Australia and New Zealand at €616 / £539 with Cathay Pacific from London

Australia

Oneworld member Cathay Pacific offers discounted flights to five destinations in Australia and New Zealand. With departure from London you can reach Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney as low as €616 (~£526) – a roundtrip price that includes Cathay’s famously great board service and a checked bag up to 23 kg. All flights include a layover in Hong Kong in each direction. These fares are available for weekday departures in the first three weeks of March 2021.

cx lhr mel 616
This is a great price for one of the world’s best economy class products to Australia.

Cathay Pacific operates Boeing 777-300ER between London and Hong Kong. These planes feature a 3-3-3 or 3-4-3 economy seating with personal monitors in each seat back and a generous 81cm seat pitch. A plane of the same model or brand-new Airbus A350 aircraft take you onwards to Australia. Seating pattern, pitch and amenities are identical on both plane types.

Warning

We expect further shakeups in the airline industry over the following months. Some services might be cancelled, aircraft changed or downgraded. The schedule we describe may very well change.

Cathay Pacific offers a bunch of great economy class fares from London right now:

Search & Book

This offer is set to expire on May 17, 2020 and is valid for flights leaving Britain between March 1 and March 21, 2021. A minimum stay does not apply, the maximum stay is very generous at twelve months. Availability is very good in this short travel period.

You can find suiting travel dates by using Google Flights (instructions). Enter them in our flight search to find the cheapest ticket available. While you may save €40-80 when booking with an OTA, you might want to consider booking directly with the airline. That way, you eliminate an additional insolvency risk in these uncertain times for the travel industry. Further, it is less complicated to change your flight dates or get your money back.

Why is booking with an airline better than with an online travel agency?

More often than not, online travel agencies offer lower fares than airlines do. We still recommend booking with the airlines directly. There are two main reasons for that:

Better Customer Service
In case any problems like delays, cancellations or missed connections arise, you can communicate directly with the airline. The airline has to take care of you because you have a contract with them.

If a travel agency issues your ticket, you may have to reach out to them first. You also depend on your OTA to forward information like flight changes instead of receiving them directly from the airline. In many cases, you may get a prime exhibition of responsibility shifting rather than problem-solving.

This especially applies to premium tickets. You don’t want to spend more than €1,000 to wind up with some budget OTA’s telephone hotline in case anything goes wrong.

Baggage and Other Fees
Economy fares not including hold luggage are industry standard by now. In most cases, travel agencies charge much higher baggage fees than the airlines themselves. If bags are not included in your fare, airlines are often the cheaper alternative.

This also applies to other things like food services, insurances or priority treatment. In almost all cases, you pay less for additional amenities when booking on the airlines’ website.

Mileage

Cathay Pacific issues tickets for all four flights in booking class Q. With most Oneworld programs, You can only earn a fraction of your travel distance in mileage.

Members of British Airways Executive Club earn 80 tier points for a roundtrip.

Information & Tips for Australia

Australia, also know as ‘Down Under’, is an absolute dream destination because of its distance to Europe and its beautiful countryside. But because it’s so far away, the flights are costly. Nevertheless, there is always Dealz for less than 1.000€.

Best Time to Visit

Australia is a vast country with different climate zones. Summers (November to February) are hot and mostly dry, winters (June to September) are relatively mild.

Climate diagram for Sydney (Source: WMO World Weather Information Service)
Climate diagram for Perth (Source: WMO World Weather Information Service)
Climate diagram for Darwin (Source: WMO World Weather Information Service)

Entry & Visa

Most European citizens require an eVisa which has to be issued before your arrival. You can apply online, and the process will be free of charge.

Finding the Best eSIM Plan

We’ve compared various eSIM providers, such as RedteaGO and Airalo. To see which plan is best for your travel needs, and which network offers the best coverage, feel free to read our detailed guide:

The Best eSIM Plans for Australia 🇦🇺 Compared

→ All Dealz for Australia

Cover Picture: © Bernd Leitner - fotolia.com

Leave a Reply

Required fields are marked *.


Note: If your comment does not appear on the page immediately, it must first be approved by a moderator. This is especially the case if you are commenting for the first time.


Search