Part I - Preparation

It has been five days since I returned from my three week trip, BPT-DFW-LAX-SYD-MEL-AKL-LAX-BPT, and have decided its time to write the trip report that I promised to the Starwood forum members. I flew first class on an AAdvantage award ticket on AA and QF. I stayed two nights at the beginning of the trip at the Sheraton Gateway LAX, six nights at the Westin Sydney, five nights at the Westin Melbourne, five nights at the Auckland Sheraton and one night at the end of the trip to recover from jetlag at the Sheraton Gateway LAX. I have gold elite status in both the AAdvantage and SPG programs.

A first-class AAdvantage award ticket to Australia Zone 1 requires 135k miles. It can be open jaw and allows two stops in the same zone. I heard that it is very difficult to get the first-class award ticket on Qantas so I decided to make my reservations 330 days in advance of each segment. My original plan was to stay one night at LAX at the beginning and one night at the end of the trip. I wanted to fly on QF8 which leaves LAX at 1 PM and gets into Sydney at 8:40 PM the following day. That way I could go to sleep immediately after arriving at the hotel in Sydney. I made my reservations to LAX for Oct. 5 with no difficulty. Then I ran into a problem with getting QF8 on Saturday, Oct. 6. It was available for Sunday Oct. 7 so I took that reservation with the hope that I could get it changed to Saturday. Qantas only offers business and coach class on their domestic flights. I found out that Qantas business class is much better than domestic first class on AA

I reserved QF423 business class from Sydney to Melbourne on Monday Oct .15 with no problem. Then my next flight was on Saturday, Oct. 20, and I ran into another problem. The only business class seat that was available was on QF33 MEL-AKL which left Melbourne at 6:15 AM. A coach seat was available on a later flight, but I reserved the 6:15AM flight with the hope that I could get it changed at a later date. There was no difficulty getting the first-class QF25 flight from AKL-LAX on Oct. 25. Finally I reserved the final AA flights home for Oct. 26.

AA put in a request to Qantas to get a seat on QF8 to SYD on Oct. 6 and to get a business class seat on a later flight from MEL to AKL. It took about a week to get a reply back from Qantas and they did not give AA the seats. I kept calling every couple of days for a the next few weeks to see if the seats I wanted were available Finally I decided I would spend an extra night in LA and do a little sight seeing. In early December I called Starwood and made reservations for the hotels listed above. For the next nine months I called AA and QF at least once a month to see if I could get QF33 changed to a later flight. I had no success and also lost the option of a coach seat on a later flight.

On Monday, Sept. 10 I called the concierge at the Sheraton Gateway LAX and made arrangements for a tour of Los Angeles with a company called VIP Tours. They are the only tour company that picks up and returns guests to the Sheraton. The next day the terrible tragedy occurred. Like so many others I was devastated. I could not even think about my trip of a lifetime. As time grew closer, I used my packing and check lists that I have relied on for several years. My brain was not functioning, but I followed my lists like a robot.. AA changed the flight from DFW to LAX several times. Finally they tried to put me on a flight that allowed only 40 minutes connection time at DFW. I told them no way. I was told the only other option was a 3 hour wait at DFW. I said fine. I will wait because I want my luggage to arrive with me in LA.

Then on Oct. 3 AA called and said we have some good news and some bad news for you. QF8 LAX to SYD on Oct. 7 was canceled. They put me on QF108 that left LAX at 11:59 PM Oct 7 and arrived in SYD at 7:40 AM Oct. 9. I said, “11:59 PM!!!. You mean midnight.” Then they gave me the good news. I was told QF33 MEL-AKL was now a code share flight operated by Air Canada and would leave Melbourne at 9:50 AM. Later I found out it was not a code share flight. It was a Qantas flight. They are running short of equipment and crews since Ansett failed. The Air Canada plane and crew were leased to Qantas.