IceTrojan

And here's the Y breakfast that I was raving about:


I posted a flight review in FT Trip Reports:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...nced-food.html

PbodyPhoto

Exactly. Most AA elites are used to lounges that are worse than most Australian prisons.

I have been in Sydney on holiday for an entire month, I also haven't been in the F lounge for a few years so if the option is paying for breakfast in the city at a crappy cafe near my hotel or to have a great meal and a massage in the F Lounge then it is quite frankly a no brainer.

thadocta

How about the more sensible option - one which most sensible people would look at - is spending an extra hour or so in bed, arriving at the airport at around 0750, checking in at 0805 once check-in opens, arriving at the FLounge at around 0830, then having two hours to do all that you want - breakfast and spa - prior to boarding the flight.

Why on earth someone would want to check in more than three hours in advance for a flight leaving at 1100 is really something I am scratching my head wondering about, I would rather have the extra hour in bed, rather than in the lounge.

Now if it was an evening departure, I might start to agree with you......

Dave

ijgordon

I haven't been in the QF F Lounge in SYD, but was recently in the one at LAX at breakfast time. Honestly, the menu wasn't THAT exciting. The lunch/dinner menu looked much better, but alas we had to board our flight.

oysterhead43

A massage? Chair massage I'm guessing.

TheBOSman

It is actually that good , been there twice (as well as twice to the MEL F lounge).

Nope, it is more than that. Not quite a full 50-60 minute massage as might be had at a spa, or the TG F BKK lounge, but more than just a chair massage.

serfty

Not everyone has the opportunity to access the lounges in SYD (or MEL for that matter) on a regular basis and I can fully understand someone endeavoring to optimise the experience when they can - even if it is just a massage/facial with a champagne breakfast.


PS - The DYAC was High-Calibre when I posted earlier.

taxicabnumber

Anyone had experience with vegetarian meals on this route? I'm flying SYD-LAX in a couple weeks in business, and debating between the preorder option (rigatoni with chili lemon oil, shaved parmesan, basil) or ordering a vegetarian meal. On most routes this would be a no-brainer -- I'd preorder the pasta, since AA's VGMLs are truly horrifying -- but given the enhanced LAX <-> SYD service I'm wondering if I should chance it?

corncob

I think the Mezze Plate is the vegetarian option, at least from memory and from looking at trip reports.

taxicabnumber

Interesting -- the first four menu options are identical to what I see online for my flight, but the mezze isn't on the preorder menu. Hopefully it'll be available on the flight though! I preordered the rigatoni, but hopefully I won't really be hungry anyway after the QF F lounge...

belfordrocks

Looking to fly this route in February, and looking at the current loads while SYD-LAX looks like an easy upgrade, the return is dicier. I'm planning on booking only when C space opens (as AA doesn't seem to have advance purchase requirements). Anyone have any tips?

corncob

If you're using that strategy, you might not find a return flight.

When C space opens, there will likely be a wait list. Even if there's not, it likely won't open up prior to a few days out, max, if the past few weeks have been any indication. From reports I've seen, even when J was 1/2 full a week out, no C availability opened up until 1-3 days before. Especially if you're talking about the return flight, and you want to stay longer than a day or two, this means you would have booked and flown the SYD-LAX flight already.

There's also a specific thread for upgrades on this rout, "Upgrade & Waitlist AA 73 / AA 72 LAX-SYD-LAX". I suspect your post will get moved there.

belfordrocks

Thanks for the info - I was monitoring EF and noticed that up until a few days ago, all flights within T-14 had plenty of C space. Now it seems to have dried up considerably.

What do you think the best strategy is - just find something where the seat map looks reasonably empty and hope for the best? This is an entirely leisure trip i.e. if the upgrade doesn't clear, chances are I wouldn't go.

corncob

Yep, that would be my plan, and shoot for a middle of the week return to avoid business travelers arriving on Sunday or Monday morning, and leisure travelers arriving on Friday/Sat morning so they can take minimal time off work. Maybe go for Mon/Tues evening departure from LAX, arriving Wed/Thurs morning.

You can also keep checking EF and see what seat maps/C space looks like 1-5 days out for flights on different days of the week. This may help you form an idea of what load factors look like a few days out. Especially as you'll be booking later and thus be toward the end of the wait list (at least EXP-wise), so you likely won't be in the first few cleared. Early reports of some of the flights have indicated that J was pretty much half-full/empty a day or two before the flight, so, IMO, there's a decent chance your upgrade would clear a day or less out. But that can change quickly.

All that said, this route is still very much in it's infancy. Therefore, certainly C-inv release patterns by Revenue Management and likely also patterns of load factors probably won't be visible or at least constant at this point. I would expect business travelers will be increasingly aware of this option and start to book it, reducing upgrade chances significantly.

How long are you planning on staying for?

PbodyPhoto

C space has been opening for SYD-LAX about 2 weeks out.