Trying to take a trip with the wife from MSP to New Zealand in about a month. Based on what I've seen it looks like the easiest way to get there would be to go via LAX and Sydney. Ay better methods or tips and tricks from those who have done it before?

I'm with Delta connection if that helps.

I just got back from New Zealand. I booked a Zed ticket on Air New Zealand from LAX. Cost about $220 each way. There were cheaper ways to get there if I wanted to one hop it through Hawaii or Sydney, but I figured an extra few bucks was a small price to pay for a direct flight to Auckland. Worked really well.

Incredible trip, btw!

Did not know that Air New Zealand had Zeds, but I am with Expressjet, so maybe we do not have the agreement. So, if you can get out to HNL, you can non-rev off Hawaiian, or go to Sydney, then ZED off Qantas. Problem with Sydney is getting a visa just to clear customs. I actually bought a roundtrip ticket from LAX to Christchurch (I was going to by a Auckland to Christchurch ticket anyway) and it was not too bad. Air New Zealand is awesome to fly on, non-rev or revenue.

If you already have an itinerary, then you probably cannot go wrong. If you have 14+ days there, I would recommend 2/3 of the days exploring the south island and 1/3 on the north. You cannot go wrong with anything in NZ, but feel free to PM me and I can give you some highlights that I ran into.

Best trip I have ever taken, and I have been taking trips for over 16 years. Have fun!

I've been to NZ 3 times, done Qantas twice and last time Air NZ had switched to eZED so we (9E) were able to go on them. If you can get LAX-AKL it saves you a lot of time compared with going through SYD. Also, Australia requires a VISA ahead of time (which takes only a few minutes online and $15 or so). The Delta SYD flight is usually full of mainline non revs so the way I see it, Qantas 4th class is way way better than DL economy thus New Zealand is one place where I prefer to just Zed over DL.

A word of caution about Air NewZealand: when we road on their 777 the economy seats were 3-4-3 NOT 3-3-3 and thus are the narrowest airline seats I have ever seen. A CRJ-200's seats are 17.3 inches versus 17.1 on the ANZ 777. This was not a problem because my wife and I had an empty seat between us.

Lastly, you will love New Zealand. Best country ever!

ejpogo, set a PM. Thanks by the way, didn't realize I could do direct and avoid sydney. If we had to go through Austrialia, can I do the visa when we get there or does it have to be done in advance?

May try for the direct and go through sydney as a last resort.