Originally Posted by
andyr
So, who says TPAC availability in J and F is non-existent?!?
If you search for LAX/SYD, March pops up with J and F almost every day ... by routing LAX/SFO in F, and SFO/SYD on QF in Y. Helpful.
If you then search SFO/SYD in the vain hope of being able to pick out the "real" ones from the calendar, nope, lots of lit up days, which are routed SFO/LAX in F and then LAX/SYD in Y. Helpful again.
But the real bonus is BOS/MEL, which shows up as BOS/SEA, SEA/LAX, then LAX/MEL. With the BOS/SEA and LAX/MEL segments in Y, but the SEA/LAX segment in F. In an E75.
Oh, and you can book this in either J or F, but since your extra miles get you, well, F on the SEA/LAX leg either way, not sure what the extra 30K miles are for.
Sigh.
Just to compare.
I am watching UA availability SFO-SYD for near future booking.
Every single day in Dec 2017 so far (12/1-12/10) had premium seats to SYD with one connection. Every day there has been a choice of 3 airlines - CA via PEK, OZ via ICN and UA/NZ via AKL. Best one is SFO-AKL in UA F and AKL-SYD in NZ J for 80K miles.
Many of these are still open.
Compare that with AA
Why in the world would I be collecting/buying AA miles?
I know, award availability is not the only reason to be loyal to an airline but it is an important consideration for me. When I choose to spend my money with them, I want something in return from them. Let's face it - it is not the service that makes me choose AA (nor UA, for that matter), rather it's the award availability that I want in return. YMMV.
PS UA engine shows ahead when there are mixed cabins without having to go through the booking process and a single click reveals what the "mixture" is.