Thanks for that denCSA. Do you think I'd have better availability returning from LAX, LAS or San Diego?

Cheers

Well, had another quick look and you could do the following in F/J/Y:

Nothing in J for the LHR-MAN sector on the return but such a short flight not a big deal.

You'd be looking a long time for a J seat as LHR-MAN is an all Y flight ;)

As you say, it is only a short flight so not a problem.

Hi all.
I'm hoping to book a flight from somewhere in south america (preferably santiago) to australia (brisbane would be best).

Is this possible? Do I need to route through america for it?

This will be my first redemption so I'll appreciate any advice you can give.

I believe that QF, LA, and AR are the only carriers that fly non-stop to AU/NZ from S America, so yes you'll have to route up to the US to get down there unfortunately.

Could you suggest a hub that I should go via? Up to LA maybe or do I not need to get that far north?

I suggest you download the Star Alliance timetable and play with that.

Depends on where you depart from in South America. *A is pretty weak there, so you will end up doing a long route whatever happens.

From SCL for example there are only flights to YYZ on AC
From LIM there are only flights to YYZ on AC
From EZE there are flights to IAD on UA
From GIG & GRU there are flights to ORD and IAD on UA

Availability on the AC flights in particular can be tough to find.

There is also a flight from GRU to JNB on SA, but this won't save any time as you then have to route via Asia to then get to Australia.

However you look at it, you've got quite a journey which in turn gives you a chance for a decent stopover opportunity or two. Have a look at the *A timetable as FOM suggests and see what suits.

Thanks for the advice. Really appreciate it. I'll study up some more and see how I go.

Just to check though. Will I need just the one redemption for the whole route? I'm thinking the strategy is work out the flights that will get me home. Check on ANA for availability, then call bmi and book it in.

SCL is tricky given that AC only serves YYZ from there. However, AC 92/93 serves both EZE and SCL (seasonally anyway) so using AC to hop across the andes to EZE would be possible.

No matter what you do, going via the USA will double (or maybe worse) the length of your journey, probably resulting in being charged for Z4-Z3 and Z3-Z9, which is a 50% increase in miles required over a Z4-Z9

The only valid route I can imagine would be acceptable would be with South African, travelling EZE-JNB-PER on SAA, you'd have to make your own way from Perth to Brisbane. SAA do actually codeshare on Qantas JNB-SYD which would be better for getting to Brisbane, but this obviously won't be available for redemption.
Distance wise (by great circle mapper) this comes in at just over 10000 miles whereas a direct EZE-PER would be 7800 therefore I'd think this reasonable for a Z4-Z9 direct, plus it appears in the *A timetable which also backs up your case.

Z4-Z9 should be acceptable via the USA. If you have a dig in the redemptions thread, there is at least one example of it in there from memory. The difficulty with the SA flights is availability. Getting more than one seat and with both the SA flights connecting within a few days of each other will take a bit of luck for much of the year.

OK, well, I've managed to get myself and the missus all the to Tokyo, and LA, but now need to try and get us back to MAN :)

Would somebody be able to check availability for the following in Business please:

2nd Oct LAX-MAN but stopping in New York for 2 nights. Alternatively if that's not available, 4th Oct LAX->MAN, and if that's not available, anywhere on the west coast of the US to MAN on the 4th.

Many thanks
Mike

On 2nd Oct you can take the following from LAX-JFK

0608 UA84 Business or First
1139 UA26 Business only
1336 UA890 Business or First
1604 UA28 Business or First
2230 UA82 Business only

(Don't forget you can have First on this leg "for free" as it is shorter than the transatlantic leg)

4th Oct NYC-MAN

2010 LH413 EWR-MUC, Arrives 1010 on 5th. Connect to 1520 LH4864 MUC-MAN. (Long connection as you will miss the 0915 MUC-MAN)

I don't have a current Expertflyer subscription so there may be LX seats available that I can't see.

Or you can fly from JFK on 4OCT:

Considering SQ is available as well, that's a no brainer IMHO

Cheers, looks like a few options there.

First on the first leg for free? How does that work, do I have to request it?

Thanks
Mike