julie hilton

I'm just wondering if anyone has travelled via America. If so, was it cheaper or even quicker?

Cheers

ian_s

Hi Julie

We went to Adelaide via LA, Auckland & Sydney in February this year. It took us 12 hours to LA and then 13 hours to Auckland. We stopped in LA for 2 days and visited Disneyland with the bin lids.

It's probably just a little longer than going the far east route but I think theres more to do stopover wise.

Hope this helps

Ian

Buzzy--Bee

We have several times.

The best advantage is you get 64kg baggage allowance each no matter what visa you are on.

Airlines that fly this route include - Air New Zealand, United and Air Pacific.



Buzzy

samnrob2

....and BA / Qantas.

We came here with these guys and got the 64kg each which was great

R

marco121068

Same here. Ended up buying a round the world ticket and stopped off in loads of places. Took almost a month for the trip which was fantastic.

Only downside....lugging all the suitcases around!

Return valid until end June next year - so who knows, may go back for a holiday.

Dorothy

Toronto-San Francisco-Auckland-Adelaide. We spent the day in San Fran doing a bunch of tourist stuff. Air New Zealand was fabulous and even wished my daughter a happy 12th birthday over the PA system.

TrickyTree

Yes we went via the US mainly for the 64kg baggage allowance that we both got but we also made a short break out of it staying at San Francisco and Las Vegas which were both great.

Price wise it was only just slightly more expensive than going via Asia and if you did the flights in one trip it was slightly longer in time but we broke it up.

alkristensen

What happens to your bags if you dont want to lug them about?

Is there a holding room or do they go on ahead of you?

We are thinking of having light daypacks( ni can fit a weeks clothes and allsorts in my cabin bag, ) so id want the rest to not be with me until i get iof the plane in sydney. Is this possible?

i dont mind lugging them from plane to plane, but want them held/senbt on when we stop over for more than a day(we would like 3 weeks hols on route)
thanks

alk

chels

No, the luggage doesn't go on without you. Going via the states is just like going via asia, it's just you go the opposite way to get to Australia. So it's just like having an asian stopover, just in the states instead.

Airports have left luggage facilities to leave things in. There will be a charge fo this of course.

For the OP - yes, I travelled to Australia via New York, Los Angeles and Fiji. Chose this particular route because I wanted to visit some places on the way to Australia, and I've been to most of the Asian stopover destinations. Total flight time was longer but this wasn't a concern as I was stopping off at places. Cost - a bit more but it was part of a relocation package so this wasn't a concern. Larger baggage allowance was a definite bonus.

marco121068

If you're going to rely on this - CHECK FIRST! Not all airports have Left Luggage facilities (or they used to but closed them due to security issues).

TrickyTree

During the time we went the US was on very high alert so there was no left luggage facility at the airport........so they came with us. No problem really as we just threw them in a cab and left them at the hotels using a smaller bag with our travel clothes in.

I would double check with the airports you intend to use if they have re-opened their left luggage facility before you fly.

SydneySwede

We went London-LA-Auckand-Sydney in August with Virgin Atlantic/Air NZ.
We had 4 hours in LA and an hour in Auckland. A little longer than the eastern route but were allowed 46kg luggage each (do check as not all airlines allow 64kg). I think we paid about the same as we would have flying via Singapore or HK.

chels

Point taken, should have included the word 'some' and the advice to check first - and to find out the costs anyway - I was put off putting things into left luggage because the charge was quite exhorbitant.

LouiseD

We flew Manchester to Florida on a package deal (cheaper than charter, but obviously didn't take up the return flights). Stayed in Florida for few weeks then over to LA, then Sydney, Sunshine Coast, then Melbourne. Had a fab time but didn't want to see the inside of an aeroplane again for a while once we'd finished

BadgeIsBack

For me, it's US all the way, as we have family there.

I don't think I will ever have the need to go via Asia unless I actually want to be a tourist in a stopover location.