Originally Posted by
sophiesophie
I'm in the early planning stages to visit NZ and Australia (I'll be traveling solo). I want to visit NZ - South Island towns (I read another post here with great suggestions here). I will then fly to Canberra to visit a friend. I will likely fly out of Sydney, but could visit a different city (Melbourne? Suggestions?)
I am aiming for the end of Oct to mid-November ~15-16 days. ~ 5-7 days in NZ ~3-5 days in Canberra (don't want to impose too much on my friend!) ~2- 3 days in Sydney.
Is there any reason to visit Canberra first then NZ?
I intend to fly business class to and from Australia/NZ/ORD. I no longer have a status with an airline. I have ~26K miles with AA but do not need to use them for this. I do not need to fly with AA/oneworld. Price will be most important as well as flight time. Should I buy economy tickets and then try to upgrade closer to departure? I don't want to take a chance of not getting an upgrade upgrade with 11+ hrs on a plane. I will use skyscanner (or others) to get between AUK and CBR and SYD (or should I fly out of a different city?)
I don't want to drive when I am there - public transportation is fine. Getting from Auckland to the Queenstown area - Intercity bus? Cab? I saw a ferry, too - but could do that in one direction, depending on the arrival and departure times of my flights.
For flights USA Aust/NZ you will need to investigate
- open jaw at reasonable price (e.g. USA-NZ and Aust-USA) with a separate trans Tasman flight. One ways will be expensive
- USA - Aust return with separate Aust NZ return (or the other way)
- the chances of getting a miles upgrade if you have no status is very very low (forget about it)
26,000 AA miles will get you trans tasman (Aus - NZ) award ticket. (ZQN-SYD-CBA) on QF Qantas, if available
Your 3 destinations of Queenstown. Canberra & Sydney is a lot for 15-16 days. More so if that includes flights to/from USA.
5-7 days in NZ is not a lot. It will take time to fly to destinations and effectively a day NZ-Aust or Aust-NZ (unless you fly a red eye {not recommended})
Note Auckland is
AKL and not AUK
Airlines that fly USA/Canada to/from Australia (not from all airports to all airports)
- American Airlines AA (LAX - SYD) [OneWorld Alliance] (AS partner)
- Air Canada AC (YYR – SYD BNE. YYR-MEL from 1 Dec 2017 to 1 Feb 2018) [Star Alliance]
- Air New Zealand NZ (LAX SFO IAH YVR via AKL) [Star Alliance]
- Air Tahiti Nui TN (LAX via Tahiti. Last segments on codeshares) (AA & DL partner)
- Delta DL (LAX – SYD) (VA & AS partner) [Skyteam Alliance]
- Fiji Airways FJ (LAX SFO HNL – BNE SYD MEL ADL via Fiji) (QF, AA & AS partner)
- Hawaiian HA (HNL – BNE SYD) (AA & VA partner)
- Jetstar JQ JQ (HNL – SYD BNE)
- Qantas QF (LAX SFO JFK DFW HNL YVR*– BNE SYD MEL) [OneWorld Alliance] (AS partner) (MEL SFO from 1st Sept 2018) {* seasonal}
- United UA (LAX-SYD/MEL, SFO-SYD, IAH– SYD) [Star Alliance]
- Virgin Australia VA (LAX – BNE SYD MEL) (codeshares with AC*) (Delta & AC** partner) [*= some routes in 2017, ** ffp late 2017(may not have happened)]
And others via Asia & Middle East
Airlines that fly USA/Canada to/from New Zealand are (not from all airports to all airports)
And others via Australia, Asia & Middle East
Airlines that fly Australia (CNS* MCY* BNE OOL SYD CBR MEL ADL PER) to/from New Zealand (AKL WLG CHC DUD ZQN) (not from all airports to all airports).
- Air Asia D7 (OOL - AKL)
- Air New Zealand NZ Codeshares with VA. [Star Alliance] {* winter seasonal}
- China Airlines CI (BNE SYD MEL** – AKL CHC**) [Skyteam Alliance] {** November to end March}[needs revision)
- Emirates EK (SYD – CHC) Codeshares with QF. EK will only fly SYD-CHC from 25 March 2018.
- Jetstar JQ (owned by QF)
- LAN LA (SYD AKL) [OneWorld Alliance]
Philippines PR (CNS - AKL) Withdrew from route 06 Dec 2017- Qantas QF Codeshares with EK. [OneWorld Alliance]
- Singapore SQ (CBR/MEL- WLG) [Star Alliance]WLG CBR to be replaced by WLG MEL from 04 May 2018
- Virgin Australia VA Codeshares with Air NZ & AC*. (Delta & AC** partner) [*= some routes in 2017, ** ffp late 2017]
There is a lot of competition Australia - New Zealand on the trans Tasman route. Flights (east coast Australia BNE SYD MEL) are scheduled to take about 3:15hr to 3:45hr. East bound is faster due to prevailing winds. The flight schedules are padded so they often arrive early.
Trans Tasman pricing is very competitive. Fares are often ~AU/NZ$225-$275 one way in economy/coach, but can be more or less. Both economy & business fares can be low to very low. Or at peak times can be very high (double or triple the lowest). Air NZ often has
sales. China Airlines were usually cheapest in the (southern hemisphere) summers of 2015-16, 2016-17 & 2017-18. Often best to buy on the com.au or co.nz web sites and/or select NZ or Australia in the upper part of web site as point of sale (POS).