nycmichael

Hello,

I'd just like to start by saying thank you to anyone taking the time to read and reply.

Since my wedding this past weekend I have been pouring over this forum and related blogs (million mile secrets, the points guy, etc) trying to book my honeymoon.

My wife and I would like to fly from NYC to Sydney in late august - mid september but the mileage requirements I'm seeing are enormous. I currently have ~16K DL Skymiles and ~190K Amex MR points (calling about the retention bonus today).

Is it possible to book this solely with points? Any chance of getting the SYD->LAX leg to be business class? Is it worth to use one of the many sites where you pay them to find and book your trip? Should we just sit at home and look at pictures of beaches?

Thanks again for any input/help!

dukerau

Your best bets are going to be DL miles or Aeroplan miles. DL charges 50K each way in economy or 80K each way in business. Aeroplan charges 40K each way in economy or 80K each way in business, but you'll only avoid fuel surcharges if you fly on United metal. So if you can find availability on United metal, then it's an option.

Delta partners with Virgin Australia, but currently they are not bookable because of an error, but Delta has said that they will be bookable starting tomorrow, 3/28. So search tomorrow on delta.com and you should see some availability. If you don't, google to make sure that the error was fixed as planned.

You've only got enough miles for economy, and just barely. The only way to make business class one way work would be to pay cash for the return, but that may not be cost effective.

Mwenenzi

nycmichael Welcome to FT (and marriage )

Getting a business award to Australia is hard. When looking for award flights USA-Australia, as well as SYD look for BNE and MEL. SYD is a short flight from BNE/MEL.

16,000 DL miles will not get you far. For the 190,000 Amex MR points look at airlines that these can be transferred to.

Airlines that fly USA/Canada to Australia (most from LAX) are
- United [Star Alliance] (LAX SFO – SYD MEL)
- Qantas [OneWorld Alliance] (AS partner) (LAX JFK DFW HNL – SYD BNE MEL)
- Jetstar (HNL – SYD BNE)
- Delta [Skyteam Alliance] (VA & AS partner) (LAX – SYD)
- Virgin Australia (DL partner) (LAX – SYD BNE)
- Hawaiian, via Hawaii (AA & VA partner) (HNL – SYD)
- Air NZ, via AKL [Star Alliance]
- Fiji Airways, via Fiji (AA & AS partner)
- Air Tahiti Nui (last segments on codeshares) (AA & DL partner)
- Air Canada [Star Alliance]
And others via Asia & Middle East

KennyBSAT

If beaches are a big part of what you're going for, I'd suggest saving some points and continuing to earn. Then make Australia an anniversary trip in a year or two. August is the dead of winter with pleasant but cool days, chilly nights and a cold ocean. Even in September the typical high temperature won't be over 70.

From NYC, traveling via Asia with only one stop isn't much longer than traveling via LAX. I would look into earning AS miles (and possibly AA miles) for travel one way on Cathay Pacific, and DL miles for the other direction on either Virgin Australia or Korean. Depending on the program and route, U.S. - Australia requires 60-90K miles each way per person.