Zach1213

Yo, same. Hate them. Even relatively long domestic redeyes (like LAX-JFK, or even SEA-ATL) are painful. Some of the short ones are just cruel and unusual. I've done some redeyes where you're only in the air like two-and-a-half or three hours (such as LAX-DFW) and even in business or first, it's just a killer and messes up your entire day on both ends.

I am not sure the exact route matters, it's really the time. It's going to be a long trip either way, one of the longest possible domestic ones, and people are going to have a lot of different opinions - one day versus two. I am a firm believer of just getting it done and out of the way in one (possibly painful) go. Plenty of connection points - Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, Charlotte, etc. etc. so just pick the one that works best for you based on timing, price, and/or any kind of airline/alliance loyalty. There are also two distinct options on how to get it done all at once - leave SEA in the morning and get to SJU in the evening, or leave SEA in the evening and get to SJU mid-day (via a redeye out of SEA). In either way, I would recommend arriving in to SJU a day before your departure.

Oof...flying from LAX to Australia (a trip I do several times this year) and then immediately stepping on to a cruise sounds miserable, and risky, as mentioned above. There's really no way you can add even a day to the trip?

Alaska's A321 first class is pretty standard domestic first class - good width and legroom, recliner (not lie flat). Food is decent. Nothing special, but solid and standard.

It's kind of a "chicken or the egg" situation. I would argue that INTL-INTL are rare not because of the airport setup, but because of the government. If the government would make it easier for INTL-INTL connections, I am sure the airlines and airports would jump on it. American, Delta, and United would, I am sure, kill to be able to easily transport passengers from, say, Tokyo to Sao Paulo via Dallas or Los Angeles. Eh, I've rarely had issues at ORD myself. I've done Global Entry/carry-on via ORD four times in the last two months (2x London, 1x Tokyo, 1x Frankfurt) and it's been pretty quick each time. In all my years of connecting via ORD, I've never had a wait anywhere near two hours. Not saying it didn't happen to you, just saying that it's not something I see or plan for.

I mean, I am very much a guy but I also got my PhD in my 20s and still found a way to party my ass off in every corner of the world while doing so haha.

To me it's definitely a brainer. LGB is easier, but to me it's not worth making a connection for, so it kind of depends where you're coming from. For example, I live in Kansas City right now...I can get a nonstop to LAX a couple of times each day (plus an additional one or two direct flights) but would need to connect to get to LGB. To me, it's a no brainer to get the nonstop to LAX. And then I can go to the In-N-Out on Sepulveda and watch the constant stream of planes land 🙂

I am a fairly regular traveler on US-Australia routes, mostly Qantas with some American spattered in there. I am lucky enough to be in business or first class most of the time, but have done economy and premium economy. I personally find Qantas a slight step above the others (I have also ended up on Hawaiian, Delta, and United going to Australia), even in economy. Very slight, but slight. It's a long trip, there's no way around it, but as mentioned above, the majority of people are in economy and do just fine. When I am paying out of my own pocket, I am flying economy...there's just so much more I can do with that money on the ground, at my destination, to make memories.

To us, there's nothing exciting about the MDR. Haven't done it in ages because it was always so underwhelming, so we do either specialty or buffet each night depending on our mood or any special occasion. We love the fact that the specialty places are so quiet the first night because it's more relaxing for us, as we do it for the first night on every trip.

I don't have any desire to ever have an interior cabin with just my wife...I can't imagine if we had multiple rugrats along with us. No thanks!

I haven't personally noticed many delays in customs recently, so I hope it's your your bad luck 🙂 This was as recently as last week at DFW when I basically blew through customs. As far as bags go, there's no priority on your luggage for GE, so you're still going to get stuck at the carousel with our without it.

If you're going from city center to city center, it takes a pretty long distance in Europe for the train ride to actually take longer than the plane ride when you factor everything in. Plus, as much as I love planes (I'm an aerospace engineer and a private pilot), there's just something special about a train ride. There was a time I had work at Hamburg Airport, and then a meeting right next to Amsterdam Airport, and the flight was actually quicker even with the wait...but I don't think many people have airports themselves as their final destination like I sometimes do 🙂

Looks like my fat fingers could cause confusion - it should say "it's LIKELY Air Canada will only put you on their own planes".

Well, kind of. It looks like the NRT-YYZ flight arrives in to Toronto at around 4pm. While there are plenty of YYZ-MCO flights, there only appear to be 4-6 nonstops per day on Air Canada depending on the season, and its' unlikely Air Canada will only put you on their own planes (or, maybe, a United flight, which would then involve another connection). Of those 4-6 YYZ-MCO flights per day, it looks like only one allows for the connection from Tokyo, meaning an overnight in Toronto isn't out of the realm of possibility. I still think two hours is generally fine, but there's a bit more to it then a simple "you'll be on the next available one" if there's a misconnect.

