Flight routes to New Zealand

tombrown

My daughter is looking to go to New Zealand this summer to stay with her cousin and we are looking at flights. We went as a family about 5 years back and flew via Kuala Lumpar.

Now flights going West-East seem to be very expensive (~3K) while ones going the opposite direction (via US) are much cheaper (~1.5-2K). They seem to be about the same length of travel time (~30 hours), so is there any big disadvantage with that direction that is the reason for lower price?

Also , if anyone has any tips on getting cheap flights I would be all ears. Even the cheaper prices seem incredibly expensive to me

steve-o

30 continuous hours of flights and airports is pretty tough on anyone. If I'm travelling that far (and I have time) I like to break the journey for a few nights somewhere interesting, so that's one reason to head east instead of west.

The main disadvantage of going via the US is that she'll need to "enter" the US (there's no international transit area in US airports), so she'd need an ESTA. If flying direct from Ireland to the US she'll preclear in Dublin, so it's not too awkward, but the way back, when she lands in the US, she will need to queue for immigration, collect her bags, clear customs, and recheck her bags. It's a fair bit of hassle, but if it saves a lot of money it might be worth it.

tombrown

We found soem cheap options with 2 changes (one in Montreal and one in Houston) - do you have any idea what that would mean in terms of immigration & transit times? I am really nervous about booking her flights with challenging transfer times and her getting stranded

89897

Like Steve-o said going straight from Ireland to US will be better and less hassle but coming from anywhere else into the US is trickier. It entirely depends on what the transit times are on the journey you saw and how they work out to see if its doable. What general dates are you looking, are you flexible on dates and what city in NZ shes flying into are all considerations you need to think about for best route.

89897

Also have a look directly on Lufthansa, they seem to have decent rates for this summer and would go via Germany and Singapore.

davepatr07

Flown Emirates, Qatar, Etihad and Lufthansa/Cathay Pacific/Air NZ between Ireland and NZ numerous times over the past few years.

Having done the stop overs between the 3 Middle East hubs it was nice to check out Singapore outbound and Hong Kong on the return using Lufthansa. They seem to do decent airfares, always good to see 2 different places as well on the stop overs to break up the journey which I highly recommend for ultra long haul.

deisemum

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120538116#Comment_120538116

Is there a big difference in price if you break the journey like you did? My son is planning on moving to NZ later this year so I'm interested in this thread both for him and I know I'll want to visit him at some stage.

endofrainbow

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120488888#Comment_120488888

ETA needed for Canada/ESTA for U.S.

davepatr07

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120551510#Comment_120551510

It really depends and there can be different factors towards the price of a ticket. I got sick of having to go through the ME and decided to see 2 different places in Asia for a change. That Lufthansa (STAR ALLIANCE) ticket just so happened to work out cheaper than Emirates, Etihad and Qatar because there was a sale on. It's good to go multicity, sometimes there can be flexibility and also get to see new places. Research on as many online booking sites for different routes, even compare with travel agent quotes.