Quote:
Originally Posted by drewboy12
Hey cmyden,
Do you know the cheapest time of the year to fly to Sydney, Australia? From any destination, Calgary, Vancouver, San Fran, LA... I can get around to any departing city cheap. Just weary of flying standby to Sydney on a different airline, if its possible to get a $500 flight.
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I would advise against flying United if at all possible.
I flew Calgary to San Francisco to Sydney to Melbourne on United and back from Sydney through SFO, and it was not an enjoyable experience (I think I've posted about it before in this thread). The food was mediocre, and the "entertainment system" is one big screen at the front of the section, and it broke about 2 hours into the flight on the way down, and didn't work at all on the flight back (five weeks later). I believe if you check on Seat Guru, United also has some of the worst leg room and seat widths on the 747s they fly down there (Air Canada's seats are 1.5 inches wider with an extra inch of leg room in Economy and they fly much newer 777s).
If the price is in any way competitive, I would try to get on the Vancouver-Sydney flight that Air Canada has. It has the added advantage of not requiring you to go through US Customs/TSA Security in either direction (I didn't have any hassles, but you never know).
I met a few other Canadians down there who took the AC flight, and they had no complaints, where I had nothing but complaints for United.
I took a few Qantas flights within Australia and I didn't find them to be anything special. In talking to some Aussies, they don't particularly like Qantas's international service either.
Air New Zealand is well liked, but I think may require a stop in Auckland.
When you're going to be in the air for 12+ hours, I'd be willing to spend a couple hundred more to have a more enjoyable flight.
As for price, I've had a fare watcher set up for Sydney for at least 2 years, and there doesn't really seem to be any particular time of year where the prices usually drop.