Flying to Orlando

[WearegoingtoAmerica]

When we went to WDW last year, we had a few days in Houston first, so I have not flown straight to Orlando. Do most people generally book flights from Australia to MCO, or are we best to book LAX return, then book internal flights separately? I guess that would mean paying for luggage on internal. Also having to check in. How much time would you allow at LAX between flights? We're not going until September 2015, so this is early planning, but just keeping an eye on prices for this year. Thanks.

 

[BecBennett]

Booking the flights together might be more expensive, but like you mentioned you don't need to pay for luggage on internal flights, plus on the way home, if you're flying straight home from MCO you can book your luggage straight through, so you don't have to pick it up and re-check it at LAX. Which IMO is usually worth the extra money. This way if you have the majority of the day waiting at LAX, you can head out and enjoy a bit of LA without having to worry about your luggage.

On one instance we jumped on a shuttle to one of the airport hotels and then caught the trolley tour around to do some shopping, in another instance we caught a bus and a train into Hollywood and spent some time along the walk of fame - enjoyed lunch at that awesome sushi restaurant whose name I've forgotten, and had an amazing sundae at the Disney Soda Fountain.

 

[ssour]

I like to have connecting flights on the same day on the same ticket as a minimum. If the first flight is delayed and you miss the connection it's much easier to get on another flight that way. I don't bother with separate tickets if I'm just flying to Orlando and then home via LA. I'll usually get separate tickets if I have a few domestic flights as that normally works out cheaper but I'll fly to my first destination and home from my last destination on the same ticket. So one trip I flew Sydney to Chicago and DC to Sydney on one ticket with separate domestic tickets for Chicago to NY, NY to Orlando and Orlando to DC. I also tend to travel during the US winter, so I'm extra cautious about delays.

ETA: if you decide to book separately I would probably leave yourself at least 4 hours at LAX, especially if you fly over with Qantas on the A380. We had a interline connection we had to check in for and with 3 hours (all on one ticket, so Qantas' recommend time) we checked in with 30 seconds to spare and were the last people on the plane. We got express passes for immigration but waited 50 mins for our luggage!

 

[WearegoingtoAmerica]

Thanks BecBennett and ssour. I was thinking have the internal flight booked on the same ticket. Especially with 6 kids. The last thing I want to be doing after a flight from Australia, is collecting bags, and then having to check in again, hoping we had made it in time with immigration etc. Just when I looked at the different websites, a lot of them seemed to have a stopover between LAX and MCO, or we would arrive at LAX in the morning, but not fly out until the evening, arriving in Orlando the following morning. I did find a couple that would work. I just want as few stopovers as possible in the shortest amount of time at the cheapest price. Is that too much to ask? LOL.

 

[gogo65]

Catching the red eye to Orlando is terrible, after landing at lax in the morning and then having 8hours or so hanging around.
If you can't get on a flight to Orlando from LAX within 3 hours or so, I would book the flights separately and have a night in LA then fly the next morning. Waste a day yes, but at least it's better than sitting around the airport all day.

 

[BecBennett]

I just want as few stopovers as possible in the shortest amount of time at the cheapest price. Is that too much to ask? LOL.

Well that's just ridiculous! Who on earth would want that?!?

 

[wrestlingchick26]

I'm flying adelaide to Orlando over and back with a stop in Dallas. All booked together do no worrying about luggage and enough time at the stop to do a little shopping but not too long that you are over travelling.
I flew into lax my 1st trip over to the USA and found it crazy busy and no one was very helpful. Nearly missed my flight cause I was in the wrong terminal. Can't even imagine doing it with children.

 

[ssour]

Not sure where you're flying from but from Syd Delta via LA or Qantas via Dallas have you arrive the same day with decent stop overs.

 

[wrestlingchick26]

Not sure where you're flying from but from Syd Delta via LA or Qantas via Dallas have you arrive the same day with decent stop overs.

Qantas via Dallas is the flight I am taking.

