Travelling to and within in the US

[notzac]

Based on my own experiences and what I've read in TRs - my pick for TPAC runs to the US in Y (not considering status or miles), in order:

QF A380
VA B777
NZ B777/B747
QF B747
...
time passes
...
UA B747

I dislike LAX in particular and most of Los Angeles generally (that being said, Venice and Santa Monica are fun), but it *is* convenient. Definitely prefer SFO (inbound customs and immigration is an infinitely more pleasant experience cf. LAX, plus the proximity to downtown is worth considering if you're not immediately connecting to another flight), so definitely a pity that QF don't fly the A380 there (or VA, who don't fly anything there .. hi crazydave, pls2add SFO to VA's route map next?)

 

[Skyring]

Los Angeles is a much nicer place than San Francisco.

I must say I'm bemused by this statement. San Francisco is one of the most charming cities I've met in my travels. It's a place to love and be happy.

I rarely hear that of LA.

 

[straitman]

I must say I'm bemused by this statement. San Francisco is one of the most charming cities I've met in my travels. It's a place to love and be happy.

I rarely hear that of LA.

My thought exactly. I was just looking for a nice way to say so.

 

[serfty]

If you travel regularly to the USA (LAX/SFO), say 2 - 3 times per year and can plan well in advance, it is generally quite cost effective to buy your tickets SFO/LAX-MEL/SYD/BNE-SFO/LAX.

Qantas still have a (voluntarily) captive market in Oz and when they post OZ-US r/t fares at $x, competitors post say, 10% less than $x.

Meanwhile the fares on QF/NZ/UA/DL/DJ for US-Oz-US are say, 30% less than $x.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

My 2c worth having been to the US last Oct/Nov incl SFO would be to book a return the cheapest return fare on QF CBR/SYD/SFO/SYD/CBR.

Not sure whether the airfares for December common rate CBR & SYD ie cost no more. I would still definitely price CBR/SYD/CBR separately as a comparison with a SYD/west coast usa/SYD return fare.

It may be worth considering if you can "open-jaw" the fare eg pay half a SYD/SFO & half a SYD/JFK. Just check what carriers it can be on West Coast to NYC or vv or can it only be on QF107 LAX/JFK/LAX?

I really wouldn't stress about booking internal flights in the same pnr with the same alliance blah blah blah. I'm a big fan of Virgin America (VX) so would be trying to book as many flights as I could with them.

You're staying in SFO anyway so don't have to worry about a missed connection to an internal US flight due to bad weather. Similarly if your last stopover point is TUS, you could take a flight late arvo TUS/SFO, have dinner with your friends somewhere in Liitle Italy (suburb of Northbeach) before flying SFO/SYD/CBR on the homeward stretch. You don't hear of too many delays due to snowstorms in Arizona.

We found SFO customs & immigration a breeze on arrival & stayed 3 nights there before continuing on. We spent our last night in San Diego then flew VX SAN/SFO picked up our luggage & checked in with QF 3 hours beforehand. We were the only ones at checkin at the time 7.30pm & we had eight checkin staff to choose from.

I wouldn't bother with LA - what on earth is there to see anyway apart from your outlaws? If you want Disneyland, go to DisneyWorld in Orlando. Universal Studios is there also.

 

[HardieBoys]

Having travelled to SF for years and deliberately avoiding LA except to transfer planes, I spent a week there several years ago, and really enjoyed myself.

I loved the following:

LACMA (LA County Museum of Art, recently renovated)
La Brea Tar Pits
Farmers Markets
The Getty
Walt Disney Hall
Venice Beach
Schindler House

Last year's visit to SF brought up some new, as well as some familiar delights:

SFMoMA
The newish Herzog and de Meuron building housing the de Young Museum in the park
Californian Academy of Sciences building in the park
The Ferry Building (unfortunately we couldn't get into the Slanted Door)
The Foreign Cinema restaurant
Alice Water's fantastic 'Chez Panisse' restaurant in Berkely, home of California Cuisine. The restaurant is fiendishly difficult to get into, but we scored a table in the cafe section, which was great.

 

[Harriet Vane]

Thanks, ozbeachbabe. I have been wondering about whether it's really necessary to get all our bookings on the same alliance/PNR, but given, as you said, that we tend to have a few days between each flight, it probably isn't. We'll also have travel insurance.

