Jul 4, 2014, 8:35 pm
Last edit by: Mwenenzi
oneworld nonstop flights between USA and Australia are operated by American Airlines / AA and Qantas / QF. US gateways include DFW, JFK, LAX, SFO. Australia gateways include BNE, MEL, SYD.
Alternatives include using Hawaiian / HA from HNL, Fiji Airways / FJ from Los Angeles / LAX or SFO via NAN or Air Tahiti Nui / TN via PPT. (QF codeshares on Jetstar are no longer bookable as AA awards). You must route direct or South Pacific; awards via Asia, or transatlantic require two awards. Premium Economy services may not be booked with AAdvantage miles yet.
Awards using HA / Hawaiian Airlines require two awards, and one may not use HA between the mainland and Hawaii.
Only MileSAAver Awards are available on AA partners.
The usual award rules regarding Maximum Permitted Miles (MPM) and unconstructed origin-destination routings sold by the prevailing carrier apply.
Qantas releases awards ~355 days out; AA can not book anything beyond 331 days out. Qantas awards are challenging to secure. AA MileSAAver flights seem to be scarce on the LAX-SYD routing, even when aircraft go out with empty seats. AAnytime awards can be used on AA, but dynamic pricing may see those for as much as 225,000 miles one way in First.
Note: there are fees involved in award changes from oneworld airlines to non-oneworld partners or vice versa.
See here for current AA redemption charts.
Threads that can help include:
oneworld and Other Airline (Partner) Awards info, rules 2014 on
MileSAAver / SAAver Award Availability - Assistance & Discussion (consolidated) (you must use MileSAAver awards on partners; AAnytime wards may only be used on AA.)
AA miles awards: using / redeeming AA miles on Qantas (QF) (consolidated)
AAdvantage Miles Awards: TN / Air Tahiti Nui award redemptions
FJ / Fiji Airways (ex-Air Pacific) and AA, awards, etc. (consolidated)
Older posts have been archived to ARCHIVE: AAdvantage miles awards to / from Australia (consolidated)
Edit (post pandemic list at 06 Aug 2022 by Mwenenzi)
Member Mwenenzi posted
Alternatives include using Hawaiian / HA from HNL, Fiji Airways / FJ from Los Angeles / LAX or SFO via NAN or Air Tahiti Nui / TN via PPT. (QF codeshares on Jetstar are no longer bookable as AA awards). You must route direct or South Pacific; awards via Asia, or transatlantic require two awards. Premium Economy services may not be booked with AAdvantage miles yet.
Awards using HA / Hawaiian Airlines require two awards, and one may not use HA between the mainland and Hawaii.
Only MileSAAver Awards are available on AA partners.
The usual award rules regarding Maximum Permitted Miles (MPM) and unconstructed origin-destination routings sold by the prevailing carrier apply.
Qantas releases awards ~355 days out; AA can not book anything beyond 331 days out. Qantas awards are challenging to secure. AA MileSAAver flights seem to be scarce on the LAX-SYD routing, even when aircraft go out with empty seats. AAnytime awards can be used on AA, but dynamic pricing may see those for as much as 225,000 miles one way in First.
Note: there are fees involved in award changes from oneworld airlines to non-oneworld partners or vice versa.
See here for current AA redemption charts.
Threads that can help include:
oneworld and Other Airline (Partner) Awards info, rules 2014 on
MileSAAver / SAAver Award Availability - Assistance & Discussion (consolidated) (you must use MileSAAver awards on partners; AAnytime wards may only be used on AA.)
AA miles awards: using / redeeming AA miles on Qantas (QF) (consolidated)
AAdvantage Miles Awards: TN / Air Tahiti Nui award redemptions
FJ / Fiji Airways (ex-Air Pacific) and AA, awards, etc. (consolidated)
Older posts have been archived to ARCHIVE: AAdvantage miles awards to / from Australia (consolidated)
Edit (post pandemic list at 06 Aug 2022 by Mwenenzi)
Airlines that fly USA/Canada to/from Australia. Following the pandemic, routes are being restabilised and some new routes. Schedules can change. Route restart dates subject to change.
