Airlines We Book | Full-Service Carriers Only

Why the airline decision deserves ten minutes

Travellers agonise over dates and destinations for weeks, then let a sorting algorithm pick the airline in four seconds, which is exactly backwards: on a long-haul route the carrier decides your baggage, your comfort, your transit hours and who rescues you when weather intervenes. The good news is that the decision is easier than it looks, because the full-service field from Australia is strong and the genuinely wrong answers are all budget carriers we do not sell anyway. What remains is matching each carrier's strengths to your particular trip, your dates, your baggage reality and your tolerance for transits, which is precisely what this page and our free quotes exist to do.

The carriers we book every week

Every airline below includes checked baggage and meals in the fares we quote. Airline-by-airline route guides are being added to this section; in the meantime the fastest comparison remains the personal one, so ask us to compare them on your route and let today's availability answer.

We also ticket Turkish Airlines, United, ANA and more. If a full-service airline flies your route, we can price it, and if two of them do, we will tell you honestly which one deserves your specific trip, because recommending the right airline for the wrong traveller helps nobody. That judgement, applied to your dates and today's wholesale availability, is the entire value of asking a specialist instead of a search box.

The carriers in more detail

Qantas matters most for its non-stops: the Sydney to Bengaluru direct is a genuine schedule-changer for the tech corridor, and the domestic network feeds every regional Australian traveller into the international system on one ticket. Frequent flyer families also value keeping the points at home.

Air India owns the India non-stop story from both Sydney and Melbourne, and the fleet refresh has transformed the cabins faster than reputations update. When speed to Delhi or Mumbai is the priority, this is the airline the comparison happens against.

Singapore Airlines is the airline we recommend most often overall: an impeccable product in every cabin, Changi's effortless transit, and connections fanning out to more than a dozen Indian and Asian cities. When a client says "just make it comfortable", this is usually the answer.

Malaysia Airlines is the quiet value champion of the India runs: full-service standards, generous baggage, a compact easy hub at KL, and fares that regularly embarrass better-known rivals. We book it constantly and complaints are rare as hen's teeth.

Emirates and Qatar Airways anchor the Gulf: colossal networks through Dubai and Doha, superb premium cabins (the Qsuite remains the business class benchmark), and the natural routings for Europe, the UK, Africa and west India. When Asian hubs sell out in peak season, the Gulf often still has sane seats.

Cathay Pacific brings Hong Kong's efficiency and some of the sky's best-designed seats; it is frequently the sharpest premium fare on India and Europe itineraries and a favourite of travellers who care about the hardware.

Thai Airways offers well-timed overnight departures, an easy Bangkok connection to Delhi, Mumbai and Europe, and fares that hold steady when flashier rivals spike; it is the workhorse recommendation more often than its marketing would suggest. Elsewhere in the field: Etihad counters via Abu Dhabi with strong premium value and a calmer hub than its neighbours; SriLankan owns the Colombo story and the south India shortcuts that save Kerala-bound travellers hours; Vietnam Airlines flies direct into Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, opening Indochina without a backtrack; and Air New Zealand and Fiji Airways cover the Tasman and Pacific with full-service standards the budget competition cannot match on their best day.

How we choose between them for your quote

Four questions decide most recommendations. Where exactly are you going (the best airline to Delhi is not automatically the best to Kochi)? When (peak-season availability reshuffles the rankings monthly)? Who is travelling (families weight baggage and easy transits; business travellers weight schedules and lounges; parents flying solo weight assistance quality)? And what matters more, hours or dollars? Answer those in the quote form and the shortlist we send back is already filtered through everything this page describes, plus today's wholesale fares, which no ranking article on the internet can see.

What "full-service only" means for your fare

• Checked baggage in the price, typically 23kg to 35kg in economy on Asian routes
• Meals and drinks included, and special meals bookable in advance
• Seat selection handled properly, including bassinets and families seated together
• A real rebooking desk when weather or schedule changes strike
• Premium economy, business and first cabins where the route supports them, with wholesale premium fares that are frequently the biggest saving an agent can hand you
• Special meals, bassinets, wheelchair assistance and family seating lodged with the airline at booking time, confirmed in writing, and never left to a check-in counter negotiation

Two practical notes complete the picture. First, on baggage: the ranges above are economy patterns, and premium cabins raise them substantially, which matters for wedding-season packing more than any seat comparison. Second, on reliability: every carrier on this page operates a proper rebooking operation for weather and schedule disruptions, and with an agent booking, that operation answers to us on your behalf rather than to your place in a call queue. If a quote ever looks unusually cheap, it is not because something was stripped out. It is because it is a wholesale fare. Get one for your route and see the difference.