Hi everyone,
There isn't much difference between Emirates and Cathay; I'd say Emirates are slightly better in terms of service but I've flown to NZ with Cathay (as well as Emirates) and they were pretty good too! Certainly it's not worth paying more than £250 extra just to fly with Emirates. I'm not sure why she would quote you such a high price compared to the one you found yourself but I must admit I've never once found STA to be the cheapest, even when I was under 26. Have you tried Trailfinders too? I always find them to be the cheapest, especially when it's long haul and/or multi-stop.
Hey,
I booked mine through Expedia. although that was only to get cash back which wasn't worth it at all in the end. Kayak were the best. STA are just a rip off. Sadly I panicked with my one way flight to Sydney (I'll fly onto NZ about a month later) I paid £821 with Expedia insurance which included a 4 day stop off (flight only) in Dubai. I checked 6 weeks later and they have dropped to £688 so I'd be surprised if you get it for any less than that. I'm flying out of Birmingham though.
Are you doing a WHV and are you doing any tour? My best advise is to try and book everything yourself. Example: STA wanted £138 for my WHV which they said would take up to 4 weeks to come through, I did it myself on the government website which cost £85 and took two days.
STA and Kiwi experience: STA advertise the tour I wanted in their brochures for the best part of £2,500. I booked it direct online on offer for $749NZ so about £390.
I'm pretty sure STA get their business through the use of clever language and people who don't want to book things themselves. My trip would be extortionate by now if I went with them. The choice is yours but there are always cheaper options than STA, I guess they just offer 'reassurance' 'guidance' and 'support' from their 'experts'.
Danielle :-)
Just as a comparison, my mother's just bought return flights from Heathrow to Auckland via Kuala Lumpur (3 hour stop) with Malaysian Airlines for April 2014 - GBP1050. Sounds like STA is just trying to make money out of you!
Hi everyone,
Thank you all for your really helpful responses!
I've done several more searches on various other websites and STA are still coming up the cheapest.
From the airlines you guys suggested these were what I got quoted:
Trailfinders : £768
Expedia: £718
Kayak: £711
Malaysia Airlines: £810
(All economy class, and without a multi-flex pass)
STA are still coming up cheapest at £688, with a multi-flex pass.
This is very bizarre...
Is a multi-flex pass worth it? It allows you to change your flight dates three times, is it something you guys purchase with your flights or do you find you don't need it? Can it be used on your departure date flight - I'm just thinking in case someone doesn't go to plan...
Ps - Danielle, thank you for your mention about your WHV, I was going to get mine from STA travel thinking the price was pretty reasonable, but I've since looked at Visa First and found it slightly cheaper. I'll look at the governments website - £85 is really cheap!
When I did my round the world trip (which included NZ) I booked my ticket through Flight Centre Round the World experts, and I was able to chance my flight dates as often as I want at no extra cost. Might be worth trying them as well.
Is a multi-flex pass worth it? It allows you to change your flight dates three times, is it something you guys purchase with your flights or do you find you don't need it? Can it be used on your departure date flight - I'm just thinking in case someone doesn't go to plan...
Look up how much it costs to change the date without that service. That'll probably be £50-100. Then figure out how high the chance is you'll want to change the date. If it's less than 10% or so, it's probably worth "risking" that other fee.
Ps - Danielle, thank you for your mention about your WHV, I was going to get mine from STA travel thinking the price was pretty reasonable, but I've since looked at Visa First and found it slightly cheaper. I'll look at the governments website - £85 is really cheap!
Yeah, never get your visa anywhere other than from the official government website. All third party services would also need to go there anyway, charging you extra for the privilege to fill in the exact same information on their forms as on the official ones. (you need the "First Working Holiday Visa" link in the top row of the first table).
Thanks sander for the link! This is an Australian version, but it helped me find the New Zealand version! That's a very good point about it all tracking back to the official government service, didnt even think of that!
It looks like I will be booking my flights with sta travel, I'm kind of miffed that they are the cheapest - purely because of that woman trying to over charge me. But at least I've managed to get my flights, passport and visa paid for all within the cost of her flight quote. Shocker!
Oops, sorry! Too many threads, and I guess I wasn't paying attention here. For those reading this later, the correct starting point for getting the New Zealand WHV would be .
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