Air China to London - Is It Worth It? $700 or So

krunchymoses on 13/07/2016 - 09:05

My mate is getting married in England on the 7th of Jan and right now I can get there for $1250 return. That is pretty damn good. I have heard they have rubbish direct service but I will price beat with flight centre and if I have problems dealing with the airline, just pay them to deal with it instead.

The next fare up is about $2k.

I'm thinking $750 is a pretty good saving here and I doubt I will get any cheaper. But I would definitely pay $1500 to go on an airline that does not suck.

What is the ozbargainer consensus on Air China and this much of a difference? I have heard the WORST about Air China, but all in all, I just want to get there. OzB style.

Also, although the Skyscanner page was saying that buying up fares can be cheap all the way to november, I have a feeling $1250 is as good as I am going to get. Is just after new years really a non peak time?

Cheers OzB!

Travel

Comments

  • StewBalls on 13/07/2016 - 09:19
    +1

    but all in all, I just want to get there.

    Ok, so we can cross Malaysian Airlines off the list immediately. ;)

    Seriously though, I've flown Air China a few times & they're fine for short hauls IME. That said, you're talking about a fairly long haul, and a significant difference in fare, I'd be wondering what the catch is???

    • krunchymoses on 13/07/2016 - 10:08
      +1

      Yeah. Ten hour stopover in Peking which is potentially crap but I am not above sleeping on airport benches on layovers to keep sane.

      • StewBalls on 13/07/2016 - 10:10
        +1

        Last time I had a lengthy stopover with AC, they put us up in a pretty reasonable hotel for the night, you might want to check with a travel agent if they still offer this? Alternatively, you could possibly extend the stopover for a few days & have some fun in Beijing…be ready for a culture shock if you've never been there before, it's a freakin madhouse! :)

        • krunchymoses on 13/07/2016 - 10:29
          +1

          Hmm. This is pretty tempting. Visa might be a bit of a pain but I do like the idea of going to China, checking it out and then vowing never to go back again :-P

        • StewBalls on 13/07/2016 - 10:33
          +1

          @krunchymoses: Yeah, the visa is a bit of a pain, talk to the travel agent about how long your stopover might be, there might be a way to expedite now for short stays.

          FWIW, once you've been to China you will actually want to go back, it's a crazy place, but very much in a good way! ;)

        • krunchymoses on 13/07/2016 - 10:35
          +1

          @StewBalls: Interesting…

        • capslock on 13/07/2016 - 15:55
          +4

          You don't actually need a visa if you're stopping over for less than 72 hours.

        • krunchymoses on 13/07/2016 - 23:10
          +1

          @piggybank: Thanks for that - I might do some cheesy six hour car tour or something to check the place out in a whirlwind. If I do my trip properly, I'll be sleeping on a bench on the return leg.

        • goodcopbadcop on 14/07/2016 - 14:01
          +1

          @StewBalls: Yep I'd vouch for that! Even though it is a crazy full on place with sooo many people - never say never. I've flown a few times to China with Air China and I found that there was a difference for sure. Allow plenty of time to get on board because it seems to take longer (about an hour before we took off) but when I went I noticed so many Chinese students during holiday time. May have improved though. As a Westerner, expect to be in the minority. I took snacks and fruit because the Asian food offerings were authentic Chinese and the smell didn't appeal to me. When I travelled they had some food for Westerners - but not the same as you'd know it. The steward service is different - they don't seem to engage with people on board and don't openly attempt to help you or pre-empt what you might need. They're there just to get the job done eg the fastest I've ever seen food trays delivered and collected. But don't ask for a drink while they are on their mission - going the extra mile in customer service isn't part of their training I'd say. And this is very much the norm in China. Although if there's strong competition for your money - the attention will be on you. But once you've handed over your money - it's straight back to that distant eye gaze.

  • robertbruce on 13/07/2016 - 10:09
    +3

    yeah, i hear they have some new island stopovers they are working on…

    • StewBalls on 13/07/2016 - 10:11
      +2

      Lol, yeah I saw some of their nice grey cruise ships on the news…

  • Ss-ss on 13/07/2016 - 11:53
    +2

    I flew once to Shanghai with China Air & boarding was like mayhem like a New Year's Day sale, so I said never again.. A few weeks ago I went to Rome with Thai airways for just over $1000 return & they were excellent. Seems to be a lot of bargains to Europe around the $1k mark so maybe better to wait.

    • BigTed on 13/07/2016 - 12:46
      +1

      I'd agree except for the time of year he needs to travel.
      You can always take your chances but it is a busy time to fly.

  • Love a bargain on 13/07/2016 - 12:31
    +3

    If you do fly with Air China, make sure you leave yourself ample time to get there (i.e. not schedule to arrive the day before the wedding) because flight delay is a far too common at Chinese airports.

    If time permits, I'd suggest that you add a stopover (or one in each direction). A) It breaks up your very long haul trip and make it more tolerable. B) You get another mini-holiday for not much more.

    Early Jan is probably a shoulder season in the sense that most who wanna go away would have departed during/ before the public holiday but people might be on their return leg (e.g. going back to Asia from Oz or going back from Asia to Europe) on your outbound date.

    P.s. Agree with Ss-ss that there have been quite a few bargains to Europe lately (from Vietnam Airlines, Qatar, etc from memory) so maybe it pays to wait a little longer.

  • altomic on 13/07/2016 - 16:31
    +1

    sometimes booking sydney to somewhere in asia , and then asia to london can be economical

    e.g. air asia to KL. few days stop over. KL to London with another airline. and then reverse.

  • krunchymoses on 13/07/2016 - 18:00
    +1

    Yeah, I checked a few cheeky KL onward options but none of them came close. Paid $1264 today to Flight Centre in cash to avoid fees and have someone to yell at if something goes wrong.

    Cancellation is $300. If something comes even close to as good as this deal then I will jump on it and wear the difference. But I would only really change flights if it were to be moving to a 787 or 380. A flight on an a320 is always going to be rubbish regardless of how good the inflight meal is.

    I am leaving on the 3rd and the wedding is on the 7th so I should be sweet as. I think the jetlag will be heinous from such a rubbish flight but I have a couple days.

    Hopefully the pound stays rubbish and it's a cheap trip! $1250 is an insanely cheap airfare to London and considering I'll be staying with friends and only there for ten days or so, I reckon I will barely crack the $2k mark. Not bad for a jaunt to London!

    • SydOzber on 14/07/2016 - 11:23
      +1

      Hey onward is 3rd Jan and when is your return date

      I am looking at booking flights to London in Dec/Jan and wondering what dates are you looking at ?
      thanks.

      • krunchymoses on 14/07/2016 - 11:49
        +1

        I did 3-12th and it came up to 1267 through Skyscanner or IWTF. I can't remember which. The prices jumped from $1250 the night before, to $1267 that day and then at flight centre they couldn't find one under $1400 but I had my printout with the time on it so they price matched.

  • krunchymoses on 14/07/2016 - 12:02
    +1

    4th-18th is coming up as $1232 or something on Skyscanner.

  • [Deactivated] on 15/07/2016 - 13:28

    For $700 it's via the Spratly Islands. And during the refuel all passengers have to help fill 2 million sand bags.

    • robertbruce on 15/07/2016 - 15:58

      also, yep, a bit of fishing and jet-watching on Scarborough shoals…

      • krunchymoses on 15/07/2016 - 19:14

        Sounds pretty good actually…

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