whatmakes

Hello,

I'm a recent Exec Plat on AA and I am trying to figure out how to best get to Sydney from the US to make a recent cruise I found.

The problem is, AA does not fly to Australia - only their partner airline Qantas. From my understanding, I can not use my SWU here or my 500 mile upgrades. What is the possibility that if I buy a ticket outright I will be able to upgrade? Is there any other advantage to being an Exec Plat for Australia that I am missing? I only have about 50,000 AA miles right now, but I also have 50,000 US airways miles.

I also have 60,000 united miles to burn that I was thinking of just using for a one way instead, too.

Please help! Thanks.

bmchris

Fiji Air and Hawaiian Air are also award options.

mvoight

There are no AA upgrade awards for QANTAS

nak_atx

You would still have benefits as a oneworld emerald traveling on Qantas:

http://www.oneworld.com/ffp/emerald-privileges

So even though upgrades wouldn't be a realistic possibility, your OW status entitles you to other perks (luggage, lounge access) that presumably your non-status on *A would not.

anotherlad

As others have said, there's no guaranteed way for you to secure an upgrade on Qantas other than outright paying for business.

The perks with OW emerald status are pretty good. In addition to the published perks, since becoming EXP, I've been upgraded (op-up) from Y to Y+ on 4 out of 7 QF TPAC flights. I've never been (out of 4 flights) upgraded from purchased Y+ to J. Don't expect an op-up, and definitely don't demand it, but be happy if it comes your way. Load factors particularly through DFW are quite high and OW emeralds have a decent chance in my experience. YMMV.

Also look at purchasing premium economy - sometimes the price can be well worth it. It's a great product. The seat is similar to a domestic first class (US) or domestic business (rest of the world) seat. Service and food are better. Small cabin. 1.0 EQM/1.5 EQP. I have no problem traveling in Qantas' Y+.

whatmakes

Thanks for the help.
Are there any places I should consider traveling to to take better advantage of my Exec Plat status?

JDiver

If you use AAdvantage miles, you will fly via Qantas (QF), or via Fiji Airways (FJ), Air Tahiti Nui (TN) - the latter two with stops - or using Hawaiian (HA) (connecting at HNL). That's pretty much the extent of your possibilities, and as you can not mix miles, you will have to have sufficient miles form one airline or another (or use AA miles one way, US the other).

If you use any other airline than Qantas, you will not be able to use any of your oneworld Emerald benefits (sad, as the SYD First Class lounge is very, very nice).

If you use any other routing I can think of, you will have to use two awards, in accordance with the chart below, on this page:


I recommend reading:

MileSAAver / SAAver Award Availability - Assistance & Discussion (consolidated)

and

AA miles awards: using / redeeming AA miles on Qantas (QF) (consolidated)

pssteve

OP could also do AA to LAX then CX LAX-HKG-SYD. Then can check out CX F lounges in HKG and QF F lounge in SYD. We did CX to Oz 3x's in 13 and got opup'd PEY to J 2x's LAX-HKG.

Dave Noble

As mentioned, there is no opportunity to redeem miles to upgrade and 50k is insufficient for a business award

You might want to consider purchasing Premium Economy on Qantas which is a lot more pleasant than economy

3Cforme

If by to take better advantage of my Exec Plat status you mean using an SWU to upgrade, your available destinations are defined by an AA route map with codeshare flights omitted.

http://www.aa.com/i18n/aboutUs/where...false&from=Nav

merrickdb

Depending on when the OP is trying to go to SYD, he could take the new AA service to HKG, rather than flying CX, and use an SWU to upgrade to J on DFW-HKG, and then take QF or CX from HKG to SYD. HKG would be the closest city to SYD you can get to on AA metal, and therefore the closest you can get to SYD using SWUs.

virmaior

While that's true according to gcmap its:

HKG-SYD 4581 miles
HND-SYD 4837 miles
PVG-SYD 4870 miles
HNL-SYD 5066 miles
ICN-SYD 5164 miles

considering how much further it is to fly to HKG, I don't think it's a beter option than HND. It's probably better than HNL due to the product from US to Hawaii being domestic.

mikelat

The AA J seats DFW-HKG are great though. Highly recommended!

Himeno

There are only 3 ways to upgrade on QF:
Pay for that class either to start with or with a change fee + fare difference later
Using Qantas FF points within the bounds of the QFF program
Get a rare operational upgrade

mvoight

I don't think it would worth extending the trip and only have international business class for a minority of it.