Best / Cheapest routes to New Zealand from the United States?
December 9, 2014 11:52 AM Subscribe
Traveling to New Zealand from the United States (Raleigh) in January, any travel pro routes to NZ that are non-obvious but might be cheaper?
Trying to see if there's a cheaper / better route to New Zealand that's non-obvious. I'm going to be flying from Raleigh, which will likely mean going through SFO or LAX to Sydney, then on to Auckland.
Wondering if, for instance, there's a better route through a country other than Australia to get to NZ that would be cheaper. Note - don't mind staying over in another country (as long as a visa isn't required) overnight or whatever.
Difficulty: Would prefer to stay on Delta if at all humanly possible for most of the trip. I have status with Delta and would like to rack up the miles there rather than throwing them away on an airline I won't use again in 2015.
Trying to see if there's a cheaper / better route to New Zealand that's non-obvious. I'm going to be flying from Raleigh, which will likely mean going through SFO or LAX to Sydney, then on to Auckland.
Wondering if, for instance, there's a better route through a country other than Australia to get to NZ that would be cheaper. Note - don't mind staying over in another country (as long as a visa isn't required) overnight or whatever.
Difficulty: Would prefer to stay on Delta if at all humanly possible for most of the trip. I have status with Delta and would like to rack up the miles there rather than throwing them away on an airline I won't use again in 2015.
I've been booking New Zealand flights for large groups of people from Raleigh for a few years now and those LAX/SFO connections are the best I've found.
SFO does have a direct Air New Zealand connection to Auckland, bypassing Sydney, although it may be more expensive. I'm pretty sure the last time I booked someone on that flight I did the whole thing through Delta, so they may have a code sharing arrangement.
posted by something something at 12:11 PM on December 9, 2014 [3 favorites]
SFO does have a direct Air New Zealand connection to Auckland, bypassing Sydney, although it may be more expensive. I'm pretty sure the last time I booked someone on that flight I did the whole thing through Delta, so they may have a code sharing arrangement.
posted by something something at 12:11 PM on December 9, 2014 [3 favorites]
Best answer: Delta flights seem to be the cheapest at $2242. RDU > JFK > LAX > SYD >AKL
The thing is that if you leave on a Wednesday it's a lot cheaper than Friday or Saturday.
I checked China Southern, a code share partner with Delta, and they do JFK to Aukland for ¥5570 which is $900 each way. You should be able to get to JFK on Delta pretty cheaply direct from RDU.
Good luck!
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 12:21 PM on December 9, 2014 [3 favorites]
The thing is that if you leave on a Wednesday it's a lot cheaper than Friday or Saturday.
I checked China Southern, a code share partner with Delta, and they do JFK to Aukland for ¥5570 which is $900 each way. You should be able to get to JFK on Delta pretty cheaply direct from RDU.
Good luck!
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 12:21 PM on December 9, 2014 [3 favorites]
You can fly direct with Air New Zealand ex LAX or SFO but it might be more expensive. Also Hawaiian Air does a flight that stops in Honolulu. Not sure about mile sharing with Delta though.
posted by yogalemon at 12:54 PM on December 9, 2014
posted by yogalemon at 12:54 PM on December 9, 2014
Check out Air Tahiti Nui - I flew with them a few years ago AKL - LAX and it was the cheapest. It's also worth looking into splitting your journey... Once I flew Air NZ to Sydney, then Virgin Australia to LAX as it was a better price on two returns. Not sure about their air mile affiliation though!
posted by teststrip at 1:30 PM on December 9, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by teststrip at 1:30 PM on December 9, 2014 [2 favorites]
When I went there in 2008 I flew Air Pacific (Fiji's airline) from LAX. We stopped in Fiji and then continued to Auckland. At the time, it was over $1000 cheaper than any other ticket. It wasn't really a "secret" though; it just came up when I searched flights.
Going through Fiji was slightly annoying as they make you clear customs into and back out of the country just for a connection, but it was worth the saved money.
posted by drjimmy11 at 1:36 PM on December 9, 2014
Going through Fiji was slightly annoying as they make you clear customs into and back out of the country just for a connection, but it was worth the saved money.
posted by drjimmy11 at 1:36 PM on December 9, 2014
When we flew back to Sydney from South America on Qantas/LAn we had to stop in Auckland. Can you easily get to Santiago then go to Auckland?
posted by trialex at 2:47 PM on December 9, 2014
posted by trialex at 2:47 PM on December 9, 2014
Going through Asia will be just as expensive and even more time consuming. Unless you're willing to take another airline for a direct LAX-AKL flight, then no there's not another option. Flying just Delta makes it almost impossible even if you wanted to go the other way through Asia.
posted by signondiego at 7:43 PM on December 9, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by signondiego at 7:43 PM on December 9, 2014 [1 favorite]
Weirdly, booking separate return flights US/Honolulu, and Honolulu/Auckland, often ends up cheaper than booking the whole route on one ticket (even if the flight stops in Honolulu anyway). Maybe consider flying Delta to Honolulu and Air NZ from Honolulu to Auckland?
posted by superfish at 11:10 PM on December 9, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by superfish at 11:10 PM on December 9, 2014 [1 favorite]
I used Hipmunk to book our flights to Auckland from Missouri last year. We flew out of SFO on Air New Zealand direct to Auckland. Air New Zealand is a wonderful airline and I would fly it again anytime.
(Be aware that Air NZ has different carryon requirements than US domestic airlines; we were almost stuck having to pay for a second bag on our way home.)
posted by aabbbiee at 7:44 AM on December 10, 2014
(Be aware that Air NZ has different carryon requirements than US domestic airlines; we were almost stuck having to pay for a second bag on our way home.)
posted by aabbbiee at 7:44 AM on December 10, 2014
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posted by craven_morhead at 11:59 AM on December 9, 2014 [1 favorite]