Once again I have been lured by an AirAsia sale and find myself in Kuala Lumpur. I didn’t intend to book a flight when I checked the AirAsia page, I was just checking if there was anything new on the site. Next thing you know the flashing $149 AUD one way sale banner was hypnotizing me and I had my credit card out ready to go.
Being not too dependent on time my criteria for booking flights is to find the cheapest available. The two cheapest flights I could find were 2 and a half months apart. So for the next 80 days Southeast Asia is my living and working playground.
Before my first trip to Europe I wouldn’t have been able to tell you where Karlsruhe, Katowice or Klagenfurt was on the map. Since then I not only know where they are, I have used their airports and have saved hundreds of Euros in the process.
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport
My criteria for flying in Europe is to book flights that are on sale to places I haven’t been. Occasionally though I need to fly to specific places within a given time. Having locked in travel dates can mean having to fly on expensive tickets. You may be able to save money though by using alternative airports close to your destinations.
For example, I was in Amsterdam and I needed to be in Budapest on a certain date for work. At the time of booking there was no low cost airline serving this route (SkyEurope used to, but they have since closed).
I checked the usual farefinder sites and the cheapest flight I could find was €250! There is no way I’m paying that much for an Inter European flight, so I looked around for alternatives.
A good tool for finding nearby alternative airports is harefares.com. Enter the two cities you want to fly between and it will also show you the nearest airports, ranked in distance.
Flights from Netherlands to Hungary
The next nearest airports to Amsterdam are Rotterdam and Eindhoven. Hungarian low cost airline WizzAir serve the Eindhoven – Budapest route and I found a fare for the date I needed at €50.
Eindhoven is listed as 105km away, which may sound like alot, but it is only 80 minutes from Amsterdam by train. This is about the time it takes to me to get from Central London to Stansted or Luton anyway.
The train from Amsterdam to Eindhoven costs €17, and it’s another €3 to get the bus from the Eindhoven Train Station to the airport.
So my total cost for the airfare and train ticket was €70, a saving of €180 had I have settled for booking a flight out of Amsterdam.
WizzAir at Eindhoven Airport
I have been in a similar situation where I needed to from London to Strasbourg, France. Strasbourg is the seat of several European institutions, thus flights to the city are expensive. The best option was to fly to Karlsruhe-Baden Airport which is a short train ride away in Germany and a couple of hundred Euro cheaper than flying to Strasbourg Airport.
When you are considering using an alternative airport, make sure you research if you can get to the airport easily enough as well.
I usually book flights well in advance, so I don’t often have to do this. It is a handy travel hack to know just incase your travel plans aren’t so flexible.
The Kangaroo Route from Australia to the UK is a tedious 24 hour trip if you can’t sleep on planes (which would be me). One benefit of such a long flight is that the ticket will usually permit a stop-over for no extra cost. It is with this option that I find myself in Hong Kong for two days.
Nathan Rd, Kowloon - Hong Kong
I’ve been to Hong Kong a few times now using this option. it’s a great place to stretch your legs between flights. I have now got a few favourite restaurants and cafes, and can – for the most part – get around without a map.
My flight to London is with Qantas, which use Hong Kong, Singapore or Bangkok as the stop-over city. Singapore is good for a one day stop because it is so easy to get in and around. Bangkok is my favourite city for longer stops as this gives me the chance to explore some more of Thailand.
I have previously been able to do a stop-over in Tokyo and Shanghai, but fares to those cities are always more than the traditional hubs of Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur.
Airlines from the Middle East are now prominent on the Kangaroo Route, so Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha are now viable stop-over cities as well. I got a great deal one year with Emirates which took me to Dubai, a city I wouldn’t have gone out of my way to visit, but a worthy city for a stop-over. If Etihad and Qatar offer a good deal in the future I’m sure I’ll one day find myself in Abu Dhabi and Doha as well.
India is the missing link on the Kangaroo Route. Qantas has a flight from Sydney to Mumbai and that’s it. There are no airlines from India that fly to Australia (though there is talk of Air India returning, and Kingfisher Airlines are looking into starting flights).
For me Mumbai or Delhi would make a great stop-over city. There are so many places I want to see in India that having a few weeks there on the way back from Europe would be a good way to do it. Visas, terrible airports and extreme culture shock would discourage any Australian airline from using an Indian city as a stop-over hub, so I don’t think that will happen any time soon.
What is your favourite stop-over city on the Kangaroo Route?
Flying in Indonesia is relatively inexpensive, but buying tickets can sometimes be a hassle.
For my flight from Yogyakarta to Bali I found a good deal with Mandala Airlines. I jumped through all the necessary hoops and confirmed the booking, only to be informed at the very end that I couldn’t pay with an international credit card. I was given a reference number which I had to take to a partner travel agent to finish the booking.
The total price was 403,000 IDR (about $40 USD). I was happy with the price, though not happy that I missed the sneaky insurance box that was automatically selected.
Going to the travel agent added an extra 22,000 IDR (Agency Fee to make payment) and 12,750 IDR (+ 3% Credit Card Fee).
This payment situation happened to me on an airline in India as well. It seems incredible that an airline can’t set up international bookings on their website. Air Asia allow international credit cards for online bookings in Indonesia. It is no wonder that they are now one of the biggest airlines in Asia.
If it wasn’t for the fact that the flight was on at the time I wanted (plus I have never flown Mandala before) I would have gone with an airline that takes international credit cards.
Seeing that my AirAsia flight was already rescheduled twice I got to the airport early to make sure I had a seat. I needn’t have worried as the flight was 1/3 full.
AirAsiaX Seats
I ended up sort of lying down in the middle rows so all in all it was a good flight. They do exactly what say say they will, that is offer a no frills budget long haul service. I just hope they fill more seats as the service becomes more known.
I just got round to changing my accommodation details after my flight was moved two days forward then I got another text from AirAsiaX saying my flight is moved to a different day!
AirAsiaX Text Message
They have sent me a new e-ticket, but I wont be confident about actually flying until I am onboard.
I am due to fly to Kuala Lumpur next week with AirAsiaX. I am looking forward to trying out this airline that started flights to Melbourne in 2008. Actually I’m just looking forward to going away, so my heart sank briefly when I got this text message from the airline:
AirAsiaX Text Message
There is no explanation why this flight is cancelled, but fortunately I’m on the next flight 2 days after.
