Greetings All,

The Mrs & I are in the planning stages of our 4th trip to Australia. We will be travelling in April 2009. The plan is to fly from Los Angeles to Auckland, spend a couple of weeks there, fly to Brisbane to attend a wedding then return to LAX.

I've been shopping fares with some discouraging results. Qantas and Air New Zealand want over $2000 USD. I've been shopping the fare as one trip (LAX -> AKL -> BNE -> LAX).

I'm wondering if I should book the Los Angeles - Auckland leg separate from the Auckland - Brisbane part. Doing so would require a return through Auckland but if it would save some $$, I wouldn't be opposed to doing so.

Can anyone provide any insight on this? I'd also like to find out which airlines provide service from Auckland to Brisbane.

Thanks,
John in Miami

I think you answered your own question John.

Take a short break there on the way home. It will be a long flight either way.

Hi John,

Do you actually mean to spend several weeks in Auckland? If so, I'm thinking maybe you have family there?

oooh, if you'd only posted earlier -we had a special going that was primarily touting South Australia, (but you only needed to spend 4 nights), but the airfare was $600 on Air NZ and allowed stopovers in Auckland. That would have been perfect for you and saved you over $1,000.

In any event, the problem between going between the two countries (and staying on the same airline) is that if you use Air NZ, you're always going to have to go back through AKL on your international flight, and if you use Qantas, it's always going to be going through Sydney.

You're on the right track - my recommendation would be to book your international travel roundtrip from LAX - AKL and do AKL - BNE as a separate part.

Take Air NZ, Qantas, Virgin Blue, or Jetstar (whoever has the best rate) and fly from AKL to BNE. Attend your wedding, and then fly from BNE to AKL, stay at an inexpensive hotel @ the airport and then fly from AKL to LAX.

Hope this is helpful!

Regards,

Melodie
Certified Aussie Specialist

<i>if you use Qantas, it's always going to be going through Sydney</i>

You can fly LAX-AKL-BNE-LAX all as nonstops on Qantas. No need to go through SYD.

Or LAX-MEL nonstop or LAX-AKL-MEL on one plane...

Hi John,

I'm pretty sure Qantas actually do LAX-BNE-LAX direct flights. Not sure if that helps.