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AA MileSAAver award to / from Australia, New Zealand (master thread)

Old Jul 4, 2014, 8:35 pm
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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Older posts have been archived to ARCHIVE: AAdvantage miles awards to / from Australia (consolidated)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)
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.
  • 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
Airlines that fly USA/Canada to/from New Zealand (not from all airports to all airports)
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

Originally Posted by Mwenenzi
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
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AA MileSAAver award to / from Australia, New Zealand (master thread)

Old Mar 21, 2019, 5:32 pm
  #691  
 
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Originally Posted by tragg99
I am attempting to book a business class ticket, one way, from LAX to SYD using AA miles. On AA's website, there are several awards listed for 80k, and have been for a while. There has also been 175k tickets, which are clearly MUCH higher. But also direct on AA, versus layover ticket on Quantas.

But when I go to book any of the 80k tickets, the website bounces me back to the search, saying the ticket isn't available. I called AA to book over the phone, but they say only the 175k ticket shows on their system. And they can't book the other ticket for me, since it isn't shown on their computers.

So what is happening here??? Are these tickets genuinely not available? Why would they remain continuously listed on AA's on search engine? This is really frustratig, as I had nailed down travel plans based on this, and now I am finding it is all for naught.
this happeneed to me so i assumed they were just updated and the servers didnt kick in. i kept doing it for a good 2 hours and it finally went through. GL!
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Old Mar 21, 2019, 7:10 pm
  #692  
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You also have to be careful that some of those 80k awards are F or J for short flights but the TPAC itself is in Economy.
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Old Mar 21, 2019, 9:10 pm
  #693  
 
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See if you can book the long leg (LAX-MEL or LAX-BNE). It sounds like the award flights you wanted were LAX-MEL-SYD. So just try to LAX-MEL leg. Cheap flights can be found within Australia.
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Old Mar 22, 2019, 12:17 am
  #694  
 
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Originally Posted by guv1976
That is a non-sequitur. You can put any flights you want on hold, while you check with friends, price hotels, try to get the time off from work, etc.

If aa.com is showing phantom award availability, that's on AA, and no one should blame you for that. But if you see (apparent) award availability, and you nail things down -- with friends or otherwise -- without actually securing the award flights on a hold that costs you nothing, that, I'm afraid, is on you. If there had been real availability on QF when you first looked -- which, for all you know, might have been the case -- and someone else booked it (or QANTAS withdrew it) while you were consulting with friends, that surely would not have been AA's fault.
It's a group of people. Coordinating dates means looking at dates spread out over months. There is no way I could have put tickets on hold for all the various dates we were considering. Again, I moved immediately in once we decided on our time frame with every intention of putting the ticket of hold to give everyone a few days of wiggle room.
I totally understand that while we were discussing, a ticket could have sold out. I felt relatively safe taking the chance, with multiple days of awards availability. But that would be on me, and thus not a problem I would be here asking about.

But as it turns out, none of the tickets were actually available. I did not know about phantom availability. I have booked quite a bit through AA's site over the years and never experienced this. Clearly, it is well-known by members here. But it was a shock to me, thus why I turned here for more info and help.

No, I don't think it is on me to know that AA regularly has false tickets on their website. I think it is on them.

Originally Posted by asf-07
Are you simply searching LAX-SYD, or is there a different departure point? The LAX-SYD segment may be available from certain origins and not others. It sounds like you're trying to piece something together that the system won't allow.
Searching LAX-SYD. No tricks.

Originally Posted by wco81
You also have to be careful that some of those 80k awards are F or J for short flights but the TPAC itself is in Economy.
Now this is something I HAVE experienced a lot on AA's awards portal. So I am always careful. No, the long flight was definitely in Business Class.

Originally Posted by CPMaverick
See if you can book the long leg (LAX-MEL or LAX-BNE). It sounds like the award flights you wanted were LAX-MEL-SYD. So just try to LAX-MEL leg. Cheap flights can be found within Australia.
Tried and failed. Thanks!

I actually called AA when trying to get these booked, and they had someone from technical support call me back. He said that there is awards availability on Quantas, but Quantas hasn't released the seats to AA to book on their site with AA miles. They said the system is not supposed to post the tickets unless they are available from AA, but this is clearly a glitch.
He also said that Quantas could later release the ticket for the flights to them and AA would have the awards availability. I asked how I was to know that when visiting their site, as it seems like I just have to keep seeing a ticket, trying to book it, and striking out, over and over, in hopes that one day it works. Making it hard to see when a real ticket actually does show up. He said he sent a note on these dates to the tech department, so the glitch (for this batch of tix) should be resolved and the phantom tickets removed from their search results in 24 hours. We shall see.....