Following the pandemic routes are being restabilised and with some new routes. Schedules can change. Route restart dates subject to change
- Air Canada AC YVR – SYD BNE. [Star Alliance] .
- Air New Zealand NZ LAX SFO IAH YVR via AKL. [Star Alliance]
- Air Tahiti Nui TN LAX – via Tahiti & AKL. Last segments on QF codeshares. (AA & DL partner)
- American Airlines AA LAX-SYD due to restart 29 Oct 2022 [OneWorld Alliance]
- Delta DL LAX – SYD. [Skyteam Alliance]
- Fiji Airways FJ LAX SFO HNL – BNE SYD MEL via NAN Fiji. (OneWorld Alliance connect. QF AA & AS partner)
- Hawaiian HA HNL – SYD. Pre CV19 also used to fly to BNE (AA & VA partner)
- Jetstar JQ HNL – SYD. Pre CV19 also used to fly to/from BNE & MEL.
- Qantas QF SYD - LAX DFW HNL YVR*; BNE - LAX ; MEL- LAX. {* seasonal}. MEL-DFW due to start 02 Dec 2022 (new route). SYD – SFO due to restart 30 Oct 2022. Pre CV19 also had SYD-SFO & SYD-JFK(via LAX). [OneWorld Alliance]
- United UA MEL-SFO, SYD-LAX SFO. BNE-SFO from 31 Oct 2022 (new route). MEL-LAX and SYD-IAH due to restart 30 Oct 2022. [Star Alliance]. (VA partner)
- and others via Asia & Middle East
Following the pandemic routes are being restabilised and with some new routes. Schedules can change. Route restart dates subject to change
- American Airlines AA . DFW-AKL due to start 29 Oct 2022 to 25 Mar 2023(new route) LAX-AKL due to restart unknow. AA was to fly LAX-CHC 3 days a week from Oct 2020. [Oneworld Alliance]
- Air Canada AC YVR – AKL Due to restart 12 Nov 2022 [Star Alliance]
- Air New Zealand NZ LAX SFO IAH YVR – AKL. Pre CV19 also had ORD. [Star Alliance]
- Air Tahiti Nui TN LAX - AKL via Tahiti (AA & DL partner)
- Fiji Airways FJ LAX SFO HNL - AKL via NAN Fiji Pre CV19 used to fly to WLG CHC. (QF AA & AS partner).
- Hawaiian HA HNL – AKL (AA & VA partner)
- Qantas QF LAX SFO DFW JFK HNL YVR* via SYD BNE & MEL. {* seasonal} [Oneworld Alliance])
- United UA SFO – AKL [Star Alliance]
- And others via Australia, Asia & Middle East
Member Mwenenzi posted
Mxflyer Welcome to FT
Many threads on this topic.
USA <---->Australia business class awards are one of the hardest to get. An award in ~6 to 8 weeks time (short notice) even harder. 2 people on the same flight harder again.
Hard but may not be impossible. At times availability can increase close in.
What ffp's are you currently a signed up member of?
If you look only at LAX SYD you are restricting your options a lot, and then some. Look at SFO, IAH & DFW and BNE MEL. BNE can have better availability than other airports. Domestic USA & Australia flights as needed
Via Asia is the other option, but would be 2 awards. BKK, HKG, TPE, SIN, NRT, HND and others. Due to political unrest some HKG flights have low loads
They do not need to fly the same airline/ffp/routes/airports out & back. Look for one ways.
AA ff miles cannot be used to upgrade QF flights. Anyway upgrades, with any airline on the USA Aust routes are hard.
Airlines that fly USA/Canada to/from Australia
Edit
List deleted due to out of date post Covid-19 pandemic (see above)
AA & UA also fly LAX-AKL. Then a 3:30hr flight across to Aust.
Via Fiji or on TN can work
AA forum
Consider these Award booking services - a list and some reviews
Credit card transfer links
Many threads on this topic.
