Good deals to Vanuatu/ New Caledonia

Dear all,
just spent the day looking for reasonable offers for traveling to Vanuatu or New Caledonia in August/Sept.

We are looking to travel mid-August through the first week of sept (for about 3 weeks) and would ideally split the time between the two (leaving from DC)

I've been looking for an interesting package (flight and hotel) for a week to a nice hotel and then add on 2 weeks on my own (as the lonely planet recommends).

No luck so far! QUantas, air tahiti, air france, travelzoo, air new zealand.

Any other ideas? WOuld be greatly appreciated.

You might look at Air Pacific(or Pacific Air) - they fly out of LA to Nadi, Fiji and then on to Vanuatu (code share with Air Vanuatu). You can get to New Caledonia from there with Air Calin and then back to Nadi. There used to be a triangle fare for the Nadi-Pt. Vila-Noumea-Nadi flights but I don't know if it's still available. Air Calin also flies Papeete to Noumea and then you could do a return flight to Pt. Vila with them. I don't know if you can do the whole trip with one airline unless they use code share partners. You might like to try airtreks.com, they let you plan your route and give you approximate prices. I doubt you will find a package from D.C. although there will be lots from Australia/New Zealand as they target these places.

Yes, as Newfie suggested, check out a RT from DC to Brisbane/Sydney, or to auckland. Then do a separate triangle around the islands. It may be cheaper to do this, as not a lot of traffic from LAX to Vanuatu or New Cal., so you'd need to get to Fiji and then switch to local triangle routes, etc.

That AirCalin route usually goes from LAX to PPT to Noumea. Check that out as well, you might get a good RT to NC. But most of the US discoutns are only LAX to PPT.

Look for US flights from US to Sydney or Brisbane, and packages on sites like Qantas or Pacific Blue. The time you want to travel is not Australian school holidays, so there should be good deals available.

Thank you all! So the consensus is to route the trip through Australia! Will check and post back! Thank you again for your time!