Flights to the states

[fosh]

Hey all, trying to sort out a return flight over to the states for the uni break - 26th june - 30th july.
As ive never travelled very far before, and flight prices seem to vary heaps between providers, i have a couple of questions!

Generally, who is better, studentflights or STA?
Do you need to attain some physical proof of student-ness, apart from maybe a uni specific card?

I will probably end up trying to get to wisconsin, michigan, or perhaps washington. I was thinking about getting tickets
from here to sydney, sydney to chicago, and then getting a domestic connection later on when i know where it is i need to get to.
Good idea? Is chicago a good first-port-of-call to start the domestic leg from?

Finally, anyone have a ball park idea of how much this sort of thing would cost, student flight style?
STA site reckons $2300 AUD for here->chicago return, so thinking maybe an extra 500 for domestic leg over there

Sorry about all the questions, bit concerned about getting dominated by poor ticket choices!

[Davey]

chicago is a good link as it's the hub for domestic travel in the states...
o'hare is a nutty airport.

[Morgs]

Hey all, trying to sort out a return flight over to the states for the uni break - 26th june - 30th july.
As ive never travelled very far before, and flight prices seem to vary heaps between providers, i have a couple of questions!

Generally, who is better, studentflights or STA?
Do you need to attain some physical proof of student-ness, apart from maybe a uni specific card?

I will probably end up trying to get to wisconsin, michigan, or perhaps washington. I was thinking about getting tickets
from here to sydney, sydney to chicago, and then getting a domestic connection later on when i know where it is i need to get to.
Good idea? Is chicago a good first-port-of-call to start the domestic leg from?

Finally, anyone have a ball park idea of how much this sort of thing would cost, student flight style?
STA site reckons $2300 AUD for here->chicago return, so thinking maybe an extra 500 for domestic leg over there

Sorry about all the questions, bit concerned about getting dominated by poor ticket choices! [/b]

Not sure who is the better of studentflights or STA, best go and talk to them with an intinerary and see who comes up with the best package.

The way things work in the US is that there are a number of hubs around the country where the international flights fly into, and then domestic flights are used to relay you to whichever city you want to go to. The hubs also work for domestic flights too, so if you wanted to fly from city A in Wisconsin to city B in michigan you might well have to fly through a hub (like Chicago). To complicate things different airlines use different hubs, so the availability of direct flights from one city to another will vary from airline to airline.

Most flights from Australia tend to fly into LA as it is the closest hub and it is easier to get domestic flights from here to other cities around the US. If you are definitely headed for Michigan then it is probably worth flying into Chicago and either train, bus or domestic flight to wherever you want to go.

The way to get the best deal is to decide roughly what you want and take it to the agents and let them sort out your total flights for you, whilst at the same time being flexible if they come up with a cheaper route or travel dates.

From my experience when travelling as a student, the flights aren't really any cheaper than the fares you can get as a non-student, it is just a marketing ploy to make you think you are getting a better deal. So it might be worth trying a different travel agency to see what they can come up with.

One other thing to be careful of if book a return flight in the US is the Saturday night stopover. When I was there a few years ago all the airlines would give much cheaper flights if you stayed over a Saturday night as they figured that only tourists would do this and the flights where people didn't stopover were likely to be business flights and were charged through the nose accordingly. Worth asking about because the difference used to be huge.

Hope this helps.

[Bulbous]

where are you going in michigan or wisconsin? the train services from Chicago are quite good, and serve through to Detroit across the base of michigan, also up to Milwaukee, and across the middle of Wisconsin via La Crosse and Minneapolis/St Paul. Otherwise, there are heaps of bus services throughout the place, serving almost any small town along the way. I used to live and work in the Lake Delton/ Wisconsin Dells area, nice place for a holiday for sure. Also, being a student can get you across the whole country via train for around the $100US mark, so look before you waste money on internal flights there.......

[fosh]

Sheboygan in wisconsin, or potentially houghton in michigan!
Trains sound promising, and im thinking that would give a lot of flexibility for delaying choosing the specific destination after chicago
Cheers for the help guys, very useful

[shrike]

Not sure if the rules have changed but when i booked 1-way internal flights I was searched EVERY time.

So if you do fly internally, be prepared to become VERY good friends with airport security

[Barfrangipani]

That's why the USA is off my list of holiday destinations. Being treated like a criminal in not conducive to a relaxing enjoyable time.

The cavity searches are fun the first couple of times, but you always get one who goes too far and won't stop once you get off.

[chief wiggum]

just remember, when going for the really cheap flights, you can get some really shitty routes. i went cheap as possible to prove a point to someone, ended up with 8 hours to tokyo, 8 hours stopover, then 13 hours to LA. and i cannot dis north west airlines enuff. they were shocking. their logo is NWA, which stands for No Way Again in my case. and they charge you for alcochol, i thought everyone had free grog on international flights?

and i never had any searches of any type. guess i just got a trustful face
in fact, i reckon i've faced stricter security flying domestic in oz than anything i experienced in the states

[Bulbous]

yep, agree with the chief here...... the security is more of a joke and a hassle here in australia than it is over in the states, and i flew there not long after the trade centre shit went down....... even their long searches, although more in depth than the ones here (no cavity ones though), take about one tenth of the time, and it is all over nice and fast....... the country itself is a fantastic one, and like most things, it is the small minority that gives it a bad name...... i never thought i would ever want to go there, but having since been and lived and worked there, i would happily return again and again......

[Fastgirl]

That's why the USA is off my list of holiday destinations. Being treated like a criminal in not conducive to a relaxing enjoyable time.

The cavity searches are fun the first couple of times, but you always get one who goes too far and won't stop once you get off.[/b]

Sometimes your warped little mind disturbes me

[fosh]

Shit routes dont bother me - altho maybe they will later when im asleep in some shithole japanease neighborhood with half an hour to get back for the next flight
poor students all the way

[hokoyo]

I went to Dallas in December from Perth to Tokyo Qantas, Tokyo Dallas AA, around $1850.

Dallas is the AA hub so you can go anywhere from there.

America is great for a holiday very cheap compared with Aus!

[fosh]

$1850!
Thats gold, i havent seen anything less than $2500 for chicago .
How did you sort out all your bookings?

[seandre]

btw, cheap way to get around the states is to do vehicle deliveries - clicky

It is a bit of pot luck but the savings can be huge. When I was in the US in 2003, I was in Boston and wanted to go to Washington DC. The Boston autodriveaway office had a new Lexus RX300 that needed to be delivered there so I took it. You need to be over 23, have an international licence and leave a US$350 deposit. All you then have to pay for is the fuel. They give you a route to follow and a certain number of days and miles to get there. You have to deliver it on time to get your deposit back. As long as you can do that, its a very cheap way to travel the US.

Failing that, have a look at SouthWest Airlines (you can book over the phone from Australia) or online with Jet Blue, Alaska Airlines, Delta, American etc... Very competitive air travel industry.

Greyhounds are also very very cheap but it kinda sucks being on a bus after a while.

[chief wiggum]

$1850[/b]

that's the ticket price, what about the taxes? i'm pretty sure i paid about the same, but with about $300ish in taxes on top.