Anyone know if I can check my bags straight through to EWR on SYD-LAX-EWR, or will I have to pick up in LAX and re-check? I have wine and honey that I brought from NZ in them.

Thanks!

I don't know why but these flights are often arriving into TBIT. If it is I can tell you that you have to pick up the bags but there is a counter a short walk after where you drop them off again.

Also an added benefit - if you have a decent layover and can use it - is you arrive close to the Star Alliance Lounge which was open at 7am the day we were there. So you can shower etc.

You always need to collect bags at your first point of entry into the US, regardless of final destination/airline/airport/etc.

I hope you declared the honey when bringing it into Australia. As a rule honey can NOT be imported into Aus, and I'm fairly sure that includes from NZ. At a minimum it must be declared, and then customs will determine if it can be brought in or not.

T7 immigration doesn't open early enough for them. Historically it was just the MEL flight that went to TBIT, but with the re-timing of lights the SYD flights do as well now. I guess UA has made the choice that it's not worth the cost of opening immigration earlier, especially as their next international arrival isn't until much later in the day.

Thanks. I did declare the honey when coming in, they had a dog sniff the bag and had no issues.

I am SUPER excited to say that bookings for April 2016 are showing Dreamliner between LAX and SYD. This will be major - those 777s are just woeful. I hope its true and we get those 787s on this route.

It's definitely true. Beginning towards the end of March all 3 Australia flights will be 787-9.

I second this advice. Jetstar is truly horrific.

Inbound into Australia they will NOT recheck at the international terminals at either Sydney or Melbourne. At Sydney, the transfer is via a fairly long bus ride on a coach ill-equipped to be carrying baggage.

Inbound at Melbourne, the walk to the "new" Jetstar terminal is also very long, much of it not covered which should be a challenge in the rain. This "new" terminal is shockingly bad for what some consider a first-world country.

Outbound with JQ isn't any better, as they REFUSE to interline bags at either of these UA connection points.

Good for BF pax, bad for GF and Y pax.

I intend to be BF but I am interested on your thoughts about the Y offering on these planes - can you expand?

Sure. They shrank the seats to go nine across in a cabin that's more than a foot narrower than the 772. Y seats are only 17.3 inches wide.

Check in time at Sydney Airport
 

I am flying SYD-SFO in BF.. Want to spend some time chilling in the lounge, both NZ and SQ..

Not saying I want to get there when check in opens (Australian ports seem to have a system where there are flexible counters to be used by airlines) but I certainly do not want to get there <b>before</b> the counters open.

So, any comments on to how many hours/minutes before departure counters open in Sydney?

At least 3 hours before the LAX flight, so you'll have 5 hours at least

The NZ lounge tends to be very overcrowded and I don't find the spread of food to be very impressive and its disappointing that NZ is kicking Annie (UA)
out of the lounge as she has always been a tremendous help.

The SQ F lounge is fantastic. They made me a special gluten free breakfast which was delicious and their attention to detail was fantastic. The lounge manger would check on us every 15 mins to see if we needed anything else before our flight. There were less than 10 of us in this portion of the lounge.

I was in the SYD Air NZ Koru lounge a few weeks ago. (Besides Star Alliance, they also accept Virgin Australia pax in biz class.)

Anyway, the problem is that the United flight to LAX departs just before they set out the lunch spread, which is better than the picked-over breakfast food.
Since the OP's flight is a later one to SFO, he'll get some good lunch grub.

What are the club situations at MEL? I'm flying LAX-MEL in C and onward to HBA on Virgin Australia in C with a huge layover.