FAQ on air travel

[LDIdeals]

I will be flying from Miami to Houston on United and then having to get to my Air New Zealand flight for our upcoming cruise out of Auckland.  Will I need to claim my luggage and go to wherever the  Air new Zealand terminal is to check in and go through security again?  Or, in Miami do they have the ability to check out baggage all the way onto the flight to Auckland via Air New Zealand... or does that set us up for lost luggage??  TYIA

[JM0115]

1 hour ago, LDIdeals said:

I will be flying from Miami to Houston on United and then having to get to my Air New Zealand flight for our upcoming cruise out of Auckland.  Will I need to claim my luggage and go to wherever the  Air new Zealand terminal is to check in and go through security again?  Or, in Miami do they have the ability to check out baggage all the way onto the flight to Auckland via Air New Zealand... or does that set us up for lost luggage??  TYIA

If it’s on the same ticket it should be checked through to NZ from Miami. Any time there is a connection there is the possibility of lost luggage but I would still check it through all the way.

[Globaliser]

8 hours ago, LDIdeals said:

Or, in Miami do they have the ability to check out baggage all the way onto the flight to Auckland via Air New Zealand... or does that set us up for lost luggage??

 

6 hours ago, JM0115 said:

Any time there is a connection there is the possibility of lost luggage but I would still check it through all the way.

 

There's a misconception that there's no risk of "lost" luggage if you check it in for only one flight. Any time you check in a bag, there's some risk of it being mishandled. If you don't check it all the way through, so that it has to be checked in and delivered twice instead of once, it sort of doubles some of the risks of the bag being mishandled. In my view, you're definitely better off through-checking it.

[GwenA]

Question:  need air info/suggestions...  We are finishing a Viking Cruise in Basel, heading to Germany to visit family - what is the best route airport-wise to get me back to Minnesota, USA with fewest stops, I'm older and don't want to be dashing through airports or stand in a 4hour line.

thinking our departing airport would be Frankfurt.

[FlyerTalker]

1 hour ago, GwenA said:

Question:  need air info/suggestions...  We are finishing a Viking Cruise in Basel, heading to Germany to visit family - what is the best route airport-wise to get me back to Minnesota, USA with fewest stops, I'm older and don't want to be dashing through airports or stand in a 4hour line.

thinking our departing airport would be Frankfurt.

 

Just fly on KLM from Basel to Amsterdam then non-stop to MSP on either Delta or KLM.  Or Air France to CDG, then Delta into MSP. 

[Globaliser]

5 hours ago, GwenA said:

We are finishing a Viking Cruise in Basel, heading to Germany to visit family ...

 

It very much depends on where in Germany your family are. That could make a very big difference to the answer to your question.

 

Other things that you need to think about are:

1. How are you going to get from Basel to your family?
2. Where does the cruise start from, and how and by what route are you going to get there?

 

Unless you look at the entire end-to-end journey (from home back to home), any advice - even about your one single question - is likely to be incomplete.

[FlyerTalker]

Sorry...misread question.  But if near Basel, advice still goes on return.

[Astro Flyer]

Does anyone have any NZeTA experiences?

 

I’ve read their website & as I understand it having an American passport I am required to have a NZeTA when flying from LAX to AKL and connecting to BNE, correct?

[sydney dog]

Does anyone know how much airlines tax on drinks in flight.  I'm flying southwest from Philly to nola.

 

Thanks.

[brnsofia]

I dont fly often but the hurricane will end up here with some wind etc. if we check our bags and flight gets cancelled we can still drive to florida.

is there a way to get our checked bag back from them right there at the airport??

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, brnsofia said:

I dont fly often but the hurricane will end up here with some wind etc. if we check our bags and flight gets cancelled we can still drive to florida.

is there a way to get our checked bag back from them right there at the airport??

If you are planning to drive  do not check your bags

JMO

[brnsofia]

7 hours ago, LHT28 said:

If you are planning to drive  do not check your bags

JMO

good idea but we have a bag to check onto plane

 

[Mrs Cheech]

My husband & I  have 2 TA's booked for 2025.  We will be flying home from Rome in May then flying back over in October. Have never had the opportunity to do a round trip flight as we are usually flying  to & from different cities.  How does it work?  Can you book both flights at the same time?  Will both be available at the same time of year? Any help is appreciated.  We usually fly United.

Joyce

[Globaliser]

2 hours ago, Mrs Cheech said:

My husband & I  have 2 TA's booked for 2025.  We will be flying home from Rome in May then flying back over in October. Have never had the opportunity to do a round trip flight as we are usually flying  to & from different cities.  How does it work?  Can you book both flights at the same time?  Will both be available at the same time of year?

 

Yes, you need to book both flights at the same time, otherwise you'll be buying one-way tickets in each direction and these could be very expensive. You can only do this for sure when the later flight is open for booking, which will typically be somewhere between 330 and 360 days before departure. (I'm sure that someone here will know the exact length of time for United.) For you, this means that you won't be able to book either flight until about October or November 2024. But as the lowest fares aren't first come first served, and as it'll still be six months or so before your outbound flight (Rome to NYC or wherever), this is unlikely to seriously disadvantage you. If there is some reason why you must book the outbound flight before the inbound flight (NYC or wherever to Rome or wherever) is open for booking, there are techniques for doing that, but they are likely to involve an additional cost.