Australian, New zeland, or Vietnamese air lines ?

[love2learn]

We will be in Vietnam in December to take our adopted daughter back to see her birth country. We are going to be cruising from Auckland to Sydney over the holiday so we will need to get from either Hanoi, or Saigon, (HCMC) to Auckland.

 

I am trying to find out if there are any airlines that travel between VN and Australia and then on to Auckland for an economical price. Does any one know which airlines I should contact?

 

Thanks in advance for any information any one can offer,

 

Sharon

[Kiwi Kruzer]

I am trying to find out if there are any airlines that travel between VN and Australia and then on to Auckland for an economical price. Does any one know which airlines I should contact?

Sharon

 

Just a thought.

Have you tried Qantas, the Australian airline.

I think their JetStar service code share with VietNam Airlines.That would get you down to Sydney,then its just a short flight over to NZ.

[kenish]

AFAIK there are no nonstops between NZ and SGN. As Kiwi Cruiser commented, Qantas or their discount subsidiary JetStar fly SYD-SGN and maybe from MEL or BNE. Vietnam Airlines flies out of MEL. Many other Asian airlines will get you where you want but with a connection.

 

Travel agents in our local Vietnamese community are good at getting inexpensive flights. You might ask a Vietnamese friend or colleague if they know a TA you can consult.

[Globaliser]

We will be in Vietnam in December to take our adopted daughter back to see her birth country. We are going to be cruising from Auckland to Sydney over the holiday so we will need to get from either Hanoi, or Saigon, (HCMC) to Auckland.

Are you willing to give us dates (even if rough ones) for your US => Vietnam flight, for Vietnam => Auckland, and then Sydney => US? I am thinking about the best plan being some sort of circle trip (US => Vietnam => Sydney => US), with an add-on to get you from Sydney to Auckland one-way (for which there are cheap fares, unlike for many international one-way routes). That could keep you on major airlines and avoid messing about with low-fares.

[Globaliser]

One other thing: What sort of budget restrictions are there for the Vietnam => Auckland part of your trip?

 

Quick searches suggest that a one-way ticket would be in the region of USD700-900 per person for that.

 

What we don't know is whether you'd just shrug your shoulders and say that's fine, or whether it would cause you to gasp and fall over.

[love2learn]

Thank you everyone for your replies, and for forgiving me for my poor speling, I haven't had much sleep lately, too busy planning.

 

I have checked with Jetstar, and the prices look very good. I see it is no frills, and we are fine with that, but because this will involve many hours, I am just wanting to be sure that the planes are clean and safe. Hearing that they are connected with Quantis makes me feel like it is probably o.k.

 

We already have our air from U.S. to Hanoi and from Sydney to U.S. We are just filling in the details now. We leave U.S. on Dec. 5th and return home from Sydney on Jan. 8th.

 

Our daughter will be ten and this is the first time she will return to VN, so we want this to be very special for her. Trying to keep costs down as much as possible though since we will be traveling for over a month.

 

Thanks again for your help,

 

Sharon

[Globaliser]

I have checked with Jetstar, and the prices look very good. I see it is no frills, and we are fine with that ...

Within your parameters, then, it sounds like this is the best option.

 

One thing to be careful about: Make sure you know at which terminal the Jetstar flight will arrive in Sydney. I can't claim to understand all the information on the Jetstar website. Flight information displays suggest that tomorrow (25 April) the flight arrives at the domestic terminal in Sydney used by Jetstar (Terminal 2). But Sunday's and Monday's arrivals (26 and 27 April) appear to be arriving at Sydney's international terminal (Terminal 1). Yet Jetstar's website says that all three flights will depart from the domestic side of Darwin's terminal.

 

The arrival point at Sydney will have a bearing on what you have to do to transfer to your international flight. Because it's Jetstar, your bags will not be through-checked to your Sydney -> Auckland flight unless you book that on Qantas and somehow get it onto the same booking as your Jetstar flight (see this table for details - warning: cold towel on forehead needed).

 

If you book your Sydney -> Auckland separately, you'll probably find it cheapest to book on the airlines' own websites, because they can often sell cheap fares that you won't be able to access if you book with a US-based outlet. There are plenty of sales in the South Pacific region at the moment, so sign up for emails and keep your nerve until a sale comes along that covers your travel date.

[Aquarians]

We will be in Vietnam in December to take our adopted daughter back to see her birth country. We are going to be cruising from Auckland to Sydney over the holiday so we will need to get from either Hanoi, or Saigon, (HCMC) to Auckland.

 

I am trying to find out if there are any airlines that travel between VN and Australia and then on to Auckland for an economical price. Does any one know which airlines I should contact?

 

Thanks in advance for any information any one can offer,

 

Sharon

Kia ora,

If you don't need to fly to NZ via Aus, I suggest you look at Singapore or Thai Airways (both top rated ones). If you fly Vietnam to Singapore or Bangkok you can then fly direct to Auckland. Flying via Aus will add hours to your journey, but if you do want to go by Aus the above would still be a good option to consider. Enjoy your cruise and make sure you visit Rotorua, the North Island's 'must see'.

Aquarians

[Globaliser]

If you don't need to fly to NZ via Aus, I suggest you look at Singapore or Thai Airways (both top rated ones). If you fly Vietnam to Singapore or Bangkok you can then fly direct to Auckland. Flying via Aus will add hours to your journey, but if you do want to go by Aus the above would still be a good option to consider.

The difficulty with these is price. As I said, it's something like USD700-900 one-way per person with these routings. Flying a cheapie fare on Jetstar cuts quite a lot off that.

[love2learn]

Thank you again for your replies. Which airline has the fare at 700? I am told that Thai air is not issuing tickets for Dec. flights yet, but their fare now is $630, that sounds like it would be a good fare if it would stay the same.

 

I really appreciate the research you did, I am not quite sure I want to take Jet star that far.

 

Sharon

[Globaliser]

Which airline has the fare at 700? I am told that Thai air is not issuing tickets for Dec. flights yet, but their fare now is $630, that sounds like it would be a good fare if it would stay the same.

The quick and dirty research that I was doing suggests that you can fly one-way Saigon -> Sydney for about USD 570, eg:-

13 Dec

Saigon -> Hong Kong CX766 1140-1520 (Cathay Pacific)

Hong Kong -> Sydney QF128 2020-0815+1 (Qantas)

You'd then have to add on a one-way Sydney-Auckland, which is about AUD 230 at the moment.

 

Or, for about USD 865, you could do:-

13 Dec

Saigon -> Sydney QF358 2115-0935+1 (Qantas, operated by Vietnam Airlines)

Sydney -> Auckland QF321 1045-1555 (Qantas, operated by LAN)

 

And there are plenty of other Sydney-Auckland options too.

 

I'd ask very carefully about that Thai ticket. If it's a published fare, it should be available for sale and ticketing now. If it's a consolidator ticket, tread carefully. In particular you might want to read the Cruise Air sticky thread, which has some information about consol tickets which is not specific to cruiseline-arranged air travel.

[Aquarians]

Thank you again for your replies. Which airline has the fare at 700? I am told that Thai air is not issuing tickets for Dec. flights yet, but their fare now is $630, that sounds like it would be a good fare if it would stay the same.

 

I really appreciate the research you did, I am not quite sure I want to take Jet star that far.

 

Sharon

Kia ora,

We have flown on Thai, Singapore & Qantas & other things being equal would rank them in that order. The Thai planes appear to have slightly more leg-room & the service on Thai & Singapore is great. With both these options you only need transit once, in Bangkok or Singapore.

Whatever you decide, enjoy. I'm sure your daughter will benefit tremendously too.

Aquarians