Airfare USA to Australia

[sabu24]

What Airlines does Princess use if you book air through them?  I am looking at a cruise in 2021 and would like to get an idea of airfare.  I know prices change but airlines would be the same. Thanks in advance for any assistance

Fran

[Colo Cruiser]

24 minutes ago, sabu24 said:

What Airlines does Princess use if you book air through them?  I am looking at a cruise in 2021 and would like to get an idea of airfare.  I know prices change but airlines would be the same. Thanks in advance for any assistance

Fran

Airlines usually release their schedule approx. 330 days in advance.

There is no way to tell what airlines they will contract with as that can vary.

When the air becomes available for your cruise you would have to go into the EZ Air booking process to see what is offered.

As noted check future cruises that have air available to get an idea.

[sabu24]

I understand it is far away.  Just trying to see what airlines folks are using now, ones that have already booked air.

Thanks

Fran

[ggprincess2004]

They use a number of airlines, our experience on Virgin Australia was fantastic and I would recommend them. They codeshare with Delta. The easiest way to take a look at what you might be able to book is to do a booking on line with a courtesy hold for a cruise that originates in the city you are sailing from, for which flights can now be booked (something later in 2020 for example) and look at the flight offerings and pricing currently shown in EZ Air. That should give you a pretty good idea of what you can expect as soon as flights become available for your 2021 cruise. 

[skynight]

Basically all the main airlines. Take a look at one of the 2020 cruises on the Princess web site and select flight quotes. You can get an idea. I would select an airline that allows you to select your seat when you book. The flight to Australia from the east coast is around 22 hours in the air. Not comfortable in a coach middle seat. This is one example

Golden Princess

Tue, Mar 10, 2020

 

[mustgo]

We will be on the Pacific Princess Monday Jan 20.  We booked EZair from Sydney to San Francisco on Feb 20.  Business class was in the $2000s on American, United, Delta, Quantas and some China, and Korean airlines.  Price would vary from week to week as low as $2000 and high of $3600.  We started at the high end when booking about 3 months before the cruise and then keep changing to lower fares.  Then I cancelled one ticket when I was able to get 1 ticket with miles.  At the very end prices had gone back up a little.  Economy tickets were about $550  to $700, economy plus about $1300.  These are all one way fares.  If we booked all the way to Orlando, tickets were about $300 to $400 more.  We wanted to have a hotel night in San Francisco so booked tickets the next day with miles for the Orlando flight.  Hope this info helps.  I keep trying for the second ff ticket from Sydney to San Francisco but no luck for the same day in business.  I don't know what it would cost at this point to cancel the Ezyair ticket on Quantas anyway.

[BigGuy25]

Not sure if you’ve used EZair before, but the suggestion made earlier to go to the Princess site and “pretend” you’re on an earlier cruise and just see the airlines and fares is a good one.  Once you select the type of seat you want to book (coach, first-class, business, etc.) you’ll an entire list of possible bookings including airlines, price, connections, etc. This would be a good way to answer your question. 

Edited January 18, 2020 by BigGuy25

[sabu24]

Thanks for all the help.  Looks like we can afford business class.  Not as bad as I thought.

Fran

[Ombud]

I book economy (have used UAL, NZ, and DELTA) then upgrade in the airline site. Cheaper and I'm picking seats right away. Currently at $770 for economy+ aisle seat in 1st economy+ row. That's about what it was last 2 times. NZ let's me transfer upgrade (phone call) if a lower quote comes up

[MamaFej]

If you're willing to break your flight into segments, you might consider the business class flight between NAN (Fiji) and LAX on Fiji Air (code-shared with Air New Zealand). We are ending a repo cruise in Sydney in December, and going back to Australia in February, so we are doing round trip from Sydney to home and back. The flights between Australia and Fiji are less than 5 hours, so we are getting economy tickets for those, and may bid on upgrades as they get closer. We will spend a night in Nadi coming home, not sure about going back yet. The business class booking is flexible, and we still have time to work on those dates. The long flights (10 hours or so) in Fiji Air business have lie-flat seats, etc. and are priced at around $1800 RT. 