 

[teddykins]

Paying for luggage really depends on the agent you get when you check in.. We only had to pay for luggage on the way to Miami from la and it was only $25, when we checked in for the flight home (mco-Dallas-melb) the American Airlines guy put our 4 suitcases through as international luggage, all we had to do was show him our qantas itinerary and he put all 4 through for free - we didn't see them again until after we got to Melbourne. It was soooo good not having to worry about the luggage, we hopped straight onto the shuttle to tbit and got on the a380 home.

We got our flights separately from our qantas booking as it was $200 each cheaper, had no issues at all though and allowed ourselves 4 hours to get our flight to Miami but didn't even need it as got through customs in 15 minutes and had to wait almost 2 hours for the flight which wasn't that bad as the terminal has free wifi so we caught up with FB, I read the Dis, checked emails, facetimed with my bestie etc

 

[WearegoingtoAmerica]

We're flying from Melbourne, so was really hoping to just fly direct over there. However looking at all the flight paths & times at the moment, our best bet would probably be fly to Sydney-Dallas-Orlando with Qantas or Brisbane-LAX-Orlando with Delta/Virgin.

 

[WearegoingtoAmerica]

gogo65 - Don't worry, there's no way I'm catching a redeye over there.

BecBennett - I know, right. I don't want much.

wrestlingchick26 - DH would like to stay away from LAX also.

ssour - I think we will probably go to Sydney via Dallas.

teddykins - That's awesome you got all your luggage put through. Don't know whether they would do that for us. I think they would just see the $ signs flying around. Last year we bought a few extra suitcases over there, so on the return flight we checked in 11 suitcases, 1 car seat, 1 portacot, and 1 mountain buggy twin pram.

 

[LeanneDownUnder]

Last year we did the SYD-Dallas-NYC-LA-SYD

The Dallas airport was great, got off our flight, hopped on the terminal train and made the NYC flight in amazing time!

I was amazed that Qantas gave us a such a great price to do all that and everything was on the one ticket so no concern with missing flights and not being covered on the Dallas leg.

I would defiantly fly into Dallas again if going to Orlando.

 

[wrestlingchick26]

Last year we did the SYD-Dallas-NYC-LA-SYD The Dallas airport was great, got off our flight, hopped on the terminal train and made the NYC flight in amazing time! I was amazed that Qantas gave us a such a great price to do all that and everything was on the one ticket so no concern with missing flights and not being covered on the Dallas leg. I would defiantly fly into Dallas again if going to Orlando.

Very happy to hear this.
Are the boot stores at the airport any good? We have a 5hr stop at the airport on our way home and I plan to get some boots.

 

[Snickals]

I have done it both ways and honestly it is so much easier and stress free to have it al booked under the one ticket. I normally go Bris-LAX-MCO and return that way, although last time we returned via Dallas and it is such a nice airport, easy to navigate.

 

[LeanneDownUnder]

Very happy to hear this.
Are the boot stores at the airport any good? We have a 5hr stop at the airport on our way home and I plan to get some boots.

Sorry, we had no time for shopping!

 

[WearegoingtoAmerica]

I agree with Dallas being an easy terminal to get around. We stopped here on our way to Houston last year and the terminal train makes it all very easy. I will get the tickets all on the one itinerary, it just means we have to fly to Sydney or Brisbane first. The times just don't seem to work out from Melbourne.

Sorry wrestlingchick26, we had no time for shopping either, so not sure about your boots. Funny, that was one thing I wanted to get last year, but forgot about it until we were on the flight back home.

 

[wrestlingchick26]

Sorry wrestlingchick26, we had no time for shopping either, so not sure about your boots. Funny, that was one thing I wanted to get last year, but forgot about it until we were on the flight back home.

Oh no you forgot the boots!!! I actually asked my agent to book a slightly later flight out of Dallas so I had a little more time to find boots.

 

[Zosha]

We did the Syd - DFW - MCO flight a few weeks ago with Qantas. It was torture LOL Next time I'm going to break it up through Hawaii. I'm not cut out for long distance flying at all

 

[wrestlingchick26]

We did the Syd - DFW - MCO flight a few weeks ago with Qantas. It was torture LOL Next time I'm going to break it up through Hawaii. I'm not cut out for long distance flying at all

Was it only torture cause of long flights or something else?