Get us to New Zealand on the cheap!

April 5, 2011 5:20 AM

Best time and any hacks for buying Christmas-time flights from the UK to New Zealand?

My boyfriend and I are planning a trip to New Zealand to visit family at the end of the year. We'd like to leave in the last couple of weeks of December (definitely before Christmas), and travel back in mid to late January. We're mainly headed to the South Island, but are happy to fly into Auckland and make our way from there. We live in Germany but can easily fly out from the UK, which I assume will be cheaper.

Can anyone tell us the best time of year to bag cheap flights for that period? Or operators you know with really great deals? Will we get better deals online, by phone or in person? Is it advisable to ring around as many travel agents as possible or is that a waste of time?

Any tips and tricks you are willing to share would be gratefully received!

posted by greenfelttip to Travel & Transportation (4 answers total)

I spent a large part of last year trying to get cheap flights from London to NZ for roughly that period. I don't think it really mattered what time I booked, the flights were always going to be expensive (though it would definitely have been better to book early). I tried Lastminute and Kayak and Skyscanner, but none of them seemed cheaper than booking direct with Air NZ.

If I remember right, I could have saved some money by accepting longer stop-overs, like a long one in Vancouver.

Flights are also definitely cheaper on Christmas Day, but that's out for you. Likewise, there used to be a last-minute selloff of cheap one-way flights, just before Christmas, so if you can wait till then, you might snap up a deal. But really, I wouldn't expect many bargains.
posted by Infinite Jest at 6:23 AM on April 5, 2011

My only tip would be to book early; otherwise you run the risk of not being able to get the flights you want. That time of year is always really busy from the UK/Europe to Australia/NZ, so there's not much chance of any super bargains. (I booked my own flight about a month ago.)

Not sure where in Germany you are but Schiphol (Amsterdam) is a hub airport so you may well find it just as cheap as going from the UK, and quite possibly much more convenient.

Sorry I'm not much more help - my personal belief is that there aren't really any 'tricks' to getting cheap tix in this particular high season.
posted by rubbish bin night at 6:31 AM on April 5, 2011

Yeah, book directly with Air NZ. I did the same looking around as you for our honeymoon, and the cheapest by far was booking direct. Plus, the cabin was comfier, and the services were better. (South Island, highly recommend it! - Check out Omaru if you like whisky).
posted by LN at 6:34 AM on April 5, 2011

Response by poster: Just in case anyone happens across this - we ended up finding a good deal with Singapore Airlines - and yep, t'was much cheaper if we were okay with a long (10 hours) stopover.
posted by greenfelttip at 5:00 AM on May 17, 2011