BNE to MCO in November, avoiding LAX. Which airline?

[chol]

Hello All

I thought I'd throw this one to the gurus I'm flying Brisbane to Orlando in November. I will be travelling economy and want to avoid LAX. I did the trip via Houston last year and it was much better than LAX but was via Air NZ, which I didn't particularly like due to the one checked bag limitation, and we flew on a B777-300 for the AKL and MCO legs.

I also have almost 190k Qantas points as well to throw in the mix But I don't necessarily need to fly Qantas, if I do I'll use it for upgrades.

Thanks!
Chol

 

[pgsdiver]

You could look at going via Canada. I'm doing this on my way to Vegas in March, although I'm coming in from Europe(FRA). Flying SQ to FRA in J will be nice. If you have the option to fly SQ (QFF points obviously won't help here) you can fly into the east coast via FRA, then it's a quick flight to MCO. SQ also, I believe, fly to SFO on the west coast but I could be mistaken.
Also, you can fly to HNL and take a flight to a variety of US cities from there. I've always found HNL to be a very restful stopover on the way to the US, especially if I'm flying Y.
United flies via Houston (I know for sure they fly that way on the TO Australia, but not sure about outbound) - 17 hour flight though(ugh!).
Good luck and be sure to let us know what you choose.
Peter
PS. Just re-read your post and realised you are in BNE - some fo the above option would obviously not then apply unless you're willing to position in Aus before you fly OS.

 

[eric2011]

QF SYD-DFW

 

[Himeno]

There are many ways to get between BNE and MCO without going via LAX. It depends how many connections you want. The only single stop would be via DXB on EK. There is a seasonal option via YVR. Otherwise, you're looking at 2 or more connections.

 

[docjames]

Depends on how close your final destination is to MCO. If you'd consider MIA, JAX, TPA etc depending on where exactly you are headed.

China Eastern would connect you via PVG and JFK.

You could try NZ/UA via AKL and IAH or UA via SYD and IAH.

HA via HNL and SFO.

JAL via NRT and JFK.


The challenge will be whether any of these "alternative routings" can be achieved at a sensible price.

 

[docjames]

FJ via NAN and SFO

AC via YVR and YYZ (Vancouver and Toronto)

If prepared to fly into MIA instead, you'd probably even find a routing via SCL!

 

[docjames]

Many of the suggested would involve a lot more flying and a lot more on ground connection time rather than just going via LAX or DFW and being conservative with the connections at those two.

 

[JohnPhelan]

BNE-SYD (QF)
SYD-DFW (QF)
DFW-MCO (AA)

All on one QF ticket.

 

[chol]

Thanks all for the speedy replies I'll look into some of those options.

I have done BNE-YVR-LAX-MCO on Air Canada before, however I was visiting YVR for a week so it made sense and the deal at the time was just too good to pass up (hence visiting YVR), with an $800 return to LAX. Route and airline itself were pretty good I thought so I'll look into their prices and flight times again.

The AirNZ BNE-AKL-Houston-MCO route was good I thought, with only a 2 and a bit hour domestic flight from Houston to Orlando really cut down the time we had to spend on a domestic US flight, and Houston airport is pretty good. However Air NZ let things down unfortunately as previously mentioned. Really looking for a larger plane to be more comfortable for that long haul flight in economy.

I'll look into the QF, EK and AC options mentioned in a month or so to see who is offering what for November. Any way to see / idea on who would have the best plane out of those three?

 

[Himeno]

If you don't mind extra connections, you could also go from BNE to HKG (CX), ICN (KE) or NRT (QF/JL) then on to JFK before heading to FL.
There is also a seasonal LA SCL-MCO (or SCL-MIA all year), BNE-SYD, MEL or AKL then on to SCL...

 

[Scr77]

BNE-SYD (QF)
SYD-DFW (QF)
DFW-MCO (AA)

All on one QF ticket.

