What's the cheapest stable route to cross the Pacific?

Question

One of the most difficult parts planning a round-the-world trip is figuring out how to cross the Pacific Ocean. If you have a big budget that's not a problem, but if you're trying to save each penny it could be the most expensive part of your trip.

To answer my question, let's assume we are in Australia or nearby countries and want to get to any country in American continent (North or South America). We can fly or take any sea transport. What's the cheapest way to do it?

NOTE: I've put the "stable" adjective to ensure that the answer will refer to a stabilised route with a non-volatile price, it is, it's not an special offer, a route-code trick or something similar. In other words, it means that anybody can find this price or similar any time.

Given all this, my best price is to fly from Sydney to Honolulu (Hawaii) and then to Las Vegas:

SYD-HNL from ~$400 
HNL-LAS from ~$200

Answer 1

I've done NZ/Aus to North America a few times, and spent ages and ages trying sneaky routes and tricks to get cheaper deals. Time usually doesn't bother me, so I really go for cheapest.

Firstly, remember that seasonal trends, changes, random spikes, holidays and promotions change the prices all the time. So asking for the 'cheapest' is not going to get an accurate answer, as it's in flux.

Saying that, generally I've found you have a few options:

• findacrew.net - if you're really lucky, you might find a boat going when and where you want it, for the cost of perhaps food and water, plus some work on the boat. I have a couple of friends who have done this across large bodies of water. It's not for me though.
• cruise ships - too expensive by far.
• cargo boats. This has been considered often on here, but it's frequently impractical for time and often is more expensive than one might imagine.
• flying. This is pretty much it. So at this point I've played with routes through SE Asia, Japan, many, many Pacific islands and occasionally through Europe. What it comes down to usually is a few small routes that interchange for the cheapest:
  • through Bangkok. AirAsia, more recently cheap flights on Malaysian, and Jetstar specials have made this a much more feasible route. You just need that great flight between there and North America.
  • through Honolulu. AKL/SYD/BNE to HNL (Jetstar has great deals on their new 787 for example), then an onward flight to LA/SLC/SEA with Air Alaska, Hawaiian or other.
  • through Fiji. What used to be a great route with Air Pacific, was rebranded as Fiji Airways, and I've not managed to find better prices since. They'd fly AKL->NAN(Nadi, Fiji)->HNL, and then onwards with Alaskan or others.
  • weirdly, through Dubai. I've seen this once or twice - amazing deals with Emirates and partners from Sydney, via Dubai, to North America. Go figure. I've yet to use it though, but dream of the air miles...