Ticket to Houston, Texas

• 

  [Deactivated] on 18/01/2015 - 22:09

  +2

  If you are an Australian citizen you can go without a Visa (but you need an ESTA) provided you don't have criminal convictions.

  ESTA is like $15 for two years https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/

  June/July is their high season, so dont expect flights for $1,000

  Stops and time to Houston depends on the flight(s) you take.

• 

  inherentchoice on 19/01/2015 - 02:30

  +2

  So what duration of time will you want to spend there? Days or weeks?

  Air New Zealand has a current sale which ends 30 January:

  http://www.airnewzealand.com.au/usa-and-canada-on-sale

  Notice the available travel dates if you want those fares. To get the sale fare of $1117 for MEL-LAX return you can't really travel between mid-June and mid-July. But you could depart on 15 June and return on 20 July.

  For flights in USA I would suggest doing a search with Google Flights. For example here is a search for the dates I mentioned above:

  https://www.google.com/flights/#search;f=LAX;t=HOU,IAH;d=201…

  You can see Spirit has return flights for about $275 USD ($335 AUD) but that will not include bags as they are a budget airline. Spirit Airlines will charge you for carry on luggage, but they can still be a lot cheaper at the end of the day. I flew them from LAX to Dallas which was fine but they were 1 hour late, but then again so were all the flights on that day as one of the runways was closed.

  If you are making separate bookings through LAX (e.g. AirNZ & Spirit) then You would need to carefully check the arrival time of your flight at LAX before choosing/booking a connecting flight. Allow some extra time in case the flight is delayed.

  Alternatively you could use the AirNZ site to book all the way to Houston with one of their partner airlines but it might cost a little more than if you made a separate booking. Actually I've just tried that search and it's coming up as $1569 AUD return from MEL to Houston on those sale dates. Total flight time is over 24 hours with stops in Auckland and LA. About 20 of those hours are onboard the plane.

  Personally I prefer to book flights without a travel agent. In my opinion you should never just go to the travel agent unless you have already researched some prices online yourself.

• 

  Foxtail on 19/01/2015 - 11:37

  +3

  When something goes wrong I feel its better to book direct with airline.

  The current AIRNZ deal as said is excellent, better be quick before its gone.

  Being long haul try for exit seats for much more room.

• 

  JT2 on 06/02/2015 - 07:35

  THANKS GUYS :)
  REALLY GOOD TIPS !!!! I love Oz bargain !!!

• 

  travelwiz on 06/02/2015 - 09:22

  -1

  it's almost always cheaper to buy separate domestic U.S. tickets.

  Get cheap tickets to LAX & then LA to Houston. You may even be able to use Qantas ff points for LA to Houston flight. It's either 12,000 or 18,000 each person each way + $2 (no fuel surcharges). If you stop in LA for 24 hours or more, you will have to pay USD$25/checked bag, but if less than 24 hours, international airline you fly baggage rules will apply.

  Note there are 4 airports in LA(LAX, BUR, SNA & ONT) & 2 in Houston (IAH & HOU).

  If stopping over in LA, it maybe better to use other airports as LAX is almost too big.

  Provide some rough dates in both directions & can have a quick look for you. A little flexibility can make a huge difference. Sometimes 1 day can make a $1000 difference per person.

  There's a little known Qantas deal, where you fly nonstop in one direction & via Fiji in other direction or nonstop Qantas MEL/LAX or v.v. in one direction & direct in other direction LAX/SYD or SYD/LAX.

  Flights don't connect in Fiji if wanting to go MEL/NAN/LAX or v.v. so if want to go in & out of MEL a stopover in Fiji of at least 12 hours is necessary(during day), however suggest a night is much better.

  Any of these combos will get you around 16,000 very valuable Qantas ff pts (& FREE to join)

  We find people often don't consider ff pts, that can be earned, until they need them, which is often too late.

  If you fly that All Bleck airline, you'll have to go via AKL.

• 

  inherentchoice on 11/02/2015 - 23:28

  As you missed out on the last deal, it looks like there is a new one now for $936 return to LAX…

  http://iwantthatflight.com.au/x2MELLAX-Flights-from-Melbourn…

  • 

    travelwiz on 12/02/2015 - 10:41

    +1

    maybe better to go either directly to airline websites or phone or contact a travel agent who specialises in where you want to go, not an OTA.

    OTA can only search exactly what you ask them & there shouldn't be more than a couple of dollars different between OTA, as they all search from same inventory.

    Sometimes, one OTA might cut their commission by 1 or 2% but not much more as they don't get that much. (no commission on taxes & charges, so on a $1200 Qantas ticket to USA, take out the taxes/charges of $760 or whatever they are now & they are getting commission only on the $440 portion. Most work off single digit commissions, so dropping their commission 2% is only $8.80.