"John Levine" wrote in message
news:gi5kj8$llu$2@gal.iecc.com...
>[ 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
>
>
>
I believe you are being far too relaxed and even misleading. The
connection can be online or offline and, provided the transaction is on one
ticket you have various safeguards if a flight is late. In the end it
boils down to the delivering carrier being responsible for finding you an
alternative if you are delayed by them. That can mean sending you on the
same flight from LAX to AKL the next day but it can also mean something like
sending you on a flight to SYD with a connection back to AKL on a completely
different airline. With separate tickets the two airlines have no
responsibility other than to take you for the journey ticketed PROVIDED you
check in on time. At the very least, if you decide to use separate tickets
allow extra connection time.
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