New York Return Flying Etihad or American Airlines ex Melb $998, Bris $1006, Syd $1012, Perth $1093, Adel $1123 @ IWTF

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  RockyRaccoon on 02/09/2016 - 13:34

  +6

  AA will fly via LAX or Dallas (19hrs flying time) where as Etihad will fly via the Abu Dhabi, which is a longer route (28hrs flying time).

  $72 to save 9 hrs flying time or paying $8 an hour less. I know which my backside would prefer.

  • 

    peterpeterpumpkin on 02/09/2016 - 13:57

    +3

    Etihad flights (like a lot of Middle Eastern carriers flying to the Americas) can make trips painfully long (50+ hours), much like Chinese airlines have no problem in connecting you almost anywhere over several days (you could go Sydney to New York via China, New York to Bangkok via China, and Bangkok to Sydney via China for less than $1300 all up but your backside and sleepy brain might regret it).

    The good thing about Etihad is that you can hack multi-trips to save tonnes of money. For example, fly to New York and fly back from say Paris for under $1200. Then you connect between New York and many places in Europe for $250 with Norwegian or Wow air on cheap days.

    • 

      rev0 on 02/09/2016 - 17:37

      How do you do the multi-trips? Do you have to contact Etihad directly before booking?

      Doing a stopover in London on the way back would make the extended travel time much more bearable..

      • 

        peterpeterpumpkin on 02/09/2016 - 19:40

        +1

        Nah, you simply go to www.etihad.com/en-us/plan-and-book/multi-city-booking/ and enter your two legs separately. You'll have to book a separate flight yourself to fly from London to New York or vice versa. I recommend Skyscanner to approximately find the cheapest airlines (which will most likely be WOW air or Norwegian).

        Try different directions but you'll probably prefer to go to London first since you can get there in 25 hr 20 min and getting back from New York to Sydney can be reduced to 29 hr 15 min. It can also be cheaper than the other way around. On sample dates Sydney to London 1 Feb 2017 and New York to Sydney March 1 2017 I get $1123.14. Then add ~$250-$400 for the cheapest fares across the Atlantic PLUS crazy fees ($70-$110) for check-in luggage.

      • 

        peterpeterpumpkin on 02/09/2016 - 20:00

        You can also use skyscanner to look for multi-trip flights and then try price matching at Flight centre if the deal you prefer is on bestjet.

      • 

        rev0 on 06/09/2016 - 16:18

        @peterpeterpumpkin: Ah I see, will take a look at Skyscanner. Thanks for the info mate.

  • 

    newjerseydamo on 02/09/2016 - 15:33

    Only issue is AA doesn't fly from Melbourne, so you would need a connecting flight, which is further cost and flying time, plus Etihad (as previously mentioned on another comment) has customs pre-clearance in Abu Dhabi.

    I'm flying Etihad to New York at the end of September purely for the reason that it was $700 cheaper than going via LAX due to school holidays and I couldn't make it later in the year with cheaper flights due to going for a wedding (plus vacation).
    Will be interesting that's for sure.

    The other advantage is you can pay for a shower, or extra for complete lounge access in Abu Dhabi, without any specific conditions or requirements.

    • 

      jaybo on 02/09/2016 - 16:16

      LAX itself is a 6 hour minimum time-sink of a nightmare :|
      MEL-AUH-JFK, despite the longer leg times, could quite possibly be a far more relaxing experience than MEL-SYD-LAX-JFK, given the 2 airports i hate the most in the world are SYD and LAX :D

• 

  777 on 02/09/2016 - 13:37

  PROMO10 still valid ?

• 

  Pootie Tang on 02/09/2016 - 14:25

  +2

  Etihad also have visa processing in Abu Dhabi which speeds up the whole experience significantly. I have not looked at the flight duration comparisons but that is a major plus.

• 

  parcus on 02/09/2016 - 15:26

  Looks like $1k is becoming the new normal for NYC sale fares. Awesome.

  That AA Perth to New York price is exceptionally good considering the flying involved. Pick the right flights and it'll also be entirely on QF operated planes.

• 

  Skramit on 02/09/2016 - 16:24

  +2

  Totally see the AA deal here but 33+ hours via Abu Dhabi on Etihad is more like torture than a deal :P

  14 hours to Abu Dhabi and then 15 hours to NYC.

• 

  yellowrhino93 on 02/09/2016 - 20:30

  +1

  AA is a joke though, would rather a longer duration then fly AA again. Etihad also has pre clears customs for america

  • 

    RockyRaccoon on 03/09/2016 - 21:20

    As others have said, you can get Qantas Codeshare flights if you want to avoid AA metal and crew!. Personally like Skramit says 33+ hours is more of a joke/torture

    • 

      yellowrhino93 on 04/09/2016 - 14:08

      it was a codeshare flight it was just horrible. Qantas was fine.

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 03/09/2016 - 23:57

    There's no huge difference between any of them if you're flying economy.

    I prefer United and Virgin, but I don't mind AA or Qantas to the US. Have flown with all of them as family is from NY/Boston.
    Would have flown AA at least 5 times and never had any problems.

    • 

      RockyRaccoon on 04/09/2016 - 08:26

      Memories are long, based on the cost of flying, a bad experience with one airline many years ago would still be remembered,

      There are so many to choose from it could be a long time for someone to re-experience an airline and any changes it has made.

      And of course the worse the original experience the longer the time before trying again and rightly so.

• 

  zedroid on 05/09/2016 - 11:45

  +1

  Not sure if spending $1k and 5 days of travel just to achieve Etihad Guest Gold status is worth it. decisions decisions

  • 

    rev0 on 06/09/2016 - 16:18

    How does that work?

    • 

      zedroid on 06/09/2016 - 17:22

      I'm 17k tier miles short of reaching the Gold status. Return flight to JFK will give me at least 26k tier miles.
      For any new Etihad guest members, this should at least move them to the silver status.

  • 

    che0173 on 07/09/2016 - 03:44

    as a VA platinum member, etihad treated me very well, so if you want that extra boost to your trips and you have $1k and 5 days spare then go for it. I got access to the First Class lounge and all the first-class benefits, until reality settled in when I sat down in economy. Even then, the Etihad crew came and personally made themselves known to me throughout the flight for any extra services they could provide - apart from moving me to business/first class of course.

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  swords114 on 20/09/2016 - 12:31

  will QFF be applicable for any business class upgrades on the Adelaide to NY flights?