As for LA, the outlaws are in Tucson, but I really like LA and there are friends to catch up with! It'll only be a few days on the way out of the country. I have to say, the appeal of Qantas is skipping TBIT (whether we go in via LA or SFO). I haven't experienced the pleasure, but I'm not sure I want to!

 

[HardieBoys]

I don't think it's necessary to have flights on the same alliances unless you have tight connections. I travelled SYD - SFO - SYD on UA last year, and bought myself a separate SFO - JFK - SFO ticket on AA. AA were able to check my bags right through to Sydney from JFK, despite the change in airline. All pretty easy, actually, they just needed to see my SFO - SYD ticket.

 

[Harriet Vane]

Then perhaps the next question...would you bother seeing a travel agent about this or would you just book it all online? Though the airline sites themselves seem to show different (read: higher) prices for the same dates/flights as various travel agency sites.

 

[HardieBoys]

I think that's a matter of preference. I'm not sure what value an agent could add to some of the flights, but wonder if an agent could get you the open-jaw trans-pacific flight cheaper than you could online. You could always ask them for a quote, whilst continuing to do your own research.

Have you looked at kayak.com for pricing? It essentially trawls the net for other sites selling tickets including airlines and others, but allows quick comparison. I've not compared it to other similar sites using a similar methodology, but found that it came up with routes that expedia didn't (this was specifically for internal Brazilian flights, not sure if my findings would be the same in another location).

 

[Harriet Vane]

You've all convinced me to DIY this. I'm in the process of pricing V Australia and Qantas (and weighing up the schedules and whether any of them get us on the A380!) and then I will price the US stuff separate on a BFOD basis at a later date. QF and VA CBR-LAX are both coming out at roughly $2K, so it's all the 'incidentals' that will make the decision...by which I mean I'll have Mr Vane decide.

 

[HardieBoys]

Here's a link to an article in the New York Times that discusses the meta-search engines for travel:

Practical Traveler - Meta-search Web Sites to Find the Best Fares - NYTimes.com

 

[Harriet Vane]

I forgot...A380 has laptop power in economy! Sold!

 

[Skyring]

I forgot...A380 has laptop power in economy! Sold!

Heh. Once upon a time seat power was limited to the comfy seats. still is, mostly.

Coming back from SFO to CBR next month, I'll be flying via LAX and the A380 instead of direct on a 744. The direct SFO-SYD flights don't run every day of the week, you see, whereas there's a couple daily from LAX.

Looking forward to my first A380 flight.

Last October my flights to and from SFO were with QF, but internal flights – booked online surprisingly cheaply – were with AA. I had to drag my bags from international arrivals to domestic departures, but it was kind of fun running along with a baggage cart scaring the pants off little old ladies, cutting in at the last moment, running amber lights... My cabbie skills coming into play except everyone walked on the wrong side.

I digress, which is what oncoming traffic accused me of a few times.

I DON'T BOTHER WITH TRAVEL AGENTS.

Nowadays, I book it myself, I do it online, and I get the results I want. I've had enough of being dumped in hotels a long way from the action, or flights that don't suit my travel style. (eg. outward flights via SYD or MEL must have a leisurely transfer window between my CBR flight arriving and my international flight leaving so the Flounge may be properly enjoyed. I might travel Y these days, but I'll waddle onto the plane full of good wine so long as the WP holds out.)

Maybe there's a chance of some special deal offered by Flight Centre or whoever. If it sparks my interest, I'll take a look online, but my days of bellying up to the counter and speaking to a TA are over.

Or an airline agent on the phone. My next RTW was done entirely online, and even the seats could be selected from my laptop. Including the domestic legs.

Some of the advice here has been very good. I don't buy the LA-is-nicer-than-SF line, but getting out of the QF/OW cycle seems to have some advantages in some circumstances.

My advice is to find a CBR-SFO return fare that suits you – and you have a while to do it. Book your internal flights separately and maybe find some of these YUP flights. J for Y prices. Hook it all up together to suit yourself, not the passing whimsy of some harried TA seeking next month's sales bonus.

The members of this site have access to tools and knowledge that can save you thousands of dollars and a lot of time. The advice, freely offered here, is golden. Not from me – I'm still a backblocks bloke in this company – but from some of the real experts. The amount of experience some of the regular contributors have makes me gasp.

