United sale

[cola]

The dreaded United has a sale on again - US for less than $1000. It's only LA from Melbourne for a couple of weeks in March that is $999 according to Best Flights, but you never know, there might be something there that works for you if you can travel in the next 6 weeks..... Much of that time is Spring Break so accommodation could be expensive and crowded parks....
Other US destinations and other dates available, up to end Sept.... The good thing with United is they are easy to do multi-city booking with, they go everywhere..... for some times of the year, Orlando is only $100 more than LA

 

[ExcitedSam]

What are they like to fly with? Don't want to be stick on a long haul flight with an airline that's not up to scratch!

 

[PrincessInOz]

They don't have in-seat entertainment. Just the old fashioned TV that drops from up high.

Otherwise, they are okay.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

There have been theories thrown around on here about buying ipads and using those instead but I still would have to think twice about going with United because of the inseat entertainment haha

 

[aussietravellers]

I can feel a comment from Queenie coming along very soon

 

[ame]

I have flown to the US twice with United. Yes, it was 2003 and 2006, but the memories are etched forever... Uncomfortable seats close together, average plane food (which is hit and miss anyway), the oldest, crankiest flight attendants & really bad coffee (even for American coffee, it was bad).

Back then no planes had back of the seat entertainment anyway, the screens can be bothersome if you're trying to sleep. I'd recommend good eye shades and earplugs if you want to sleep or an ipad if you want to stay awake (or ipod and good book). You'll need the battery life of the ipad as no in flight charging.

I'm a loyal citizen of the Virgin kingdom, but as long as I didn't have my kids with me, I'd fly Unjited at dirt cheap prices if it took me somewhere happy at the end of the flight

 

[ExcitedSam]

I have heard not so great reviews before. Going to the travel expo tomorrow, so hoping to nab some good qantas or virgin flights.

 

[PrincessInOz]

I can feel a comment from Queenie coming along very soon

Believe it or not.....She's actually flying United right now.


I don't think we need any other comment or statement!

 

[PrincessInOz]

I have heard not so great reviews before. Going to the travel expo tomorrow, so hoping to nab some good qantas or virgin flights.

Without kids, they really aren't that bad if you have a good book. With kids, I'd pay the extra money for an airline with entertainment.

Good luck at the travel expo. Qantas MLB to LA was around $1300 last week. A friend of mine was seriously considering the trip at $1300.

 

[aussietravellers]

Believe it or not.....She's actually flying United right now.


I don't think we need any other comment or statement!

 

[aussietravellers]

I got an email this morning about Qantas having a business and premium class sale right now. You have to buy two tickets to get the deal. Can't remember what it was but it's on their website

 

[Sugarglider]

I have heard not so great reviews before. Going to the travel expo tomorrow, so hoping to nab some good qantas or virgin flights.

Thanks for the heads up about the Expo! I too shall go and see what I can find. I wonder if they will have December flights yet?

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Sugarglider - I would love to hear back from you whether they were offering Dec flights and what sort of dollars they were.

 

[Mum from oz]

I'd be interested in Dec flight info too.

FWIW I saw a special Hawaiian Airlines is running for return trip to Oahu and another island of your choice for $1200 return. Excluding school holidays. Oh and that is with 2 x 23kg luggage allowance!

 

[Sugarglider]

Sugarglider - I would love to hear back from you whether they were offering Dec flights and what sort of dollars they were.

Travel Expos Prices for 1 Nov - 9 Dec (there was nothing after this date)

V Australia
Economy RTN SYD - LAX $1512 MCO - $1876
PE rtn SYD - LAX $2549; MCO $3398

Qantas
Economy rtn CBR - LAX $1,725 (via BNE) DFW - $1865 (via BNE & LAX)
PE rtn advertising the current companion promo - only avail for departures up to 30 Nov. CBR - LAX $3,066; DFW $3,392
(I asked for Sydney fares, they didnt know - chap recommended taking $100 off.)

People said fares were supposed to be booked today at the Expo, but they are having a Sydney Expo next week and he was a bit relaxed and said it could be organised for a few more days to next week.

FOR COMPARISON - just went online to check SYD - MCO rtn 28 Nov - 11 Dec VA = $2138; QF = $2174

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I am obviously so out of touch and airline prices must have gone up alot since we travelled in 2010. .

This is something I am going to have to get my head around because it is what it is.

We are planning on flying out on 9 December to take advantage of the slightly cheaper airfares rather than any later in December.

I cannot imagine what our flights are going to cost for all of the different legs we want to include in the trip .

Thanks for the info.

 

[alicia1506]

we're flying bne - lax return on nov 23-dec 11 and i was originally budgeting 2800.00 for the 2 of us, round trip with virgin.

i'm thinking i may have to adjust the figures on that slightly.

we're flying delta and southwest for our internal flights, and they are between $280 - 500 each leg, for the 2 of us...

wishing the bne-lax leg was cheaper though

 

[Sugarglider]

All I can do is hold out for a sale now!

 

[cola]

I've flown United, and it's not that bad. I flew to London last year (2011) booked through QANTAS with codesharing QANTAS, Cathay, Air France and British Airways, flights, and I found the Air France leg the most comfortable, and compared to United in 2010 and 2009, other than the in-seat entertainment, it was about the same as Cathay comfort-wise for the long haul flights. ****SHRUG **** heck, I was almost contemplating flying United to London, it was only going to be an extra one or 2 hours going via LA, but everyone always says United is so bad, I thought I should try QANTAS internationally for the first time in ages, and ended up trying 4 different airlines.

The internal flights was a little bit more of a step down, I was on one flight from Chicago to Miami and they didn't even have the drop down TVs from the ceiling, no entertainment anywhere, but that was only fairly short flights. The cabin crew are generally more on the mature side rather than bright young things, particularly on internal flights, no glamour in their staff. Since the economic crisis, places you'd expect younger people staffing it are suddenly full of older people, eg DisneyWorld used to be all youngsters as CMs, or at least the CMs that dealt with the public; my last 2 trips, there were a LOT more old people as CMs, ones that looked like they should be retired but they lost too much money and now they had to put on a Disney uniform to get a job, and that applied pretty much everywhere I looked closely, any low paying job that kids used to get to get them through uni or whatever seemed to have been taken over by their grandparents. Don't know where all the kids now had part time jobs - maybe they were spending their grandparent's savings.


So United isn't swish, but it is OK, if you can keep everyone entertained.
I will say a couple of major advantages with United is that you can get all the internal flights with them and that can make things a lot cheaper and a lot more manageable if there are any connection issues, and it means absolutely no concerns about paying for luggage because you have an overseas ticket.

 

[Snickals]

I flew United in 2010 and thought they were okay. I didn't mind the food on the international, had to pay for it on domestic so didn't try it. But individual entertainment units would have been nice. Staff was fairly friendly.