USA <---->Australia business class awards are one of the hardest to get. An award in ~6 to 8 weeks time (short notice) even harder. 2 people on the same flight harder again.
Hard but may not be impossible. At times availability can increase close in.
What ffp's are you currently a signed up member of?
If you look only at LAX SYD you are restricting your options a lot, and then some. Look at SFO, IAH & DFW and BNE MEL. BNE can have better availability than other airports. Domestic USA & Australia flights as needed
Via Asia is the other option, but would be 2 awards. BKK, HKG, TPE, SIN, NRT, HND and others. Due to political unrest some HKG flights have low loads
They do not need to fly the same airline/ffp/routes/airports out & back. Look for one ways.
AA ff miles cannot be used to upgrade QF flights. Anyway upgrades, with any airline on the USA Aust routes are hard.
Airlines that fly USA/Canada to/from Australia
Edit
List deleted due to out of date post Covid-19 pandemic (see above)
AA & UA also fly LAX-AKL. Then a 3:30hr flight across to Aust.
Via Fiji or on TN can work
AA forum
- Australia New Zealand---->AAdvantage award to / from Australia, New Zealand (master thread)
- FJ---->FJ / Fiji Airways (ex-Air Pacific) and AA, miles, awards, etc. (consolidated)
- HA---> Earning and Redeeming AA Miles on HA / Hawaiian Airlines (master thread)
- JL---> AAdvantage Award using JL / JAL / Japan Airlines (master thd)
- QF---> AA miles awards: using / redeeming AA miles on Qantas (QF) & related (consolidated)
- TN ----> AA Miles Award: TN / Air Tahiti Nui award redemptions (master thread)
Consider these Award booking services - a list and some reviews
Credit card transfer links
- Credit, Debit and Prepaid Card Programs forum
- Amex MR Transfer Membership Rewards points to which airline or hotel program?
- Chase UR Ultimate Rewards - Airline and Hotel Transfer Partners, Rules, Timeline, etc (2017)
- Chase UR Ultimate Rewards - Which airline/hotel should I transfer points to?
- Citi TYP Citi ThankYou Points (TYPs): airline transfer partners
AA MileSAAver award to / from Australia, New Zealand (master thread)
Feb 12, 2013, 7:44 am
#46
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 3
Thanks for the clarifications. This forum is an unbelievably good resource.
What I had been assuming/hoping is that a certain few seats would be allocated for AAdvantage. So if there are 5 routes daily that I am interested in over the course of the week, I would just need to find 1 seat out of a span 35 flights and I am okay. Well I assumed wrong.
Anyway, my only hope now is to rearrange my plans and try to make myself flexible enough to fly the 2nd week of January. If I end up going 0 for 70, then I'll head to another airline.
What I had been assuming/hoping is that a certain few seats would be allocated for AAdvantage. So if there are 5 routes daily that I am interested in over the course of the week, I would just need to find 1 seat out of a span 35 flights and I am okay. Well I assumed wrong.
Anyway, my only hope now is to rearrange my plans and try to make myself flexible enough to fly the 2nd week of January. If I end up going 0 for 70, then I'll head to another airline.
Feb 12, 2013, 8:34 am
#47
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
As others have mentioned, alternatives include TN via PPT, FJ via NAN, and going via HNL.
Be sure to check Qantas via BNE to your final destination; LAX-BNE sometimes has seats people overlook (including AA employees) when their final destination is SYD or elsewhere.
AFAIK, QF does not release seats to a specific airline, it makes them available. Anyone with miles in their partner airlines can claim a seat.
Be sure to check Qantas via BNE to your final destination; LAX-BNE sometimes has seats people overlook (including AA employees) when their final destination is SYD or elsewhere.
AFAIK, QF does not release seats to a specific airline, it makes them available. Anyone with miles in their partner airlines can claim a seat.
Thanks for the clarifications. This forum is an unbelievably good resource.
What I had been assuming/hoping is that a certain few seats would be allocated for AAdvantage. So if there are 5 routes daily that I am interested in over the course of the week, I would just need to find 1 seat out of a span 35 flights and I am okay. Well I assumed wrong.
