Aadvantage Miles to Australia

 
Old Oct 24, 2004, 5:01 pm
  #1  
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Aadvantage Miles to Australia

I was wondering what partner American uses to fly from the US to Australia,how many miles it takes, and what you are allowed in terms of stopovers. Are these flights hard to get using miles?
Thanks
Howard
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Old Oct 24, 2004, 5:17 pm
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Originally Posted by holocker
I was wondering what partner American uses to fly from the US to Australia,how many miles it takes, and what you are allowed in terms of stopovers. Are these flights hard to get using miles?
Thanks
Howard
Qantas directly. (Cathay Pacific can be used through a oneworld award.)

My sense (and I've claimed four awards to Oz) is that with flexible dates and sufficient lead time coach is no problem. Business class is much more difficult. First is, from all accounts, virtually impossible.
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Old Oct 24, 2004, 5:26 pm
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Dupe response

Last edited by blueeyes_austin; Oct 24, 2004 at 5:28 pm
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Old Oct 24, 2004, 6:53 pm
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Originally Posted by blueeyes_austin
Qantas directly. (Cathay Pacific can be used through a oneworld award.)

My sense (and I've claimed four awards to Oz) is that with flexible dates and sufficient lead time coach is no problem. Business class is much more difficult. First is, from all accounts, virtually impossible.

First is possible. You must book on Quantas 330 days in advance.

Rob
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Old Oct 24, 2004, 11:59 pm
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Award availability on QANTAS can be a pain in the neck for certain times of the year. The above advice about booking out as far in advance (if not at the 330 day window or whatever it is) is recommended.
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Old Oct 25, 2004, 12:47 am
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Question AA/One World Award: Cathay or Qantas?

I'm considering a similar award trip, either to Australia and/or New Zealand.
Have never flown Quantas nor Cathay. I am 6'6" tall: I want to avoid coach on that long haul on either airline, right? Or, is one of them bearable?
And, if you could choose between the two carriers, which would you use? (I would think CX involves longer travel times, but I've heard that CX is AWEOSME in terms of service, etc.)
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Old Oct 25, 2004, 5:51 am
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If you use a revenu ticket rather then award ticket using QF for LAX-SYD, be careful that you get an AA code share QF flight or check to see if your QF fare class are 1 Miles or .5 miles on AAdvantage.

Have not flown Qantas from US to Australia but have don NZ to Australia and coach for the 14-15 hours would be brutal for someone who is 6'6"..

Mary
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Old Oct 25, 2004, 8:38 am
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My husband and I are flying Quantas on AA miles in March. 75,000 miles each for coach, double that for business. I believe you are allowed one stopover and one open-jaw. The nice thing about it is once it is booked, although you can't change the cities involved, you can play with the dates as long as there is availability.
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Old Oct 25, 2004, 9:05 am
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I have been reading about the difficulty of scoring a QF F award ticket from US to AUS and since I'm planning a big trip for April/May of next year, I've decided to "test" the waters and called AAdvantage (few weeks back) to do a booking. At that time I did not have the required miles available (not even close), so all I did was to put the res on hold. I've since lost the res, but what I did find was that I had no problem getting the seats.

Here is what I did:

Each location was for a 7/8 day stay.

Departed on the first Tuesday in April.

Flight 1 - LAX-SYD-AKL (QF F to SYD and J to AKL(no F on that route)) (8 days)
Flight 2 - AKL-SYD (QF J) (8 days)
Flight 3 - SYD-HKG (QF F) (7 days)
Flight 4 - HKG-LAX (CX F)

This is a OW award at 180K miles.

The ONLY date I needed to adjust was the SYD-HKG date by one day. Other than that I had no problem securing all of these flights for the dates I chose. Maybe I was just lucky, but it seemed very easy. I guess travelling solo may also be a factor in securing the F seat, but nevertheless it worked as advertised.

In about 2 weeks I will try again, so I will report. Hopefully it will be just as easy.
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Old Oct 28, 2004, 12:18 pm
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I just made a reservation for March on a 75k economy award. It was very difficult because AA screwed up a few times by making me reservations and then coming back to me and telling me they were illegal, despite assuring me they were ok.

