"Al Bennett" <aljay@zip.com.au> wrote in message
news:umXrf.192$Xc7.6203@nasal.pacific.net.au...
>
> "PJ O'Donovan" <Xentinc@> wrote in message
> news:1135613315.827852.165720@g14g2000cwa. o...
>>
>>I am posting this from another newsgroup in the hopes of soliciting
>>suggestions for the shortest possible current connections from
>>the US to Australia for diabetics and/or people with other health
>> >problems wishing to travel to Australia from the US.
>>Suggestions would be appreciated.
>
> Reading through the entire thread, it seems the O.P. can "handle"
> flights of no more than approx 11 hours.
> Currently I can think of several transpacific options that will meet
> that requirement.
> 1 - Air Canada fly twice daily HNL-SYD with a 10h 35m flying time
> southbound and 9h 50m flying time northbound. UA codeshare
> on these flights so you should be able to get a UA fare using
> them between HNL and the U.S. mainland and using their
> code on the Air Canada flights between HNL and SYD.
> Hawaiian also fly 4 x weekly on the same route.
> Qantas fly 3 x weekly on the same route - AA codeshare with
> them.
> 2 - Air Pacific fly HNL to Nadi in Fiji and then onwards to Oz.
> The HNL-NAN segment is just on 6 hours length and the
> NAN to say Sydney is just over 5 hours.
> Air Pacific also fly nonstop from LAX to NAN, but that's
> 11 and a half hours of flying.
> 3 - Air New Zealand fly from LAX to Papeete in Tahiti 3 x weekly
> in 9h 10m and then from PPT to Auckland in 5h 50m and
> then AKL to say Sydney in just on 3 hours.
> 4 - Air Tahiti Nui fly from LAX to PPT also, as well as from New
> York to PPT and from there nonstop into SYD. Flying times
> are just over 9h LAX-PPT and just on 8 hours PPT-SYD.
> JFK-PPT is 12 hours however.
> 5 - Continental & Air Mike can get you into Cairns, via HNL
> & Guam. A very long way around however. If you *really*
> want to break the trip up, then this is the one - just make
> sure you use Air Mike's "island hopper" service between
> HNL-GUM !!! :-)
>
> In season (DEC-MAR) there are also numerous Round World
> cruises where you should be able to get a segment passage
> between places like Honolulu and Sydney as example.
> Cheers.
>
I did a similar route to #2 - LA-HNL-Fiji-New Zealand-Syd years ago and it
broke the trip into moderate segments .
If you are starting from the east coast you may want to think about going
via Europe.
e.g. to London then via Dubai-Singapore-Australia with Emirates, the last
section being the longest, about 8-9 hours (less to Perth). I dont know if
Emirates have started their USA routes yet. They usually allow stopovers in
Dubai and Bali.
If not you need 2 airlines at least, so it could be expensive.
A good travel agent may be able to find code share routes so you can go on 2
or more airlines at an OK price. Star Alliance is probably the best
codeshare for this.
Short segments of flights from US to Australia for diabetics or people with other health problems 
