Flight stop over?

[settersred]

Hi again.
I have not been on here for a while as we have been busy selling our house and moving into rented. Now done thankfully.
We are hoping to visit in Feb, But as I have never been on a plane before I need some advice.
Where do you go to find the cheapest flight? Can I get a flight with an open return date? And I seem to recall reading on here about being able to rent a room in the airport hotel at Singapore, Is this true and if so how?
Any advice would be much apreciated.
Oh! and is the weather down Christchurch really that dyer? Hopefully summer would have arrived by Feb!!

[Babette & Andy]

Hi Settersred,
Exciting year ahead for you guys, full of new experiences. If you do some searches you should easily find some threads relating to booking cheapes flight options.

Booking on the Internet tends to give you the cheapest options, but as far as I'm aware you do need to put return dates in. We booked online with singapore airlines, who last Feb/Mar had some great rates. With stop over at Changi airport (Transit hotel in both terminals, Terminal 1 has a swimmingpool too). We opted for a longer stay this time (as we were migrating not on holiday and we had to wait for our container to catch up with us anyway).

Also there are a number of specialist operators such as: Austravel, Trailfinders & Travelbag who offer very good rates, packages and ofcourse advise. They all have websites too.

Hope this helps a bit.

Babette

[Hannah]

I know this probably sounds unlikely, but we did internet searches and on three separate occasions Thomas Cook's travel shop in town came up with cheapest flights (albeit only a few quid cheaper - however, it's great being able to see the person who is selling the ticket and being able to pop in shop and ask questions etc).
We booked 6 mths in advance first time, a year in advance second time and this time around 4 mths in advance so maybe this helped. Not sure they would be so cheap if we were looking for flights more imminently.

We were flexible with flight dates, and airlines. Our only stipulation was only one stop and ideally a short one (2 hrs, not 10 hrs!). And not LAX (after stopping there first time and vowing never again!!).

I have to say our local Thomas Cook lady spent up to 2 hours on each occasions searching for flights for us - each time i came home and searched on internet myself and couldn't beat the prices.

good luck to you all, hope your plans go well ! It feels great once those tickets are booked - makes it so much more real!
hannah

[Hannah]

PS we asked for a one year ticket with one 'free change'. This meant we booked a return date but had the option to change the dates once without a charge. in fact we changed date twice and were not charged. We asked for this as we booked nearly a year in advance and the later return dates were not available, hence we booked for a return date a month after flying and then rung up AFTER we had flown to change it (they won't let you change outgoing date without charge, and you cannot change return date until after you have taken outbound flight). Need to make sure your ticket is long enough to accept that later date change though (some tickets are 'one month', 'six month' or 'one year' tickets - if you have a one month ticket you must return in one month)
hannah

[stu70]

I am sure there are many routes one can take to get to NZ dipsydoodling along the way. I would personally refrain from traveling via LA (anywhere US)though. You, as an immigrant have pile load of stuff on your plate both before leaving your home and after arriving at the new home(NZ). Last thing you need is BS / mistreatment and long lineups in the USA. Remember no matter what you are doing, the bottom line is you MUST have fun- first and foremost. And I personally do not think traveling via US can be fun these days. And I am a Canadian!

[lollypop]

[QUOTE=stu70].Last thing you need is BS / mistreatment and long lineups in the USA/QUOTE]

This is spot-on in my own personal experience of LA airport. Got swayed by the huge baggage allowance though, and that makes a big difference when you are immigrating. If/When I travel back to the UK again it will certainly be via Asia.

[Angelonthemove]

OMG my daughter is at this moment has just arrived at LA for her trip here, hope it does not put her off seeing us again

[Tia Maria]

Hi there,

The link for the transit hotel is:

http://www.airport-hotel.com.sg/

We stayed in the one at Terminal 1 so we'd have access to the swimming pool, (its a short trip on a monorail to this one), but in the end we ran out of time. I'd also planned to have a massage but never got round to that either. But definitely worth booking as it gives you a chance to have a bath, something to eat (the kids got Mcdonalds take-away) and a nap if you didn't get to sleep on the plane (they will give you an alarm call).

Its a really nice airport, check out this link for everything it has to offer:

http://www.changiairport.com/changi/en/index.html

Just make sure you leave yourself plenty of time to catch your next flight, as you will still have to go through passport checks etc, even though you are in transit.

We looked at lots of different places on line and on the high street when we were booking, but in the end we booked through the Singapore Airlines website as it was the cheapest. Not sure what you will be able to get in Feb though as its very last minute at a very popular time.

Cheers

Tia

[spudulike]

Hi,

We came via Singapore this time and had a 16 hour break in the transit hotel -would highly recommend it as you don't need to claim your baggage in between so can just bath/sleep etc.... We have also been via LA and would agree, NEVER again will I travel through LAX!

We have also flown back with Thai Air through Bankok who were also excellent and when we go back home in May we'll fly with Virgin Via Hong Kong which I have never done before - thought we'd have one more adventure as we won't be able to afford to go away aging for years after this little escapade

L

[happymartins]

We're travelling to NZ in March and going via Singapore, we've got time to spare so we're going to spend a few days in Singapore to really break up the journey.

Trailfinders are doing a good deal on a hotel on Sentosa Island that is great for kids. Our daughter will be 2 when we travel so it will be a test to keep her occupied!! Might go and see the zoo as well. Went there 5 years agop and I though it was the best zoo I ever went to