ghostboy

For example, there are 4 business class seats available on 12/3 & 12/8 - QF16 LAX-BNE.

Good luck!

Austinrunner

Not always "much better".

Availability as of yesterday, per the QF website:

LAX -> BNE in J (>=2 seats)
August 19, 29
October 7
November 21, 28
December 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12, 16, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26

LAX -> BNE in J (=1 seat)
May 20
July 23, 25
August 22
September 2, 9, 10
November 14, 23, 26
December 2, 7, 10, 14, 15, 19

LAX -> SYD in J (>=2 seats)
March 5
October 7
November 5, 12, 13, 19, 20, 26, 27
December 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12, 22, 23, 24, 25, 30, 31

LAX -> SYD in J (=1 seat)
July 23
September 2, 10
October 1
November 21, 23, 28
December 2, 7, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 19

sellouts

I'll be honest though -- I didn't expect anyone to go through that level of detail so THANK YOU.

The other thing is if availability just flat isn't available for my routing you can be damn sure I'll pay the additional cost in the Maldives and do your routing, so thanks again. (Not to mention Malaysia coming into play lets me get to MLE on OneWorld which might throw a wrench into all of this if they become active in time for me to book)

And the VIE routing to get to NCE is priceless. Seriously, I can't thank you enough.

EDIT: And the more I think about it, the more I think saving the time flying that many miles might be better to just pony up the extra cost to do it your way.

sprinkles

Am I permitted to make a change from a direct flight (BOM-BKK-HKG is CX750) to a non-stop (BOM-HKG is CX684)?

Thanks!

(Apologies if this question is covered elsewhere in the thread. I tried searching and read a few pages in and didn't see it.)

ckpeter

That's a good question!

My guess is that yes, you can change from a direct flight with stop to a non-stop, considering how the AA explorer award treats direct flight with stops as a single segment and also only counts the distance between the origin and destinations on such a direct flight.

Give it a try and please report back your result.

Austinrunner

The correct answer is "no."

pandaperth

Interesting
Presumably the initial reservation will simply show BOM-BKK on CX750 (with no mention of the stop at BKK)
And the question is could the flight be changed to CX684

Section 9 in the first post of this thread states that flight number changes are allowed - So perhaps someone should update Section 9 to clarify that changes such as that raised by sprinkles are NOT allowed

lcrall

When will you be able to use Qatar Airlines on a segment for a AA Explorer award?

pandaperth

The Explorer AAward allows Oneworld airlines only (and their affiliates)
So the answer is - when QR is a Oneworld member

I don't know what 'wiggle room' there might be around the time QR joins - for instance if its join date is announced to be 1 December, would it possible to book an award in November that includes flights on QR on or after 1 December. My guess is no

Consider Malaysian (MH). It joins on 1 February. AFAIK it cannot yet be included in an Explorer award

uncommonsensical

Yeah, I really want to be able to book an explorer award the first week of february but MH isn't bookable. in calling AA, the reps act as if it isn't even a sure thing come february 1- that there may be an unknown period of time that they can't book MH awards even after it's officially oneworld.

Anyone have any advise, experience with how it goes when a new carrier becomes 'official'? Really need it for asian trips with the explorer awards because none of my itineraries works without MH because nearly all intra asia oneworld is on cathay and all those flights route thru HKG. Since i have to go thru HKG on the way from the US and back- it only leaves 1 more connection thru HKG, when i need like 5 with BKK, PNH, MNL, SIN, Bali, Cebu, JKT...! Sure, i could use a LCC to fill gaps- but not really. my trip is 6 months and i have a lot of baggage. transporting said baggage around on LCC would instantly make them prohibitively expensive- enough so to negate all the benefits of the explorer savings.

TheBOSman

Can you arrive/depart via NRT? I know CX is considered stronger as a product than JL or AA though, but I'd consider that if possible. There is also an RJ flight KUL-BKK I believe, may be able to get that one in with CX's BKK extra operations to put some connections in BKK and lessen what you need in HKG.

uncommonsensical

Thanks for the 5th freedom rec- didn't think of that. Though, then it's getting to KUL. REALLY hoping MH is bookable for awards right on Feb 1. The Philippines really makes it difficult, then again, so does everything when it's really only CX intra-asia til MH kicks in.

Yeah, looking at JL for SFO-NRT-MNL but, reading the business class reviews, it doesn't sound too appealing as i'm tall and have circulation issues. if only i could generate more AA miles and be able to take CX 1st class on all my long hauls.

Like i said, if anyone has any experience with whether new OW members have delays in being bookable on awards (as has been kinda implied by AA reps), please chime in...

Austinrunner

QF (on JQ-operated flights) and KA are other options.

TheBOSman

I know it would likely add 2-3 hours to flight time (and some miles, don't know how close you to bumping up against the award length limit) but could you try connecting through NRT instead of HKG on one of the trips? Maybe do SIN-NRT then NRT-MNL, I believe JL has a 787 flight on the SIN-NRT route if so interested.

TheBOSman

Does KA have operations other than to/from HKG? OP's problem doesn't seem to be too many CX flights (which would never be a problem ) but too many potential transits of HKG. Since OP is using two of the three alloted airport visits (stopover+2 transits as you certainly know but I'm restating for clarity for anyone else reading) for the TPAC in each direction on CX, that leaves only one more HKG visit allowed.