Melbourne Flights

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some may prefer the demure ladies of Asiatique Airlines, others the teutonic regimentation of Lufthansa, but I prefer Qantas, our national airlines.
On this last flight, food was nothing short of fantastic; the selection of wines carefully done, a flute of DOM as you come into the plane.. attentive service and you carry australia with you a little longer..

I would fly. I have done the train trip and hated it....just too long and I have flown twice so there is no comparison from my perspective. Mind you I haven't tried the bus...hmmm. Still flying.

Carole.

Don’t underestimate travelling over many time zones. If you fly to Sydney and connect with any domestic flight, you will have to take a bus from the international terminals to the domestic terminals. It can take some time, as you have to collect luggage and go through immigration/customs.

Flying with Qantas
Was my first experience with Qantas. It is a good airline with good in- flight entertainment. Cabin crew were above average. They have a very good and user friendly website.
www.qantas.com.au

We wanted to start off our roadtrip to Great Ocean Road and did not want to go into a big city like Melbourne especially during a self-drive. I found the budget airline Jetstar to be perfect as I can connect to Jetstar from my international flight which stops in Sydney and Jetstar brings me to Avalon which is 19km to Geelong.

Geelong is the gateway to the Great Ocean Road so it was a very good place to spend a night before embarking onto the Great Ocean Road.

Jetstar airlines is also a lot cheaper than Qantas. I paid A$162 for 2 persons to fly from Sydney to Avalon and flight is over an hour long (left Sydney at 7.40pm and arrived into Avalon at 9.10pm). As in any budget airline, don't expect any frills. Better to eat at the airport before boarding the flight.

It was very easy to book our flights on the website.

If I could only count how many times Sarah and I were in and out of this airport of the course of two years! Thanks to business and pleasure travel, I can honestly say I know this airport like the back of my hand.

Melbourne's Tullamarine International Airport is most likely the Southern Most International Gateway to the rest of the world. Although Christchurch NZ probably launches airplanes further south to Antarctica, Melbourne truly has a great international routing system.

Along with all the major Capital Cities in Australia, you can also reach many international destinations. Indonesia on JetStar, UAE on Emirates, London on BA or QF, Thailand on Thai, Manila on Philippines Air, KL on Malaysian, Singapore on Singapore Air, Hong Kong on Cathay, Shanghai on China Eastern, and multiple others. There are also direct flights from the US to LAX and SFO on United and Qantas.

Everytime I depart Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur, I see that the checkin counter staffs are very religious about 7kg hand carry, 20kg check-in for economy class. They will ask you to repack on the spot if the numbers don't tally.

We found out the hard way that Melbourne Airport is not didj-friendly. Other Aussie airports had no problems with us carrying-on our didgeridoo, provided it was under a metre long so it would fit in the overhead lockers. Melbourne security will turn you back if you try to take one on the plane with you. Save yourself some time and just check it through or have the store ship it in the first place (like I wanted, but let my hubby talk me out of doing).

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Melbourne Airport (Tullamarine) is Melbourne's main airport. If you are flying in from an international destination this is the airport you will land at (as well as 'most' domestic flights as well).

When travelling to/from Europe I have gone through Melbourne. I have flown with Singapore and Malaysia airlines. And I have to say, of the two, that I preferred flying with Singapore airlines - I thought their selection of entertainment was better, and service was better as well (this is from the point of view of someone flying economy).

Before departing for an international flight, it is recommended that you arrive 3 hours prior to your departure time. All check in counters are labeled clearly and are easy to find.

Boarding and getting through customs is fairly hassle free, although when coming back into Melbourne I found them to be very strict on their bag checks - so make sure you don't have anything (fruits/wood products... whatever) that you shouldn't have.

Melbourne airport also has a lot of good shops in their Duty Free section. Plenty of drinks (alcoholic/non-alcohlic), perfumes, chocolates, beauty products... plus souvenirs, magazines, books, there is plenty to keep you occupied here while waiting for your flight.

To get to and from the airport there is a bus that leaves from Southern Cross Station - Skybus (and also stops at some city hotels - see website below for more information).

There are also buses that come to the International/Domestic terminals for if you are going to Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo or other regional areas.