Flights to australia

[ajw28]

We are going on the australia trip in June. I started to look at airfare and was trying to compare Qantas and Air Canada? Has anyone taken Air Canada to australia? It is $700 cheaper than qantas. Air New Zealand is even more expensive. I can't figure out why it is such a big price difference. I am flying from newark and both flights have only 1 stop.

Thanks for any help!

 

[RSM]

Haven't taken AC to Australia, but I've flown them from Boston to China and their planes and service are fine. I actually like flying AC versus some other star alliance carriers. We are also going to Australia in June 2017. We are flying on Air Canada from Boston to Vancouver, spending a night then going from Vancouver to Sydney. Used miles to get business class tickets and based on availability of flights that I could use miles on, this was the only option. Although, I can think of worse things than to spend a day in Vancouver. It is such a beautiful city. Also got a flight from Brisbane to Vancouver, then to Boston that afternoon. Anyways, I wouldn't hesitate to fly Air Canada. I've generally had very good experiences with them.

 

[disneyphx]

We buy tickets to Australia once a year or so, and Qantas and Air New Zealand are consistently more expensive.
I have flown Air Canada business class to Europe and it was fine, and someone I know just flew Air Canada economy to Australia and said it was fine too - not great, not awful.....the West Coast to Australia is just a long long flight, now matter how you do it....
Have a great trip!

 

[Cousin Orville]

I've flown AC a few times to Europe and Qantas to Sydney all in economy. I don't think there's a significant difference.

 

[Grifdog22]

We are going on the australia trip in June. I started to look at airfare and was trying to compare Qantas and Air Canada? Has anyone taken Air Canada to australia? It is $700 cheaper than qantas. Air New Zealand is even more expensive. I can't figure out why it is such a big price difference. I am flying from newark and both flights have only 1 stop.

Thanks for any help!

Awesome to hear from two families that are on our June 2017 trip!

We found that pricing for airlines are all over the board. Qantas has "sales" and this helps if you are price sensitive, as we are. We booked $999 RT per person from Dallas to Sydney, with the Brisbane to Sydney to Dallas return. We are from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, so it cost us another $400 pp RT to get to/from Dallas. After hearing Cousin Orville's description of flying on the giant Airbus, we wanted to try this as well, and to minimize our travel time.

Today Qantas announced another sale, $1199 RT from JFK to Sydney/Brisbane. I believe the trip is within their sale window.

We look forward to Adventuring with you folks!

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

I'm a regular passenger on Air Canada and I can highly recommend them. We flew with them from Toronto to Vancouver (4.5 hours) then Vancouver to Sydney (15 hours) last year, then the reverse on the way home.

You didn't specify if you are planning on flying in business or economy class. If there is any way you can swing the upgrade I'd recommend business class. If you have an AmEx platinum card you can transfer miles to Aeroplan at a 1:1 ratio, then use points to book seats.

If you have any specific questions please let me know.

 

[ajw28]

We will be flying economy both ways. We are actually on the July 2nd trip. We are flying the last week in June, to spend extra time in Sydney. I have been watching out for sales, but so far, they have not covered the dates (June 27th- July 12th) that we are flying. I have heard that the Qantas A380 is really nice, but wasn't sure if it was worth the extra money. Thanks for the tip about the sales, @Grifdog22. I have been watching out for the sales. So far, they have not included the dates that we are going yet, but I will keep an eye out.

Thank you for everyone's tips so far.

 

[RSM]

Hi ajw28--we are on the same ABD. We arrive in Sydney on 6/29 in the morning. Leaving from Brisbane on 7/12 also.

 

[Chirple]

Does it say Air Canada Rouge? Air Canada itself is nice; we've flown on the commuter jets from Newark to Toronto and Montreal to Newark. However, we flew Air Canada Rouge from Toronto to Barcelona and then Barcelona to Montreal. We don't care that it might be less expensive; the service was terrible, and the seats in Economy were cramped.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

Does it say Air Canada Rouge? Air Canada itself is nice; we've flown on the commuter jets from Newark to Toronto and Montreal to Newark. However, we flew Air Canada Rouge from Toronto to Barcelona and then Barcelona to Montreal. We don't care that it might be less expensive; the service was terrible, and the seats in Economy were cramped.

Rouge is usually for direct flights to Europe during the summer months and short haul domestic and international flights (i.e. Toronto to Fort Lauderdale). If the flight to Sydney you are looking at is on Rouge then I suggest you avoid it. The business class cabin doesn't have pods and isn't like business class on other airlines (such as American Airlines). I wouldn't fly any longer than 4 hours in business class on Rouge. My dh won't even fly business class on Rouge -- he goes out of his way (to Miami) to avoid it. Rouge is one of the worst products Air Canada has come out with in decades . But like I said, I seriously doubt they would put a Rouge plane on a 15 hour flight.

 

[RSM]

The flight I am on from Vancouver to Sydney is not Rouge. I looked at the plane and business class has the pods. Likewise on the return flight from Brisbane to Vancouver.

 

[ajw28]

I don't think it was a rouge flight. It didn't say that it was. @RSM, it's great to meet someone else on the trip!

 

[acndis]

This does not apply to anyone taking the Summer Trips but I got a great rate on AC from Paris 2 Decembers ago. However, the weather in Montreal (our connection) was horrendous. We got stuck overnight and when we were able to take off, the flight was TERRIFYING (wings de-iced 2x on the runway). I would not recommend flying out of Canada for any December Australia trips. I was white-knuckled with tears in my eyes and I am not a nervous flyer. I am also extremely cheap. Never again.

We did fly AC to Greece and got a terrific rate and had a nice flight. The plane was really old but service was excellent.

In summary, AC is just fine but Canada's winters are too brutal for this Texas girl.

 

[Grifdog22]

ajw28 - Quantas has posted new sales from the USA to Australia at $999 RT for the black friday weekend. Hope this helps if you haven't already booked.

 

[ajw28]

@Grifdog22 thank you. We didn't book yet. I was hoping for a sale. It looks like the same sale from a few weeks ago. It excludes outbound travel from June 16th - July 23rd. Another sale I saw last week excluded the same dates. I'm not sure why. We are going on the July 2nd trip (hoping to leave on June 27th), so the dates for the sale don't work. Thanks anyways.

 

[ajw28]

Thank you everyone for all your help. I ended up finding a good deal on qantas, even though there was no official sale. We bought it ourselves as ABD flight center was closed for the day. As it didn't seem to be an official sale, I didn't want to take the chance that the good price would be gone the next day.

 

[CinderALLIE]

I always fly Qantas when I travel to USA, to me it is worth the extra money as they have a good safety record and more direct flights from Melbourne to LA.
I've never flown other airlines but I know Qantas has free booze and from what I have heard not all airlines offer this perk.

 

[DisneyKevin]

We found it less expensive to fly to Hawaii and then us JetStar to Australia.

JetStar is Quantas' lower cost airline.

We thought it was great.