dear community members
As a novice to here, my googling skills are letting me down. Forgive me if this is the wrong place to ask these questions.
We are flying Per-SYD (6.5 hrs layover) -DFW (7hr layover)-MSP. Unfortunately this was the only available classic awards for hubby. Any suggestions on how to kill time?
Coming home on on a quicker flight from ORD . Is row 35 d/e or 66 worth $190?
Thank you.
If you have lounge access that will be a huge plus... either through flying business class, Qantas Club membership, or status (Qantas gold or above, or equivalent in oneworld partner airlines).
If you don't have any of the above (and Qantas club is a hefty investment, but you can get a discount here through AFF), you can look at individual entry. In Dallas for example you can buy an AA day pass for USD59 each. The AA lounges are fairly basic... but have a shower, soups, light snacks, open bar.
Qantas may send you an offer to buy lounge access in SYD, but it is usually quite expensive.
There is also a Plaza Premium lounge in SYD - USD53 for 5 hours:
Plaza Premium Lounge Note that sometimes Expedia offers these cheaper through their 'experience' section.
Other than that airports have wifi (if you don't already, you can buy a really cheap tablet, similar to an ipad, for around $100 these days at big retailers like JB. They are pretty basic, but can help pass the time doing email and browsing the net for extended periods).
At DFW you can leave the airport to the surrounds. There are dozens of threads on tripadvisor, such as this one:
Roughly 7 hour layover at DFW - Dallas Forum - TripAdvisor This is just one post... there are dozens like it and one of them might spark something of interest. Just allow plenty of time to get back through TSA security (I'd aim to arrive back at DFW around 90 minutes before you flight to allow 30 minutes for security, and boarding 30 minutes before).
In SYD of course you can go into the city if you wanted - maybe a meal or ferry ride or whatever.
Airport food in the USA is pretty expesnive. But $10 for a couple cups of coffee, free wifi, people watching. The time does go (I had 5 hours at La Guardia in new york without lounge access earlier this year and it was bearable).
Extra legroom seats... if you are tall... yes. If you can manage to squeeze into a regular seat, maybe consider whether the cost will cover all the other things like lounge access at SYD and Dallas.
(Do check as well, some credit cards also offer two Qantas lounge passes a year. If you have one of those they can be used for the SYD Qantas lounge.)
