Originally Posted by
MSPeconomist
You're right. I guess I forgot about these flights because they don't seem to be legal routings from the USA, although there's been some discussion about whether this would be allowed. KE would be nice, although it's the farthest and has so many blackout dates for award tickets with DL miles. (KE's own blackout dates aren't quite so bad.)
KE and CZ are definitely legal to route to Australia/New Zealand from the US with DL miles. (Add in MU if just talking Australia.) There are many reports of success doing this. The trick always comes down to following a valid routing. This can be tricky with some of the minor airports in the US, and you generally won't be able to use VA/DJ to get to an airport outside of SYD/MEL/BNE/AKL/PER.