Flying from Australia or New Zealand to Europe is easy and affordable. There are many airline choices and stop over options.

Cheap airfares to Paris are usually available outside the peak periods of June, July, August.

There are no non-stop flights between Australasia and Europe.

Actual flying time between Australasia and Europe is anywhere between 14 and 20 hours depending on your departure and arrival points.

Consider a stop over for a day or two to break the trip up.

From Australia the obvious choices are Singapore or one of the Gulf States like United Arab Emirates (Dubai) or Qatar.

Try Air Austral, Sydney to Paris, Toulouse, Marseille, Lyon via the French Indian Ocean Territory of Reunion.

From New Zealand going via the Americas or Asia is equally viable.

Air New Zealand offers Auckland to London with a Los Angeles or a Hong Kong stop over.

Handy Hints

SkyScanner.net provides accurate information on what airlines serve what cities. SkyScanner.net also allows you to make online bookings for the airline of your choice.

SeatGuru.com created by TripAdvisor gives you the real low-down on airline seating layout, food and cabin service.

Join a frequent flyer program. Points accumlated on a long haul flight are often enough to get you a domestic flight at a later date back home.

Frequent Flyer Community is Australia's leading independent resource on the many frequent flyer programs.  

Consider low cost carrier combinations:

Perth to Bangkok with Tiger Airways then Bangkok London Standsted with Air Berlin.

Gold Coast, Melbourne or Perth to London via Kuala Lumpur with Air Asia  

Australian Government Advice for flying internationally

Minimise delays and ensure a smooth transition through security screening by packing liquids, aerosols and gels before you arrive at the airport.

Ensure that each container you wish to take on board is no greater than 100 millilitres, and that all containers are packed comfortably in a single, transparent, plastic, resealable bag.

The sum of the four sides of the sealed area should not exceed 80 cm (e.g. 20x20 cm or 15x25 cm).