Air New Zealand vs ...?

[BecBennett]

Apologies in advance for thinking out loud a bit, but Air New Zealand have a deal going at the moment, which works out for the dates we're looking at (October 2022). I've never flown air New Zealand before, and want to know everyone's experiences. It's roughly $1200 per person return.

Usually we fly direct, and while I'm not adverse to a stop over if it helps break the flight up, from what I can tell, the flight from Auckland is much the same as the flight from Sydney, so by flying Air New Zealand, it looks like we're just adding an extra 3 hours (plus stop over time) to our flight, instead of breaking it up at all.

How much money would make the difference to you, to make you ok with a stop over, instead of flying direct? I've been told that Air New Zealand is a really great airline, but I'm struggling with justifying not paying extra for a direct flight.

 

[kirstyfly]

Air New Zealand is a great airline to travel with. It is usually my go to choice for travel but sometimes the price difference is much higher to fly Air New Zealand.

Where is your flight leaving from? for October I have been looking at Air New Zealand direct flights from Auckland to LA. It is working out $4754 return for 2 adults and 1 child.

When we had a direct flight in October 2020 booked flying American Airlines it was $2200 all up return for the 3 of us. Air New Zealand were more expensive then so we went with American Airlines. The flight was cancelled as was most of the flights for that time leaving New Zealand due to covid.

 

[BecBennett]

We'd be flying out of Sydney, so it's about 13 hours to LAX. It also looks to be 13 hours flying from Auckland to San Fran.

 

[sjmac42]

Air NZ is a great airline but with the stopover, you’re looking at more like 18 to 20 hours travel time vs under 14 hrs direct. Depends how much you think you can do on that first day I guess. Last trip we landed on time, had a shower in the gym at the hotel and we’re in DCA by 9-30am. If you usually relax after a long flight, it probably doesn’t matter if you arrive a few hours later.
To us though, direct flights are worth a few hundred extra.

 

[Themeparked]

We flew with Air NZ in 2019 out of sydney and made the 'mistake' of bidding for an upgrade to premium economy on the Sydney-Auckland legs. Going back into economy for the long flights from Auckland to LAX was painful because we knew what we were missing out on. Ignorance is bliss.
Even in economy Air NZ are fantastic though. We had booked premium (only on sale) the whole way for 2020 which was cancelled so our trip this April uses credit we already had. Can't wait. You won't be disappointed with them.

 

[aussiecookfamily]

Air New Zealand is a great airline, but you need to really prepare yourself mentally for having a "rest break" only 3 hours into a now 16+ hour flight. That said we leave on Sunday from Brisbane and have to go via Sydney to LAX, so nearly the same thing, and just mentally planning that the flight doesn't start until we get to Sydney International. On the way back QANTAS now have us flying into Melbourne and then transiting to Brisbane - but hey I'm heading on a holiday so who cares.

 

[kirstyfly]

Air New Zealand is a great airline, but you need to really prepare yourself mentally for having a "rest break" only 3 hours into a now 16+ hour flight. That said we leave on Sunday from Brisbane and have to go via Sydney to LAX, so nearly the same thing, and just mentally planning that the flight doesn't start until we get to Sydney International. On the way back QANTAS now have us flying into Melbourne and then transiting to Brisbane - but hey I'm heading on a holiday so who cares.

Hi just wondering out of interest what do you have to do in regards to your return to Aussie? do you have to self isolate at home? or in a managed isolation quarantine (like we have to here in New Zealand).

The Government here as effectively closed our boarder (no open date yet) and thenyou can't get back in unless you have a MIQ spot which they are not releasing at the moment and is a dam nightmare to get one as is a luck of the draw thing.

 

[Themeparked]

what do you have to do in regards to your return to Aussie?

The states/territories set their own rules but the majority of them at the moment if you're fully vaccinated require you to go straight home and do a covid test and 'quarantine' until you receive a negative result back.

 

[kirstyfly]

The states/territories set their own rules but the majority of them at the moment if you're fully vaccinated require you to go straight home and do a covid test and 'quarantine' until you receive a negative result back.

That sounds like the way it should be, so much easier to do.

 

[kirstyfly]

We looked at fiji air which had a great price for flights for 2 adults and one child in October.

However the stop on the way over was over 5 hours and on the way back 2hours 45 which wasn't bad.

However for such a long flight I am all about ease and just getting on a plane once with one take off and landing sounds good to me.

we could have saved over $1600 going with Air Fiji vs Air New Zealand but we wanted to arrive at LA not as tired as we would have been going with Fiji Air. We also know what to expect with Air New Zealand where as we have never flown Fiji air before.

Also didn't want to have to worry about more covid pre departure tests and Info for 2 different countries vs one as well as we know we have more flight with Air New Zealand should something happen to our flights.