Flights to Bali
 

I am flying to Bali in March and am trying to book directly with United. I would like to fly through Singapore on the outbound from Houston and then fly from Bali to Sydney and spend a few days in Australia on the way home. (United will have directs from Sydney to Houston by the time I travel..woohoo)
My question is if I purchase IAH to SIN and SYD to IAH, then separately purchase tickets in and out of BALI on smaller non alliance carriers will I have any trouble in customs, or with my luggage?

Any advice you can give would be appreciated!

You won't be able to check bags through on a separate ticket to a non star alliance carrier. So you would have to clear immigration and pick them up at SIN on the outbound, and (probably) also at SYD on the return.

You may be able to. I just did it UA to Icelandic on two tickets. But it is hit or miss.

OP is spending several days in Australia on the return so they will have to pick up their bags regardless of who they fly from DPS-SYD.

OP, assuming you are traveling on a US passport then entry/exit in SIN is super easy and laid back. You will have to pick up your bag in SIN which means you will have to clear immigration, collect your bag, go through Customs and then go to the departures level to check-in for your next flight to DPS. The only way to avoid this is if you ticket IAH-DPS in one ticket or if you purchase SQ (Singapore Airlines) as the carrier from SIN-DPS. If the latter then UA can tag your bag all the way through and you can simply stop by the transfer counter in Changi airport (SIN) to collect your SQ boarding pass without going through immigration and customs.

If you will go through I&C please allow 2 hours connection time. SIN is a mega efficient airport (maybe the best in the world) but chances are you will pick a LCC between SIN and DPS and they are unforgiving with check-in deadlines.

-RM

As long as you can legally enter the country they are not going to care that you have to enter Singapore for a few hours to claim and re-check your bags. You said you plan on spending time in Sydney so you are going to have to claim your bags anyways.

Looking at random dates in March it seems IAH-LAX-SIN ($1400) and SYD-IAH ($975) in Y would book as separate one-way tickets.. You could book on the same ticket for $4000 in Y, so don't do that lol

If you want to keep it on *A the SQ SIN-DPS flights are at 8:20am, 9:20am, 4:05pm, 6:05pm which kind of sucks as the UA flights arrive at 6:50 and 8:00am. Scoot has a 10:30am flight ($75) and Air Asia has 10:35am and 12:15pm. You won't get an *A flight from DPS-SIN. It seems that the JetStar, Virgin or Qantas flights are about $200 on that leg.

I think you mean OP can't get a *A flight on DPS-SYD (not SIN).

The only reasonably priced flights in this market are on LCCs like JetStar.

-RM

Sorry you are correct! I meant to say DPS-SYD.
Looking around March it seems JetStar is $183-$242. Virgin $220-$292 and Qantas is about $343 each day and Guarda, when it operates, its $519. I would rather pay $30-$40 more and fly Virgin over Jetstar.

Are you suggesting paying almost $2400 for coach, less the SIN-SYD ticket? Seems you could fly in Biz with miles at a similar or lesser value. Especially if you book with UA partners before the devaluation.

The OP wants to fly on United on to SE Asia and back from Australian on what is essentially two one-way tickets. So yes, that is what I am suggesting. It seems that IAH-LAX-SIN SYD-IAH in J was running about $6,000.

I didn't see where the OP mentioned using miles for award tickets so not sure how it is germane to the discussion.

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The OP could actually do it for $458 SQ IAH-MAN-SIN & $976 SYD-IAH in Y.

This is FT, so those offering a different idea have always been encouraged.

You final option seems decent.

You could also change it up, fly UA RT IAH-SIN for $713. And look for a cheap LCC RT to SYD.

Or SQ $703 RT, IAH-MAN-SIN-DPS. And then add on cheap RT flights to SYD from there. Likely $1000-1200 all in.

That’s a lot of flying, so I know I personally would look for a J seat option, using upgrades, miles or award ticket outright.

And from a timing perspective, keep in mind that "go to the departure level" also probably means transferring between terminals with your luggage. Most of the airlines that fly SIN-DPS do not leave from the same terminal that UA arrives into, and (starting tomorrow) will potentially even mean having to get to terminal 4 which is a 10+ minute bus ride...

I feel the OP may be trying to stay on UA to ensure PQMs and other things like that. IAH-MAN-SIN-DPS-SYD r/t is 30,800 miles. IAH-SFO-SIN-DPS-SYD-IAH is 22,500.

It won't work that way. IAH-MAN-SIN is a through flight. Barring a stopover in MAN -- which would likely increase the cost of the ticket significantly -- you'd get credited for the IAH-SIN nonstop distance.

Sorry I was talking about actual miles being flown in the 2nd half of that meaning the SQ route would mean flying an extra 8,000 miles which is like flying the SYD-IAh leg an extra time.

I would suggest that you look at booking thru TPE either on United or Eva then Eva Air has a direct from TPE-DPS. I think that's probably the fastest and most direct route.