I will be travelling to Australia from New York with my two teens and husband. LOOONNNGGG flight! Just want to know which airline, Qantas or Cathay would make the flight more bearable.

Cathay Pacific by a long shot. <BR> <BR>IMHO, #1 airline is Singapore and #2 is Cathay Pacific - at least for crossing the Pacific. Air New Zealand may even be better than Cathay Pacific at times. <BR> <BR>Happy travels!

My vote goes to Cathay as well. I always use them for my flights between LA & Hong Kong. <BR> <BR>Happy Travels <BR> <BR>Sheli

I flew Cathay from Zurich-Hongkong several times and always found everything fine. Cannot speak about Qantas, sorry. That's the airline a lot of Europeans use when travelling to Australia, of course. The flights will be looong though, whichever you choose. <BR>Have a nice trip!

Depends if you are an anxious flyer or not. If you are seeking a little reassurance, remember the movie Rainman with Dustin Hoffman? The question is asked which airline has NEVER had a fatal accident, the answer is Qantas.

Lived in Australia several years, and definitely don't recommend QANTAS. Would go for Singapore Air - otherwise Cathay.

If you are traveling to Australia from NY by far the fastest way is with Qantas(about 20 hours with a layover in LA). Cathay on the other hand goes to Hong Kong(via Vancouver)that's 19 hours and then with a change in planes to Sydney makes the trip another 10 or 11 hours longer(not including layovers and possible delays). Although Cathay is a far superior airline in terms of service and comfort it would be foolish not to fly Qantas as that would almost cut the trip time in half, besides they aren't that bad.

Rainman, <BR>Wasn't that in "Midnight Run" too? The scene where Charles Grodin wouldn't get on the plane.

I had bad experience with Qantas. One time I was sick when I boarded on a Qantas flight. I felt really cold and asked the attendant for an extra blanket. And he told me "One blanket per person". So I suffer all through my journey. I found Cathay service to be good, with individual TV screens on each seat. I would prefer Cathay over Qantas.

I know that this thread has long gone but for future reference I would always go to a country with their own airline because you can get much better deals in that country via i.e. Qantas. If I was going to Hong Kong I would go with Cathay because of the accommodation deals. <BR>I have been Cathay several times and let me tell you that leaving Hong Kong in a force 9 on Cathay when no other airline would fly did not give me the feeling of safety. Qantas on the other hand ALWAYS makes me feel safe and I have never had any problem with them and prefer to fly with them anytime. Although a lot of pilots are Australian on Cathay I would prefer to fly with Qantas any time anywhere.