Need help choosing airlines

therecklessone

London to Hong Kong - Cathay Pacific or BA?

Hong Kong to Cairns - Cathay Pacific or Australians Airlines(on behalf of Quantas)?

Cairns to Darwin - Virgin Blue or Quantas/Australian Airlines?

Darwin to Alice Springs - Anyway I can get there! Quantas do a flight (and they offer a few codeshares) but Virgin Blue aren't an option. Any suggestions?

Alice Springs to Sydney - Virgin Blue or Quantas?

Sydney to Auckland - Quantas or who else?

Auckland to LAX - Again, Quantas or who else? Must be a One World Carrier, so American Airlines?

LAX to Dublin - Should I resist the temptation to use Aer Lingus and fly through London with BA?

All the international flights have to be within the One World Alliance (condition of the ticket), but the internals in Oz can be anyone I want?

All help and advice gratefully accepted.

Bri

Not overly experienced on those routes but...

In my experience (and friends) - voluntarily checking in for a North-American -> Heathrow -> Dublin connection is a recepie for a disaster. Not for you but for your luggage. i.e. The chances of you and your group getting ALL bags on the right flights etc. is somewhat slim.

Again, only my experience but that's what I know of BA and others who experienced the same.

If this does happen - remember there's a cash payment for every day you go without your essentials!

Hope that helps.

Good luck.

P.S. We only got 3 of 7 bags upon landing. And yes we forgot about the cash thing!

therecklessone

Originally posted by Bri
Not overly experienced on those routes but...

In my experience (and friends) - voluntarily checking in for a North-American -> Heathrow -> Dublin connection is a recepie for a disaster. Not for you but for your luggage. i.e. The chances of you and your group getting ALL bags on the right flights etc. is somewhat slim.

Cheers. I'm travelling on my own, but would you believe the only time I've ever had bags go missing was in transit through Heathrow to Amsterdam? Used to work in Dublin airport, and I remember the last EI flight at night bringing over all the lost baggage for the day, used to keep the Fungus staff going for a couple of hours...

bovril

for internal flights in oz I flew both virgin blue and quantas. The deciding factor for me was cost of flight. They are both fine, quantas does give you food on board and you can purchase stuff on board with virgin blue. There is another oz internal airline now called jet star (http://www.jetstar.com) and I'd say they're pretty much the same as virgin blue. Book all internal flights on the internet for the cheapest prices.

I have flown BA/quantas to oz and they are grand. My last trip I flew malaysian and that was a brilliant airline. The service was second to none. You even get a menu in cattle class! I can't recommend that airline highly enough. Cathay pacific do have a good reputation but I have no experiences with them. Some quantas planes when flying from LA didn't have individual screens my plane didn't going over and that was a pain. As far as I am aware malaysian and cathay planes all have individual screens.

therecklessone

Cheers Bovril, appreciate that.

Onboard entertainment won't really bother me,as long as I can listen to my minidisc (or mp3 player if I'm tempted between now and then ).

The deciding factor in Oz will be cost, and I have to pay for at least two internals myself (the ticket I'm getting allows me 7 flights altogether), so I've been looking at the Quantas and Virgin Blue sites for info.

Has anyone done the LAX-Dub flight with EI? I've never flown any longer than 3 hours with Fungus, don't know what to expect from them in their new "damn SLF" mode on that long a journey...

HarryD

Originally posted by therecklessone
LAX to Dublin - Should I resist the temptation to use Aer Lingus and fly through London with BA?

I don't understand why you would do this.
Waste of time ?

therecklessone

Not mad keen on the new improved EI, but I'm wondering is that enough to endure the extra hours...

BuffyBot

EI's LAX flight is much like any other flight they do nowadays. Granted, the meal is free, but that is about it.

BA's via London may take a bit longer, but I found it a much nicer flight with them.

HarryD

Originally posted by therecklessone
Not mad keen on the new improved EI, but I'm wondering is that enough to endure the extra hours...

Oh right. I flew the LAX route about a year ago now, and I found it fine.

Personally I hate hanging around in airports, and often pay extra
to get a direct flight if possible.
Overall it can save alot of time.
Direct IE from LAX would save you 3-4hrs non ?

bucks73

I too would take the direct flight back from LAX. Its just not worth the extra time going on BA.

My own preference:
LHR - HKG: BA
HKG - CNS: CX
CNS - DRW: QF
DRW - ASP: QF
ASP - SYD: QF
SYD - AKL: QF
AKL - LAX: QF
LAX - DUB: EI

ionapaul

I have flown with EI LAX-DUB many times, and BA SFO-LA a number of times. Go with EI. Probably will work out a good bit cheaper, and even if it were a little more expensive the handiness factor is great. Heathrow is such a mess, changing terminals to get to an Irish flight...avoid it if you can!

therecklessone

Cheers for all the replies folks, I think I'll brave the EI flight home (they do fly every day, don't they? must check their website).

I'mwaiting to hear from a globe-trotting mate of mine then I'll be making my mind up (where's Bucks Fizz when you need them, eh? )

Third_Echelon

I know you said your ticket has to be all 'One World' Alliance partners, but I flew back from New Zealand with Singapore Airlines, Auckland->Singapore->Frankfurt, and I have to say they are the best airline I have ever flown with...

