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TIME, MONEY AND BRAND: THE TRINITY OF INFLUENCES ON LONG-HAUL FLYING 13/9/2018

During a Perth to London flight that was even longer than advertised (a gate-to-gate journey of almost 18 hours), I had plenty of time to reflect on the three parameters that count most when choosing a long-haul journey: time, money and brand.cheap air online

Looking at the fares for a Heathrow-Sydney flight on 1 May, returning two weeks later, the trade-off between time and money is clear. By far the cheapest is Air China, which will sell you the trip for a frankly absurd £433 – so long as you are happy with a nine-hour transfer in Beijing in each direction. China Southern offers a much slicker connection flight via its hub in Guangzhou, as well as less time in the air, for £601. Budget passengers can assess whether the 12 hours saved is worth £168 (that’s £14 per hour, to save you the time).

Once brand comes into the picture, the calculation becomes more complex. Singapore Airlines has a £730 fare, with good connections in the city state and a formidable reputation. Other factors are at work, of course. “SQ” also has the advantage of getting the longer part of the outbound journey covered before the break. While the Gulf-based airlines offer plenty of one-stop connections, I prefer to cover more ground and not to touch down beside a big duty-free shop drenched with florescent light at silly o’clock in the morning. So the Far East, whether Singapore, Beijing or Guangzhou, or indeed Hong Kong or Kuala Lumpur, is my preference over Dubai, Doha or Abu Dhabi.

All of this assumes the status quo that has prevailed for the past 30 years: that London to Sydney, the flagship link between Europe and Australia, is a one-stop trip. What happens when the 10,560-mile journey becomes nonstop?

The boss of Qantas, Alan Joyce, is convinced it will happen in 2022. When I met him off the first Perth-Heathrow nonstop at Terminal 3 shortly before 6am last Sunday morning, he told me: “That’s when we think Boeing and Airbus will have an aircraft that can do the operation. We’re working closely with them to get the aircraft there.”

At a little under 20 hours outbound and 21 hours inbound, the flying time from London to Sydney will be three hours longer than the nonstop to and from Perth. The timings during the northern summer look attractive, too; a 10am departure from Heathrow gives a 4pm next-day arrival in Sydney. So plenty of time for connections inwards from around north-west Europe into London, and outwards from Sydney to New Zealand’s key cities. Or, for point-to-point travellers, a civilised departure and arrival time.

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