Dec 20, 2015, 10:41 pm
Last edit by: Mwenenzi
AA 73 & 72 LAX / Los Angeles <--> SYD / Sydney (as of 17 Dec 2015)
Was operated with Boeing 77W / 777-323ER to 8 Nov 2017
Changed to Boeing 787-9 in November 2017.
Including lounge, connections information
Was operated with Boeing 77W / 777-323ER to 8 Nov 2017
Changed to Boeing 787-9 in November 2017.
Including lounge, connections information
Initial schedule:
LAX-SYD: 17 Dec 2015 AA 73 Flight duration 15:05
Lv LAX 21:50 Dec 17 PST / 05:50 18 Dec GMT
Ar SYD 07:55 Dec 19 AEDT / 20:55 18 Dec GMT (same day)
SYD-LAX: 19 Dec 2015 AA 72 Flight duration 13:50Ar SYD 07:55 Dec 19 AEDT / 20:55 18 Dec GMT (same day)
Lv SYD 12:00 Dec 19 AEDT / 01:00 19 Dec GMT
Ar LAX 06:50 Dec 19 PST / 14:50 19 Dec GMT
Inaugural flight AA73, operated by Boeing 777-323ER ("77W") N720AN:Ar LAX 06:50 Dec 19 PST / 14:50 19 Dec GMT
2015-12-17 - AA73 - Los Angeles (LAX) STD 21:50 PST ATD 22:15 - Sydney (SYD) STA 07:55 AEDT ATA 07:30 AEDT
From Source Aust BT
American Airlines will shift its Sydney-Los Angeles flights to a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner from November 8, 2017. The advanced jet replaces the larger Boeing 777-300ER and will see first class dropped from the trans-Pacific route, although business travellers on a budget will appreciate the introduction of American Airlines' new premium economy seating on the Boeing 787.
Link to Australian Aviation article
Older archived thread relating to announcement of new LAX-SYD-LAX flight (June 9, 2015) here.
Lounges: by oneworld status, or by class of service - and Admirals Club members flying out on AA (or an AA marketed flight) get to use the QANTAS Business Lounge.
Qantas First Lounge - spa, restaurant: First or oneworld Emerald passengers
Qantas Business Lounge: Business, oneworld Sapphire pax and Admirals Club members
On arrival
Link to Airport info SYDNEY (SYD) - amenities, transfers, transport to FlyerTalk Oceania Forum SYD master thread with extensive wiki.
Connections:
International- no need to collect baggage if allowed by your airline(s), follow flight connections signs to immigration, flight connections desk. If you are not allowed to through check your bags you must process immigration, collect bags, process customs, proceed to the airline Check in areas and process security to get back airside.
Domestic: the domestic terminals 2 and 3 are 2.5 miles / 4 km away. Figure on a half hour at least to transfer, and if you use landside road transfers during high traffic times, longer (airside plan minimum half an hour). Talking about peak times, it can take two hours with queues waiting to board shuttle busses.
If traveling on via Qantas once you're landside after the Duty Free gantlet, follow the signs and go right. You'll eventually arrive at the baggage check facility, process security and take an airside shuttle that will end up with you're being at Gate 15 airside in the QF domestic terminal. It's called "Qantas seamless transfer".
If traveling with other airlines see Here
Link to SYD airport maps, etc.
Link to SYD airport FAQ.
If you wish to overnight close to international terminal 1, see here for a Rydges Sydney Airport stay report and tips.
Historical note: Pan American World Airways was the first American airline offering commercial passenger service to Australia, beginning Feb 1947 to SYD (with several stops), adding MEL in 1958. United acquired Pan Am's Pacific routes, operating them as of Feb 1986.
American Airlines initially operated to Sydney (and later also Melbourne between August 1970 through to March 1974. AA reestablished service with a DC-10 LAX-HNL-SYD return 4x weekly in Feb 1990, but ended that service March 1992.
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AA LAX-SYD-LAX AA73 / AA72 (17 Dec 2015)
Dec 17, 2015, 7:20 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Everywhere you wanna be
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Posts: 1,657
AA LAX-SYD-LAX AA73 / AA72 (17 Dec 2015)
From what i'm told any festivities will take place after the LHR flight leaves Gate 41 at 7PM. so anyone who cares head to the gate after that.
I'm seeing 31 people on the upgrade list, and ~10 J seats available. Have fun everyone lol.
I'm seeing 31 people on the upgrade list, and ~10 J seats available. Have fun everyone lol.
