Virgin Australia or Air New Zealand

Hello there,

I've never flown either one but I'm about to book a flight from Sydney to Auckland and these two are similarly priced. Would you have a preference between them? Or do you have other recommendations?

Since the arrival time of our Air Canada flight was changed from 10:25 to 8:15 a.m. we plan to book the 1:50 p.m. flight to Auckland. This will not be a connecting flight so we will have to collect our luggage and pass through security/immigration and then check into the next flight but I"m assuming that 5.5 hours will be sufficient time?

Many thanks..

I personally prefer Air New Zealand, but they're both good carriers.

5.5 hours should be okay...until it isn't. The truth is, any length of a "connection" can be risky if it's not really a connection...sometimes you just arrive super late. But AKL is pretty efficient, even in the international terminal, so 5.5 hours should be okay.

Another vote for Air New Zealand. We have flown both carriers and both were very good, but Air NZ was just a notch better.

I can't comment regarding connection time in Auckland. For our Australia/NZ cruise in 2017, we flew Virgin Australia round trip to Sydney from LA and booked a one way segment on Air NZ Auckland to Sydney. None of these were back to back since we stayed in Auckland a few days after the cruise and then a night in Sydney.

Good luck and enjoy your cruise.

The OP's connection is at SYD, not AKL. Fortunately, that should all be in the international terminal, negating the need for the bus connection from International to Domestic.

The OP's connection is at SYD, not AKL. Fortunately, that should all be in the international terminal, negating the need for the bus connection from International to Domestic.

Wups ... thanks for the correction. Sorry about that, Camelia.

Air Canada and Air New Zealand are in the same alliance so AC might through check your bags even on split tickets. Might be something to research before you book because that would be an easier transit.

Many thanks everyone! I know that they are part of the same alliance but I didn't consider that checking our luggage all the way was possible because these are two separate tickets. Its definitely worth exploring. I'm happy to know that we won't have to leave the terminal to check in at the New Zealand counter though...