Anyway, my only hope now is to rearrange my plans and try to make myself flexible enough to fly the 2nd week of January. If I end up going 0 for 70, then I'll head to another airline.
What I had been assuming/hoping is that a certain few seats would be allocated for AAdvantage. So if there are 5 routes daily that I am interested in over the course of the week, I would just need to find 1 seat out of a span 35 flights and I am okay. Well I assumed wrong.
Anyway, my only hope now is to rearrange my plans and try to make myself flexible enough to fly the 2nd week of January. If I end up going 0 for 70, then I'll head to another airline.
Feb 12, 2013, 2:16 pm
#48
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: MEL CHC
Posts: 21,034
And Qantas freq flyer's, who have award access 353 days out
Last edited by Mwenenzi; Feb 12, 2013 at 2:48 pm Reason: grammer
Feb 12, 2013, 3:47 pm
#50
Join Date: Sep 1999
Programs: AA EXP, SPG PLT, Hyatt DIA, Hilton GLD
Posts: 974
Aug 25, 2013, 9:38 am
#52
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: SDQ/MIA
Programs: AA PLT, B6 Mosaic, Marriott Platinum, FPC/Accor Platinum, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 1,062
I started looking a T-330 as I've been taught and to be quite honest, I was very surprised how easy it was to book FOUR business seats to SYD. Going got CX (slightly more miles). Return direct on the QF DFW flight. 90k/62.5k and a few tax $. The ability to see everything on BA now makes it really very easy as they show everything: MH, JL, QF, AA, CX and of course BA (never saw a single seat from them). The only observation I'd make is that the search is a little quirky. For example SYD-LAX shows nothing but MEL-SYD-LAX does (and SYD-JFK doesn't...even though they obviously would have that seat you vacated at LAX available). AA.com will show the full flight if there are any seats left by the time 330 rolls around.
Unfortunately, although I did look at this as an option, the T-330 bit forced me to book the outbound. It probably would have been more economical for the domestic Australia flights to tack 'em onto the CX ticket and use a OWE, but at this point it would be the change fee and still not sure they could alter it to a OWE w/o losing the seats on CX (someone please correct me if I'm wrong and I'll deal with the hassle). Otherwise they're just 10k a pop (x4x3 
).
At any rate, the OWE I believe is a close call on Australia vs. regular partner awards. It depends greatly on whether you are adding short flights to it. Otherwise it's a bit more expensive -only talking about N.A.-AUS, I'm sure they're great for other things.
This was torture. From 355 I could see the F availability on BA (and loads of J), but 150/100k each way plus $$$$. Worse- (AA.com please take note!) the availability at 331 days out shows on AA.com. You can click it, you can see the flight numbers and everything until..."The flight you selected is no longer available" and sends you back. But it's there...you can taste it. It shows on BA, too and is bookable, so it's really there. Absolute torture 2xF and 2XJ on the A380. But I'll settle for having scored 4 together!
Anyway the upshot of my experience is that this wasn't really as hard as I thought it would be, or it has gotten way easier. My difficulty was purely the 4 pax. If there had been just 2 of us there was a lot of availability through various routes in Asia in J and sparse but existent F. The QFs a little sparser, but they were there, too!
Happy hunting!
).At any rate, the OWE I believe is a close call on Australia vs. regular partner awards. It depends greatly on whether you are adding short flights to it. Otherwise it's a bit more expensive -only talking about N.A.-AUS, I'm sure they're great for other things.
This was torture. From 355 I could see the F availability on BA (and loads of J), but 150/100k each way plus $$$$. Worse- (AA.com please take note!) the availability at 331 days out shows on AA.com. You can click it, you can see the flight numbers and everything until..."The flight you selected is no longer available" and sends you back. But it's there...you can taste it. It shows on BA, too and is bookable, so it's really there. Absolute torture 2xF and 2XJ on the A380. But I'll settle for having scored 4 together!
