<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by JDC747:
My son is considering a Junior Year Abroad Program next year to Australia. I would like to visit him so I need to start earning those ff miles now. Any suggestions on rapid earning, promotions and which are the best airlines to fly from the east coast to Sydney? </font>
Welcome to FT- you've already had a wealth of info from others, but we could probably help you even more if you provide any info that you wish to provide (current FF balances, whether you'll be earning the miles by flying or partners, if you have any mileage-earning credit cards, etc.) .
Good luck, and congratulations on planning ahead.
I, too believe that UA has the lowest requirements to Australia from NA, and UA can get you there on star partners via Asia.
For Qantas, you usually have to plan ahead, as they're tight on releasing award seats and they partner with the oneworld airlines (AA and BA among them), Continental, US Airways, Alaska (IIRC) and others so there's a lot of demand for award seats.