[ BWI - AKL for $1500 ? ]
>> The always informative itasoftware says that Air NZ has a $1076 round
>> trip from SFO or LAX starting on the 29th. It also says that NW has
>> $227 connections on those dates BWI-LAX with schedules that match up
>> reasonably well with the NZ flights.
>ITA is very clever but they fail to warn about deals like this. You
>usually end up buying 2 separate tickets (in this case BWI/SFO/BWI and
>SFO/AKL/SFO). Each ticket is a separate contract which means it is your
>responsibility to check in for each flight on time. If NW fail to deliver
>you to SFO in time to check in for ANZ they (ANZ) would treat you just like
>someone who was starting their journey at SFO and missed it - you might have
>to buy a new ticket. At a simpler level it means no through check in so
>you have to collect your bag, exit to landside, check in, go through
>security etc.
It's true, if you miss your connection, you have a problem, although I
don't think that in practice you're much better off with a nominal
online connection. There's only one flight a day SFO-AKL so if you
miss it, you lose either way, come back tomorrow. There's two or three
LAX-AKL, but NZ tends to be reasonable and if you miss the earlier one
and ask nicely, they'll probably put you on one a later one.
LAX and SFO are not Heathrow, and airside transfer basically doesn't
exist. You have to go take the tram (SFO) or bus (LAX) between
terminals and go through security again regardless. Unless you take
an enormous amount of luggage, rechecking your bags isn't a lot of
additional hassle. I have connected and flown NZ out of both SFO and
LAX so I speak from experience.
I agree that it would be a good idea to leave plenty of time for the
domestic -> int'l connection, but there are schedules that do that.
Since it's a legit interline connection, it might be worth paying a
travel agent $30 or whatever to do both flights on one ticket so you
can at least try to check your bags through.
R's,
John
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