Originally Posted by
ezefllying
Usually I can make sense of United's fare strategy. But right now, I can't.
I'm flying to Australia with a companion for New Year's. Over the past six weeks, United's roundtrip fares from the West Coast to Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane have hopped tremendously: They started around $2500+, went down under $1300, boomeranged to $3400, and are outback to $3100+.
Never mind that the flights appear wide-open, with perhaps half of seats unreserved on these leisure routes five weeks out; P9, R9, and XN9 availability across the board (even PZ9 SFO-MEL); and there hasn't been any obvious spike it seat reservations.
More to the point, DL and Qantas are offering LAX-SYD nonstops on the same dates for $1159 and $1180 roundtrip, respectively. That's in Basic Economy, which UA isn't offering on those dates. DL is also selling regular economy for $1359 RT on the dates.
I usually get fare shifts. Here, I don't.
Qantas does not have USA type "basic economy" fares. All QF fares include checked baggage and meals
Originally Posted by
findark
In particular, Australia has a massive demand peak around Christmas that is very tight and carriers are always struggling to capture it actively. High-season fares are often at a $1,000 premium to other seasons, although this year I note that the Christmas and New Year's deleting flights are classified as shoulder season.
Indeed. 1000's of Aussies return to family for Christmas New Year. From late Dec to end of Jan many Australians on summer holidays. Schools & University's start the new academic year late January~Feburary. Last week of Jan is the AU tennis open in Melbourne
As has been stated a gazillion times seat maps are not an indication of seat sales.
A lot of competition USA<--->AU. Likely an over supply.
Airlines that fly USA/Canada to/from Australia. Following the pandemic, routes are being re-established and some new routes. Schedules can change. Route restart dates subject to change.
- Air Canada AC YVR – SYD BNE [Star Alliance]
- Air New Zealand NZ LAX ORD SFO IAH JFK YVR – AKL – Australia various[Star Alliance]
- Air Tahiti Nui TN LAX SEA via PPT Tahiti & AKL. Last segment on QF codeshares. (AA AS partner) [SEA new route March 2023]
- American Airlines AA LAX-SYD [OneWorld Alliance]
- Delta DL LAX – SYD. [Skyteam Alliance]
- Fiji Airways FJ LAX SFO HNL YVR– NAN - BNE SYD CBR MEL ADL. (OneWorld Alliance connect.)
- Hawaiian HA HNL – SYD. Pre CV19 also used to fly to BNE ( AA VA partner)
- Jetstar JQ HNL – SYD. Pre CV19 also used to fly to/from BNE & MEL
- Qantas QF LAX SFO DFW HNL YVR* - SYD; LAX - BNE; LAX DFW - MEL. {* seasonal}. SYD-AKL-JFK from 14 June 2023. [OneWorld Alliance]
- United UA SFO LAX - MEL, IAH* LAX SFO - SYD, SFO LAX – BNE. More flights from Oct 2023 {* seasonable}.[Star Alliance]. (VA partner)
- and others via Asia, South America & Middle East
Other UA forum threads for USA<---->AU, with recent posts.