Hi everyone!

Looking at flights and group bookings and whatnot and thought I'd check to see if anyone has any preferences in airline. Obviously using airmiles for flights is pointless as they are being paid for us, but I don't see why we can't get airmiles There are a number of options for flights there and I will warn you that some airlines will destroy your soul if they don't have inflight entertainment on the rather long flight (memories of an 18 hour Thai Air flight with one minute tv screen some 20ft away springs to mind). So, three questions:

1. Any airline preferences?
2. Any stopover/airport preferences?
3. Inflight entertainment or not? (We will all have laptops and ipods and I think that lower standard airlines are likely to cut their losses and offer a lower airfare for the lack of entertainment. That said, the lowest fare I have found so far is around £689)

One final thought - what is everyone's budget?

Sorry for twenty questions!

I usually fly Virgin Atlantic, but really have no preference. I noticed Emirates doing some great rates to Shanghai not so long ago. Also AirAsia are recommended by friends who travel from the UK to Sri Lanka/Malaysia. I can easily live without inflight entertainment & I have no definitive budget, but obviously the cheaper the better.

Thanks for taking a hold of this situation Abigail. I'm sure everyone will be grateful!

For the first time in my ENTIRE travelling experience, STA appear to actually be offering cheaper fares (cue the sound of angels singing to signify a miracle!), so I'm going to phone and barter  - I'm thinking that offering the trip advisor the chance to have around 10 people taking flights AND insurance with them might convince them to knock some money off. Lucky for us, the world's top airlines were awarded last week and in at number 2 is Qatar (which goes with what I've heard) and coincidentally, they are the second cheapest fare on the STA offers site - now let's just see if we can't knock that down further.

I need numbers. I need who wants to get in on a flight deal if I can get one and who wants insurance (travel insurance for the year) with STA if that is the case.

Also, I noticed that a few others that are working in Guangdong have not joined the group so expect an email to all addresses that I can find...

Heyy I'm definitely interested in group discounts and travel insurance!! The cheapest flights I found we're on Lastminute.com which included a connecting flight to Hainan from Hong Kong and the stop over was in Mumbai. That was one way however and about 563 I believe, I'll try and find the link and post it again, in flight entertainment would be lovely, but if they're asking for ridiculous prices then they can shove it haha!!!

Hey guys, just to put our names in for any potential group discount - Benedict Tumelty and Christina Qazi - Thanks!

oops

This particular thread is actually aimed at those flying to Guangzhou in order to go on to Hainan, which means that anyone at the other training camps will probably need to fly to Beijing. Manchester is actually around the same price as London for flying to Beijing.

I emailed all those on the list saying that they were headed to Hainan and I don't see you on the list, I may be mistaken, but are you at another camp? If so, there are threads for each of the respective camps where flight options are discussed for these.

Hope that helps!

oops