o/t - return flights to NZ (advice requested

[Asterix]

My dad's 80th birthday next year and am investigating possibility of sending him back to one of his favourite places. Anyone in the know about such things be able to suggest the best way/ place/ time to find the best deals on return flights to Kiwiland?

TIA

[langy]

Don't fly at peak times i.e. December & January. I went earlier his year and flights alone were £1100 each with Emirates via Dubai and Sydney.

Most travel agencies / flight specialist's had very similar prices, just depended on depature and destination and timings.

1 bit of advice, book as early as possible, and don't leave it until 6 weeks before travelling  

Sean

[RICHARD+PHILIP]

Malaysian airways have the most legroom in economy class(which is strange as they are all short) Stopping at KL

I believe Air newzealand do it non stop once a week

[Stuart]

I've always found Airline Network to be pretty good on long haul.  ebookers also.

[davew]

We're going to NZ next march so keeping an eye on this thread.  Looking a renting a camper van and touring for 3 weeks, anybody got any experience of this?

[Roman]

Bit of advice, before you book check if you can get travel insurance and how much it would be it could be well over £100 for someone of 80 years of age.

[Asterix]

We're going to NZ next march so keeping an eye on this thread.  Looking a renting a camper van and touring for 3 weeks, anybody got any experience of this?

pah...hijackers    

thanks for the tips all...keep em coming (especially if anyone runs a long distance SAGA free-fall charity club     )

[langy]

We're going to NZ next march so keeping an eye on this thread.  Looking a renting a camper van and touring for 3 weeks, anybody got any experience of this?

We hired a car, it was alot cheaper than a camper and the motels / B&B's are readly available and cheap as chips. We spent (including flights to and from & 1 internal) £2.5k each.

If you are going between north and south islands, i think some companies will let you drop off car / camper on one island and pick up another on the other one, this obviously saves $'s as you are only foot passengers and don't have to pay for the vehicle.

Roads are fantastic and would be superb in a se7en, but having enough petrol to get between some filling stations may prove difficult.

HTH,

Sean

[MAT1800]

I haven't been to NZ but I went to Sydney last year... As it was such a long flight I wanted the quickest route possible and also a comfortable economy class?? I booked with Quantas via their website,  traveled  from Manchester-London (via BA) then London To Singapore, Changi for a quick stop, then onto Sydney.  Total travel time inc. stop was just over 25hrs...  (Man-Sydney)

The economy seats were a little cramped, but nothing like the cheapo shorthauls to spain for example... which would be unbearable for a normal sized person for that long a span!!  

On the way out the cheapest flight was at a time that really suited... on the way back however I had the choice again of several flights about the same time. Instead of going for the cheapest, I went for one which left 30mins later, but was an hour or more less total time, it cost about an extra £40, The advantage was... I saw the flight I was gonna get leavng the gate, and it was full, (screaming kids etc!) my flight was virtually empty we were spaced out (        ) one person per row of seats.. loads of room to spread out and crash...      Plenty of attention from the hostesses  

Now this wasn't peak season, Sept/Oct but next time.    I would definately look at doing the same again, as it seems 90% of people will go for the cheapest (makes sense) but having 3/4 seats to yourself for an extra few quid is well worth it!! Especially as the longest section of flight was about 12 hours! Better than Business class !     Oh and the food was also better on the return... not sure why that was tho'  

PS. there's a Macy D's in Changi airport, which after 14+ hours of airport food    was like a 5 star resturant!!    

[carpetstu]

My misses is a Kiwi.

Any chance of you taking the Illegal immigrant back with you?  

[Asterix]

My misses is a Kiwi.

Any chance of you taking the Illegal immigrant back with you?  

Is she fit?

My dad wouldn't mind but me mum might have a word or 2 to say about it.

[Blatman]

If Asterix's dad can't oblige, I'll take her

[gixermark]

Nz in a campervan is the way to go in my opinion.... go for a decent sized one with toilet and heating in the back - it gets cold there even in summer in various spots - glazier for example which is spectacular..

The camper gives you so many options, we stopped over in some really nice spots - just backed it down overlooking lakes/mountains no one else around for many miles... was lovely. also the advantage of being able to have 'normal' food some of the time... and cool drinks on tap !!

We've hired campers and done the drive/hotel thing in quite a few places.. but i couldn't rate the camper experience in new zealand highly enough - its really well set up for the whole thing.

we picked ours up in auckland (north island) - and left in in christchurch (south island)

Mark.