Originally Posted by pdcarg77
IME, phantom availability happens quite often, specially with partner airlines. It's quite frustrating.
I remember one FY JFK/HEL flight that would always be available, but when trying to confirm it, you just couldn't.
It's a glitch in the system I guess.
Perhaps try some other ways of finding availability (there are a few sites you can check) and you may actually come accross an actual space.
What dates were you thinking? Some of us can give you a hand looking for some alternatives..
I am searching for LAX-SYD (really any USA airport to SYD works, bc a domestic flight is no big deal) in business (maybe premium economy) June 30 - July 3. I appreciate any help! I have tried searching through various methods, but I'm not finding much.
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Old Mar 22, 2019, 1:14 am
  #695  
 
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You can try looking on the Qantas website (there is no U in Qantas!!!!) for availability. You have to sign up for an account, but you don't need miles to search, I think. Not necessarily the same as AA availability but if you see it in both places at least you could be pretty confident it is real.

Right now I see PE availability on QF74 SFO-SYD on 30 Jun, QF56 LAX-BNE on 1 Jul & 3 Jul. No J availability.

Other options with AA miles in J could be found on HA (through HNL) or FJ (Through NAN). Not as good a J product but still better than PE.
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Old Mar 22, 2019, 2:06 am
  #696  
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Originally Posted by tragg99
<snip>
I am searching for LAX-SYD (really any USA airport to SYD works, bc a domestic flight is no big deal) in business (maybe premium economy) June 30 - July 3. I appreciate any help! I have tried searching through various methods, but I'm not finding much.
As posts above LAX-SYD is the hardest.
Other airports SFO/DFW - BNE/MEL may or may not have more availability. AKL worth a try

And now AA has married segment award restrictions. XXX-LAX-SYD may have award availability, where as LAX-SYD may not
More award availability restricted by married segments / connections

And the opposite:----> AAdvantage MileSAAver: “Through Award Fares”, a New (March 2019)

It is not easy getting business class awards USA<---->Australia
(I am looking for Aust/NZ to USA in late May - early June. Have a business award flight back 24 June DFW-SYD-MEL)

[Maybe if your spelling improved Qantas (without a u ) may have awards] @:-)

Last edited by Mwenenzi; Mar 22, 2019 at 2:15 am
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Old Mar 22, 2019, 3:18 am
  #697  
 
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Originally Posted by CPMaverick
You can try looking on the Qantas website (there is no U in Qantas!!!!) for availability. You have to sign up for an account, but you don't need miles to search, I think. Not necessarily the same as AA availability but if you see it in both places at least you could be pretty confident it is real.

Right now I see PE availability on QF74 SFO-SYD on 30 Jun, QF56 LAX-BNE on 1 Jul & 3 Jul. No J availability.

Other options with AA miles in J could be found on HA (through HNL) or FJ (Through NAN). Not as good a J product but still better than PE.
Thank you!

Right now, on AA's website, the only Premium economy I see for those itineraries is SFO-SYD on 30th for 155k miles. At that point, I'd be better off with the sole AA flight LAX-SYD for 175k miles. Unless there is some other way to book those tickets using AA miles.

Thanks for your suggestion for the other options. I am uncertain how I would go about booking them using AA miles, though. AA's website does show a HA flight award for 65k from HNL to SYD (which I did indeed place on hold). But the flight is at 7:30 in the morning, making the difficulty and expense of getting to HNL on a separate ticket (and likely getting a hotel for the night before) start to defeat the purpose of using miles.

I feel like people are referring to some kind of method of booking these tickets that I can't figure out. I have googled extensively, lol, but that isn't working.

Originally Posted by Mwenenzi
As posts above LAX-SYD is the hardest.
Other airports SFO/DFW - BNE/MEL may or may not have more availability. AKL worth a try

And now AA has married segment award restrictions. XXX-LAX-SYD may have award availability, where as LAX-SYD may not
More award availability restricted by married segments / connections

And the opposite:----> AAdvantage MileSAAver: Through Award Fares, a New (March 2019)

It is not easy getting business class awards USA<---->Australia
(I am looking for Aust/NZ to USA in late May - early June. Have a business award flight back 24 June DFW-SYD-MEL)

[color="Silver"][Maybe if your spelling improved Qantas (without a u ) may have awards] @:-)
Thanks!

Yes, I had heard Australia was difficult. I was thrilled to see availability when I began to search. But it appears I was hoodwinked.

