Flight Questions

[KAYEF]

JUST got this idea...............14 day HAL cruise from Sydney to Auckland in December. I usually do tons of research; have done none............

so,

can someone please tell me what flying from Oregon to Sydney entails?

I assume we'd go to LAX and fly out of there, but I'm wondering the TIME for the flight(s?), etc. What happens to the calendar as well.....? Will we have a day that's forty hours or something?????

Thanks for your wisdom.;)

[cands]

JUST got this idea...............14 day HAL cruise from Sydney to Auckland in December. I usually do tons of research; have done none............

so,

can someone please tell me what flying from Oregon to Sydney entails?

I assume we'd go to LAX and fly out of there, but I'm wondering the TIME for the flight(s?), etc. What happens to the calendar as well.....? Will we have a day that's forty hours or something?????

Thanks for your wisdom.;)

 

What a great idea! We're doing the Auckland to Sydney cruise in November:) .

Well, your in for a real treat flying from the USA to Australia (not). Most flights leave from LA and are non-stop to Sydney, although there may be some flights from San Francisco. Your main choices are Qantas or United. The flights are about 14 hours long:confused: , and unless you fork out the money for business class, that's a long time to be crammed in an economy class seat.

Because you cross the international dateline in a westerly direction, you lose a day as well, so a flight leaving late at night will arrive in Sydney two mornings later (by the calendar). Of course, you get that day back on your return flight, usually arriving in the USA before you left Australia or NZ (go figure).

Other Pacific based carriers allow you to fly with a rest stop, but of course it takes longer. Hawaiian - LA - Honolulu - Sydney, Air New Zealand, LA - Aukland -Sydney, Air Pacific, LA - Nadi - Sydney, Air Tahiti Nui, LA - Papeete - Sydney.

 

We are flying to the USA next March. We've chosen Air New Zealand, Melbourne - Auckland - LA, because they have a premium economy cabin. For an awful lot less than business class, we get some extra width and seat pitch, which should just make the trip bearable.

 

Do 'come on down'. I can assure you, it's worth the effort. Those 14 hours will just 'fly by'. Pun intended.

 

Steve.

[Globaliser]

Most flights leave from LA and are non-stop to Sydney, although there may be some flights from San Francisco. Your main choices are Qantas or United.

Unless, like me, you don't regard United as a choice so much as a last-ditch necessity. There's no need, really, as:-

• LAX-SYD is operated by Qantas (about 2½ flights a day) and United (one a day).
• LAX-AKL is operated by Air New Zealand (two a day) and Qantas (one a day).
• SFO-SYD is operated by Qantas (3 a week) and United (one a day).
• SFO-AKL is operated by Air New Zealand (6 a week).

These frequencies are for the forthcoming northern winter.

 

Almost all of these flights depart in the evening to late evening, arriving the following morning. It will feel like the next morning, as you've only spent 14 hours or so in the air on that sector. The only thing is that you have to add on another day because you've crossed the date line. So if you were to depart in the evening of 24 December, you'd have one night on board and when you land in the morning it's the morning of 26 December. Great for Christmas-phobes.

 

The exception is that Qantas has one flight that leaves LAX at lunchtime and arrives at SYD in the very late evening of the same day - only, of course, it's the next calendar day because of the date line.

 

One other thing to be aware of: Most of these flights carry other airlines' codes, in particular the following. All these Qantas flights carry American Airlines codes, so you can buy a ticket from American Airlines if that is easier (but check the pricing from both airlines). All the Air New Zealand flights carry United Airlines codes, and vice versa; some of these airlines' flights also have Air Canada and US Airways codes as well.

 

On the way back, the flights from SYD depart between mid-morning and mid-afternoon, and arrive the following early morning to mid-morning. The flights from AKL depart in the mid to late evening and arrive mid-morning the following morning. However, although you've spent a night on board, because you've crossed the date line the other way, you land on the same calendar date on which you departed.

[got2go2mo2]

Kayef -- Where do you live in Oregon? If you are in or near Portland, then most of the problem is solved. You can simply fly from Portland to LAX (or SFO) early in the day, then connect to an evening flight to Sydney. If you live in one of the smaller southern Oregon cities like we do, you may have a few complications. In our small city in southern Oregon, we have only a limited number of flights each day, and they are all on one airline and they all go north to Portland. We then have to connect in Portland and fly south to LAX or SFO. We have come very close to missing international flights in the past, so now when we are flying internationally (especially in our winter months), we make sure we overnight in LA (or SFO) before flying out.

 

Kathy

[Aussie Gal]

We are doing the reverse next week. We are flying direct from Melbourne to L.A. and then flying on Air Alaska to Vancouver.

 

Living "down under" we are so used to long flights because to go anywhere in the world, we have to fly usually between 24-28 hours so this is an easy one for us.

 

We are flying Qantas and this time Business Class. We were in South America and the States in Jan/February this year and found the flight home to be an easy one as we slept most of the way. Coming over you will find the flight will be a lot easier than returning home as flights flying westwards are the easiest on your time clock. We arrived home in February at 9.30am and spend the day doing all the usual things, unpacking, washing, shopping etc and went to be at our normal time.

 

Our hardest and longest trip was on Singapore Airlines last year when we flew direct from Singapore to New York (the longest flight in the world) of 18 hours!! We were in Economy on that flight.

 

If you can, try and go with Qantas or Air New Zealand. Both are good airlines.

 

Jennie

[Kiwi Kruzer]

JUST got this idea...............14 day HAL cruise from Sydney to Auckland in December. I usually do tons of research; have done none............

 

Have you checked availability for the cruise.I was told this season 2006/7 is nearly booked out and some cruises are on wait list only.:eek:

[boards]

KAYEF - we have booked NWA out of Detroit on Nov. 20 to LAX - we leave at 8:30 pm on Qantas and arrive 12.5 hrs later on Nov. 22 in NZ at 6 am. We are arriving two days early for the cruise. The return trip is similar, but the trip is over so who cares how you back, it's over, still the next time.

We got a good price 3700 Cdn. So you should be able to do the same, price of oil dropping and all. DW has looked forward to this trip for a long time. Hope to see you there somehow, that would be great.

[KAYEF]

THANK YOU, Everyone, for your INFO.:)

Yes; there's still room. VTG has a great special on this cruise.

Going all depends on the H flying so far; he thinks the flight just to Hawaii is too long.

We live about 12 minutes from the Portland Airport, in Gresham, so flying isn't a huge problem...............just the length of the sitting!!;)