Qantas Frequent Flyer - J class bargains (up to 75% off) via AA-buy-miles

AA Advantage "buy miles" currently allowing purchase of 60,000 miles plus 30% bonus (after 8-12 weeks).

Great savings using these to buy QF one-way J awards, domestic or to/from NZ.

Example:
Buy, say, 54,000 AA miles + 30% bonus = USD 1481.25 = about $1,650 AUD
Will ultimately get you 70,200 AA miles, enough for 4 J one-way awards within Aus/NZ eg SYD-PER, PER-AKL, DRW-HBA or wherever

=> get 4 SYD-PER J tickets for the price of 1 on QF ($1,700)

Good deal. Similar to that (and OT) , US Airways is currently selling miles giving a 100% bonus. So you can fly UA F SYD-JFK return for less than A2000 all in. Or PER-AKL return in J for about A$400.

Good deal. Similar to that (and OT) , US Airways is currently selling miles giving a 100% bonus. So you can fly UA F SYD-JFK return for less than A2000 all in. Or PER-AKL return in J for about A$400.Wow, I will have to look into that, but, reminds me of Ansett just before they collapsed. And were paying “famous” Australians in Global Reward points, to appear in their ads.

So my question is, if you buy US miles, book (and "pay" with the miles) and are confirmed to fly UA, then the US program "ends" (due to bankruptcy, takeover… etc) Does UA still has to honour the booking confirmation? (Or, same situation, but UA "goes down" - can the miles be retrieved back into the US account?)

Up until last Saturday you could purchase 40K + 15K bonus for USD1105.

DownUnderFlyer
What airline do you fly PER-AKL with?

This looks like a great way to get some good value fares.

I'm putting in some dummy bookings to test the system - SYD-JFK, but it throws an error saying no AA craft fly the route (no kidding). But you can redeem AA miles on QF metal, yes? Just under code-share.

How can I get a quote on an AA Award booking - SYD-JFK-LHR in J-class (one-way)?

DownUnderFlyer
What airline do you fly PER-AKL with?NZ metal ...

Thats what I learnt today.
:D

SYD-JFK-LHR is probably best done as a Oneworld award so mileage based (and can include some sidetrips within the mileage). However availability will be close to 0 for SYD-JFK or even SYD-LAX-DFW-JFK for that matter, in either J or F. That is the catch with a lot of these "great value" award routes there is very little award inventory, and lots of pax wanting to redeem. So don't expect to get the equivalent of OWE flexibility using awards.

This looks like a great way to get some good value fares.

I'm putting in some dummy bookings to test the system - SYD-JFK, but it throws an error saying no AA craft fly the route (no kidding). But you can redeem AA miles on QF metal, yes? Just under code-share.

How can I get a quote on an AA Award booking - SYD-JFK-LHR in J-class (one-way)?

You can check the AA website, under AAdvantage: http://www.aa.com/i18n/disclaimers/aadvantageAllPartnerChart.jsp

SYD-JFK-LHR would require 2 awards: 62.5K + 50K = 112.5K in J

Wow - great value. Thinking about buying up.

Sorry for newbie question - how difficult is it to redeem PER-SYD J flights using AA. Same/easier/harder than QFF?

Also, I have tried some 'dummy' bookings using the AA website - and theres issues as PER-SYD is not operated by AA metal. How can you get these seats, do you have to call USA, or can the AA Australian call centre handle the requests? I'm guessing theres an assisted award fee. . .?

theres issues as PER-SYD is not operated by AA metal. How can you get these seats, do you have to call USA, or can the AA Australian call centre handle the requests? I'm guessing theres an assisted award fee. . .?Just check for QF classic awards, AA can book them. You have to call AA to book.

Availability of J awards PER-SYD is reasonable including over Xmas, where there's often more J than Y avaiability.

