Justval,

Whoever you fly with, you'll have to stop a couple of times on the way. It's just a questin of where! A friend went to New Zeland with Emirates and said it was pretty good. Qantas aren't too bad either but you've so many options. Emirates economy seats are quite good and give you more room than the likes of BA. It comes down to cost as much as anything.

Darren

Val

There can be a huge difference in price but if the price is right I would go with Air NewZealand. You can either do a round the world which would entail a stopover in HongKong one way and Los Angeles (or possibly San Fransisco) on the Pacific leg. Or just fly both ways over Asia stopping in HK. Cathay Pacific would also stop in Hong Kong.
If you don't mind two stops then possibly Emirates, though I'm not a fan, I believe they have really gone downhill over the last few years, though there may have been an improvement with the introduction of the A380.
Another possibility for the Asian route is MalaysianAirlines with a stopover in Kuala Lumpur. On my last flight to OZ I used this airline and was more than satisfied with the airline, loads of leg room and good service.
SingaporeAirlines is another possibility with a stopover in Singapore. I've flown with them a few times and usually find them very good.
A friend recently did the journey with KoreanAir and had a stopover in Seoul and he is going to use them on his next trip to NZ.
There are loads of combinations and all of the above airlines, with the exception of Emirates do the journey with just one stopover. The best thing is to look at a comparison site for prices such as Expedia, then check out the individual reviews with another site e.g. http://www.airlinequality.com for the airlines you have chosen.
Have fun but don't go mad like I did when booking my trip to NZ in 2002. We ended up doing a round the world with six stopovers and it cost us a fortune.

Val

I've just reread your post and realised that you are fllying in to Christchurch, for some reason I was thinking you said Auckland, which more airlines use. So Christchurch would probably mean one more stop.
Even with two stops though I would still recommend the airlines I mentioned.
Darren mentioned BA and I agree that the legroom can be quite cramped (the same with Qantas)on most of their planes and for that reason I wouldn't travel long haul with them but the service on BA is usually pretty good.

Thank you for the replies. Leg Room is important as Rob is quite a big bloke and when flying cattle class on ordinary journeys we purchase extra leg room. comparing prices so far, Emirates have been the cheapest..but sometimes it is not always about the cheapest option.

I quite like the idea of stopping in different destinations on the way back. Maybe stopping in Asia on the way out and the USA on the way back..
I also dont mind a couple of stops but what Emirates have been offering on all thier flights so far have been stop in Munich, stop in Dubai, stop in Bangkok and then onto Christchurch..or stop in Dubai, stop in Bangkok, stop in Sydney then onto Christchurch. We alo looked at flying from manchester which is far easier for us than getting down to London but Emirates were calling in at Heathrow on the way for a couple of hours..so we may as well fly from there for cheaper price.

We have considered flying to somewhere, having say 24 or 36 hours there and then flying on to NZ..so there is a possibility we could mix and match airlines to get the best deal.

Whilst it might not have been what you had originally considered, have you compared the price with ANZ's round-the-world ticketing which is supposed to be competitive and would certainly give you and interesting choice of stopovers?

For more advice, might you think of having a look at INVALID URL which not only has threads on various airlines but also on accommodation and different countries. This is not really in competition with HT as a lot of the members fly on business and have different takes about the airline industry and its issues. It might be worth a quick visit.

Justval wrote:

We have considered flying to somewhere, having say 24 or 36 hours there and then flying on to NZ..so there is a possibility we could mix and match airlines to get the best deal.

Val when we did the RTW flights that I mentioned in my earlier post we flew with a mixture of Airlines, Singapore, ANZ, United and Lufthansa (Star Alliance partners) It depends on the airline alliance. BA are in One World along with Quantas with I believe Cathay Pacific and many others. Cathay would probably be a good airline for Rob as they have new style seats that are in a hard shell that doesn't move (the inside of the seat moves forward) so people can't recline their seat backs into your space.
You may want to contact a specialist travel company such as Travelbag or Trailfinders and ask them price the flights for you, rather than spend hours researching flights yourself. You don't have to book through them but the info they provide could be useful.

Thank you....we had looked at Cathay Pacific before. We quite fancied the trip to Seoul so I went on Korea Air site..they dont do flights to Christchurch, so we would have to change at Auckland. Also, Rob fancies the idea of different stopping destinations on the way back...just to make it abit more of an adventure for us.

I will certainly look at all your recommendations and let you know what we come up with. The schedules are not out yet for when we want the flights until the end of the month so I have plenty of time to research.

Val

You are making me very envious. I've got a very big birthday coming up in early 2012 and we are sort of planning to go to South Africa but I just mentioned to OH about your trip and I said why not return to NZ instead as we both loved the place(it's probably my favourite holiday destination) he's not sounding too positive but I've got time to try and change his mind.

Judith

keep working on him!!

I have uncles in both South Africa and New Zealand..and have never been to either place. I have not seen my Uncle since I was 10 when he married a kiwi and emmigrated. I am 43 this year. New Zealand is as far away as you can possibly get and I had talked about doing it for when Rob is 50..but that is not for another 5 years and we thought "chuff that" and decided to go for it now while we are young enough to enjoy it and still capable of working extra hard to get the cash we need to pay for it!

Christchurch will be our base but we will be touring around to maximise the experience.

I did see that Qantas do stopover in various places in Australia..surely the plane has to stop somewhere before there???

Val
Qantas usually stop in Singapore.

we have just been quoted £1803 each with Air NZ for flying from heathrow to Hong Kong, 2 nights in a hotel then on to CHC..then coming back, from CHC to San Fran, 2 nights in San Fran..then to Los Angeles then back to London.
The hotel costs are included in this....

This is leaving here on 27 Dec this year and returning on 12 Jan next.

Is this a good price as it inlcudes taxes too?

I think I am happy with it but am not sure.....the seats are only being held open for 48 hours...then I either pay and book or lose them.
What do I do????

I really really want this trip.....

Is it expensive or about right bearing in mind the time of year...?

Help. Please.
Ps: I have posted this in the NZ thread so Van?mods please feel free to delete this or move to elsewhere..its just I thought I would get a quicker reply here.

Seems expensive to me Val but It was nearly 4 years ago when we went.

Val, have you tried doing a multiple destination flight on Expedia or Kayak?

luci