I’ve done MEL-SYD, SYD-DFW in Y. It was torchure and will never do it again! I Would even be hesitant in J. I think the PM departure from Sydney a killer.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Hello All

I thought I'd throw this one to the gurus I'm flying Brisbane to Orlando in November. I will be travelling economy and want to avoid LAX. I did the trip via Houston last year and it was much better than LAX but was via Air NZ, which I didn't particularly like due to the one checked bag limitation, and we flew on a B777-300 for the AKL and MCO legs.

I also have almost 190k Qantas points as well to throw in the mix But I don't necessarily need to fly Qantas, if I do I'll use it for upgrades.

Thanks!
Chol

What's the reason for avoiding LAX? It could well be that the routings to avoid travelling via LAX will be more stressful/tiring particularly in whY than just going via LAX. Do you get lounge access at all?

A couple of months ago we entered the US 5 times - twice at LAX, once pre-clearance in YYC, one in MCO & once in MIA. All entries were hassle free using the kiosks and certainly a lot smoother than arriving in Australian can be.

Google Flights is showing an airfare in November on QF and AA for AUD1,523.00 return based on QF15 BNE/LAX then a five hour layover in LAX then AA2769 non-stop MCO/LAX so you would get 2 pieces of checked luggage up to 23kg on all flights.

 

[drron]

So if you want to use QFF points I would go QF BNE-NRT,then JAL or AA to ORD,JFK,AA to DFW or JAL to SAN and then AA to MCO.

 

[chol]

@ozbeachbabe Just simply for the fact that LAX is terrible to transit through from International to Domestic. I would rather pay extra to avoid it. I have gone through it 3 times and the last time I said never again if I can help it.

Thanks all for the suggestions. After doing some looking in them, so far QF via DFW still looks to be the best option for me. It is one of the most direct, they use an A380 , and my domestic flight to MCO is only 2.5 hours. Trouble is it is the currently it is quite a bit more than via LAX, but is not on special yet, so I'll keep an eye out for specials on this route. Keen to try it

Thanks for the help!

 

[Himeno]

What sort of problems at LAX?
I haven't had any issues with LAX since the TBIT refurb was finished and the ESTA was added to the auto CBP kiosks.

 

[chol]

Interesting... Do you still have to walk outside and a long way between terminals and re-clear TSA to get between domestic and international? Other than the airport being poorly signed (almost took an escalator back down to baggage claim and would have had to re-clear TSA, it was a 50/50 option one going up, one going down, no sign and luckily I picked correctly!), long lines (30 minutes to clear TSA at midnight in an expedited business class line) and had poor food options - those two were my biggest problem.

 

[serfty]

Since July/August 2016 there has generally been no need to go landside for domestic to international connections between TBIT/T4/T5/T6/T7/T8.

Since March last year this has been extended (by bus) to include T2 and T3.

Other than that, today Qantas announced MEL/SFO services beginning September 1st.

 

[chol]

@serfty Thanks for that tip! I looked into it and it looks like that new connector bridge should solve my biggest issues. I'm going to give it a go I think Thanks!

 

[RooFlyer]

Since July/August 2016 there has generally been no need to go landside for domestic to international connections between TBIT/T4/T5/T6/T7/T8.

Serfty, you are talking about domestic to international connections there; US has no exit immigration, so its only security and that's redundant via the interconnectors.

But international to domestic, which is the OP's situation, is different, isn't it? You still have to clear immigration and customs at LAX on my understanding, so you are technically 'landside' as far as that is concerned) but then get to use the interconnector to T4? I've always exited the terminal since the T4 interconnector (and hence onwards to 5, 6 ...) was opened, so a bit hazy on the setup, although I've seen your posts about it of course.

 

[chol]

Thanks @RooFlyer I would need to clear customs regardless but looks like I can avoid the normal TSA queue to get into T4 as don't have to leave tge terminal.

Qantas has some info under Transfers on their LAX page Los Angeles International Airport Guide | Qantas

So I think I should be OK?