Holy Crap!!!!

[Bowie MeMe]

I would consider going to Sydney for the price you quoted. Trying to get to Auckland in Jan. 2014 roundtrip a fairly typical rate has been $2,200 -2,300 per person. I am finding what I believe to be a savings by separating the flight to and from LAX from the LAX to AKL roundtrip.(Was spending a flightless day there anyway) It is a little cheaper to fly Air Pacific (which will be Fiji Air by then) but I have decided to do a stopover and for that I prefer Tahiti (closer hotel to airport) so for a few bucks more Air Tahiti. NS from LAX is only Air New Zealand. Hawaiian Air and Air New Zealand do stopover in HNL but that is more expensive. All flights through Australia seem to be more expensive. Certain days seem to be more expensive so you need to check out the month fare chart -- picking the lower cost day if it works for you can save $200-300. I am waiting a bit -- my plastic is frying with 5 separate trips that somehow have bits and pieces coming due this month. BUT if I see a good fare I would jump. $1,500 range is an excellent price. Hope it's still there.

[croosinjulie2]

I just booked air HNL-SYD a few days ago, and will be looking at roundtrip from the mainland to HNL as a second flight. This is for next April.

 

I found that Virgin Australia uses Hawaiian Airlines as a code share from HNL-SYD, and they sell the seats in business/first class for $1,000 less, as well as economy for less, too. I was pretty surprised/happy to see this.

 

One way:

Business/first is $2,768 on Hawaiian, and $1,652 on Virgin

Economy is $1,418 on Hawaiian, and $932 on Virgin.

 

Same exact flight out of HNL.

 

We will fly economy roundtrip from the mainland to HNL, and I think I can get a fare for under $500 per person.

[Jade13]

Looking at air from LAX to Sydney (1 way) then HNL to LAX (1 way) for a cruise (April '14). Over $3K a couple for cheapest coach? Really? Even looked at doing LAX - HNL round trip on off days, then a 1 way HNL to SYD mid-week. No help.

 

That's going to kill this SYD to HNL cruise.

 

Way too far to swim. Ideas?

 

$1,500.00 per person sounds reasonable.

[frugaltravel]

I found that Virgin Australia uses Hawaiian Airlines as a code share from HNL-SYD, and they sell the seats in business/first class for $1,000 less, as well as economy for less, too. I was pretty surprised/happy to see this.

 

One way:

Business/first is $2,768 on Hawaiian, and $1,652 on Virgin

Economy is $1,418 on Hawaiian, and $932 on Virgin.

 

Same exact flight out of HNL.

 

We will fly economy roundtrip from the mainland to HNL, and I think I can get a fare for under $500 per person.

 

It is not surprising to those of us who follow the airline industry. Airlines can put their flight number (code) on other airlines' flights, but they still market them separately and have separate pricing structures. I see it quite a bit on other international flights too. Glad you found out how the system often works.

[Bowie MeMe]

I disagree with your assertation about airfare versus cruise fare. They are unrelated commodities. Try going to Tahiti where there are extremely limited options to get to PPT. My airfare in premium economy is the same as my one week cruise fare in the cheapest cabin.

 

But catching a fare deal from Air Tahiti Nui and breaking up the trip into 3 segments/tickets (yeah I know the comments on that but this trip it makes sense to me) I can get from Washington, DC to Auckland NZ and return with a double stopoff in Tahiti in high season for less than $1600 pp AND it was one of my finest "deals" I ever managed. I was so proud!! Now I find it should have been a deal breaker. Oh well I'm still listing it as one of my booking genius prizes.:D So looking forward to this trip.

[scottbee]

Thanks for that idea - I did look into those as well as layover flights as I still have great contacts in those areas. :)

 

Actually - we (as a group on a conference call) just decided to bag this cruise and do another B2B cruise with different itineraries together. We are all experienced international travelers, retired professionals and book suites when we cruise +/- 2X a year so it isn't 100% about the $. However, cheap coach air should NEVER - EVER hit 1/3 of the cost of an 18 night cruise in a suite (hint to the pencil & eye shade dudes). That breaks the price point.

 

I'm a retired "non-revenue" pilot (wore a nomex suit as a hint) so I get the routing/go around to get there/dynamic revenue issues involved in odd routing.

 

Thanks for the helpful replies - but we have decided we aren't doing the airline hostage thing as they carve up their routs - but wish their flights well & tail winds.

 

Will try this trip again in a more favorable business cycle.

 

OK; why do you think that? Airline costs are about (and you can get the number from any airlines' financials) $0.15-$0.17 per seat per mile, of which around 0.06 of it is fuel.

 

For your itinerary (AXL-SYD/HNL-LAX), you're looking at 10,444 miles (7488+2556) so for the airline to break even they should be charging at least $1500/ea; any less and they'd be losing money.

 

Are you really expecting the airlines to carry you at a loss?

[frugaltravel]

OK; why do you think that? Airline costs are about (and you can get the number from any airlines' financials) $0.15-$0.17 per seat per mile, of which around 0.06 of it is fuel.

 

For your itinerary (AXL <sic>-SYD/HNL-LAX), you're looking at 10,444 miles (7488+2556) so for the airline to break even they should be charging at least $1500/ea; any less and they'd be losing money.

 

Most likely it is a personal comfort level. Everyone has their own. Maybe yours is unlimited cost for airfare or maybe a certain dollar amount. But an 18-night cruise in a suite certainly will cost more than $4,500/person.

 

Are you really expecting the airlines to carry you at a loss?

 

Probably not, but you certainly are aware that airlines carry a lot of people at a loss, aren't you? There was recently a fare war from the continental US to LIM for $440 round trip including all taxes and fees. Delta was selling SFO-LIM for 4.2 cpm. If the airlines offer such lowball fares, why can't we expect to be carried at a loss, at least sometimes? :confused: They instill that expectation in travelers' minds.

