SYD-BOS Best option ?

[ludoh]

I need to go to Boston in June from Sydney and it looks there are 2 options (at least that would be of interest):
SYD-LAX on QF and LAX - BOS on AA or
SYD-JFK on QF and JFK-BOS on a cheapie flight (only approx 1hr).

I would not mind spending some time in New York on the way back and the JFK option would avoid a long domestic AA flight. All to be done in whY. Looks price would be comparable.

Any feedback from people done this ?? (would prefer OW for lounge access).
Thanks!

 

[NYCguy]

I wouldn't be inclined to make a connection at a NYC airport unless it was completely unavoidable. My recommendation is that you bite the bullet and fly non-stop from LAX to BOS and back, avoiding JFK/LGA/EWR unless it is absolutely necessary.

 

[kpc]

I need to go to Boston in June from Sydney and it looks there are 2 options (at least that would be of interest):
SYD-LAX on QF and LAX - BOS on AA or
SYD-JFK on QF and JFK-BOS on a cheapie flight (only approx 1hr).

I would not mind spending some time in New York on the way back and the JFK option would avoid a long domestic AA flight. All to be done in whY. Looks price would be comparable.

Any feedback from people done this ?? (would prefer OW for lounge access).
Thanks!

Long haul domestic on AA is nothing to get excited about. I recently flew IAD to LAX in AA Y, and the experience was quite underwhelming (purchase your own food, poor AA lounges, poor IFE etc)...see my report here: here:http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/com...urvived-rtw-trip-mainly-13202.html#post170973

Having said that, it was the most direct route. If you are breaking your trip in NY, I would go for that option, otherwise LAX-BOS on AA would be the quickest and most convenient

 

[Platy]

I have been looking into the same journey myself. Some options to consider:

If you want to get some mileage out of the trip you can opt for a global explorer 26,000 mile fare- in economy it works out about the same price as the return SYD-BOS. You can then do something like SYD-LHR-BOS-LAX-SYD (c.24,000 miles).

My personal plan is to take Jetstar as far as Honolulu and then pick up AA service. My own intention is to maximise status credits for least cost. On aa.com there are "instant upgrade" fares (restricted), which allow you to get from HNL to BOS return for around US$2,200 in their first class cabins. They are easiest to see on the UK version of aa.com (use the pull down menu on the aa.com home page to select from worldwide sites). A routing of HNL-LAX-DFW-BOS return earns 780 status credits. You can do the same with fewer flights, for example HNL-LAX-BOS or HNL-SFO-BOS or HNL-DFW-BOS or HNL-ORD-BOS, obviously earning fewer status credits. The Jetstar flights work out at about $1000 return SYD-HNL, but note the prices rise around June 20th. Also note that buying the return leg HNL-SYD is much cheaper (at about $450) than including it in the outward flight purchase. In fact the retun leg in Starclass is tempting at about $1,000 (compared to the outward SYD-HNL at $1,300). Thus the combined cost of this option is roughly similar once again to a simple SYD-BOS return on QF.

If cost is a primary consideration then you would have many options from HNL to get to BOS by comparing prices between an assortment of airlines (see websites like Cheap Airline Tickets, Cheap Flights And Discount Airfares).

Incidentally, the hotels I was looking at in BOS in June were very booked up (Cambridge, Brookline area next to Harvard).

 

[Chook legs]

Hi,
I returned from BOS 2 weeks ago and did the LAX to BOS direct on AA. The service on AA is very ordinary but you get there. Flight home was good as there were only 50 people on the AA flight and we all had seats to ourselves and since I was traveling with 2 kids this made things much better.
I have also done the same trip going through JFK and this turned out to be a horror as we had delays all the way to JFK and missed our conection to BOS. They put us up in a hotel overnight and at first told us it was a 2 day wait for a connection until I asked them to try all airlines and then they found one on US Airways the next morning. (What made things worse was my 10 month old took ill and we ended up taking an ambulance to a hospital in Queens at 2am in the morning. But thats another story)
Now that all sounds awful but delays happen and it may not happen to you. It was definately much nicer staying on Qantas as much as possible and if things went to plan the travel times were very similar. Also if you want to come back through New York then the JFK option is much better I think.

Good luck
Chook legs

 

[Homer]

I've flown SYD-BOS via LAX and JFK on QF, admittedly in J not in Y, before an American Eagle from JFK-BOS. My advice after a lot of AA flights, including a transcontinental, is to stay on QF until you absolutely have to get off.

 

[DTM1]

I have done the trip 3 times in the last 12 months (admittedly twice in J and once in F), and have flown the following routes:

- QF to LAX, AA to BOS
- QF to LAX, QF to JFK, AA (eagle) to BOS
- QF to LAX, Delta to BOS

My own experience at JFK was fine.

To my mind one of the key factors is sleep (regardless of class) and therefore landing and take-off times.

You will land in LAX at around 3am in the morning (AEST), so you won't feel like hanging around the airport for connections. The LAX connection times from QF 107 (SYD-LAX) are:

LAX - BOS (AA) - 6.5 hours

LAX - JFK (QF) - 2 hours (but with 2 hours at JFK - although at a reasonable hour for Australian body clock)

LAX - BOS (DL) - about 2.5 hours (from memory) - although we had engine problems, so 2.5 hours turned in 12 hours - but that's another story....

Another alternative if you want to change to AA, is to fly from SYD to SFO, where there is only a 3 hour wait, and the overall trip is actually about 3 hours faster than flying via LAX, regardless of airline (even faster that QF through to JFK).