I tried every combination of the cities you listed. Nearly every one shows ample Qantas (nailed it!) availability at 80k miles on AA's website. But every single one bounces me back to the search page, because it's not really there.
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Old Mar 22, 2019, 3:47 am
  #698  
 
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Originally Posted by tragg99
Right now, on AA's website, the only Premium economy I see for those itineraries is SFO-SYD on 30th for 155k miles. At that point, I'd be better off with the sole AA flight LAX-SYD for 175k miles.
Are you in a hurry? For 150k miles (110k+40k), you could do AA or CX in F to HKG and then QF or MH or FJ in J HKG-SYD. Bring that down to 110k if you can find CX J. Are there any JL options that would suit you? That'd bring it down to 100k in J.
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Old Mar 22, 2019, 4:13 am
  #699  
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Have you tried looking from a smaller AA airport like PHX, SMF, COS to BNE/MEL/SYD? (to get the married segments)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...s_destinations (may not be up to date)

Originally Posted by Kremmen
Are you in a hurry? For 150k miles (110k+40k), you could do AA or CX in F to HKG and then QF or MH or FJ in J HKG-SYD. Bring that down to 110k if you can find CX J.
Are there any JL options that would suit you? That'd bring it down to 100k in J.
The other award threads

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)

CX---> AA Award: Cathay Pacific / CX, KA availability, etc. (master thd)

JL---> AAdvantage Award using JL / JAL / Japan Airlines (master thd)
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Old Mar 22, 2019, 11:16 am
  #700  
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Originally Posted by tragg99
Thanks for your suggestion for the other options. I am uncertain how I would go about booking them using AA miles, though. AA's website does show a HA flight award for 65k from HNL to SYD (which I did indeed place on hold). But the flight is at 7:30 in the morning, making the difficulty and expense of getting to HNL on a separate ticket (and likely getting a hotel for the night before) start to defeat the purpose of using miles.
While you would still be stuck with the overnight hotel in HNL, if you can find a SAAver F award seat on the previous day and place that on hold, it's possible that an AA agent could combine the two held reservation into a single award for 80K. Look for AA/AS nonstops LAX-HNL, or AS nonstops SAN-HNL. (On an international award, AA allows 24 hours to connect, so flying in the previous day would not, in and of itself, preclude use of a single award.)

Be aware, though, of the possible "reverse married segment" issue, where flights may be available as individual awards, but not as a through award. (See the current thread in this forum about the through-award issue.)

Edited to add: If you haven't already done so, I would also search for SAN-SYD award availability. Getting from the Los Angeles area to SAN does not have to be that expensive: there's Amtrak, Greyhound, and maybe even a one-way car rental if you can get a good price on that.

Last edited by guv1976; Mar 22, 2019 at 11:26 am
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Old Mar 22, 2019, 12:06 pm
  #701  
 
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Originally Posted by Kremmen
Are you in a hurry? For 150k miles (110k+40k), you could do AA or CX in F to HKG and then QF or MH or FJ in J HKG-SYD. Bring that down to 110k if you can find CX J. Are there any JL options that would suit you? That'd bring it down to 100k in J.
Thanks!

I'm not sure what you mean by being in a hurry? Do you mean a long itinerary? I mean, it's not ideal, but I would do it for a good ticket. I'm just not sure 150k for a monster itinerary is a great deal, given that 175k (which I don't have at the moment) is available direct. Also, AA's site only shows LAX to HKG lowest at 140k, so I am uncertain on that availability.

I would definitely consider JL at 100k, but I don't see any availability using BA's site or AwardNexus.

Originally Posted by Mwenenzi
Thanks, that was very helpful! So many abbreviations are making my head spin!

I used the threads to search for Kremmen's suggestions, but I had no success.

I am currently working my way through trying every combination of the cities you listed. The problem, however, is that AA's site DOES say there is awards availability at 80k for nearly all of them. But they are all in fact the phantom Qantas tickets. So I have to look at each day and scroll through all the results, searching for a ticket that is not Qantas. Which I have not yet found.

Originally Posted by guv1976
While you would still be stuck with the overnight hotel in HNL, if you can find a SAAver F award seat on the previous day and place that on hold, it's possible that an AA agent could combine the two held reservation into a single award for 80K. Look for AA/AS nonstops LAX-HNL, or AS nonstops SAN-HNL. (On an international award, AA allows 24 hours to connect, so flying in the previous day would not, in and of itself, preclude use of a single award.)

Be aware, though, of the possible "reverse married segment" issue, where flights may be available as individual awards, but not as a through award. (See the current thread in this forum about the through-award issue.)

Edited to add: If you haven't already done so, I would also search for SAN-SYD award availability. Getting from the Los Angeles area to SAN does not have to be that expensive: there's Amtrak, Greyhound, and maybe even a one-way car rental if you can get a good price on that.
Thank you. I was unaware that AA might combine awards tickets.

Unfortunately, there are no F awards to HNL available. I found only U and J searching LAX and various other cities to HNL.

Trying SAN-SYD gave me the same situation as my LAX search - the chart shows several available flights, but they are all Qantas phantom awards.
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Old Mar 23, 2019, 11:59 am
  #702  
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Originally Posted by tragg99

Thank you. I was unaware that AA might combine awards tickets.

Unfortunately, there are no F awards to HNL available. I found only U and J searching LAX and various other cities to HNL.