 

Of course, if you prefer non-stop to the East coast, this won't make sense for you. 

 

Good luck!

 

 

[sabu24]

I am traveling with my friend, she is out of New York, and I am out of Baltimore.  We will fly cheap to Los Angeles the day before.  We will fly together to New Zealand.  I don't think we have any more time to make a stop like Fiji, although I would love to, since my friend still works (3 weeks needed already for our travels).    

 

I am a little nervous about booking a lower class and then upgrading, however I did that exact thing when I went to China.

 

You guys rock, love all the help

Fran

[MamaFej]

13 minutes ago, sabu24 said:

  I don't think we have any more time to make a stop like Fiji, although I would love to, since my friend still works (3 weeks needed already for our travels).    

 

The same plane actually travels between SYD and NAN the same day. We just chose to fly out of SYD the day we disembark as a just-in-case buffer. We've got to get back in time for  our daughter's college orchestra performance, but wanted one evening in paradise before the long flight home. 

[Married15]

We flew r/t SFO-SYD in October/November 2019. We flew United (which I didn't care for) for approx $825. We booked our flight direct, however, talking to someone on our cruise, they booked EZ, same flight for a bit less than we paid. Next time, I will go with a different carrier.

[Kenswing]

Not much of a comparison since we live on opposite coasts but we paid $4,100 for business class from Seattle to Sydney via Vancouver on Air Cananda last March.  EZAir was waaay cheaper than anything we could book on our own. 

[waltd]

We are flying to Sydney  from Los Angeles at the end of March using EZAir.     One Way and cruising one way back to Los Angeles.   There were many airline options.   We chose Delta.   Booked when seats first became available.  We booked International Premium Economy.    $700 PP.    Economy at the time was under $500 PP.    Prices have gone up since then.    For us Delta was the cheapest and non stop with wider seats and legroom in a separate cabin..    

Edited January 18, 2020 by waltd

[Thrak]

We're flying this winter. Will almost certainly have to fly "cattle class" so will be looking at Virgin Australia. We were extremely pleased with Virgin Atlantic from California to London (I know that's not the same) so are hoping for a somewhat similar experience with Virgin Australia. I believe one difference will be that Virgin Atlantic gave us free booze and I don't believe Virgin Australia offers that particular perk. Not a big deal. Flying in the cheap seats is not ideal but flying with Virgin at least gives us a slightly wider seat, slightly more leg room, and a better tilt when reclined. The service on Virgin Atlantic was excellent - even in cattle class - so we are hopeful it will be comparable on Virgin Australia.

 

Note: When we flew Virgin to London last year I checked every cheap booking option I could find. One way for one person in economy was listed everywhere at around $3,500 per person. Yikes! I got the exact same flight numbers with EZ Air for $306 per person. I am definitely sold on EZ Air for international flights!

[Mud_Shark]

We are returning one way from Sydney to Vancouver in October of this year after our cruise.  The web based travel sites all have a Hawaiian Airlines flight (with Alaska Airlines connection to Vancouver from Seattle) that is very well priced ($680 cdn roughly  $500 usd), and reasonably scheduled, but easy air does not show this flight.  Have been patiently checking to see if it shows up, but so far, it has not.  Maybe they don't work with Hawaiian Airlines?  If it does not show up soon, we are going to book with an online agency.

 

It seems most other scheduled flights show up except this one.

 

Don

[waltd]

Just now, Mud_Shark said:

We are returning one way from Sydney to Vancouver in October of this year after our cruise.  The web based travel sites all have a Hawaiian Airlines flight (with Alaska Airlines connection to Vancouver from Seattle) that is very well priced ($680 cdn roughly  $500 usd), and reasonably scheduled, but easy air does not show this flight.  Have been patiently checking to see if it shows up, but so far, it has not.  Maybe they don't work with Hawaiian Airlines?  If it does not show up soon, we are going to book with an online agency.

