Oceania (Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific) - Prices for summer (US) flights to Australia

Just curious what the price history is for summer flights (Jun-Aug) to SYD. Should I take the current pricing in fear of an increase or no availability or am I better off waiting b/c prices might drop?

I have the same question regarding a domestic SYD/CNS ticket.

Anyone know if the fuel surcharges might be going down since the cost of fuel is declining?

Thanks in advance for your insight.

Jun-Aug are winter flights, and as this is the off-season, there are often last minute special fares (particularly on UA, which is generally 20% cheaper than QF). Almost certainly there will be specials, but often with little notice (less than a month), so it depends on your other plans. Unlikely to be advantageous to be buying tickets a year in advance.

As for fuel surcharges, I have never heard of a single time that an airline has reduced it. Ever. Their rationale is that the fuel surcharge was for only part of the fuel increase, not for the market price, so no need to drop it.

Jun-Aug are winter flights, and as this is the off-season, there are often last minute special fares (particularly on UA, which is generally 20% cheaper than QF). Almost certainly there will be specials, but often with little notice (less than a month), so it depends on your other plans. Unlikely to be advantageous to be buying tickets a year in advance.

As for fuel surcharges, I have never heard of a single time that an airline has reduced it. Ever. Their rationale is that the fuel surcharge was for only part of the fuel increase, not for the market price, so no need to drop it.

Thanks for the info (I know it's winter over there, that's why I put US in the title ;) ). I'm using some FF miles to get us to LAX so I need to get those reservations nailed down now (along w/ the SYD Marriott points stay).

I'm finding current quotes for LAX-CNS / SYD-LAX around $1100-1200 total. If I can get the same price or less by waiting, I'm more than happy to do that.

I'd probably have enough USAir miles for one of the tickets in a few months (now kicking myself for burning 320k for Europe this year). What's the likelihood of getting a standard SA reward that late in the game?

I don't know what an "SA award" is, but if you are locked in to a specific date, the chances for an award are close to zero ... normally you need flexibility of a few days, these are very high demand routes. Similarly the cheap fares that occur in sales closer to travel time are often only for specific flights and/or days of the week ... so there may be zero cheap seats on your particular day of travel.

SA = Star Alliance

I convinced myself last night to go ahead and buy the tickets. I don't believe I'd save too much by waiting just based on watching the near term specials the past month or so versus the same months in 2007.

All the major carriers from the US are about the same price so I've got to decide if I want to stop in Papeete on the way over or not.

Thanks for the help.