Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - Published fares from North America to Australia (MEL or SYD)?

I'm contemplating paid J travel to Australia and know I'd be much more comfortable in CX New J (which I could likely get by flying via YYZ, notwithstanding the extra time taken) than on Qantas.

cxleverage and travelocity offer YYZ-HKG fares that seem sensible -- in the ballpark of US$2000 one-way. But asking for YYZ-SYD on CX bumps the price up to US$4000+ on both sites. What's going on here? Shouldn't CX be offering a competitive fare especially because the HKG layover is likely to be quite long and because premium travellers perhaps don't want to spend the additional trans-Pacific travel time?

I'm also looking at the Circle Pacific fares. But I'm not sure they'll ultimately be that appealing for me, given the high add-on cost of an east coast origination, the apparent requirement to fly Qantas one way across the pacific (to satisfy "one way via the North Pacific, one way via the South Pacific")?, etc.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by bedelman:
I'm contemplating paid J travel to Australia and know I'd be much more comfortable in CX New J </font>

Only if you're short and have had yourself fitted with some anti-gravity feature, in my opinion - I've decided I prefer old-J.

CX offers coach fares via HKG as an alternative to the direct flights offered by other carriers North America-Australia. The longer flight time might deter some from taking CX so CX throws in a savings even though it is not as there are longer flying times involved. But these fares sell quite well.

When it comes to Business Class and First Class fares however, it is a different ballgame. The direct published fares will work out cheaper than CX. CX does not have to 'deter' a business person to take its longer flight via HKG. The theory is that if you're already paying for J or F, you'd want to take the best possible route to your destination. That said however, CX does offer some rates for Australia but these are not published and are not on CX leverage. They can only be bought at certain ethnic asian travel agencies. Overall the cost savings isn't that much better (some are even more than the direct QF/UA fares) but if you insist, they do exist.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by christep:
Only if you're short and have had yourself fitted with some anti-gravity feature, in my opinion - I've decided I prefer old-J.</font>

Well, I liked it very much when I flew New Business earlier this year. Had a good crew and an empty seat next to me, which of course never hurts. But I didn't have trouble sleeping, and didn't (much) slip down the seat. Go figure. Perhaps sleeping on my side (my usual position) somehow helped.

Actually, flights to Adelaide and Perth tend to be a better option via Hong Kong than via YVR-SYD. But the price advantage tends to only with negotiated economy tickets through ethnic agencies in Toronto www.toureast.ca (http://www.toureast.ca)

J class tickets are a different ballgame on this route. Ask - you never know.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Guy Betsy:
When it comes to Business Class and First Class fares however, it is a different ballgame. The direct published fares will work out cheaper than CX. CX does not have to 'deter' a business person to take its longer flight via HKG. The theory is that if you're already paying for J or F, you'd want to take the best possible route to your destination. That said however, CX does offer some rates for Australia but these are not published and are not on CX leverage. They can only be bought at certain ethnic asian travel agencies. Overall the cost savings isn't that much better (some are even more than the direct QF/UA fares) but if you insist, they do exist.</font>

Fascinating. I'm not sure I'm prepared to pay much of a premium to take the longer trip on CX -- yes, I'd be more comfortable, but it is a longer trip.

I played around with cathaypacific.com for some fares that are (I think) SITI. HKG-SYD is, sure enough, ~US$2000 one-way. But BKK-HKG-SYD is "only" ~US$1220. And of course the YYZ-HKG-BKK costs less than just YYZ-HKG. So if I'm willing to accept a stopover in BKK, another visit to the Wing, etc. then the north pacific routing becomes cheaper than at least the full-fare QF routing. Perhaps other destinations in Asia are comparable.

For a return, I see SYD-HKG-YYZ at ~US$4520 (ouch!). SYD-HKG is ~$1912 and HKG-YYZ is ~$2530 -- so little savings by splitting the two. But I've heard it's possible to get SYD-LAX-east coast fares at Australia SITI prices in the realm of $2000-$2500. If I could do that, perhaps I could make my own circle pacific routing for less than the "discount" circle pacific fare. Will think about this some more and update this thread if I come up with anything that seems sensible.

Bedelman,

How much is the roundtrip BKK-SYD and then BKK-NorthAmerica one-way as your final leg?
ExBKK prices sound good.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by crankyusi:
How much is the roundtrip BKK-SYD and then BKK-NorthAmerica one-way as your final leg?
ExBKK prices sound good.</font>

BKK-HKG-SYD-HKG-BKK is US$2348.54. That's less than the BKK-North America fares (BKK-HKG-SFO for $2696, etc.), but of course the former would leave me in BKK -- not quite what I'm looking for!

BKK - North American fares went up by 10-15% as of Sep 6th.