Flight to London - what's the best option?

Hi, I’m flying to London at the end of the month. I am wondering if anyone who travels there often can give some tips and advice on tickets, flights, prices, etc? From my research I think my options are British Airways through HK, Eva Air direct to London, and China Airlines through Vienna or some european country. Are these the best options? Which flight route is the fastest? (I actually heard going through HK is faster than going direct, dunno if that’s true) Which is the most comfortable with the best service? Best on board entertainment (personal video system)? Best food? Any good flight deals you know of?

I am also wondering about Eva Air’s Economy Deluxe class, whether it’s worth it.

Or are there any other options? Thanks.

Don’t know if you’ll be able to cash in the way we did, but we found a pair of Thai Airlines to Frankfurt, return, for something like NT$55,000. For that price, a discount airline hop over the last leg is very reasonable.

Having done this trip many times, my advice would be to avoid the Taipei > Bangkok > London route as operated by EVA and KLM. Every time I have flown this route the journey has been uncomfortable due to the close proximity of lary drunken British tourists (headed for or returning from Thai beaches) and the confined space, so much so that I’ve sworn off this trip, even if it often is the cheapest.

The best inflight experience I’ve had on the trip was actually on Royal Brunei - good service, quiet flight (no booze on the plane) and a reasonable price. As Jaboney says if you look around you can pick up some bargains - cheapest I’ve found for a return TPE>HKG>LHR (with Cathay Pacific) was NT$23,000, but that was a couple of years ago.

There are many more operators than you suppose, with most of them operating through a third country, some of them with an alternate carrier for the Taipei leg - I’ve flown KLM, EVA, Cathay Pacific, BA and Royal Brunei, and there are other options such as Malaysia Airlines. Find yourself a decent travel agent here and they’ll look at all the options and get you a good price.

You could try Oasis Air. If you book enough in advance you should be able to get a one way ticket from HK to London for $1000 HKD. Which is just over $4000 TWD, although you’ll need to time it with a separate flight from Taipei to HKG.

I’ve outlined the cheapest option, but not necessarily the most comfortable.

Now that is a consideration! Oish! Mental note, never, but never fly Bangkok to London.

What about my favourite airline, Vietnam Airlines? They used to have the cheapest run I’d ever heard of to Paris via HCM. A nice little stop in Saigon on the way back would do you the world of good.

HG

Ditto with Taffy on avoiding the chavs to and from BKK. Personally I prefer TPE>HKG>Frankfurt>London.

Can I suggest another destination? When you get to London it will be full of violent drunken yobs anyway. What about Bali, or Hawaii? Much nicer!

I take it you’ve not been to Bali, Edgar, or perhaps you were speaking Chinese and meant Paris?

HG

Now that is a consideration! Oish! Mental note, never, but never fly Bangkok to London.

What about my favourite airline, Vietnam Airlines? They used to have the cheapest run I’d ever heard of to Paris via HCM. A nice little stop in Saigon on the way back would do you the world of good.

HG[/quote]

Can’t recommend Vietnam Airlines - well not the flight to Paris anyway. A very roundabout way to go, and CDG is a hideous airport. Frankfurt likely to be better. Plus you have to add-on to London. I always used to try and fly EVA Economy Deluxe and felt it was worth it for the extra space. The louts are all in the back where drink is rationed. If you’re going to go in economy you might as well just take Cathay. Nice and direct. If you take China Airlines can you send me you full name and age so I can buy some insurance on you heh heh.

Try looking at this airlinequality.com/Forum/eva.htm

Hi guys, thanks for all the advice. Is it really that bad with the drunk british chaps on Eva? Cuz that’s the one I booked haha. I booked both econ and econ deluxe, probably goingn with the deluxe, reason being that I took econ deluxe before (on a non-drunken-brits flight) and its real nice and I’m thinking I really need that extra space for what would be probably a 16 hour flight or so. The price is reasonable, 1.5X the price of econ. What do you guys think?

I think that I’m a cheap bastard

Would you like a Freudian or Behaviouralist interpretation of that random statement? At this time I can do both, depending on how long it takes my tins of Heineken forgotten in the freezer compartment to defrost.

both

Behaviouralist: Fly Singapore Airlines, the stewardesses are cuter and you know you want to.

Freudian: Fly BA Club World, they mother you in ways you have only dreamed of.

