Flights and Airlines from Aus

[LisaAJ]

Hi
Long time lurker, first time poster
We are planning a trip to DW in Jan 2014 and am wondering whether anyone has any advice on when to book? Coming from Perth the airfares are horrendous so even a small saving would help.
Also, does anyone know which airlines discount for children? Do any of them anymore??
TIA

 

[backinoz]

Qantas offers 25% discount for children under 12. No discount with virgin or jetstar (sometimes it's cheaper to go with them to Honolulu and then an American airline onto Disney). Singapore airlines and Air NZ used to be 33% child discount, but that was a few years ago when my DD's flew as children. You may find that from Perth you're better off with one of the Asian airlines, flying to their 'hub' & then on to USA, (I've flown with Singapore & Malaysian and both were very good). None will have discounted fares for 2014 out yet though (but if ur flying during school holidays there's not likely to be much of a discount anyway). Expedia's usually a good starting point to get an idea of airfares - but then go check the airlines actual website. Make sure u check out Air NZ - they don't show up on a lot of the booking websites but have some very good fares from time to time - it makes the flight a little longer but comfort and service was great when we flew with them. hope this helps & have fun planning

Loving the DISBoards App on my iPhone

 

[5ofus]

When I get bored at work sometimes I punch in random dates to see what prices are like -sad I know! Unfortunately a lot of it comes down to a guessing game and luck. ANZ still has children's fares, but I don't think the discount is as big as it use to be. We are going to be flying out of Sydney and so far they are my top pick even with the stopover, because their times suit us better and they often have good specials. Oh, and the Skycouch is something we will benefit from as a family of five.

 

[baf65]

We just flew here from Perth, we found it was cheaper to book separate domestic flight to Melbourne or Sydney, fly to lax and then connect onto a domestic flight.....our original flight (we had to change at the last minute) we got jetstar Melbourne for $179 each but got a friends fly for free fare so cost us round $450, then virgin was around $1200 each to lax, thensouthwest was $120 each lax to Orlando, then $250 back to lax, then $170 each Mel back Perth. You just have to keep looking for deals really, I found Oct slightly more expensive than November
Definitely better to split your flight tho if you can't get a reasonable flight thru Asia

 

[becpee]

Virgin do offer a 25% discount and they're generally cheaper than Qantas as well.

My BIL referred me to www.skyscanner.com.au to compare flight prices, it's a bit easier to navigate when mucking around with dates as well...

 

[australiankaren]

http://www.bestflights.com.au/cheap-flights/phone-flights-results/North-America/Economy/1

up to august......

 

[BecBennett]

August?? Don't they know I'm looking for September?!?

 

[australiankaren]

August?? Don't they know I'm looking for September?!?

like ++++++

 

[australiankaren]

http://matrix.itasoftware.com

 

[marvel]

Just a note on booking flights. Best Flights and all the airlines, either charge booking fee, or credit card fees. Qantas charge $30, virgin $25, Best Flights nearly $20. Zuji does not charge anything. My fares were $60 cheaper per person booking the exact same flight with Zuji against the Virgin Website.

 

[mareeld86]

August?? Don't they know I'm looking for September?!?

Bec i just found 1100 for september next year on virgin.

Its ok compared to some of the numbers that have been popping out.

 

[5ofus]

Just a note on booking flights. Best Flights and all the airlines, either charge booking fee, or credit card fees. Qantas charge $30, virgin $25, Best Flights nearly $20. Zuji does not charge anything. My fares were $60 cheaper per person booking the exact same flight with Zuji against the Virgin Website.

Good to know - thanks!

 

[5ofus]

Bec i just found 1100 for september next year on virgin.

Its ok compared to some of the numbers that have been popping out.

Where did you find those? Please share with the group!

 

[Jade+3]

They are cheaper as long as you leave Australia by 31 Aug. Same with Qantas. I have only checked ex-Brisbane.

 

[5ofus]

They are cheaper as long as you leave Australia by 31 Aug. Same with Qantas. I have only checked ex-Brisbane.

. That will be too early for us. We will be living mid Sept

 

[Jade+3]

. That will be too early for us. We will be living mid Sept

Too early for us too. If it was not for DD's dancing competitions the first weekend in September, we would have been able to do it.

 

[LisaAJ]

Thank you so much everyone. Great tips on the airlines and don't ask me why I never thought of booking separate legs!! Just pricing up a couple now and its already saving hundreds!!

Our dates are not flexible at all so I want to book early to get our land portion secured. So we can't wait around for specials unfortunately.

Does anybody have any ideas about how long would be enough time to get through customs etc to be able to catch a connecting domestic flight at LAX? Do you think 2-3 hours is enough?

 

[WAMUMOF4]

I am now going to go against what everyone else said
I recommend booking your international from Perth book the internal flights in the US separate but not from Perth my reasons for this are on our way home our plane was 10 mins late arriving in Brisbane Customs took there sweet time and we missed our connecting flight back to Perth, Qantas put us on the next flights and gave us meal vouchers no extra cost to us but other people had them booked separate and it was there problem i for one would not want to be paying the extra money to fly home that day. You also get international luggage all the way back to Perth which is 2 suitcases per person.

The first year we went we booked our flights separate as we had something on in Brisbane on the way home but we flew over to Sydney the day before our flight to the USA just to make sure that we didn't miss our flight so if you add in the cost of hotels we saved nothing.

Make sure you also look at the Dallas route as often its the same cost as to LA and also when looking at other airlines make sure you compare the travel time as some of them especially through Asia arrive the next day not the same day.

And Welcome to the boards

 

[ColinA]

I am now going to go against what everyone else said
I recommend booking your international from Perth book the internal flights in the US separate but not from Perth my reasons for this are on our way home our plane was 10 mins late arriving in Brisbane Customs took there sweet time and we missed our connecting flight back to Perth, Qantas put us on the next flights and gave us meal vouchers no extra cost to us but other people had them booked separate and it was there problem i for one would not want to be paying the extra money to fly home that day. You also get international luggage all the way back to Perth which is 2 suitcases per person.

The first year we went we booked our flights separate as we had something on in Brisbane on the way home but we flew over to Sydney the day before our flight to the USA just to make sure that we didn't miss our flight so if you add in the cost of hotels we saved nothing.

Make sure you also look at the Dallas route as often its the same cost as to LA and also when looking at other airlines make sure you compare the travel time as some of them especially through Asia arrive the next day not the same day.

And Welcome to the boards

I agree with you, sometimes cheaper not better! Also love the Dallas route to WDW.

 

[backinoz]

Another vote for flying into DFW rather than LAX IF ur flying qantas. DH travels quite a bit for work, and he avoids LAX if at all possible. He says the ground staff & services at DFW are far more efficient.

Loving the DISBoards App on my iPhone :-D