787 + taxes as VLBB between 17/04/2010 and 25/06/2010 as low season kick in.

Additional to that fare you will need to pay for at least one stopover in HKG ($100 each) to break the journey to take your HKG-LHR-HKG trip. So you could have a few days in Hong Kong and a few days in Singapore if you like.

Its one of those strange things where its cheaper to route through HKG than to terminate there. I have done this a few times recently where its cheaper to buy a BNE-KUL return fare and route through HKG with a stopover than it is to buy a BNE-HKG return fare.

 

[Fleetz]

Re: CX Business Class Fares who is the cheapest

JQ SIN-HKG is $250 SGD return for April, and $600 return for CNS-SIN but the flights are not conencting and not exactly at the nicest hours! Of possibly grab a $500 return to Narita from CNS with JQ and then CX down to HKG on the A330.

Thanks for that I can't see a Narita to HKG flight on Cathay's site?

Regards,

Fleetz