Please, any advices about to buy flight tickets to Europe?

Saudade

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Usually we go to Europe every two years during school holidays to meet my family (3 of us), so this afternoon I started to check some flight tickets.
For the last few years we have been traveling with Lufthansa, but 2 years ago we had a problem with them on the way to come back and I am not sure if I would like to flight with them again, beside I have check prices today and still quite crazy expensive and sold out.
Please, do you have any advices about how to look for flights and which companies could be the cheapest ones (I guess Qatar is probably one of the most popular ones and not expensive).
It can be quite stressful to try to find the best deals and I guess to travel during the european summer, makes it more complicated and difficult.
Terimakasi banyak
Have a beautiful weekend
 
I don't know which airport you plan to fly to or when so its a bit complicated to give specific tips, but as rule of thumb:
  • Monday through Wednesday flights are generally cheaper than later in the week or the weekend;
  • try to avoid public holidays in the country (yes I know, easier said than done);
  • smaller airports are often cheaper than the biggies, for instance Cologne or Düsseldorf instead of Frankfurt;
  • Google I use more and more since I don't see big differences anymore with Skyscanner c.s. You can tweak the data and see the results right away (you see ALL the different prices in a calendar if you open and select the departure date);
  • the cheapest flights to Europe (China Southern, Turkish Airlines, Thai, Oman Air,....) are not bad at all but often have longer layovers;
  • more and more airlines (e.g. KLM) charge separately for the luggage with the cheapest flights, that might not be obvious in a Skyscanner or so, avoid surprises!
  • talking about luggage, we don't take KLM/Lufthansa/.... anymore since they only have an allowance of 23 kilo, with a Qatar or Cathay Pacific for instance that is 30 kilo. And even more with silver/gold/... status;
  • try to book more than 4 months in advance or last minute, it's often most expensive in between.
And currently I would avoid Garuda. Their schedules are changing faster than I do underwear.
 
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Qatar is a good choice because the airport is compact and easily navigated to your connecting flight. Prices also are competitive, though if you don't mind one more short leg it is often cheaper to fly Qatar from Singapore (for some reason known only to their algorithm) - for example, last year Qatar charged 22 juta for an economy return Bali to Athens, whereas a return from Singapore to Athens was only 9 juta. Emirates is good also, but Dubai airport can be a disaster, especially with kids, as it's huge and getting from one flight to another can be an ordeal. A final choice could be Singapore Airlines, which is notorious for high fares, but not if you are traveling through Singapore, as opposed to directly from Singapore. As I'm sure you know, flights that route through the airlines' home cities are much cheaper than those originating or terminating in them.
 
Don’t forget to check pricing on premium economy and business class.

I’m a bit hesitant to book connections through mainland China, as there are often big hassles. HKG, Taiwan and such I’ve never had problems.
 
I would recommend Etihad, nice smallish airport in Abu Dhabi and good connections. Also currently the cheapest (at least for business class)
 
thanks a lot to everybody for all the advices!
terimakasi banyak
Have a beautiful weekend
 
And currently I would avoid Garuda. Their schedules are changing faster than I do underwear.

Garuda has postponed/canceled/whatever the London - Medan route. But as usual (with Garuda) you can still book it.
 
which companies could be the cheapest ones (I guess Qatar is probably one of the most popular ones and not expensive).

An airline that I have good experience with is EVA Air. The airplane´s "Hello Kitty" design might scare you off at the beginning :D But I found that it is quite comfortable to fly with them (legroom, multimedia offer, also they seem to have a good reputation on service and food). If EVA Air is an alternative for you, also depends on which European airport you want to go to. I am not sure how many flight routes from Asia to Europe they offer. When we flew with them for the first time, they offered the best price (on skyscanner). But I am not sure if it was because of promo or few empty seats or if they always offer a competitive price. But if skyscanner etc. do not offer much better prices regarding other reliable airlines, I would consider flying with EVA Air if I were you :)

Btw: If skyscanner etc suggest scoot as the cheapest airline, be aware of the airline´s conditions. If I am properly informed, you have to pay extra for several things/services (luggage, multimedia, food, etc.). I flew with them once, but only because I had no luggage with me and it was a short flight. For me, it was neither worse nor better than flying with other low budget carriers, but regarding a long distance flight, you should think about the airline´s conditions and calculate those extra costs for the mentioned things/services.
 
Qatar is a good choice because the airport is compact and easily navigated to your connecting flight. Prices also are competitive, though if you don't mind one more short leg it is often cheaper to fly Qatar from Singapore (for some reason known only to their algorithm) - for example, last year Qatar charged 22 juta for an economy return Bali to Athens, whereas a return from Singapore to Athens was only 9 juta. Emirates is good also, but Dubai airport can be a disaster, especially with kids, as it's huge and getting from one flight to another can be an ordeal. A final choice could be Singapore Airlines, which is notorious for high fares, but not if you are traveling through Singapore, as opposed to directly from Singapore. As I'm sure you know, flights that route through the airlines' home cities are much cheaper than those originating or terminating in them.

Hole cr*p, I just flew Qatar business return Paris for 25jt, 22jt economy seems ludicrous. AMS was tbe same price.

Although it was a good flight, I’d rather avoid stops in the middle east: when you’re finally comfortable its already time to pack it all up and change planes. I’d rather take a short hop to SIN/KL and then one stretch to EU on SQ/KL/AF instead and get it over with. But thats personal of course.
 
We travelled last month with QATAR to Milan and them caught our return flight to Jakarta from Amsterdam. Economy was 17.5 jt for two us with 30kg luggage and choice of seats at time of booking. 8.75 jt each which was by far the cheapest of all airlines.
I find the best best way to find out when each airline has special on is to put yourself on their email mailing list. That way you can book when the specials are on and not take the regular priced flights.
 

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