Last edited by Col Ronson; Dec 17, 2015 at 7:42 pm
Dec 17, 2015, 8:11 pm
#2
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
Thanks for the updates, friends.
The Flagship Lounge isn't very busy, and offers some stale bao, dry chicken sandwiches, pressed ham of the type called "jamón York" (pronounced "joke") and other things. The best looking is the wok stir fry of veg and mushrooms, and tiny desserts of pastries with custard and strawberries.
No surprise my SWU hasn't cleared for F, though it did so last weekend for the return on the 23rd.
Off to 41 to check out the inaugural stuff soon.
The Flagship Lounge isn't very busy, and offers some stale bao, dry chicken sandwiches, pressed ham of the type called "jamón York" (pronounced "joke") and other things. The best looking is the wok stir fry of veg and mushrooms, and tiny desserts of pastries with custard and strawberries.
No surprise my SWU hasn't cleared for F, though it did so last weekend for the return on the 23rd.
Off to 41 to check out the inaugural stuff soon.
Dec 17, 2015, 9:57 pm
#4
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Alexandria, Longboat Key
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Posts: 2,263
The new AA 77W they are using for SYD only has 8 F seats while the 772 still has 16 F seats. Much harder to upgrade to F under those circumstances. The CEO Doug Parker is from LUS and they never had F on international flights. I hope he doesn't do away with it all together on AA.
Dec 17, 2015, 10:42 pm
#5
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Nice live updating of the inaugural festivities on the AirlineReporter twitter account:
https://twitter.com/AirlineReporter
https://twitter.com/AirlineReporter
Dec 18, 2015, 12:21 am
#6
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Posts: 14,507
Nice live updating of the inaugural festivities on the AirlineReporter twitter account:
https://twitter.com/AirlineReporter
https://twitter.com/AirlineReporter
Dec 18, 2015, 8:44 am
#8
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Boston, MA (BOS)
Programs: AA PLT Pro 2MM, DL Gold, UA Silver, Marriott Ambassador + LT Plat, COFC Venture X, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 5,587
Given all the fanfare I'm surprised there hasn't been more in the way of live reports/posts/Instagram action on-board. Could the wifi be having issues? Or am I not looking in the right places?
Dec 18, 2015, 8:55 am
#9
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Austin
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Posts: 6,087
Dec 18, 2015, 9:51 am
#10
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Posts: 8,083
Dec 18, 2015, 11:55 am
#11
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,584
Have you checked the trip reports forum? If there is a report , that is where would expect it to be
Dec 18, 2015, 3:34 pm
#12
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
Add
Believe it or not, some of us keep busy initially on westbound transpac redeyes and sleep on destination time. 
That being said there was some hullabaloo at LAX - food, bags, AA u-shaped neck pillows, a duffle sack, a non-authentic "Aboriginal" keychain, a Joey photo op, a deejay playing Aussie music and a serving line of what was "fair dinkum Aussie tucker". I had the pleasure of meeting Ice Trojan.
AA 73 arriving SYD 07:25 19 Dec 2015
(ARFF monitor cross "water cannon salute" begins 3:15)
AA 77W over Sydney Harbour, landing & taxiing SYD Dec 2015
(trial prior to actual passenger flight)
Boarding was not announced. Some youths in a group boarded, then some just began boarding. I decided to join the scrum and get situated in my 10J seat, and got my cheap plastic cup of some anonymous bubbly. Scarlet-bagged all cotton navy pyjamas were distributed in F and J. Coats and jackets collected.
Departure was 40 minutes late. FAs handed dripping wet hot towels, took first order, brought same and nuts, checked dinner orders (pre-order not always noted). Dinner served on a tray with a wine order. No second wine orders were taken.
Dessert was served from a cart, nobody was asked if they wanted the menu-listed after dinner drink (port, sherry, etc.) Not long thereafter, FAs recovered dinner service, distributed bottles of water and pretty much retreated.
I stayed awake until 10 pm Sydney time using IFE, laid out my bed and went to sleep. Some did change into pyjamas, but J has two lavs forward (behind the mini-cabin) and the port lav is rather small for doffing clothes and donning p.j.s, and I didn't notice FAs offering to hang clothing. The starboard (right) lav is the disabled lav and large enough to change in. No, no mattress pads in J on this flight.
At ~4:30 SYD the deadheading / nonrevs and active FAs formed a clot around the galleys, chattering quite audibly.
At ~5:30-6:00 SYD hot towels came, followed by a decent breakfast quickly served. Forms were eventually handed out, several FAs cleared the cabin but I saw J arm rests up (should be down).
