AU-NZ and side trips - need help with flight route plz
 

Hi. I am planning to travel with my husband on a highly anticipated trip to Australia-NZ in April 2010 for 2 weeks. We know the places we would like to visit, but I desperately need help on the flights schedules between destinations to make it the most efficient timewise. Cost is negotiable - we want to be reasonable but I know our time is not what most lucky folks have so we are willing to pay a little extra to make it work. We'll be departing from Chicago, and would like to see Sydney, the Great Barrier Reef (preferably staying on an island for a few days), and then end our trip with a week driving around the South Island of NZ before flying back to Chicago. I had thought to fly ORD-SYD, then a separate roundtrip flight from SYD-CNS-SYD to do the Great Barrier Reef. And then another flight SYD-ZQN, and then from ZQN-AKL and then AKL-ORD. Or we could fly back to SYD to catch an international flight back to Chicago. This seems out of control. I can't find a direct flight from ORD-CNS though, so I think we have to fly into Sydney on the way there. Can anyone suggest a better way to do this? I'm ready to book within a week, but I need help! Thank you!

Just exactly what and where is ORD - if its in the US the only direct flights are from SFO, LAX and NY. There are flights to Brisbane which means that you could then fly Brisbane - Cairns then Cairns to Sydney then NZ but it mainly depends on what airlines you use.

ORD is Chicago

ORD = O'Hare Airport, Chicago, Il.

bmcc, you are best off getting an open jaw ticket. Flying into Cairns (if possible, this can be tricky) and flying out of Oz from SYD with a stopover in AKL. Of course, you'd have to buy a domestic flight in NZ from AKL to an airport on the South Island. I suspect if you try to include Christchurch or Queenstown (or elsewhere) on your international ticket you will pay dearly. Check QF and NZ for flight schedules. Both fly from LAX, not sure about QF but NZ has flights from SFO too. If ff miles are important consider which FF you already collect, OW or SA. You can accumulate a lot of FF miles on a flight to/from Oz.

Hi bmcc -

I'll start by saying that visiting both OZ and NZ with only two weeks is very ambitious and not something I'd recommend. You'll be spending a lot of time on planes and moving from location to location - don't underestimate the affect jetlag can have on your holiday and the time involved in getting to/from airports, checking in and out of hotels, collecting rental cars, etc.

That said, there are a couple of ways to do this. One way to start is to select an airline partnership and go from there. Are you members of any particular airline frequent flyer program? If so, start with them, if not, now is the time to join as you'll earn loads of miles on this trip.

You might want to look into Circle Pacific tickets. They might be less expensive than purchasing tickets separately, and there a distinct advantage to having all of your flights on one ticket.

Another option is to purchase the Aussie Airpass on Qantas, which includes international flights from LAX and SFO and up to three domestic flights within Australia. Qantas also has flights from SYD to Queenstown, NZ via Christchurch and Auckland.

Look at New Zealand Air. Not sure if they fly from ORD, but they are partners with United (and Cont. now, I think). We flew Houston to SFO(United) to AKL(NZA) to Wellington(NZA), but could have flown in to Christchurch or Queenstown on that ticket. The flight from AKL to the other NZ cities was very little additional cost, less than $200. We then used New Zealand Air from Christchurch to Sydney. NZA flies from Sydney to AKL also. (At that time NZA also flew to AKL from Cains) We used Qantas to get around in Australia.

If you are willing to rearanage the order of your trip a bit, call New Zealand Air and see if you do an open jaw ORD to AKL/Queenstown or Christchurch then the return SYD orCains-AKL-ORD. Do your SI drive first and fly NZA from Queenstown or Christchurch to Sydney or Cairns (when we did the trip we could fly from the SI to either Cairns or Sydney). That would be one international rt ticket ORD to the South Island NZ, and return SYD or Cairns to ORD. Then a one way connection SI to SYD or Cairns and a one way connection SYD-Cairns. You could save one flight this way and cut out a half day traveling. It also wouldn't hurt to ask for pricing on the reverse route. Airlines have crazy ways of pricing things sometimes.

Continental flies to Cairns - via Guam.

Airline partnerships that may be of use to you. American Airlines and Qantas are both Oneworld. Air NZ is a Star Alliance carrier, as is United. Delta and Virgin Australia have a 'share' agreement.

Another option is to fly direct from Chicago to Seoul, then Seoul to Brisbane or Sydney on Korean Air. Korean Air also flies to Auckland, so an open jaw - arriving from Seoul in Sydney?Brisbane - departing from Auckland might be suitable.

Within Australia Sydney to Cairns is a busy route with frequent services (Qantas, Virgin Blue or Jetstar). There are direct flights from Brisbane and Sydney to either Christchurch or less frequently Dunedin (Qantas, Pacific Blue, Air NZ, Emirates).

You can depart NZ for the USA only from Auckland

There seems to be good competitive pricing on Air New Zealand's one way domestic routes if you get lucky and can get one of the cheap grab a seat deals

http://flightbookings.airnewzealand....rabview/en_NZ/

(not sure if that link will work from the US but as an example I paid about $40-$50 US for Auckland -Wellington and Christchurch-Auckland).