[vjmatty]

But catching a fare deal from Air Tahiti Nui and breaking up the trip into 3 segments/tickets (yeah I know the comments on that but this trip it makes sense to me) I can get from Washington, DC to Auckland NZ and return with a double stopoff in Tahiti in high season for less than $1600 pp AND it was one of my finest "deals" I ever managed. I was so proud!! Now I find it should have been a deal breaker. Oh well I'm still listing it as one of my booking genius prizes.:D So looking forward to this trip.

 

I can understand why it is counterintuitive for an 18 day cruise in a suite to cost less than airfare. However, I would probably look at it more as the cruise being a great deal, rather than the airfare being a ripoff.

 

If you can do the cruise in the opposite direction so the one-way flight is at the end of your trip, you could look into cruise air. That is the only time I consider cruise air.... one-way flights at the end of the cruise.

[Budget Queen]

Thanks for that idea - I did look into those as well as layover flights as I still have great contacts in those areas. :)

 

Actually - we (as a group on a conference call) just decided to bag this cruise and do another B2B cruise with different itineraries together. We are all experienced international travelers, retired professionals and book suites when we cruise +/- 2X a year so it isn't 100% about the $. However, cheap coach air should NEVER - EVER hit 1/3 of the cost of an 18 night cruise in a suite (hint to the pencil & eye shade dudes). That breaks the price point.

 

I'm a retired "non-revenue" pilot (wore a nomex suit as a hint) so I get the routing/go around to get there/dynamic revenue issues involved in odd routing.

 

Thanks for the helpful replies - but we have decided we aren't doing the airline hostage thing as they carve up their routs - but wish their flights well & tail winds.

 

Will try this trip again in a more favorable business cycle.

 

If you are entitled to airline employee nonrev travel, and retired why aren't you looking at the ZED fares? I am assuming your entitled to those?

[FlyerTalker]

If you are entitled to airline employee nonrev travel, and retired why aren't you looking at the ZED fares? I am assuming your entitled to those?

The "nomex suit" should give you a hint. My guess is that his aircraft didn't carry passengers, but rather some "sparklers". Or if there were passengers, they were wearing camo.

 

Am I close?

[Budget Queen]

The "nomex suit" should give you a hint. My guess is that his aircraft didn't carry passengers, but rather some "sparklers". Or if there were passengers, they were wearing camo.

 

Am I close?

 

I'm not sure, non revenue is usually an airline employee term? I responded to the "non revenue" comment, which the OP mentions for some reason?

[FlyerTalker]

I'm not sure, non revenue is usually an airline employee term? I responded to the "non revenue" comment, which the OP mentions for some reason?

I think because he was a pilot who generated no revenue....that was the "non-revenue".

 

But then, I could be very wrong. Just trying to think of what kind of pilots wear nomex.

[Rockfan2]

Had a friend that was flying to Auckland for a South Pacific cruise. Was quoted one way air fare out of Vancouver for around $3000. Booked thru the cruise line on Air New Zea land for $900. When he boarded his flight it was called Air Canad flight number XXXX and Air New Zealand flight number XXXX now boarding at gate XXX. It was the same flight so he was pretty happy.

 

Rockfan2

[4774Papa]

We flew from JAX, Florida to Sydney in February and RT was $2200pp, and worth every penny.

Australia is great.

[travelplus]

I was looking at airfares one way to Brazil and from Barcelona-San Francisco for a trans atlantic cruise in April 2014.

 

First the fares I was getting one way were $1,300 then $980 then $700. I then went on to a consolidator website and found a 1 way flight from San Francisco-Sao Paulo for $474 per person on Aero Mexico to Mexico City and then TAM to Sao Paulo. Only caveat which we did not mind was a 1 AM departure out of SFO( beats all that traffic of rush hour so we can get to the airport at 10 PM a mere 40 minutes from our house and a 13 hour layover to spend some of it in Mexico City. We were flexible with the routing. Other routes were to Newark and then find our own way to JFK or Miami(not really want we wanted but would take it if that were the only option).

 

For the return I used United miles on a 30,000 saver award from Barcelona-Toronto on Air Canada then Tronto-Chicago-SFO on United( got Economy Plus Seats). Again I don't mind the three planes to SFO since I'm not paying for the ticket.

 

Why not try miles/cash options or sign up for a credit card and use the points to pay for the ticket.

 

Really if you can afford a suite on a cruise then you should be able to budget $1,500 for airfare which is not a bad deal considering your routing.

 

I found my Father a Barcelona-Tel Aviv(one week stay to visit family)-SFO for $1100 on Alitalia/Air France on Vyama.

 

Google Wholesalers, Consolidators or "Cheap Tickets LAX-SYD" etc.

 

Remember to ask this question if your happy with the airfare and the chances of it going lower are slim then book it. If you can live with waiting and find the airfares are more can you live with that decision?

 

When I saw the $474 airfare I booked it right away as it could have gone away in 10 minutes. Actually that airfare stayed for 1 week and then jumped to $586 on another routing.

 

I prefer going on international carriers such as Aero Mexico/TAM as meals are included as well as beverages. On TAM we get the personal TV Inflight Entertainment which I like. United out of Houston did not offer this let alone free alcohol and was charging more for the ticket. No saver awards available to Brazil.

 

Flights back from Barcelona were $1,100-$1,500 so using miles was a good way. I prefer Air Canada over the water than United even if it requires more than one flight I can use the lounge at Toronto to take a shower and freshen up,

 

Good luck and I hope you still pursue this cruise as airfare deals can be found at good rates.