Originally Posted by BearX220

I am rooting for them to succeed, as Skyteam desperately needs a South Pacific trunk line like this, but traffic and ticket prices have both got to come up. I can't see four airlines duking it out on LAX-SYD in this economy for the long term.

240k or more miles for BE is off the hook. For business class to Oz I've been used to spending 160k with BA (which gets you CX via HKG) or 150k with NW (which gets you KE or MH).