Anyway the upshot of my experience is that this wasn't really as hard as I thought it would be, or it has gotten way easier. My difficulty was purely the 4 pax. If there had been just 2 of us there was a lot of availability through various routes in Asia in J and sparse but existent F. The QFs a little sparser, but they were there, too!
Happy hunting!
Aug 25, 2013, 10:03 am
#53
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
Wow! FOUR! Thanks for sharing, pjoalfa. You indeed had "happy hunting".
This guy got SEVEN with one blow...
(It's easier to do that in Godzone...)
This guy got SEVEN with one blow...
(It's easier to do that in Godzone...)
Sep 12, 2013, 4:03 pm
#55
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Not here; there!
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 29,606
Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)
Just use the award-booking engine at aa.com. You can book one-way, roundtrip, or multi-city itineraries.
To book a distance-based Explorer award -- which requires use of at least two AA partners -- you must call AA.
Originally Posted by umangdoshi
What is the best way to book aa award flights from SFO to SYD, coming back MEL - SFO or vise versa, also internal flights to cairns, mel, alluru,
How do u book all these using miles,
How do u book all these using miles,
To book a distance-based Explorer award -- which requires use of at least two AA partners -- you must call AA.
Sep 12, 2013, 5:28 pm
#56
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: NY
Programs: AA PLT, Delta SkyMiles
Posts: 569
Sep 15, 2013, 3:24 pm
#58
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,624
SYD-MEL I would just purchase outright, not worth using miles
AYQ-CNS and CNS-SYD will each cost 10k economy or 17.5k business : total 20k / 35k
Adding this to the 75k/125k/145k for the flight down
Business class all the way comes out at 160k and 1st class/business comes out at 180k
For business class can be cheaper to use an explorer award since this allows stopovers so 150k in business may do the trick ; it is more expensive in 1st and economy classes
It also has the drawback that it will require you to take a long detour via Asia in one direction
Sep 16, 2013, 6:56 am
#59
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 701
Oct 24, 2013, 11:26 am
#60
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 9
ORD->SYD in Jan 2015
Hi all,
I'm a long time lurker but this is my first post so please be gentle :-).
I plan on booking 3 OW award tickets for Jan 2015. I know this is a *long* way out, and I know AA won't have these open up until late Feb but thought I'd plan ahead.....
Bearing in mind Jan is peak season in Oz, my strategy is to basically try and book something as soon as something comes up. We're flexible with dates - just want something around the first two (possibly three) weeks of Jan. I'm not sure how quickly LAX-SYD (QF12/108) availability dries up in Jan given AA is 25 days later than QF; anyone had experience in this?
Assuming I can get something, the other issue is that, from what I've seen, you never get a direct ORD-LAX leg on saver aware. It always goes via some small airport... which is pretty annoying!
Say I book with a non-direct to LAX; if availability comes up later for a direct ORD-LAX (on the same day), can I rebook without $150 change fee? I'm not 100% clear on the change rules.
It seems like using AA miles on QF awards is great! Low mileage, no fuel surcharge.
Many thanks for the advice!
Flee_man
I'm a long time lurker but this is my first post so please be gentle :-).
I plan on booking 3 OW award tickets for Jan 2015. I know this is a *long* way out, and I know AA won't have these open up until late Feb but thought I'd plan ahead.....
Bearing in mind Jan is peak season in Oz, my strategy is to basically try and book something as soon as something comes up. We're flexible with dates - just want something around the first two (possibly three) weeks of Jan. I'm not sure how quickly LAX-SYD (QF12/108) availability dries up in Jan given AA is 25 days later than QF; anyone had experience in this?
Assuming I can get something, the other issue is that, from what I've seen, you never get a direct ORD-LAX leg on saver aware. It always goes via some small airport... which is pretty annoying!
Say I book with a non-direct to LAX; if availability comes up later for a direct ORD-LAX (on the same day), can I rebook without $150 change fee? I'm not 100% clear on the change rules.
It seems like using AA miles on QF awards is great! Low mileage, no fuel surcharge.
Many thanks for the advice!
Flee_man