Flights to US - who with and why?

[Princessbec]

We're heading to Orlando in April and are investigating flights. My husband went last year with V Australia and was happy with them however we are getting better prices through Delta, United and sometimes Continental.

There will be 3-4 adults, 6 yo and 2 yo.

So who did you fly with and why? Would you recommend them?

Also the how long is a piece of string question - when to book?

 

[DVCAustralia]

I have never seen anything that would tempt me to pay more for a particular airline out of the four airlines that fly the route direct. In particular, with that many tickets even a $100 difference adds up to over $500 (a $200 difference is over $1,000 etc), an amount better spent during the trip.
Having said that I have always flown United as they are typically the cheapest, economy plus seating is a cheap upgrade, you can chose your seats for free, and they are an American airline which means the alien queue on landing is much shorter and the domestic network is better. Also once you make a choice it is good to stay with it and keep all your miles together.
I have no experience with April, but it might be better to try the end of March, and also watch the Easter holidays as they are early next year.
Have a great time.

 

[cappucinno]

We are going with United because they came in for the 3 of us $700 per person cheaper than the others...or $2100...which is quite a saving...and we booked our internal flights with them as well so LA-Denver, Denver-Orlando and then DC-SAn Fran home with us and that saved us a bomb too...so several hundred saved there as well..

It wouldn't be my airline of choice but think of all the fab things I can do with that money when I actually get to the US?!

The big fat bummer of it is they don't have the back of seat entertainment but ssssshhhh don't tell DD11 (She won't know till she gets on the plane next week)we're downlaoding games, music and movies to laptops, phones and iPods and that will suffice...

We waited a long time to book waiting for V to come on sale for our dates but they never did... so this was the best option for us.

For us it was worth saving over $2k...closer to $2500 actually.

Last time we flew Sydney-japan-NY with Qantas and as we didn't want to go to the West Coast anyway and that worked out much cheaper for us and didn't take too much longer than going the other way...so it does pay to be creative and flexible.

 

[AussiePrince]

My fiancee and I are going to WDW from October 24th - November 7th after doing LA and NYC last september for 2 weeks.

Last year we booked with Qantas going Melb-Syd-LA-NY then NY-LA-Melb on the return, all up for both of us it was 4k.

When we decided on our honeymoon plans for WDW we were looking at roughly the same cost for flights, if not a little more. Then in January Qantas announced the new route of Syd-Dallas-Bris and had an awesome sale on for it. We ended up booking on that route, Melb-Syd-Dallas-Orlando and back through Brisbane, and only cost $2600 all up for both of us!

Down side is a few extra connecting flights but for a saving of over $1400 its well worth it. Oh and also the fact that the flights to and from Dallas are 3 and 6 on the list of longest single flights in the world. 15hrs 45mins Syd-Dallas and 16 hrs Dallas-Bris!

After using the in seat entertainment gizmo last year on the long flights, I dont think I could handle the long flights without them! Thats why I think we will always pay that little bit extra for a Qantas flight as opposed to a United or Delta flight. Also, Qantas is Australian.

 

[Princessbec]

Our dates arent flexible as my husband has a work conference for part of the time plus I'm a teacher so limited with time I can take. Lucky I have some long service leave I can take.

V have already sold the cheap seats on our dates and are about $2k dearer than Qantas who are about $1.5k dearer than Delta or United. Lucky work pay for 1 adult flight but that amount is somewhat limited too.

The quicker immigration queues would be a big plus. My only os trip was to Hawaii in Jan 01 so my experience is very limited.

Also some of the flight options seem to have very little time to make connections, such as 40 mins in LAX. Surely not doable?

 

[Toy Story]

Last time we flew Sydney-japan-NY with Qantas and as we didn't want to go to the West Coast anyway and that worked out much cheaper for us and didn't take too much longer than going the other way...so it does pay to be creative and flexible.

We did this route last year in April(on Easter Saturday) - it was with Qantas to Tokyo, then Continental to the USA. Continental served us a 'meal that will never be spoken of again' in the middle of the night. Theer in-flight entertainment was great.

Next year we are flying out on the Wednesday before Easter, the fares were on average about $500 pp cheaper than flying out on Easter Saturday again.

 

[AussiePrince]

Also some of the flight options seem to have very little time to make connections, such as 40 mins in LAX. Surely not doable?

Is that 40 mins at LAX when you arrive in the US or when you are leaving??

If its on your inbound flight it will definitely take more than 40 minutes to collect your luggage, go through customs, re-check your luggage and get to the next gate.
But if its your outbound flight you only need to travel from one gate to the next, your luggage should be transferred automatically. We had about a 90 minute window from our flight from NYC landing at LAX before our Melbourne bound flight left, and we got to the next gate within 20 minutes. But I think 40 minutes would be really pushing it though, any delay in the first flight could be a lot of trouble!

 

[australiankaren]

My fiancee and I are going to WDW from October 24th - November 7th after doing LA and NYC last september for 2 weeks.

Last year we booked with Qantas going Melb-Syd-LA-NY then NY-LA-Melb on the return, all up for both of us it was 4k.

