transportprof

Funnily enough, my annual work trip Down Under will bring me back on the MEL-LAX flight. I have nothing against TBIT, but in the past the *A lounge was closed in the morning, when its shower facilities would have been a welcome addition to my layover. Has that changed? I'll have a flight to YVR departing mid morning, around 10:40 am.

findark

*A lounge was open when we arrived on MEL-LAX in March. Website lists 0600-2400 as operating hours, although with a seasonality caveat.

david_oz

i Would vote for the LAX flight on the outbound. The earlier IAH flight is actually a disadvantage when travelling to Aus. You want to try to stay up as late as possible to get on the right time zone. Also traveling through LAX means only one connection.

On the way back I agree SFO is the winner because of the arrivals lounge. Usually I go through SFO for this same reason, however recently transited through LAX and it was infinitely better than it used to be in the bad old days. IAH can be a bit crazy early in the mornings with lots of flights arriving from South America. If you have global entry it’s not a problem though.

cairns

Agree LAX out SFO back. I go via IAD and have done this for twenty years. Book an EARLIER flight to LA- the later ones can be late or get cancelled- that has happened to me a few times. UAL isn't going to care whether you're in J or F and your original seat assignment is gone.

TWA Guy

Thanks everyone for the feedback! One more question - if I were to book DCA-IAH-SYD-MEL connecting to QF, what is suggested connection time at SYD? ua.com is booking a 2 hour connection but not sure that's safe. Thanks!

Taipei

Two hours is tight. QF offers flights every 30 min/60 min SYD-MEL most of the day, I would choose maybe 3 hours. Reason, you need change terminals, which is on the other side of the airport in SYD. Options are QF bus which is free, other options such as rail/ terminal shuttle bus cost money, but all options it takes some time to do depending wait times for bus/rail which could be few min or as long as 20 min in my experiences). SYD is not a good airport to transfer at. (not sure if you can choose LAX-MEL direct? in UA or QF??)

TWA Guy

Thanks Taipei! LAX-MEL is an option on UA, Inlikenthe earlier departure time of IAH-SYD and option to depart from DCA instead of IAD.

jumpingenes

I'd go for the LAX-MEL nonstop over the SYD connection. SYD transfer is annoying on the best of days and right now with some sort of roadworks going on the bus transfer to the domestic terminal is downright painful in the mornings, though the transfer to QF domestic may be running airside so perhaps it is a bit better.

Mwenenzi

2 hrs is OK, but could be tight, if all on 1 ticket. SYD-MEL QF flights are frequent. if you are late the domestic QF desk in the international T1 terminal will put you on a later flight.

If separate tickets 3 hours minimum. If you are late expect to buy a new ticket

Airport info SYDNEY (SYD) - amenities, transfers, transport Click to open the wiki

transportprof

Another difference between SYD and MEL is their navigational capabilities. MEL can offer Cat. III landings in low visibility ILS conditions, and SYD cannot. There are seasonal reliability differences between the two aerodromes, as a result.

findark

+1 for "meh" on 2h being too tight. It is indeed a pretty short connection with the terminal transfer, but SYD-MEL is flown by QF up to a truly staggering 41x daily so a misconnect is really no big deal.

But LAX-MEL is still probably the easier choice.

cairns

Definitely fly direct....nothing like looking down at Canberra and thinking jeez another hour left to go v.praying for a shower and waiting for a flight.....

COSPILOT

Maybe I'm missing something, but one way or another you are going to make two stops out of DCA, and potentially one out of IAD if IAD-LAX-MEL is chosen. Since departing DCA seems to be the priority, I think it would be easier to make the stops here, rather than SYD. I appreciate the desire of the earlier departure out of IAH vs. LAX, but your goal should be to adjust to MEL timezone on the way, which means forcing yourself to stay up on the plane for a while anyway. After three trips to Australia, I learned after the first one; I stay awake, enjoy the meal, then watch a movie or two then I finally let myself fall asleep. I wake up naturally about 1.5 hours prior to landing, have the breakfast, and frankly I feel adjusted to local time. Still a hard first day, but thankfully the coffee in all of MEL is fantastic, even Mc'Donalds believe it or not.

So if I were in your shoes, I'd be looking at DCA-ORD/DEN-LAX-MEL, IAD departure would be ignored. On the return from SYD, you have the opportunity to experiment a little.

prestonh

I've done the US-Australia trip 20 some times, doing another one next week ex YVR to MEL. I'm taking the new direct AC flight each way instead of transferring as travel time not only eats away at your energy, it adds to connection risk and can ruin a trip/meetings etc. I used to do the trip from the east coast US, so my advice is this:
-outbound, connect in LAX-MEL direct and give yourself about 3-4 hours in the lounge and find one with shower to freshen up before the long flight
-inbound, connect in SYD-IAH (now that that is an option). Make your shortest legs domestic US as the jet lag will hit you when you get back and it is miserable. The worst thing is sitting in a domestic transcon seat for 5 hours plus connection time with jet lag off a 14-15 hr flight. If you can shorten that to 2-3 hrs that would be better.

Enjoy your trip!

TWA Guy

Thanks so much for the input. Seems like the overwhelming advice is to skip the SYD connection. I would say departing from DCA is a "nice to have" but not a huge priority. Arriving at DCA would be really nice since the IAD arrival at rush means a long ride home. Appreciate the advice on adjusting to MEL time!

Thanks so much, this seems to be the right move. Right now the IAD-LAX options depart at 5:05 PM with a 3h06m layover and 3:05 PM with a 5h06m layover but looks like the March schedules aren't firmed up yet.