I wanted to go LAX-AKL-ZQN (Queenstown). Then ZQN-SYD and return MEL-LAX. AA said I was allowed a stopover and an open jaw, but as I learned their agents didn't know the rules for those.

The first time they booked me LAX-MEL-AKL. The next day they called me and canceled it, saying that my stopover has to be at my international gateway. So after playing with the dates they found a direct flight LAX-AKL-ZQN. They also said I could do ZQN-SYD and return MEL-LAX (on my own SYD-MEL).

The next day, that was canceled. Apparently the international gateway is the first airport, not "New Zealand". So the only way I could do this on the award was to take out ZQN-SYD. So what I have is
LAX-AKL-ZQN - award
ZQN-SYD - I pay
SYD-MEL - I pay
MEL-LAX - award

And for the privilege of working directly with their fine agents, I get to pay $5.
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Old Oct 28, 2004, 12:34 pm
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Originally Posted by FlyByMike
I just made a reservation for March on a 75k economy award.
We booked 75K award tickets back in June for our March trip and had a ton of problems getting the dates to work. I am surprised (jealous) that you were able to do it now that it is October.

Maybe I'll see you there.
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Old Oct 28, 2004, 12:50 pm
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Try via HNL

I did this award in Business via Honolulu in 2003. 75,000 AAdvantage miles.

I booked about two months out and was prepared to be flexible in dates.

I got an AA FIRST class seat (sold as FIRST, but actually Business) on on the LAX-HNL sector, then had a three day layover on Waikiki Beach (la vie est dur...) followed by a Qantas 747-300 HNL-SYD, also in Business (there is no FIRST on this route).

These are the oldest Qantas 747s and did not even feature the Dreamtime (the previous seat incarnation before the latest wedgy flat bed was introduced), so quite uncomfortable on this night flight. But the service was good.

The lounge at midnight resembled a high-end drug dealership with all the yummy mummies swapping their sleeping pills like they were candy. I scored some splendid ones whcih knocked me out for the trip!

It's just another route that might be fun to enquire about if you cannot go direct, and fancy a layover in Hawaii.
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Old Oct 28, 2004, 2:19 pm
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Originally Posted by littlechi92
We booked 75K award tickets back in June for our March trip and had a ton of problems getting the dates to work. I am surprised (jealous) that you were able to do it now that it is October.
I was a little flexible with the dates and didn't care if I started or finished in New Zealand. I basically told them I needed any two week period in March. The first reservations that they screwed up had indirect flights either starting in New Zealand and finishing in Australia or reverse. By the time they got me a reservation that worked (albeit more money out of my pocket) I was able to get direct flights!

Earlier this year I tried to get tickets for the November-January time frame and I could basically get there whenever I wanted but I couldn't return until February.
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Old Oct 28, 2004, 4:13 pm
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Originally Posted by andrzej
I've decided to "test" the waters and called AAdvantage (few weeks back) to do a booking. At that time I did not have the required miles available (not even close), so all I did was to put the res on hold.
Wonderful -- one more Z seat gone from inventory! And not necessarily put back (QF usually does not offer returned Z seats for award redemption again, they hold them until 3 weeks before flight time). If enough people "test the waters" like this there will be very few awards seats available on QF in advance. Even if QF does decide to replace the Z inventory when this fictitious reservation is canceled, it locks out anyone else from booking on those flights/dates (as QF typically has a single Z seat on popular routes/dates). I've been wondering why QF has so many seats available for upgrade shortly before the flight (and so few award seats -- they are these fake bookings turned into upgrades by the airline).
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Old Oct 28, 2004, 4:13 pm
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Originally Posted by skye1
I'm considering a similar award trip, either to Australia and/or New Zealand.
Have never flown Quantas nor Cathay. I am 6'6" tall: I want to avoid coach on that long haul on either airline, right? Or, is one of them bearable?
And, if you could choose between the two carriers, which would you use? (I would think CX involves longer travel times, but I've heard that CX is AWEOSME in terms of service, etc.)
SKY:

May I suggest you look into that operation where they remove bone from your legs to make you shorter? That's probably the best solution
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