Landing was uneventful. Lots of photoggers rampside and we got a "wet welcome" from the water arc from two fire wagons.
An uneventful flight, personable FAs providing completely mediocre service. And this was the inaugural flight, which they kept mentioning - but nothing special on the soft side, I'm afraid. Chalk it up to an entrenched, non-customer centered management (corporate culture trickles down, not up.)
I've taken the QF A380 from DFW and LAX, and though the J hard product is not as good as AA 77W, the soft product beats the slats out of AA.
I've posted the menu in the appropriate thread.
That being said there was some hullabaloo at LAX - food, bags, AA u-shaped neck pillows, a duffle sack, a non-authentic "Aboriginal" keychain, a Joey photo op, a deejay playing Aussie music and a serving line of what was "fair dinkum Aussie tucker". I had the pleasure of meeting Ice Trojan.
(ARFF monitor cross "water cannon salute" begins 3:15)
(trial prior to actual passenger flight)
Boarding was not announced. Some youths in a group boarded, then some just began boarding. I decided to join the scrum and get situated in my 10J seat, and got my cheap plastic cup of some anonymous bubbly. Scarlet-bagged all cotton navy pyjamas were distributed in F and J. Coats and jackets collected.
Departure was 40 minutes late. FAs handed dripping wet hot towels, took first order, brought same and nuts, checked dinner orders (pre-order not always noted). Dinner served on a tray with a wine order. No second wine orders were taken.
Dessert was served from a cart, nobody was asked if they wanted the menu-listed after dinner drink (port, sherry, etc.) Not long thereafter, FAs recovered dinner service, distributed bottles of water and pretty much retreated.
I stayed awake until 10 pm Sydney time using IFE, laid out my bed and went to sleep. Some did change into pyjamas, but J has two lavs forward (behind the mini-cabin) and the port lav is rather small for doffing clothes and donning p.j.s, and I didn't notice FAs offering to hang clothing. The starboard (right) lav is the disabled lav and large enough to change in. No, no mattress pads in J on this flight.
At ~4:30 SYD the deadheading / nonrevs and active FAs formed a clot around the galleys, chattering quite audibly.
At ~5:30-6:00 SYD hot towels came, followed by a decent breakfast quickly served. Forms were eventually handed out, several FAs cleared the cabin but I saw J arm rests up (should be down).
Landing was uneventful. Lots of photoggers rampside and we got a "wet welcome" from the water arc from two fire wagons.
An uneventful flight, personable FAs providing completely mediocre service. And this was the inaugural flight, which they kept mentioning - but nothing special on the soft side, I'm afraid. Chalk it up to an entrenched, non-customer centered management (corporate culture trickles down, not up.)
I've taken the QF A380 from DFW and LAX, and though the J hard product is not as good as AA 77W, the soft product beats the slats out of AA.
I've posted the menu in the appropriate thread.
My expectations for soft service for this flight:
Not much more or less than would be expected from any longhaul transoceanic service in Business, IMO. Any airline should be able to comply to this standard for passengers paying above $8,000 or in comparable amounts of miles, Messrs. Adler, Kirby, Parker. Unless you're prepared to let another airline eat your lunch.
- Once in the air, o-shibori service, followed by drinks orders taking.
- Warm nuts and drink requested
- Dinner service with drink
- Bread service
- Second drink / refill offer
- Retire dinner ware
- Dessert with coffee, tea or after dinner drinks offer
- Retire remaining service items, ask if anything else is required
Not much more or less than would be expected from any longhaul transoceanic service in Business, IMO. Any airline should be able to comply to this standard for passengers paying above $8,000 or in comparable amounts of miles, Messrs. Adler, Kirby, Parker. Unless you're prepared to let another airline eat your lunch.
Last edited by JDiver; Jun 23, 2016 at 11:01 pm Reason: Add forgotten keychain
Dec 18, 2015, 3:50 pm
#13
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Ft Worth, TX
Programs: AA, HH
Posts: 451
I stayed awake until 10 pm Sydney time using IFE, laid out my bed and went to sleep. Some did change into pyjamas, but J has two lavs - port is rather small for doffing clothes and donning p.j.s, and I didn't notice FAs offering to hang clothing. The starboard (right) lav is the disabled lav and large enough to change in. No, no mattress pads in J.
J has 4 lav’s, 2 are at the rear of the cabin. The curtain angles across the aisle to separate the J lav from the Y lav.