Great service, good food and the inflight entertainment is second to none... everything is on demand.. you have about 100 movies to choose from. you can pause, ff, rew... you can play gameboy games, and play chess etc against other passengers on the plane... it definitely put in the hours.... theres also an mp3 station where you can listen to all the latest and greatest albums....

SIA are part of the Star Alliance as far as I know, but for anybody else heading down under, defo choose Singapore Airlines... excellent... plus the air hostesses are hot...

BuffyBot

they do fly every day, don't they? must check their website

No, I think LAX is only 3 flights a week

secret_squirrel

Just dont forget you will have to keep your mp3 player low profile on EI since the stupid Irish Aviation Authority makes EI ban them on flights. Have your headphone cable down near the armrest socket and you'll be grand.

therecklessone

Originally posted by secret_squirrel
Just dont forget you will have to keep your mp3 player low profile on EI since the stupid Irish Aviation Authority makes EI ban them on flights. Have your headphone cable down near the armrest socket and you'll be grand.

Ahem, credit where its due and all that.

The IAA don't make Aer Lingus do anything of the sort, if they did Ryaniar would have to apply the same rule. And they don't. Its been discussed before.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=139803&highlight=lingus+music

Originally posted by fluffer (on that thread)
Mobile phones can be used until the doors are closed. This you will find in the in-flight magazine. Takeoff, Approach and Landing; ALL electronic equipment must be switched off. At all times Mobile phones, radio transmitters/receivers, GPS receivers, Laser emitting devices (cd/DVD players etc) are banned.

MP3 = good.
Laser emiting = bad.

Aer Lingus = foolish for not being able to tell the difference.

therecklessone

Also,

http://www.thepost.ie/web/DocumentView/did-624053583-pageUrl--2FMisc-2FBusiness-Resources-2FComputers-In-Business.asp

A spokesman for Aer Lingus said that the anti-iPod measure was the result of advice from a "steering group" of engineers in the airline. However, she could not provide further information as to what danger MP3 players posed to aircraft safety. [A Computers In Business survey of major airlines flying from Dublin shows that Aer Lingus is the sole carrier with the anti-iPod rule.] "We do tend to be on the conservative side in relation to personal electronic devices," said the spokesman.

secret_squirrel

would love to know who those 'engineers' were - I was speaking to an Aer Lingus engineer the other day and his professional opinion was that even the airplane global mobile phone ban is a load of bollocks

therecklessone

I did some checking for the other airlines on the trip.

Cathay Pacific allow them, and specifically mention Minidisc players as ok! Me is happy.

Quantas are the same, don't mention MD but do say they allow CD players (laser)

BA say:

At present, there are no restrictions on carrying hand held electronic games and personal radio or CD players etc. on-board British Airways flights, although we do recommend that all passengers keep hand baggage to a minimum.

Portable telephones and other electronic equipment such as games and computers may interfere with the aircraft systems and must be switched off during take-off, approach and landing.

Portable telephones or any other device that transmits data must remain switched-off whilst the aircraft is in flight.

Maybe that BA flight to London on the way home isn't so bad after all.

HarryD

Originally posted by Third_Echelon
Singapore Airlines,... are the best airline I have ever flown with...
Great service, good food and the inflight entertainment is second to none...

I have to agree.. best I've flown with too. great service :-)

Darren

LHR - HKG. Got to be BA. I flew this route with Cathay in May. The food and the service was superb but I was really cramped. The IFE screen was very low and difficult for me to see. Cathay seems to be a short persons airline, maybe this is because the Chinese tend to be a bit shorter than Europeans. I flew back with BA and there seemed to be a lot more room.

HKG - CNS. Cathay. Flight time is just over seven hours. From what I can tell, all the Qantas flights involve a connection in BNE which pushes the journey time up to 12+ hours.

I found for the internals the airlines are a much of a muchness plus the flights are pretty short anyway. I would opt for the cheapest.

SYD - AKL. Qantas. Sticking with the Oneworld option.

AKL - LAX. A choice of NZ or QF. You may see BA and UA fllight numbers but these are all codeshares. Go for QF as you will probably get a better deal via Oneworld.

LAX - DUB. EI, against my better judgement, purely because it is direct.

The best airline I have ever flown is Emirates and I have flown a LOT of airlines.

therecklessone

Cheers Darren, I think I'll take BA to HKG all right, but depends on flight times I suppose.

Have to choose One World all the way, condition of the ticket, so it will be QF from AKL-LAX.

secret_squirrel

Airline Seat pitch table basically a good guide to how much room you will get. Might be a little out of date now though.

Notherone here

Darren

@therecklessone

Do you plan to stop off in HKG. I cannot recommend it enough. If you do, be sure to check out Stanley market. I really like the markets around Sham Shui Po and Mongkok both of which are in Kowloon. Don't believe what people say about KHG being expensive, food and transportation are dirt cheap.

therecklessone

I do indeed Darren, wanted to break the trip to Ozland somewhere in SE Asia and was told it was the best place to go to for 2/3 days (which is all I'll really have available). Really looking forward to it.
Cheers.

Originally posted by ionapaul
I Heathrow is such a mess, changing terminals to get to an Irish flight...avoid it if you can!

Actually the LAX flights are now from terminal 1 ie the same one as Dublin-so no changing terminals.
Cheapest flights some friends of mine found for a wedding in LA were actually via London with BA.
I'm on the same flight but I'm going club world-fully flat bed seats and they ask you how you want your steak done