 

It seems most other scheduled flights show up except this one.

 

Don

EZAir told me once on a flight we wanted to book to Japan that they do not always see some of the Airline specials.  On that flight we booked direct with the airline.    I would suggest if you think it's a good price and connections work don't wait.   Airline prices always see to go up for me.  

[Thrak]

EZ Air is annoying me greatly today. We have a 33 day B2B2B around southern Australia and New Zealand booked for November/December. I originally booked a one way flight to Melbourne as the return flight wasn't yet available. Now there is a return flight available so I started checking prices. I found that the one way I have booked is still the same price so, in order to check on round trip airfare (now that the last segment is within flight booking time) I cancelled the existing flight. So far I've cancelled it 4 times. However, even after logging out and and clearing my Princess cookies the flight continues to show up which, of course, prevents me from even looking at round trip flights. GAH! I gave up and waited several hours and tried again but the "cancelled" flights still show up. This is despite the fact that, all 4 times I have "cancelled" the flights I got this message: "Your flight has been canceled."  I'm really wondering how long it takes for the dang thing to go away so I can check round trip pricing.

[Married15]

9 minutes ago, Thrak said:

EZ Air is annoying me greatly today. We have a 33 day B2B2B around southern Australia and New Zealand booked for November/December. I originally booked a one way flight to Melbourne as the return flight wasn't yet available. Now there is a return flight available so I started checking prices. I found that the one way I have booked is still the same price so, in order to check on round trip airfare (now that the last segment is within flight booking time) I cancelled the existing flight. So far I've cancelled it 4 times. However, even after logging out and and clearing my Princess cookies the flight continues to show up which, of course, prevents me from even looking at round trip flights. GAH! I gave up and waited several hours and tried again but the "cancelled" flights still show up. This is despite the fact that, all 4 times I have "cancelled" the flights I got this message: "Your flight has been canceled."  I'm really wondering how long it takes for the dang thing to go away so I can check round trip pricing.

 

That happened to me as well, I called my Princess rep and he was able to book for me on the flight I wanted.

[Thrak]

1 hour ago, Married15 said:

That happened to me as well, I called my Princess rep and he was able to book for me on the flight I wanted.

 

Sadly I don't know what flights I want as I am unable to even see the round trip flight options until the previous flights disappear from my personalizer.

[Ombud]

2 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Sadly I don't know what flights I want as I am unable to even see the round trip flight options until the previous flights disappear from my personalizer.

So you cannot see this green button on your phone (after selecting 'travel'):

which brings you up to this option?

Select top option (Change Flights) to see alternative flights to the one currently showing in your personalizer? This step is b4 canceling current flights. The option to accept the change is AFTER viewing alternatives.

 

Bummer

[Thrak]

Yes, I can see the button but I'm not allowed to change to add a return flight. I have a B2B2B booked and the second leg returns to Melbourne. I  booked the original flight before the return flights became available so Princess determined I didn't need a return flight at all as the second leg returned to my "home city".

 

 

I'm just going to give up. If the flight does get cancelled I'll mess with it but may just as well book separate flights for the trips to and from Melbourne. Seems like much less hassle.

[Ombud]

OMG I've never seen that! What a mess (but then I don't have a computer so my options are limited)

[idahospud]

26 minutes ago, Thrak said:

Yes, I can see the button but I'm not allowed to change to add a return flight. I have a B2B2B booked and the second leg returns to Melbourne. I  booked the original flight before the return flights became available so Princess determined I didn't need a return flight at all as the second leg returned to my "home city".

 

 

I'm just going to give up. If the flight does get cancelled I'll mess with it but may just as well book separate flights for the trips to and from Melbourne. Seems like much less hassle.

 

When we’ve done B2Bs (and we do them a lot) we’ve always had to book separate tickets. My screen looks just like yours, too. It’s because the B2B bookings are linked.

Edited January 19, 2020 by idahospud