When we decided on our honeymoon plans for WDW we were looking at roughly the same cost for flights, if not a little more. Then in January Qantas announced the new route of Syd-Dallas-Bris and had an awesome sale on for it. We ended up booking on that route, Melb-Syd-Dallas-Orlando and back through Brisbane, and only cost $2600 all up for both of us!

Down side is a few extra connecting flights but for a saving of over $1400 its well worth it. Oh and also the fact that the flights to and from Dallas are 3 and 6 on the list of longest single flights in the world. 15hrs 45mins Syd-Dallas and 16 hrs Dallas-Bris!

After using the in seat entertainment gizmo last year on the long flights, I dont think I could handle the long flights without them! Thats why I think we will always pay that little bit extra for a Qantas flight as opposed to a United or Delta flight. Also, Qantas is Australian.

Just a quickie: Delta DO have IVOD on syd-lax flights, some delta aircraft lax-mco dont, Virgin america & frontier airlines have IVOD on all lax-mco flights.We love delta, as they have flown us home twice business class after voluntary offloading.Cant beat business

We have also flown frontier LAX-MCO and they are great, just get the classic plus package.Includes food, free bags and IVOD with priority boarding & more leg room.

We now break up the syd-lax and lax-mco flights, by staying o/nite in lax..we are getting old & take a wee bit longer to untangle the body after a long haul.

V australia is our next flight in 13 days, cant wait.

 

[shushh]

Delta do have entertainments units built into the seat back on SYD-LAX flights. Their domestic flights also have free wifi inflight which is great! (most do but not all I think)

 

[shushh]

Because we have 5 airfares to buy, the differences do add up. So although United wouldn't be my airline of choice, I will go with them if it means saving $2500. But if any of the others are even close, then I'd go with them.

 

[australiankaren]

Because we have 5 airfares to buy, the differences do add up. So although United wouldn't be my airline of choice, I will go with them if it means saving $2500. But if any of the others are even close, then I'd go with them.

hi again,
i think delta has $1500 air fares to LAX.....not sure re dates.
V aust also are cheap at the moment.

but I've flown united, and even though they have no IVOD its alot more social ie: you can chat without people shushing you .....get to know the families around you.

food is ok, and plentiful..........so yes to united if you are traveling in a pack

 

[Sugarglider]

I have to admit that in the last 5 years I have only ever flown Qantas. I have my frequent flyer points tied up with them and they fly direct. Also the inseat entertainment - I rarely sleep - maybe because I watch 27 movies! But also - I have only ever travelled because they have had a sale price! I too started this upcoming trip because of the half price fare to Dallas.

I flew 11 United flights once in 1993 and found the planes half empty and for a cheap economy seat I was able to stretch out in a row and go to sleep! Don't know if they let planes fly like that anymore.

 

[ctp365]

We are doing things a bit differently this time. We got a good package deal - 3 nights in Anaheim, park hopper tickets, transfers, 7 night Mexican Riviera cruise and flights with Air Pacific for $2300. We have a 3 hour stop in Nadi flying this way but I'm don't mind that so much. At times I've thought it's just better to get there in 1 flight but we will survive

 

[Snickals]

I flew United last year. They were the cheapest and then I flew with them domestic to and from Orlando which made transfers so easy. Was more than happy with the service and flights.

 

[australiankaren]

We are doing things a bit differently this time. We got a good package deal - 3 nights in Anaheim, park hopper tickets, transfers, 7 night Mexican Riviera cruise and flights with Air Pacific for $2300. We have a 3 hour stop in Nadi flying this way but I'm don't mind that so much. At times I've thought it's just better to get there in 1 flight but we will survive

hey, thats an awesome deal.....you must be chuffed

we dont mind stopovers, gives us a chance to wander and get the blood flowing again, and really for that $$$$$$ I'd stop anywhere.

 

[ctp365]

Yes Karen, we were really excited when we picked up the brochure. We had no plans to travel this year, but when we saw this we thought it was too good to be true (as most of those travel deals are). The brochure said "prices start at $2300", so we thought we would be up for a fair bit more.

Those packages can be quite constrictive in terms of departure date, who you fly with, where you stay etc, but this trip has worked well for us.

4 1/2 weeks till take off

 

[Princessbec]

Just updating that we booked flights today with Qantas. They dropped their prices last night by just over $200 for the exact flights we wanted. Great news as last week one of the flights had sold all of the cheaper tickets!

 

[becpee]

We are doing things a bit differently this time. We got a good package deal - 3 nights in Anaheim, park hopper tickets, transfers, 7 night Mexican Riviera cruise and flights with Air Pacific for $2300. We have a 3 hour stop in Nadi flying this way but I'm don't mind that so much. At times I've thought it's just better to get there in 1 flight but we will survive

We've been looking at doing a similar cruise, who are you cruising with? Disney or other? Love to hear about it!

 

[ctp365]

Yes it's a Disney cruise on Disney Wonder. I've cruised before but not with Disney so it will be a new experience for us. Getting very excited

 

[becpee]

Yes it's a Disney cruise on Disney Wonder. I've cruised before but not with Disney so it will be a new experience for us. Getting very excited

Sounds awesome