AA charges a small amount for "assisted" award booking (i.e. if booked by phone instead of on the web, even when there is no way to book online). Fee varies by Aadvantage status but is small (circa USD 20, waived for EXP). There is also another, larger, fee for some awards booked within 7 days of travel date (circa USD 100); not sure if this fee also applies to QF awards. As mentioned availability is identical to QFF award availability (but lacks the WP benefit of being able to request release of additional award inventory -- which can be very significant for some routes). Lots of J award availability within Australia, but just try to get it to LAX or JFK :)

I am also looking at buying AA miles under the current promo to augment some very old AA miles I already have. I am concerned with Mr Bean's comment that SYD-LAX-JFK would be 2 awards not one (ie South Pacific to North America) - is this really how the AA program works??

Also, since QF releases awards/allows booking up to 350 days in advance and AA only opens bookings/awards at 332 days - I am concerned that QF members will gobble up all the awards in the 350-332 day window.

Any additional insight into these 2 issues most welcome.

Mr. Bean was replying to my question about SYD-JFK-LHR, which is two awards - SYD-JFK and JFK-LHR.

OOps - mis-read his post. thanks.

Good deal. Similar to that (and OT) , US Airways is currently selling miles giving a 100% bonus. So you can fly UA F SYD-JFK return for less than A2000 all in. Or PER-AKL return in J for about A$400.

a very good deal but I get it at about $2500AUD, and if you do it in J to LHR using NZ it comes in at about $2000AUD

Could you clarify this please VH-RMD?

This is buying US Airways miles (with the 100% bonus) and then using them for a SYD-AKL-LAX-LHR return award ticket in J?

How can I check availability on the dates I wish to fly on?

I am also looking at buying AA miles under the current promo to augment some very old AA miles I already have. I am concerned with Mr Bean's comment that SYD-LAX-JFK would be 2 awards not one (ie South Pacific to North America) - is this really how the AA program works??

Also, since QF releases awards/allows booking up to 350 days in advance and AA only opens bookings/awards at 332 days - I am concerned that QF members will gobble up all the awards in the 350-332 day window.

Any additional insight into these 2 issues most welcome.1. Prime dates for F/J awards trans-pacific often do sell out before AA can even book, and after that usually on the first day. If you need specific dates, or even a specific week, awards are high risk. Similarly getting the return portion on the right date is often tricky. Much easier to nest 2 awards (so the return portion is part of a 2nd trip), or even use a purchased ticket for half the trip (when not booking one-way awards). You need to be able to cope with this kind of flexibility if you expect to have any satisfaction in using premium awards, even this year with greatly improved availability -- which is likely to dry up by mid-2010.

AA awards are for anywhere in US/Canada, so no difference if going to LAX or JFK in the award cost (except for mileage based awards, like the Oneworld awards, but the bands on Aadvantage are rather wide).

Could you clarify this please VH-RMD?

This is buying US Airways miles (with the 100% bonus) and then using them for a SYD-AKL-LAX-LHR return award ticket in J?

How can I check availability on the dates I wish to fly on?

I have no idea about the availability, and would suggest the NZ page may shed more light on that, but looking at the US Airways *A chart - that is how I read it with the current mileage purchase offer. YMMV.

Could you clarify this please VH-RMD?

This is buying US Airways miles (with the 100% bonus) and then using them for a SYD-AKL-LAX-LHR return award ticket in J?

How can I check availability on the dates I wish to fly on?

This is more a question for the US or *A forum but the ANA tool will be a good start. NZ C class is very hard to come by.

a very good deal but I get it at about $2500AUD, and if you do it in J to LHR using NZ it comes in at about $2000AUD

SYD-JFK requies 140,000 miles at $0.0125 each this is US$1750 which is less than A$2000 at current exchange rate. Taxes and fees are low on US .

SYD-JFK requies 140,000 miles at $0.0125 each this is US$1750 which is less than A$2000 at current exchange rate. Taxes and fees are low on US .

but you only get the 100% bonus on the first 50,000 miles purchased, thereafter there is no bonus.

EDIT oh it gets better, I think I have 150k points down to $1400AUD...