Airfares to US to drop?

[p--and--t]

Been reading some reports forward bookings on some sectors to/from US down 70%. Flight cancellations / frequency reductions inevitable.

 

[SYD]

Been reading some reports forward bookings on some sectors to/from US down 70%. Flight cancellations / frequency reductions inevitable.

That’s been USA - Canada… Who’d a thought….

 

[RSD]

That’s been USA - Canada… Who’d a thought….

Donnie didn't!

 

[Saab34]

Delta might pull its Melbourne flight then we will see!

 

[laffer]

Looking into a potential future booking, I see the good people at QF are asking for $15k for a return J flight to DFW over Xmas. Sure, peak season and all, but ridiculous pricing still. CX for half that price and a much better product albeit up via HKG.

For all you USA FF which airport do you think is best to go into from Oz when connecting on to Orlando? I figured best to avoid SFO and LAX given the long transcon necessary so somewhere like DFW would probably be the best stop point given inevitably will transition to local Y so less flight time is best.

 

[RSD]

Looking into a potential future booking, I see the good people at QF are asking for $15k for a return J flight to DFW over Xmas. Sure, peak season and all, but ridiculous pricing still. CX for half that price and a much better product albeit up via HKG.

For all you USA FF which airport do you think is best to go into from Oz when connecting on to Orlando? I figured best to avoid SFO and LAX given the long transcon necessary so somewhere like DFW would probably be the best stop point given inevitably will transition to local Y so less flight time is best.

LAX might be better as the early morning arrival may get you to your destination at a more reasonable time of day - given that the DFW flights don't get in until mid-afternoon-ish. If you can get LAX-DFW-Orlando flights then you will pick up a swag of SC's as well.

 

[VPS]

There’s no obligation to to tell them what you’re using.

I have seen many reports of them going through peoples phones and checking their social media

 

[SYD]

I have seen many reports of them going through peoples phones and checking their social media

Sounds like fake news.

But if in doubt, carry a Nokia flip phone.

 

[VPS]

Sounds like fake news.

But if in doubt, carry a Nokia flip phone.

I’ll see if I can find the reference. Can you still get flip phones?

 

[levelnine]

Looking into a potential future booking, I see the good people at QF are asking for $15k for a return J flight to DFW over Xmas. Sure, peak season and all, but ridiculous pricing still. CX for half that price and a much better product albeit up via HKG.

For all you USA FF which airport do you think is best to go into from Oz when connecting on to Orlando? I figured best to avoid SFO and LAX given the long transcon necessary so somewhere like DFW would probably be the best stop point given inevitably will transition to local Y so less flight time is best.

Don't sleep on flying into JFK. Lots of competitive fares into JFK from Australia & same distance to MCO as DFW (and way shorter than SFO/LAX).

 

[ComaAmes]

I certainly hope so as I regularly travel to YVR, the price for direct flights to Canada out of Australia and insane, connecting through US would be an option but Canada is just so expensive at the moment

 

[SYD]

That was probably about the time when they were getting two AUD for every one USD. Oz seemed to be full of US travellers.

Well, it’s happening again already. I was in the city yesterday and kept passing groups of American tourists (or escapees?) in the space of a few city blocks. It would be interesting to see if the March or Q1 inbound figures show a marked uptick from the US?

 

[Forg]

I certainly hope so as I regularly travel to YVR, the price for direct flights to Canada out of Australia and insane, connecting through US would be an option but Canada is just so expensive at the moment

Hmmm ... if I were attempting to wage a trade-war with Canada and my country's airlines were wining about the loss of passenger numbers, I think I'd look at incentivising their stealing of business from Canadian airlines in some way ...

 

[levelnine]

I certainly hope so as I regularly travel to YVR, the price for direct flights to Canada out of Australia and insane, connecting through US would be an option but Canada is just so expensive at the moment

A recent industry podcast suggests that Canadians are shifting their travel from the US to other destinations, so I expect direct flights to/from Canada to non-US destinations to increase rather than decrease.

 

[BrianQQ]

Sounds like fake news.

But if in doubt, carry a Nokia flip phone.

Very much not fake, it's happened to me before upon arriving at LAX. This was prior to the Trump administration but it looks like they're conducting more searches now.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Very much not fake, it's happened to me before upon arriving at LAX. This was prior to the Trump administration but it looks like they're conducting more searches now.

What does that mean - do they ask you to show them your phone? do they take it off you and check it? What if you were to delete your social media apps before arrival?

/asking for a friend..

 

[BrianQQ]

What does that mean - do they ask you to show them your phone? do they take it off you and check it? What if you were to delete your social media apps before arrival?

/asking for a friend..

They asked for my phone after a few questions. They were allowed to take it, asked me to unlock the phone and place it into Airplane Mode whilst they checked my messages on iMessage and social media.

I presume if you have the app deleted, that they won't force you to redownload the app, etc.

 

[BCons]

Very much not fake, it's happened to me before upon arriving at LAX. This was prior to the Trump administration but it looks like they're conducting more searches now.

CBP electronic device search stats here : Border Search of Electronic Devices at Ports of Entry

 

[SYD]

CBP electronic device search stats here : Border Search of Electronic Devices at Ports of Entry

"In Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, less than 0.01 percent of arriving international travelers encountered by CBP at a port of entry had their electronic devices searched"

Presumably that's all US ports?

"On rare occasions, CBP officers may search a traveler’s mobile phone, computer, camera, or other electronic devices during the inspection process. These searches have been used to identify and combat terrorist activity, child coughography, drug smuggling, human smuggling, bulk cash smuggling, human trafficking, export control violations, intellectual property rights violations and visa fraud, among other violations.

Presumably there's some "profiling" going on to drop someone into that 0.01% suspected of the above?

I've never had any electronics (not even a suitcase) inspected entering the US over countless visit over the last ~30 years. Although, be aware that US border force reps can be pretty humorless (sic) at the best of times and best to be very polite and matter of fact (and move on).

 

[BrianQQ]

Presumably that's all US ports?

Correct, although profiling does go on. As an Asian Australian myself, as well as my Asian Canadian friends across the border, I've heard of checks done through multiple of my friends and experienced it myself.