Sure, life is a journey, not a destination. However, living on an island on the other side of the world means that we often just want to get to where we are going the quickest that we can. And that’s especially when flying at the back of the plane.
You can fly nonstop to all top 10 destinations visited by travellers from Australia
Here were the 10 most-visited countries by travellers from Australia in 2018, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics:
- New Zealand
- Indonesia
- United States
- United Kingdom
- China
- Thailand
- Japan
- Singapore
- India
- Fiji
The good news is that you can fly from Australia to all of these countries without having to transit.
The quickest way to travel from Australia to the US
Currently, you can fly nonstop from:
- Sydney to Honolulu, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston
- Melbourne to Honolulu, Los Angeles and San Francisco
- Brisbane to Honolulu and Los Angeles (and San Francisco and Chicago from February and April 2020, respectively)
However, if you want to get to the East Coast of the US, you’ll need to connect. For those in Sydney, flying through one of the two big Texan airports—Dallas/Fort Worth or Houston—is the quickest way.
For Melburnians and Brisbanites, a West Coast airport—Los Angeles or San Francisco—is the route to take.
Adelaidians will actually get there the quickest by travelling through Auckland and Houston. Western Australians jet to the Big Apple in the least amount of time via Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific.
To New York
| Origin | Duration | via | Airline/s |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brisbane | 20h 10m | Los Angeles | Qantas |
| Sydney | 20h 19m | Dallas/Fort Worth | Qantas & American Airlines |
| Melbourne | 21h 3m | Los Angeles or San Francisco | United |
| Adelaide | 23h 25m | Auckland & Houston | Air New Zealand & United |
| Perth | 25h 15m | Hong Kong | Cathay Pacific |
To Miami
| Origin | Duration | via | Airline/s |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney | 19h 35m | Houston | United |
| Brisbane | 20h 0m | Los Angeles | Qantas & American Airlines |
| Melbourne | 21h 45m | San Francisco | United |
| Adelaide | 23h 13m | Sydney & Dallas/Fort Worth | Qantas & American Airlines |
| Perth | 25h 15m | Sydney & Dallas/Fort Worth | Qantas & American Airlines |
The quickest way to travel from Australia to Europe
Qantas’ Boeing 787 Dreamliner service from Perth to London launched in March 2018. It’s the first nonstop connection between Australia and Europe.
Clocking in at just under 18 hours, it’s a long trek to undertake in Economy Class. As such, I’d only suggest taking this flight in Business or Premium Economy.
If you want to break up your trip from Perth to Europe and stretch your feet, then you can transit through Singapore, Dubai or Doha, adding 2½-3 hours to your total journey time.
For travellers from the East Coast of Australia, transiting through Singapore with Singapore Airlines takes advantage of efficient layovers of often less than one hour. (The shared British colonial history of Singapore and Australia could explain the high frequency of flights on this version of the Kangaroo Route.)
Those in South Australia can transit through Perth on their way to London with Qantas, or through Dubai to Paris with Emirates.
To London
| Origin | Duration | via | Airline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Perth | 17h 45m | (nonstop) | Qantas |
| Adelaide | 22h 20m | Perth | Qantas |
| Melbourne | 22h 20m | Singapore | Singapore Airlines |
| Sydney | 22h 40m | Singapore | Singapore Airlines |
| Brisbane | 23h 10m | Singapore | Singapore Airlines |
To Paris
| Origin | Duration | via | Airline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Perth | 20h 25m | Singapore | Singapore Airlines |
| Melbourne | 22h 25m | Singapore | Singapore Airlines |
| Sydney | 23h 05m | Singapore | Singapore Airlines |
| Adelaide | 23h 20m | Dubai | Emirates |
| Brisbane | 24h 20m | Singapore | Singapore Airlines |
How to calculate the duration of a flight
If you go to Google Flights and input your origin and destination, the search engine’s first instinct is to give you the itinerary with the lowest price, not the quickest transit time.
Under Sort by, click Duration and the results will be calculated from quickest to longest transit time.
And remember to install this Chrome extension so that you can see how much legroom you’ll get on your flight/s.
Summing up
If you are flying to Europe, then the quickest way to get there is usually through Singapore or Perth.
For US-bound travellers, nonstop services from Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane to Hawaii, the West Coast or Texas are the way to go. If your destination is on the East Coast of the US, then it really depends on which Australian airport you’re departing from.
With the delivery of more long-range Boeing 787 Dreamliners over the next few years, Qantas will hopefully continue to reduce travel time with new nonstop flights from Australia to Europe and the US (as well as South Africa and Brazil).
However, there are two downsides to a quicker layover: no time for lounge visit, and an increased risk of missing your connecting flight because of delays.
What’s your favourite way to travel to Europe or the US? Would you prefer a quicker or a more comfortable journey?
My ideal flight would be Melbourne- Muscat, a 3 day layover at the Chedi and then a direct fight to London.
The best alternative is to fly ( daytime) to HongKong, stay overnight at the airport hotel the fly direct to London after a leisurely breakfast, arriving mid-afternoon – not at the ungodly 5am.
As I say, last thing I’d want to do after a 17+h segment is connect, and would rather have the split in Asia, but the option’s there.
We’ve met some great people in the bars and lounges and have always had a great time on layovers using showers and spas, restaurants and bars, cigar rooms etc. mostly for free. Just love the Emirates cigar room at Dubai, free XO Cognac ……