US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - Quantas biz on miles question

We are going on a cruise in February that starts in Auckland and ends in Cairns.
We can buy biz class tickets thru Amex Platinum 2 for 1.
However, I have almost 200,000 usairways miles. I called and can get biz seats La to Auckland and return. This leaves me with buying seats from the East Coast to La (hubby insists on biz class) and also tickets from Cairns back to Auckland at the end of the cruise. I also have to buy approx. 14000 miles to get the 105,000 each.
My understanding is that the Quantas tickets are 105,000 from the gateway and the 105,000 does not include the flight from Boston to LA.
Any ideas for me? Any input? I've used miles before to upgrade to Europe and get free biz class to the Carribbean, but I'm pretty inexperienced at this.
Pam

Hi Pam,

The Qantas award from US includes FC seats on US from whatever your 'home' airport is to where you connect to Qantas. That is part of the award. For the dates you gave me there award FC seats are available into LAX from the east coast.

That just leaves the trip from Cairns to Auckland. Talk to the cruise line. They should be able to get you discounted tix on this leg.

Enjoy your trip!

I think its legal to redeem your award to include all segments of your trip so it would go something like this:

BOS-LAX-AKL...go on cruise...CNS-SYD-LAX-BOS all on one award...so you shouldnt have to pay for CNS-AKL...

N674UW

Thanks for the replies. I will call and ask about the East Coast to LA portion of the award. However, the reason I couldn't get Cairns was because the rep told me there is not a single award seat out of Australia for either Jan or Feb on Quantas.
Pam

I called and was able to get seats from Manchester NH included. Thanks so much for the help! It's funny how each rep tells you different things. The first rep didn't even suggest just getting rt to Auckland. The second one did suggest doing that from LA.
I don't even remember which one told me the award was only from the Quantas gateway.
This last rep was very informed, but you guys sure know your stuff! Thanks again.
Pam

I have used miles in the past to get to Auckland. The air in the US was included on the same ticket, and I was also able to include a flight from Christchurch to Syndey at no extra charge. So, you may want to recheck this. Good luck!