Which airline is best?

My cruise starts in Auckland and ends in Sydney.

My options can be through Vancouver, San Francisco, or LAX.

Which airline is best in your opinion, and why?

 

Thanks.

Tak2,

 

Do you want it to be OneWorld or Star Alliance? This is because if you want to accrue frequent flyer points, it will make a difference.

 

I HATE LAX. So, for me I would Fly Qantas to San Fran. That is me because I have FF with them, and also I like to fly them. The options are more diverse for Star Alliance but it is personal choice. If it all came to $$$ I would probably fly an Asian airline. Too many factors.

 

Give us more info maybe??

My cruise starts in Auckland and ends in Sydney.

My options can be through Vancouver, San Francisco, or LAX.

Which airline is best in your opinion, and why?

 

Thanks.

Qantas or Air New Zealand are the "only" way to go from the US as they are direct and have the best equipped planes in terms of comfort and personal video (more than important on a 14 hour flight) LAX is the best over all gateway from the US. Air Canada does it from YVR but I don't know enough about them to comment.

 

Cheaper fares exist on Air Tahiti and Air Pacific with stops in Tahiti and Fiji respectively.

If you're used to flying US airlines, you'll be in for a big treat with either Air New Zealand or Qantas - it's a lot more pleasant experience. As a frequent Air New Zealand flier, they'll get my vote here. Seat pitch is generous by international standards, the food is usually very good and they even offer an on-board concierge to help you with queries about your destination. If you're entitled to use the Air NZ lounge, that's great as well. And if you were really going to go mad, you can't beat the premium economy seats or the lie-flat business class beds!!

Which airline is best in your opinion, and why?

Of the three airlines that fly non-stop between the US and Aus/NZ, United is a distant third in terms of choice.

 

The important considerations have already been posted, but I would just add this: Make sure you know which airline is actually operating your flight. There is a lot of codesharing between Air New Zealand and United, and you would be very disappointed if you thought you were flying NZ and you ended up on UA because you'd bought the codeshare flight.

My cruise starts in Auckland and ends in Sydney.

My options can be through Vancouver, San Francisco, or LAX.

Which airline is best in your opinion, and why?Thanks.

If you were to fly out of the East coast then the only Airline to take is Singapore however out of the West Coast I think Qantas is miles ahead ( having said that I must tell you I am a lifetime Qantas club member and a true blue Aussie and fly to and fro from the USA up to 6 times a year, however I am trying to be totally honest IMO) You have direct flights out of LAX and SFO ( into Auckland) and it is not uncommon for people of Nth America to be affraid of the long haul of 14 hours ( really its not all that bad, get a good sleep and it makes it a lot better) however what no one has mentioned at this stage is you are going to "break your air with the ship content" and this can cause HEAVY $$$$ penalty no matter who you fly with.I offer these to thoughts, Fly into Sydney on a RETURN discount ticket and have a one way ticket booked to take you into AUK OR get a return ticket by one of the many many carriers ( and cheap) you have into Honalulu, either connect or spend a night and break the journey and get a Flight into AUK and then do the same out of Sydney to HNL on return

On the odd occassion Qantas has flights for US$899 LAX/SFO to Syd and I would GRAB one of those if they are on offer and then do the cheap one way to AUK ex Syd as mentioned.

Jetstar a Sister to Qantas ( like Eagle to AA) as does several others, really, it gets down to do you want to save money and want to do it in one flight

You can also,................ just to confuse a little more fly Business Class US to HNL and then Star Class ( Jetstar) for around 40% of the business rip off price that both Qantas and ANZ charge.

hope that helps for more thought;)

Bruce

If you were to fly out of the East coast then the only Airline to take is Singapore ...

Qantas does fly New York-Los Angeles-Sydney. (And this is undoubtedly the best way to fly from New York to Los Angeles, if you qualify to take the flight.)