Trying SAN-SYD gave me the same situation as my LAX search - the chart shows several available flights, but they are all Qantas phantom awards.
The front cabin on AA and AS two-cabin aircraft is denominated First Class, but books into Business Class award inventory. So if you can find "U" award space on AA LAX-HNL, or "A" award space on AS LAX/SAN-HNL, put that on a free hold now, and then call AA to see if the two segments can be combined into a single 80K award. Better yet, if aa.com is still showing HNL-SYD Business Class availability on HA, use the multi-city award-booking engine at aa.com to put LAX/SAN-HNL and HNL-SYD on a free hold on a single PNR. Do not be deterred if the booking engine prices it as two awards; an AA agent might be able to reprice the itinerary as a single Business Class award for 80K.

If you are considering traveling via Asia on two separate AAdvantage awards, be aware that neither CX nor JL award-seat availability can be searched on aa.com. If you do indeed go that route, note that you can stop over for days in Asia -- if you wish -- as you will be traveling on two separate awards. (And the stopover could be anywhere in AA's Asia 1 or Asia 2 zone; it would not have to be in Hong Kong or Japan.)

Good luck!

Edited to add: Have you found any real (non-phantom) award availability on the QF HNL-SYD flights?

Further edited to add: I'm not sure what the Minimum Connecting Time is at HNL for AS domestic to HA international, but aa.com is showing SAAver Business/First award space on the AS SAN-HNL nonstop that arrives HNL at 11:00 am on June 30, and on the HA HNL-SYD nonstop that departs HNL at 12:50 pm the same day. If that can work for you, I would put both on hold immediately at aa.com, and then call AA to see: 1) whether that's a legal connection; and 2) whether AA will reprice the itinerary as a single 80K award.

Last edited by guv1976; Mar 23, 2019 at 12:58 pm
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Old Mar 23, 2019, 12:12 pm
  #703  
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Holding two QF93 MEL-LAX First Class saver seats for travel April 25th. Plans have changed and I'm not going to be using them. If anyone is interested in a coordinated cancel/rebook, PM me.
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Last edited by SFO777; Mar 23, 2019 at 12:17 pm
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Old Mar 23, 2019, 6:00 pm
  #704  
 
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Originally Posted by guv1976
The front cabin on AA and AS two-cabin aircraft is denominated First Class, but books into Business Class award inventory. So if you can find "U" award space on AA LAX-HNL, or "A" award space on AS LAX/SAN-HNL, put that on a free hold now, and then call AA to see if the two segments can be combined into a single 80K award. Better yet, if aa.com is still showing HNL-SYD Business Class availability on HA, use the multi-city award-booking engine at aa.com to put LAX/SAN-HNL and HNL-SYD on a free hold on a single PNR. Do not be deterred if the booking engine prices it as two awards; an AA agent might be able to reprice the itinerary as a single Business Class award for 80K.

If you are considering traveling via Asia on two separate AAdvantage awards, be aware that neither CX nor JL award-seat availability can be searched on aa.com. If you do indeed go that route, note that you can stop over for days in Asia -- if you wish -- as you will be traveling on two separate awards. (And the stopover could be anywhere in AA's Asia 1 or Asia 2 zone; it would not have to be in Hong Kong or Japan.)

Good luck!

Edited to add: Have you found any real (non-phantom) award availability on the QF HNL-SYD flights?

Further edited to add: I'm not sure what the Minimum Connecting Time is at HNL for AS domestic to HA international, but aa.com is showing SAAver Business/First award space on the AS SAN-HNL nonstop that arrives HNL at 11:00 am on June 30, and on the HA HNL-SYD nonstop that departs HNL at 12:50 pm the same day. If that can work for you, I would put both on hold immediately at aa.com, and then call AA to see: 1) whether that's a legal connection; and 2) whether AA will reprice the itinerary as a single 80K award.
WOW! Thank you so much!!! I managed to get both the SAN-HNL and HNL-SYD on hold. I will be calling right when I get home to try to have the tickets combined.

It will still necessitate an overnight hotel in SAN, as I don't see any LAX flights that get me in to SAN before departure. But that is minor in the scheme of things.

Fingers crossed for an accommodating agent! And thanks again - I would never had known many of these tricks without your help!
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Old Mar 23, 2019, 8:04 pm
  #705  
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Originally Posted by tragg99
WOW! Thank you so much!!! I managed to get both the SAN-HNL and HNL-SYD on hold. I will be calling right when I get home to try to have the tickets combined.

It will still necessitate an overnight hotel in SAN, as I don't see any LAX flights that get me in to SAN before departure. But that is minor in the scheme of things.

Fingers crossed for an accommodating agent! And thanks again - I would never had known many of these tricks without your help!
Why overnight in SAN? Price a one-way car rental, or see if Greyhound has a late-night bus from Los Angeles to San Diego.
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