Flights from Ottawa to Sydney to Auckland
 

I am heading to the Master Games in Auckland, New Zealand in April 2017. I will be flying from Ottawa, Canada. I was hoping to stop for a few days in Sydney, Australia on my way there. Has anyone ever booked this type of flight. If so, what is the best route/flight?

Have you checked routings on Skyscanner or Cheapflights? Be forewarned: the cheapest fares won't necessarily be the most direct or quickest ways to reach your destination (WestJet to Toronto, Toronto to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific, then Hong Kong to Sydney on Cathay Pacific, then Lan Chile from Sydney to Auckland, and so on...)

Are you a frequent flyer member of any airlines? Because Air New Zealand and Air Canada are Star Alliance partners. Air New Zealand has direct flights from Auckland to Vancouver four or five times a week.

You might find this article interesting:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/indu...e-to-Vancouver

I'm not sure there is a best route and we in NZ would have the same problem going to Ottawa.
There is a direct flight from Vancouver to both Sydney and Auckland. That's probably more direct that going East.
Ottawa - Vancouver - Sydney then return Auckland - Vancouver -Ottawa.
This may not be the cheapest fare however as Diamantina points out.
Or get the best deal you can for a round trip to Auckland and book a separate trans Tasman flight to get you over to Sydney.
The downside is that you would have to return to Auckland to fly home, the upside is there are lots of flights everyday (about 20 departures) and you have time to look for a bargain.

This is how I would do it, or at least attempt it (the fares would obviously be a factor.)

I'd do it as two separate tickets.

Ticket number 1. A flight roundtrip YOW-LAX (Los Angeles.)

Ticket number 2. A multicity flight departing a day or two after your arrival in LAX, on Air NZ, LAX-SYD-AKL-LAX

This requires an overnight at the least in LAX both coming and going but believe me, you will appreciate the break in the flight in LAX.

Your Air NZ from LAX (Los Angeles) to SYD automatically means you will connect in AKL en route to SYD, so it is a simple matter to add a stopover in AKL on your return from SYD to LAX, to accommodate your attendance at the Master Games.

I would not, myself, consider booking this trip until November at the earliest, but I would research fares and itineraries in the meantime.

Thank you to everyone for their input/suggestions! I was not thinking outside of the box at all...so the idea around booking two separate flights is a wonderful suggestion.

I will start looking into possible combination of flights....and yes I agree about not booking until at least November.

Thank you once again.

Torino13, are you familiar with LAX?

And, for goodness sake, don't book with any company that has some version of cheap; cheapo; edreams in the title. The Air Travel forum on TA has reams of nightmare reports of using shonky companies found in Skyscanner.

Either book direct with the airline or use a reputable, established, travel agent.

Go to www.itasoftware.com, click on Airfare Search, and use the many options to fine-tune your search. (That site does NOT sell tix but is just about the best research tool.)

I found that it’s no advantage to book a “MultiCity” flight Ottawa-Sydney-Auckland / Auckland-Ottawa that allows for a few days in Sydney, compared to booking a return flight Ottawa-Sydney-Ottawa and a separate return flight Sydney-Auckland-Sydney. I found the separate arrangement to be better, also because SYD-AKL takes longer when booked like this:

A reasonable “MultiCity” combo for Can$1486 involves a flight from Ottawa to Sydney with just one stopover in Vancouver, and a two-hopper Sydney-Christchurch-Auckland (a six-hour-20-min trip that should take far less direct!), and a trip home Auckland-Los Angeles-Chicago-Ottawa.

I would go for the best/cheapest Ottawa-Sydney-Ottawa flight, booked with an airline rather than a middleman, then worry about Sydney-Auckland-Sydney as a separate booking; that’s a heavily travelled route with frequent good deals - just match the times so you’re safe making the connections.

Ottawa-Sydney-Ottawa
No nonstops to Sydney. One-stop (Vancouver) costs Can$1415, two-stops (PHL + DFW outbound, SFO + YYZ homebound for example) start at Can$1166. Add the Auckland ticket and you’re still better off than with the combined Multi-City ticket.
(We flew SYD-AKL-SYD in April for USD260 each roundtrip, not particularly cheap, you might do better far in advance.)

I only used websites like Skyscanner to see what's available, then book directly with the airlines.

Thank you! After a lot of research...I believe I will be booking my trip as:

Ottawa to Vancouver to Sydney
and then a separate flight from Sydney to Auckland a few days later.

And head back the same way.

Thanks again for all your help and guidance!

Excellent!

Splendid - enjoy!