 

The total scheduled time New York-Sydney on current timetables is 22:15. But if you fly on Singapore Airlines you are in for at least 27:20 (and 31:50 from JFK) with no significant time at the connection points. So you are taking quite a big travel time hit in order to take the Singapore Airlines flights.

... however what no one has mentioned at this stage is you are going to "break your air with the ship content" and this can cause HEAVY $$$$ penalty no matter who you fly with.I offer these to thoughts, Fly into Sydney on a RETURN discount ticket and have a one way ticket booked to take you into AUK

There is no financial penalty for flying on a valid open-jaw routing (USA)-Auckland/Sydney-(USA) (or vice versa). This is because the routing will still qualify for the discount fares. There is no need to go through the rigmarole of buying a return ticket to Sydney to avoid any financial penalty.

 

Just to take an example, the Qantas website is returning the following fares (for random dates in April 2009):-

LAX-AKL-LAX: $1481.05

LAX-SYD-LAX: $1425.90

LAX-SYD/AKL-LAX: $1439.77

LAX-AKL/SYD-LAX: $1467.18

 

The extra money you spend on getting a return to Sydney and buying a cheapie one-way ticket to Auckland is just so much wasted money.

Qantas does fly New York-Los Angeles-Sydney. (And this is undoubtedly the best way to fly from New York to Los Angeles, if you qualify to take the flight.)

 

My comment was quality and seating on Singapore not flight time:)

 

While I am new to CC and see you have 10k+ postings:rolleyes: I take it you are either a frustrated travel agent or cruiser :( with so few cruises under your belt from your sailings however IF your pricings are correct and IF your information re open tickets is correct then that is obviously the way to go,;) just seems to me that when I ACTUALLY do that type of thing I get "cant do's, Customs or the Jones Act thrown at me ?...............still as mentioned if able it is the way to go

Bruce

As you say dropanchor, you are new to CC - perhaps it might be in your best interests to take a differing opinion a little less personally. It seemed to me that Globaliser was simply providing additional information which might be pertinent to the OP not criticising you.

It doesn't really hurt to take the open jaw. My wife and I are paying 1500US for LAX-SYD AKL-LAX in November. Though one thing is correct theone way from AKL to SYD isn't bad under $200US on Air New Zealand.

My comment was quality and seating on Singapore not flight time

Fair enough, but that doesn't make Singapore the "only" airline to take, because it comes with a very substantial downside. Someone on the east coast might take you literally, and have a misleading impression about their options.

 

In any event, most people reading this will be flying economy. It is very easy to over-state how good SQ economy is, compared with QF economy.

While I am new to CC and see you have 10k+ postings I take it you are either a frustrated travel agent or cruiser with so few cruises under your belt from your sailings

It would be very dangerous for you to assume anything about me, including the total number of cruises that I have taken.

Wow! Never thought I would get so many responses, from 3 continents!

 

I literally got information overload from searching Qantas, Air NZ website Air Canada , as well as Expedia. Thanks to everybody for their suggestions, which helped a lot.:)

I am trying to find reasonably priced (and reasonable flying times) flights from Hartford, Ct- to AKL for Oceania cruise on Jan 17, 2009, and flying from SYD back to BDL on Feb 12, 2009. I would be interested in flying for a few days to Cairns post cruise, then back to SYD for flight back to Connecticut. I am also thinking of perhaps a stop over in Fiji, pre-cruise if I fly via Air Pacific one way. Is that possible without paying an extra charge? I need to check with Oceania for a deviation, but I am told I need to request specific flights, and pay an extra fee, in addition to deviation fee, if the cost is more. Otherwise, I will have to pay for flights myself, and take "air credit" from Oceania. Anyone have suggestions?

Thanks,

Kathy

Just so ya'll know, United have not flown their planes on US to New Zealand for about 7 years now .. if you see a UA code to NZ, it'll be codeshare and you'll fly the route on an Air New Zealand plane (which is better, trust me!). Not sure if United are still flying their planes to Oz ..