[quote=“Tyc00n”]You could try Oasis Air. If you book enough in advance you should be able to get a one way ticket from HK to London for $1000 HKD. Which is just over $4000 TWD, although you’ll need to time it with a separate flight from Taipei to HKG.

I’ve outlined the cheapest option, but not necessarily the most comfortable.[/quote]

anyone actually tried Oasis Air? i’ve checked it and for tickets during sep/oct period and the hkd1000 tickets are all snapped up already, still some hkd1290 left. plus taxes it adds up to hkd4500 roundtrip + tpe-hk return that should amount to be about twd26000-28000.

is it still possible to get return economy tix for under twd 35000 during the sep/oct period? i’ve tried BR, SQ, MH, CX, TG, BA and even KLM! but they all seem to hover around the twd 35000 - twd 45000 once u factor in the taxes. :help:

EVA via BKK is not that bad… I’ve flown this route 3 or 4 times a year in Deluxe/Elite (Elite is the upgraded 777 version of the old 747 deluxe) or Business for most of the last 10 years. I’ve always walked around the entire plane to take a look. You get a few drunks, but depending on the time of year you also get a number of docile well-behaved Taiwanese students.

A number of things drive my recommendation… even if you are a “bog standard” economy flyer without a membership card, the check-in lines at LHR are never as awful as with other airlines. I like the evening departure from LHR. The economy cabin is not bad: 33" with 3-3-3 layout. So less likely to get a middle seat than with airlines that fly 747s. They have proved very reliable too… after 30 or 40 flights, I’ve never faced a denied boarding or cancelled flight (though I know it happens). Been delayed twice - once 2 hours and once 4 hours.

I would recommend Elite if you’ve got the cash. 38" pitch instead of 33" and 2-4-2 layout instead of 3-3-3. Its usually very quiet in there. There’s laptop power if you have a laptop and want to watch your own films. Problem is that the price differential has increased because Elite is now taxed as “business” in the UK - so you get a bit of a shock when the travel agent quotes you the fully inclusive price. Also EVA seem to be increasing the differential of the base price - perhaps to push people to their enlarged “premium laurel” business class cabin.

As noted, BR67/68 stops in BKK on the way to LHR. Flying via HK instead can work out a little faster. But if doing it with Oasis this won’t be the case because you really need to allow loads of transfer time because the flights will be on separate tickets and the airlines won’t be responsible if you miss the connection. I’ve heard nothing but good reports about Oasis. I might try it later this year and take advantage of a stopover in Hong Kong. Also I love the idea of going to LGW instead of LHR. (Incidentally - EVA once flew to LGW…!)

With EVA a stopover in BKK is usually free if you want it (or maybe a little more because of tax) - but you must get the ticket issued that way in the first place. So a trip to London could be combined with a trip to Thailand or anywhere else accessible from BKK.

Two further ideas:

EVA via Paris

EVA flies non-stop to Paris so the overall journey time is not so different. I used to do the onward journey with BMI (which has since stopped the CDG route). Assuming you’re in economy for CDG/LHR/CDG, the tax is reduced considerably - more than enough to cover the onward ticket CDG/LHR.

EVA’s Paris flight is an evening departure from TPE - which may suit you better. In fact there’s no reason why an agent can’t book you out via the Paris flight and back via the London flight if you like evening departures (though then you’re copped for the tax outbound from LHR.

EVA via Vietnam

Sounds daft… But EVA fares from Taiwan are expensive. EVA Deluxe/Elite to Europe via Taiwan is US$1006+tax at present in Saigon (12 month flexible). You can “stopover” in Taiwan for free. So just go there for a long weekend (perhaps even a few weeks before you need to be in London) and come back and stay here “on a stopover” until you need to go. Then continue to London and come back to Taipei. You are then left with the final sector to Saigon “ready for next time”. Just bear in mind that 1) most people need a visa to Vietnam 2) you’ve got to get the ticket to Saigon in the first place. Pacific Airlines often have deals on this route - I got a ticket for US$10 + $30 tax a while back which was outstanding. NT$12,000 is more typical. If anyone intends trying this, I suggest you PM me for some other “tips”…

In fact I’m always here “on a stopover”.

If you fly alot, you should consider looking at www.flyertalk.com and consider the various “mileage” and “membership” schemes. If you just want a simple life, I’d go for a simple Elite ticket TPE/LHR/TPE if you’ve got the cash, else the cheapest Y ticket that an agent can find - choosing Singapore Airlines if all other things are equal and the connections work out (last time I looked they were difficult outbound).

great write-up londonboy