On Tue, 22 Sep 2015 19:23:43 -0500, Califbill billnews wrote:

wrote:
On Tue, 22 Sep 2015 15:07:58 -0500, Califbill billnews wrote:

wrote:


Just spend a few extra bucks and fly up front.

By the time you factor in all the BS fees it isn't even that much more
on a lot of routes.
When we went to Montana, the difference was about $350 and that did
not take into account 3 "extra" bags, food, drinks and convenience.
It wasn't even enough to burn airline points on.

Last two trips I went on, up front was outrageous. To Africa ways an extra
$5700 each for business, not even first. And NZ was $10K for both of us.

We did 1st class to LAX and premium economy to NZ. The bill was $8k,
not horrible and the "space seat" on Air New Zealand was not that much
different than the 1st class seat.
I think the food was the same and the drinks were still free.
I can't imagine doing that trip back in the cargo section.

We had more flying, but shorter distance mostly. LAX to Tahiti, 8 hours,
Tahiti to Auckland 4.5 hours, Auckland to Cannes, Australia, 5.5 hours. We
did do the direct Auckland to LAX on the return. Travel agent said approx
$10K for economy plus extra.

I was surprised at how cheap the internal flights were in NZ. We did
the hop from Christchurch to Palmerston North and it was only about
$60 with the leg room and baggage upgrade. (prebooked on the net)
There was also zero security at the airport. You print your luggage
tag and ticket, tag your own bag and put it on the belt.
We didn't see a metal detector until we boarded the plane to LAX.