In this post:
UK-New Zealand and Australia business class offer
If you are planning a trip to Australia or New Zealand and not sure what you should be paying this article about target prices for business class may be of use.
Generally, I would be looking for £2200-2500 from the UK as the lowest you are likely to get and £1900 upwards from Europe. There are some good Qatar deals from around £2000 ex EU which you can read about here. If you would rather go from the UK then there are some reasonable value deals on an airline you may not know a huge amount about – China Airlines. At the time of writing, there were even some seats available over Christmas!
China Airlines are not to be confused with Air China. China Airlines is actually a Taiwanese carrier with a good business class product. Skytrax rate them as a 4* airline – the same as BA! They are a member of Skyteam which gives some useful schemes to credit into. If you are a fan of Virgin you could credit to Delta to use on Virgin or risk Air France/KLM who are due to allow redemptions on Virgin once the merger is complete.
The fares from London to:
- Sydney £2541
- Melbourne £2529
- Brisbane £2542
- Auckland £2507
If you need to connect onto the London flight, it may be worth looking at Amsterdam instead as prices are around £200 cheaper from there for Sydney.
The rules are:
- Book by: 22 May 2020!
- Travel: Permitted 19 Aug 19 – 9 Dec 19 or 24 Dec 19 – 31 Mar 20 or 14 Apr 20 – 8 Jul 20 or 19 Aug 20 – 9 Dec 20 or 24 Dec 20 – 31 Dec 20 departure from fare origin.
- Minimum stay: n/a
- Maximum stay: 12 months
- Stopovers: Unlimited stopovers permitted – limited to 1 free and unlimited at GBP 55.00 each
- Refundable: For a fee
- Changeable: For £85
You can find availability and prices through Expedia or try Skyscanner to see if you can find a slightly cheaper deal for your dates.
EU ruling on compensation for delayed flights
EU261 is the law that means if you are delayed or your flight is cancelled, you should get compensation from the airline providing that the circumstances were within their control. Previously this ruling had only applied to flights originating in the EU on any airline or flying to the EU operated by an EU airline.
This month the European Union has extended its laws protecting air passengers on delayed or cancelled flights to include connecting flights that are not operated by an EU carrier. The non-EU flight must be part of an itinerary that includes a flight departing from a European country.
If you are on disrupted flights that have connections outside of the EU, you are still entitled to the usual compensation for delays over 3 hours. This should be paid by the airline that performed the first flight, even if the connecting flight is on a non-EU airline.
If you ever need advice on EU261, I highly recommend the CAA’s website here.
Vodafone unlimited for roaming
If you missed out on Paul’s article about which mobile network is best for frequent travellers, then you may wish to have a read of the article here. Paul rated Vodafone as his top choice and I am considering moving over to it as well. One of the topics he talked about, Vodafone Unlimited, is now available.
On Wednesday 10th July Vodafone introduced new unlimited data SIM plans. This has meant with no limits you now never have to worry about your data allowance.
The Unlimited SIM plans that are available are:
Unlimited Lite- £23 per month
Good for:
-Browsing and social media
-Online messaging and emailing
-High-quality music streaming
Maximum download speed 2mbps
Unlimited- £26 per month
Good for:
-Streaming HD quality TV and movies
-Share photos and make video calls
-Downloading and updating apps
-Gaming on-the-go
Maximum download speed 10mbps
Unlimited Max- £30 per month
Good for:
-Super-fast downloads
-Streaming live TV and sport in UHD
-Share photos and videos instantly
-Multiplayer gaming on-the-go
-Hotspotting with confidence
Maximum download speed: Fastest available
All Unlimited plans are 5G ready.
If you don’t need unlimited data, all plans apart from basic come with roaming – free in the EU and £6 a day elsewhere with the same amount of data as at home. On the Unlimited Max you get inclusive roaming outside the EU in a number of destinations. You can find more details about these and all Vodafone’s plans here.
14 comments
I’m curious as to why this Vodafone plan is good value. The max plan is £30 and at £6 a day, a typical 2 week trip would cost £84. My EE Max plan is £41.99 a month and includes free international roaming in EU, US, Aus/Nz etc. I’ve always felt Vodafone was overpriced and this doesn’t seem to challenge that. Or am I missing something?
You may find EE throttle your speed abroad to a pathetic speed or may not allow tethering. I’ve just come back from Singapore and am with Vodafone. The data speeds were lightning quick, no restrictions and they allow tethering. I can certainly recommend them.
‘If you are on disrupted flights that have connections outside of the EU, you are still entitled to the usual compensation for delays over 3 hours. This should be paid by the airline that performed the first flight, even if the connecting flight is on a non-EU airline.’
Personally I think the EU are now over-reaching and the new amended regulation will only serve to discourage further alliances and may even curtail some of those which currently exist involving less punctual non-EU airlines. BA being made responsible for the failings of, for example LATAM, doesn’t seem entirely fair. If alliances are subsequently ended then the passenger enjoys no protection at all from IRROPS down the line, not to mention the inconvenience of not being able to check baggage through etc.
I remember one mobile journalist comparing 3 and Vodafone whilst roaming. Whilst 3 works OK they throttle the video streaming to nearly useless say on YouTube. So much for feel at home! !
They are not allowed to do this.
Get your SIM card replaced by them, explain you need the SIM card to be updated so that it will no longer do this (at least in the EU).
Ditto 20min timeouts on hotspots – illegal and can be fixed by getting a new SIM card – just mention that as one of the reasons you want a new one.
Thanks for the tip
Vodafone £6 a day for your home data allowance in the USA; 3 is included in the right plan. I use a 3 card and throw £10 at it when I go away giving one month 1GB data tons of calls and texts all included. My main number (GiffGaff) has a voicemail telling callers to phone my 3 number until a certain date and advising that no messages will be picked up!
If you are the sort of person who cannot stop watching “TV” on your phone even though you have spent a large whack of money going to a far off place where there are lots of lovely places to visit and things to do, well, one, I feel sorry for you and 2, by all means pay a £50 a month contract!!
Hi Michele,
The £30 unlimited max includes Global Roaming Plus which gives you inclusive roaming outside the EU in a number of top destinations.
Regards,
Chris
Thanks Chris! Wasn’t obvious from the info they sent me!
I pay £18/month for unlimited data on 3, including roaming in USA and many other countries. Yes the speed isn’t great, but I can survive without steaming video 🙂
I pay less for Unlimited data and calls. But still has a pesky data cap that keeps me below 20Gb even in the EU.
Other networks in the EU are not imposing any data or calls cap at all, within the EU. So even though the UK network might say it’s a legislative requirement to have a cap of any sort in the EU, it’s not or those other nations would not be allowing the entire allowance to be used within the EU.
Seems there’s no consistency in Vodafone’s roaming pricing. Here in Australia, Vodafone charge $5 a day (£2.80) for international roaming.
It was a great article and I went straight off to research a new plan that would give me roaming to USA, Canada and Cayman Islands ( Already have only USA with Three) I could get a Vodafone red entertainment plan for £23. I had a busy weekend and looked at it all again on Monday to find all changed and the same package with entertainment would be £36, albeit unlimited data instead of 20GB, or £30 without the entertainment option. Gutted I didn’t move faster. ?
We have the 3 unlimited everything for £13 pm. Yes they can sometimes be a bit pants abroad, but it is usually great. Most places have wifi if needed. Google maps seems to work as does YouTube. I never get data speed throttle but sometimes especially rural Oz I get no reception at all.
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