<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Milesjamie:
Also, Quokka, you say that AS is worse than * Alliance in terms of North America - Austrailia redemption levels. I thought about this and it didn't seem right -- a glance at one * Alliance member confirms that at least compared to United, AS awards on Quantas aren't too bad.
http://www.ual.com/page/article/0,13...e=RelatedLinks
Do you have another * Alliance airline in mind?</font>
You linked to the "Standard" award chart for UA. Check out the "Saver" chart:
http://www.ual.com/page/article/0,,1142,00.html
A Saver award on UA between the US and Australia/NZ costs 60,000 miles for coach, 90,000 for business and 120,000 for First.
An award ticket on QF using Alaska miles costs 80,000 miles for coach, 105,000 for business and 135,000 for First. There is no "saver" counterpart for QF Mileage Plan awards, so coach awards cost 20,000 miles more.
Saver awards on UA to AU/NZ this time of year can be tough to get, but it's not impossible. However those award levels also apply to Air New Zealand which often has better availbility. For example, I see award seats in all 3 classes available on Air NZ on some dates over the next 2 weeks -- probably the busiest time of year. Now call up Qantas and try to get an award seat to AKL or SYD for sometime in the next two weeks using Alaska Miles.
[This message has been edited by Quokka (edited 12-22-2002).]