Transpacific open jaw (Air Pacific?/Orbitz?)

[cheapeau in ohio]

Am considering the Celeberity Jan. 18, 2012 twelve day cruise Sydney to Auckland. Price for the cruise seems reasonable to me but the airfare is high. I would be flying from Cincinnati (or Dayton) to Sydney Jan. 14 returning from Auckland Jan 30 or Jan 31.

 

I checked airfares on Bing & Yahoo and the best price I could find was by buying 1 round trip ticket to Los Angeles costing around $370 to $420 and an open jaw Los Angeles to Sydney returning from Auckland on Air Pacific costing $1,346 changing planes in Fiji. On Bing it appears that the open jaw can be purchased directly from Air Pacific or through Orbitz but on Air Pacific's website the only open jaw options for someone flying into Sydney is leaving from other airports in Australia.

 

My 2 questions are has anyone flown Air Pacific and how good or bad is it and is it better to buy the ticket through Air Pacific or through Orbitz?

 

It would cost $500 to $900 more to fly a major airline which I am not ruling out. Celebrity has an air special offer which I am inclined not to use which is mystery flights on mystery airlines with mystery itineraries which no choice in when the flights leave or arrive including potentially arriving in Sydney on the day of embarkation.

 

Any input would be appreciated.

[happy cruzer]

Can you book an air deviation with Celebrity at a good price? Fly a few days early? And get travel insurance? That's the only way I do cruise line air and it's worked out a couple of times.

[Gardyloo]

Air Pacific is okay; somewhat older aircraft and they tend to have a poor on-time performance record. Their nickname, "Air Pathetic" is not entirely deserved, nor entirely undeserved.

 

You might look at a round trip to Auckland then add a separate AKL-SYD ticket onto that; you can ride Lan Airlines (Chilean - an excellent carrier) for something like $140 one way across the Tasman.

 

Or look at V Australia (affiliated with Virgin) - they have good prices and pretty decent service from all reports, including a decent premium economy product. The AKL> USA leg might entail a plane change back in Australia (Brisbane most likely) but their prices might be competitive.

 

Regardless, if you're planning to split tickets on the west coast, I'd allow for plenty of connecting time and have insurance to cover missed connections.

[gingerboo]

We flew Air Pacific r/t LAX-NAN in 2000. Stayed at a small resort on the Coral Coast, and I was really dumfounded when the resort manager referred to "Air Pathetic" when checking our return tickets. I also felt offended when the manager asked why we didn't fly Qantas. We'd gotten a great deal on Air Pacific, and received wonderful service and food! Both flights landed on time, and the flight attendants were attentive and very nice. It was my second time on a 747, and it was raining heavily when we landed and for two hours beforehand. The pilot kept us informed of the weather for these hours, and we received a great hot breakfast! My experience with Air Pacific was great!!~

[cheapeau in ohio]

Thanks for all of the information. I checked into V Australia's rates and found that they are competitive with Air Pacific's rate ($1,451 a little higher than Air Pacific) provided I book seperate Cincinnati-LAX & LAX-SYD-AKL-LAX open jaw. The return flight would be Auckland to Melbourne then a 3 hour 45 minute layover and then a nonstop Melbourne to LAX.

 

If I go Cincinnati-LAX round trip on Delta I can get a nonstop to LAX then 10 hour layover at LAX before the V Australia redeye to Sydney would depart and after arriving in LAX on the return trip a 5 hour 15 minute layover at LAX followed by a flight to Salt Lake City and a plane change in SLC on the journey home.

 

I am inclined to go ahead and book the cruise and the air (on V Australia). I did call Celebrity and got clarification on their air special. With a deviation on their air it would be higher than booking myself. Their special was for no deviations and had to be flown from a gateway city with Detroit being the closest to where I am in Cincinnati.