<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by johnep1:
The QF awards are quite difficult to get if you are not using QF miles. IMHO, the best option to Australia in F or J would be the CX award from AA. Cathay has one of the best first class products out there, and will make the entire trip better, especially if you have never flown international F before.
The only possible downside is the mandatory stop in HKG. I view this as a plus, and would spend a few days there also.</font>
Cathay also costs a few less miles, but the routing seems to add several hours to the trip... Looks like it's 100K AA miles for Cathay, 105K for Qantas, and 90K UA miles for Star Alliance (presumably UA or Air New Zealand).
Are there any other viable options? Wouldn't it be easier to redeem UA miles, since you'd possibly be flying on their metal