alicia330

I have booked a business class seat on AA73 route LAX>SYD. I've heard over and over that it is very difficult to get a flight to Australia because even though you have a ticket, you could get bumped from the flight. Does anyone have info on how often this is actually happening, especially for business class tickets?

tauphi

Economy usually gets bumped off first.

bensyd

This is very uncommon on flights from North America. I don't think I've read any reports of airlines from the US having to bump passengers except where the government has reduced the cap and theyve had to adjust loads.

Mwenenzi

When is the flight?
Up to 15 Feb the cap is halved for SYD. After that back to "normal". But as above, business class seem less effected than economy
Link--> https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ocea...l#post32949444
Have you checked your reservation on AA.com?

TuxTom

As others have said, the US3 haven't had to cancel or bump people as much as other airlines, but with the recent reduction in caps they definitely were. I recently flew LAX-SYD with Delta and had no issues with my flight on the 16th, but I know other people travelling with DL that week weren't so lucky. Another person I know currently in quarantine was contacted by UA a few days before the flight and asked if he was willing to change, but they didn't force him. Unfortunately, I don't have any first hand knowledge for you of AA on this route recently. It does seem business class is the last to get bumped though so that helps.

If you're traveling after Feb 15th, fingers crossed they will resume the previous caps. There is some indication that this is the plan, but it only takes a few positive cases for things to change. There are quite a few groups on Facebook for stranded Aussies and hotel quarantine so if you have an FB account, I would recommend checking those out. You might be able to find people with recent experience flying AA.

alicia330

Thank you all for the helpful information. My flight is indeed after the caps are supposed to be back to "normal" (Mid-March). So I guess I'll just be crossing my fingers until then! I'll check out the FB pages. Thanks again!

hansyuwiwb

Very rare people from the US are bumped. The US carriers are working with one another to cross coordinate the caps (with ACCC approval). I know someone even got on SFOSYD on non-rev with UA yesterday. I know back in July UA was also in touch with NH to coordinate day of departure load balancing. Not sure if they are still doing that today - but if you have a ticket on AA I'd say you are fine. Someone who travelled QF16 LAXBNE last Thursday (QF is running 1x pw commercial service for January), said there were 32 pax onboard.

Most of the horror stories have been people flying via ME from Europe.

I suspect Aus gov probably is giving the US carriers more leeway than the ME ones. Word out of London these days is that the most reliable way home is on NH/JL via HND. Apparently, everyone who's got a ticket with them got on within 1 week of originally scheduled date, and NH/JL are even rebooking on each other. The carrier does makes a difference. Why that's the case t I don't know... maybe they are more diligent, maybe the gov does them favors, maybe they are lucky...

fly747first

Didn't you have to go into quarantine for 14 days upon arriving in SYD at a government-designated hotel?

TuxTom

Yes, I'm still in quarantine, 112 hours to go but who's counting?

To be fair, it's been a mostly positive experience and the hotel has taken good care of it's quarantine guests. The room has been comfortable, food has been good, and it's quick and easy to get whatever coffee, takeout, groceries, or alcohol delivered to my room.