[Kennafamily]

Does any one know of any cheap airlines operating in HK.
We can fly from London HR to HK one way( 2 adults 1 child, Feb 08) £420 with Oasis hong kong , www.oasishongkong.com.
Cant find a cheap connection to NZ, all the major airlines would be just as much to fly from the U.K.
Has anyone made the journey this way? or do you think its a bad idea(bearing in mind it would be me, not the wife telling a three year old to think of the money were saving!!!).
Any tips or words of wisdom greatly apprecciated.

Dave.

[tick tock]

Hi have lived in Hk before moving to Nz....sorry dont know of any other flight other than Cathy and NZ air and both never seem to other cheap deals You can try going via Australia.

You may of been better get a throught flight via Dubia.Or I think the new route via Shanghi ( Lon-Shang- Auk) was offering good deals

[Kennafamily]

Thanks for the reply, weve allready looked at going via oz or dubai, all the airlines seem to be given roughly the same price, I think well look at baggage allowance, in flight entertainent etc and make a decision from there.

Dave

[tick tock]

Make sure you get one with in flight entertainment...worth every penny

[KerryS]

I've flown from HK to Seoul and then onto Auckland, which was a reasonably cheap flight. No idea what it would be in pounds, as I haven't had any of those for years now. Think it was less than $500 for one way.
AirNZ from HK to NZ is a good flight. I've done it a couple of times now.
Are you needing to go to HK for a reason, or are you just looking for the cheapest flights to NZ from London?

[Kennafamily]

We were not looking to go to hk for any other reason other than to keep the cost down. Can you remember which airline you used that cost you $500 as this seems really cheap compaired to the ones weve priced.
Thanks for your help
Dave

[KerryS]

We were not looking to go to hk for any other reason other than to keep the cost down. Can you remember which airline you used that cost you $500 as this seems really cheap compaired to the ones weve priced.
Thanks for your help
Dave

It was with Air Asiana I think. Not a great flight - but I was doing the whole trip on the cheap.

If your sole reason for going via HK is to reduce cost, then I would reconsider. There are far cheaper routes from London to NZ than via HK, as it is a lot further than some other destinations. Try looking for flights via Dubai, Bangkok or Singapore as these are shorter routes and therefore usually cheaper. Sometimes flying via the US is also advantageous - but you do have the problems with US immigration (fingerprinting etc).

[matthew]

I've done the UK to HK flight with Air New Zealand - a nice route, with just a couple of hours transit stop at HK. Costs for one way have just been quoted around £470-500

Alternatively via Singapore airlines (and of course Singapore) £480 adult, £400 child.

[b&k]

If your sole reason for going via HK is to reduce cost, then I would reconsider. There are far cheaper routes from London to NZ than via HK, as it is a lot further than some other destinations. Try looking for flights via Dubai, Bangkok or Singapore as these are shorter routes and therefore usually cheaper. Sometimes flying via the US is also advantageous