–Pete, humble night cabbie

 

[harvyk]

I forgot...A380 has laptop power in economy! Sold!

Only really useful on the SYD-LAX leg where a part of the flight is during the day. Flew LAX-SYD on the A380 in Y last year and as soon as the seatbelt sign went off everyone reclined. Due to the angle which the QF A380 seats recline to it's great for sleeping, but you wouldn't stand a chance setting up a lappy or doing anything which requires a tray table.

If you need to use the lappy on the return flight make sure you get a bulkhead seat, otherwise you won't be able to set it up.

 

[Harriet Vane]

At this stage, the travel agent is going to get us some prices on CBR-LAX and see how many of the internal stops she can build into that part of the trip before quoting using the AA/QF pass system, which she'll get back to us about on Tuesday. QF was a bit dearer than VA, but if I can get on the A380 then I don't mind so much. We have three laptops: a mega one (my desktop replacement) and a netbook, so at least the netbook will be usable if others are reclining. Once we have bookings I will investigate the best seats, which I'm sure has been discussed in other threads or at seatguru.

 

[drewbles]

Point 3, if you travel UA, as I do, you miss the zoo that is the Tom Bradley terminal (TBIT) at LAX, as UA have their own immigration/customs in T7 (note that Air NZ have a similar facility in T2, so they avoid the TBIT hassles too, unlike QF).

Point 4, Los Angeles is a much nicer place than San Francisco.

Considering how large a hub UA has at SFO, i'm surprised you'd not just go to SFO for the connections alone.

And Los Angeles nicer than San Francisco? I've spent quite a bit of time in both places, and i've got to say, San Francisco has it all over LA. Not sure why anyone would prefer LA over SFO, but each to their own of course

 

[dajop]

QF and VA CBR-LAX are both coming out at roughly $.

I wouldn't necessarily advice it with VA/DJ, but QF a consideration may be to book SYD-LAX and CBR-SYD in separate tickets, ensuring adequate connection times on both sectors, QF are usually pretty good at allowing for misconnects if all on their own code and own metal, even on separate tickets (although this may have changed to more dacronian behavior - others may have more recent experience). Wouldn't advise it if there is change in carrier.

The reason I suggest as often QF can/do charge premiums for connecting, not uncommon to be $100-$200 more than buying separate tickets (have seen special advertised at same time of year, SYD-LAX for $1100 return, ADL-SYD $110 oneway, yet ADL-LAX > $1500 ..... do the math... probably same for CBR). The advent of VA may have curtailed this practice though.

 

[clifford]

Considering how large a hub UA has at SFO, i'm surprised you'd not just go to SFO for the connections alone.

And Los Angeles nicer than San Francisco? I've spent quite a bit of time in both places, and i've got to say, San Francisco has it all over LA. Not sure why anyone would prefer LA over SFO, but each to their own of course

OK. Beaches.

Name one beach within 20 Km of SFO where there is actually sun.

There are dozens close to LAX, such as Santa Monica (you should go there), Seal Beach, Redondo Beach, etc, etc, where the sun does get through.

San Francisco, ugh!

Oh, and connections ex SFO. When they have a night-time flight to MCO I might think about it.

But did you know it is much easier to get a UA upgrade ex LAX?

So why bother with SFO (apart from my girlfriend there)?

 

[drewbles]

OK. Beaches.

Name one beach within 20 Km of SFO where there is actually sun.

There are dozens close to LAX, such as Santa Monica (you should go there), Seal Beach, Redondo Beach, etc, etc, where the sun does get through.

San Francisco, ugh!

Oh, and connections ex SFO. When they have a night-time flight to MCO I might think about it.

But did you know it is much easier to get a UA upgrade ex LAX?

So why bother with SFO (apart from my girlfriend there)?

I have zero interest in beaches. If I want to see them, I'll go to Western Australia (ie, home). Far better than anything there

I was more referring to culture/sightseeing and general things to do. SFO is also a far prettier city IMHO. I've seen far nicer days in SFO than LAX as well. LAX is grey and generally pretty dreary when i've been there (usually around Feb/Mar/Apr each year).

But as I originally said, each to their own. LA does have some good points