 

Of the three airlines that fly non-stop between the US and Aus/NZ, United is a distant third in terms of choice.

Just my two cents - I havent done any research in to flight times or prices (that is my husbands domain!) I am all for comfort and quality. We have flown to Calgary twice now (both with Qantas) and found service and quality ok. Just returned from Europe via Singapore Airlines and found there service brilliant. The last time we went to Calgary we actually mentioned that the next time we would fly Jetstar or some other low cost airline to Hawaii and then West Jet to Canada - although I think you have to go via Vancoover now. We have flown West Jet from Canada and found them very nice.

 

Good luck!

 

Carly

My cruise starts in Auckland and ends in Sydney.

My options can be through Vancouver, San Francisco, or LAX.

Which airline is best in your opinion, and why?

 

Thanks.

Kia ora i Rotorua,

I understand that Air Tahiti fly New York to Auckland, stopping at Tahiti to refuel etc. They get good reports so it might be worth a look.

Regards

Aquarians

We bought air through HAL for a Auckland to Sydney cruise. We live in Texas, so I am assuming that we will fly out of LAX. What airline does HAL use from LAX to Auckland?

Not sure if United are still flying their planes to Oz ..

Yes they are, unfortunately. And even more unfortunate, NZ places its code on those UA flights.

Singapore Airlines have won the best a/line award for the third time in a row.its possible the new 380 is now flying this route. they have five in service, Qantas only one. long haul S/Airlines for me.

If I come to Perth, I would do Singapore, but to Sydney means I fly backwards and spend many more hours for the flight, not desirable for coach ( economy , as we call this in Canada ) class.

Try Air Pacific from LAX. There are some good sales now from Calgery to LAX. They are owned partly by Qantas. That is what we are doing from Toronto. Flying North West to LAX

Ontario Cruiser

TAC2 I never said fly to Perth. i,m sure S/Airlines fly out of LAX Sanfrancisco and Vancouver if this is the case and they use the new 380 on this route this would be a huge bonus for you on a long haul flight.Qantas are a good a/line but singapore is the best.

Air NZ are not reliable. Grumphy

....... i,m sure S/Airlines fly out of LAX Sanfrancisco and Vancouver if this is the case.......

Grumphy

 

I just checked Singapore's website. Although they do fly out of the west coast of N. America, they go there to Asia, not Aus/NZ. One has to be in Singapore to fly direct to Aus/NZ using Singapore airlines.

Going SFO-Singapore-AKL is a much longer route than SFO-AKL, don't you think?

its possible the new 380 is now flying this route. they have five in service, Qantas only one.

Actually, I think that Singapore Airlines now has six. Qantas doesn't have any in service yet, although the first has been delivered; services begin later this month IIRC.

 

This is all pretty fluid, anyway, as the lines are now rolling. Singapore Airlines has 3 more due for delivery in the first half of next year, one more in the second half, and three more in 2010. Qantas is due to take two more in 2008, and one in each quarter between Q1 2009 and Q3 2010. And all dates are subject to slippage as some equipment manufacturers are finding themselves unable to deliver in time to the fitout centre.

 

Singapore Airlines is only using the A380 on Singapore-Sydney, Singapore-London and Singapore-Tokyo at present. There was a brief period of A380 service on Singapore-Beijing for the Olympics. But I don't know that any further deployment plans have yet been announced.

Kia ora i Rotorua,

I understand that Air Tahiti fly New York to Auckland, stopping at Tahiti to refuel etc. They get good reports so it might be worth a look.

Regards

Aquarians

 

Air Tahiti is showing the cheapest flights to Aus right now. They have flights out of New York/LAX with a stop in Papeete. They have a deal on overnight hotels in Papeete or you can carry on to Sydney.

The seat pitch and width of the economy seats beat Qantas or Air New Zealand.

We are considering booking with Air Tahiti for our Sydney to Vancouver cruise in April.