Sorry to be extremely anal but this is not actually true. As any mathematician will tell you, the shortest distance around a sphere is via a great circle route - don't be confused by a map projection. The mileages are as follows in increasing distance:
Via Tokyo (LHR-NRT-AKL) is 11446 miles (http://gc.kls2.com/cgi-bin/gc?PATH=LHR-NRT-AKL%0D%0A&RANGE=&PATH-COLOR=red&PATH-UNITS=mi&PATH-MINIMUM=&SPEED-GROUND=&SPEED-UNITS=kts&RANGE-STYLE=best&RANGE-COLOR=navy&MAP-STYLE=&MAP-CENTER=LHR)
Via Shanghai (LHR-PVG-AKL) is 11562 miles (http://gc.kls2.com/cgi-bin/gc?MAP-CENTER=LHR&MAP-STYLE=&MARKER-STYLE=default&PATH=LHR-PVG-AKL&PATH-COLOR=red&PATH-MINIMUM=&PATH-STYLE=&PATH-UNITS=mi&RANGE=&RANGE-COLOR=navy&RANGE-STYLE=best&SPEED-GROUND=&SPEED-UNITS=kts)
Via Hong Kong (LHR-HKG-AKL) is 11683 miles (http://gc.kls2.com/cgi-bin/gc?PATH=LHR-HKG-AKL%0D%0A&RANGE=&PATH-COLOR=red&PATH-UNITS=mi&PATH-MINIMUM=&SPEED-GROUND=&SPEED-UNITS=kts&RANGE-STYLE=best&RANGE-COLOR=navy&MAP-STYLE=&MAP-CENTER=LHR)
Via Vancouver (LHR-YVR-AKL) is 11767 miles (http://gc.kls2.com/cgi-bin/gc?PATH=LHR-YVR-AKL%0D%0A&RANGE=&PATH-COLOR=red&PATH-UNITS=mi&PATH-MINIMUM=&SPEED-GROUND=&SPEED-UNITS=kts&RANGE-STYLE=best&RANGE-COLOR=navy&MAP-STYLE=&MAP-CENTER=LHR)
Via San Francisco (LHR-SFO-AKL) is 11884 miles (http://gc.kls2.com/cgi-bin/gc?PATH=LHR-SFO-AKL%0D%0A&RANGE=&PATH-COLOR=red&PATH-UNITS=mi&PATH-MINIMUM=&SPEED-GROUND=&SPEED-UNITS=kts&RANGE-STYLE=best&RANGE-COLOR=navy&MAP-STYLE=&MAP-CENTER=LHR)
Via Bangkok (LHR-BKK-AKL) is 11891 miles (http://gc.kls2.com/cgi-bin/gc?PATH=LHR-BKK-AKL%0D%0A&RANGE=&PATH-COLOR=red&PATH-UNITS=mi&PATH-MINIMUM=&SPEED-GROUND=&SPEED-UNITS=kts&RANGE-STYLE=best&RANGE-COLOR=navy&MAP-STYLE=&MAP-CENTER=LHR)
Via Los Angeles (LHR-LAX-AKL) is 11960 miles (http://gc.kls2.com/cgi-bin/gc?PATH=LHR-LAX-AKL%0D%0A&RANGE=&PATH-COLOR=red&PATH-UNITS=mi&PATH-MINIMUM=&SPEED-GROUND=&SPEED-UNITS=kts&RANGE-STYLE=best&RANGE-COLOR=navy&MAP-STYLE=&MAP-CENTER=LHR)
Via Singapore (LHR-SIN-AKL) is 11990 miles (http://gc.kls2.com/cgi-bin/gc?PATH=LHR-SIN-AKL&RANGE=&PATH-COLOR=red&PATH-UNITS=mi&PATH-MINIMUM=&SPEED-GROUND=&SPEED-UNITS=kts&RANGE-STYLE=best&RANGE-COLOR=navy&MAP-STYLE=&MAP-CENTER=LHR)
Via Dubai also needs a stop in Melbourne according to Emirates' route map(LHR-DXB-MEL-AKL) is 12294 miles (http://gc.kls2.com/cgi-bin/gc?PATH=LHR-DXB-MEL-AKL&RANGE=&PATH-COLOR=red&PATH-UNITS=mi&PATH-MINIMUM=&SPEED-GROUND=&SPEED-UNITS=kts&RANGE-STYLE=best&RANGE-COLOR=navy&MAP-STYLE=&MAP-CENTER=LHR).

(You may need to add some extra miles due to holding patterns and airport approach patterns but these are roughly the same for most major airports. High altitude winds such as the jetstream can also make a difference but I won't get into that here.)

The main difference is the tax charged and the competitiveness of the route.

Incidentally, if you could fly direct (you can't - the longest commercial flight is Singapore to New York at 10084 miles), it would be 11404 miles and you wouldn't see much land on your flight as it would follow this route (http://gc.kls2.com/cgi-bin/gc?PATH=LHR-AKL%0D%0A&RANGE=&PATH-COLOR=red&PATH-UNITS=mi&PATH-MINIMUM=&SPEED-GROUND=&SPEED-UNITS=kts&RANGE-STYLE=best&RANGE-COLOR=navy&MAP-STYLE=&MAP-CENTER=LHR)