I am an AvGeek (not a demented one, though), and I wouldn't take that route unless I was re-routed on to it from something more convenient 🙂 I mean...I HAVE done routes like that, but not on purpose. DFW-MAD will be AA; MAD-BCN will be Iberia. The "operated by" carrier is what matters. It's entirely possible to be on "Finnair 123 operated by Iberia, connecting to Iberia 123 operated by Finnair". Made up example, but it's possible...and all that matters is the "operated by". AA doesn't operate MAD-BCN, so yeah...your flight here would be DFW-MAD on AA, and MAD-BCN on Iberia.

Codeshares are essentially marketing gimicks, for lack of a better term. In this case, Finnair, British Airways, Iberia, and American Airlines are all part of the OneWorld airline alliance (one of the big three alliances in the world). And, in this case, those four airlines all put their own flight number on the same DFW-MAD flight. But, only one airline can actually operate the flight...in this case, American Airlines as AA36. The other airlines just put their flight numbers on the AA flight for marketing purposes. I would argue MOST longhaul international flights around the world have multiple flight numbers on them, though of course only one airline can operate any given flight. AA36 from DFW to MAD (https://www.flightstats.com/v2/flight-tracker/AA/36) is also Finnair 4002, BA 1512, Iberia 4607, El Al 8037, and Royal Jordanian 7021.

Sorry but still not correct. The first leg is definitely AA, they're the only airline doing DFW-MAD on a 787. Finnair codeshares (as do Iberia and British Airways), but it's an AA flight - AA36. I've taken it probably 40 times over the last decade, as recently as a month ago 🙂 If you were desperate to take Finnair, you could, but it would involve a lot of changes - most likely AA DFW-ORD, Finnair ORD-HEL, and Finnair HEL-BCN. No thanks.

While I generally subscribe to the "book with the airline operating the flight" theory, there can be pricing advantages to booking a codeshare. There are sometimes surprisingly drastic price differences, and if the difference is big enough, I say it's worth it to book the codeshare...especially in the case of this flight where all of those OneWorld members play fairly friendly with each other (especially AA, BA, and IB).

Iberia doesn't have 787s, they have A350s, so you're likely seeing the American Airlines 787 flight (AA36, which is codeshared as Iberia 4607). Madrid Airport is a solid place to transfer - you'll be confined within the absolutely gigantic but easy-to-navigate Terminal 4/4S (which is sterile and boring, but easy), and there are a LOT of Iberia flights from MAD to BCN to be accommodated on if needed. EDIT - one other option...Barcelona is lovely, but so is Madrid. One option is to split your couple of days between Madrid and Barcelona. Fly in to Madrid, spend the first day or two there, take a train to Barcelona, day or two there, and then the cruise.

Just a heads up, Southwest doesn't fly to JFK. You also mention DFW above, and they don't fly out of DFW either. They do fly to LaGuardia, and have nonstops from DAL to LGA. You could also look at flying in to Newark (though not on Southwest, they don't fly to Newark), getting in to the city, spending the night in the city (with the associated fun of the city), and heading out to JFK the next day for the transatlantic flight.

There's actually sometimes a bit of an advantage in connecting via Europe instead of the US - options. Let's say you're planning to fly DFW-JFK-BCN on American, and there is a delay where you miss your connection in JFK. Your options are fairly limited - maybe they'll put you on an Iberia flight via Madrid, or a BA flight via London, or make you wait for tomorrow's AA flight if there's space. However, if you flew, say, DFW- Paris (CDG)-BCN on Air France and misconnect at CDG, you suddenly have 5-6 CDG-BCN Air France nonstops per day to be accommodated on, as well as 1-2 ORY-BCN flights (ORY is Orly, the other Paris airport). In a pinch, you could also put yourself on easyJet or Vueling's CDG-BCN nonstops, or even a train.

Two hours should be fine if everything is on time (the caveat for every connection, of course). I wouldn't want any less than two hours, personally, but you'll likely be okay. I'm a somewhat regular on the Australia/New Zealand flights where you leave Auckland at, say, 8pm and arrive in to Los Angeles at like 11am on the same day. I have a friend who is from Japan but lives in Hawaii - her Tokyo to Honolulu flights gain even more time (leave Tokyo at 8pm and arrive at 8am the same day).

This should be a pretty good/easy routing. Note you'll clear US immigration in Toronto, so make sure you have some extra time for that. 16 hours always sounds like a lot, but when you realize you're going from freakin' Japan to Florida, it starts to become apparent how amazing modern air transport is.

One thing to consider, if you want to see both, is that the British Isles are probably better for a cruise, whereas the Netherlands is probably better for a land trip (especially with their insanely good train system).