The only way to get to Australia using DL miles is with Korean Air and South African. However, South African awards are only available to Perth. SAA serves SYD as a code-share with QF on QF equipment.

From my experience, the easiest way to get to SYD using DL miles is to fly SQ to SIN. (95K for Biz if you fly transpacific). I would also recommend Malaysian which I have flown 4 long-haul sectors on this year. From SIN, you can fly to SYD for between $300 and $500 for a basic 60 day ticket. There are many carriers that fly the route including BA, QF, Emirates, SQ and EgyptAir. My last trip down was on BA. The cost of about $600 for a 6 month World Traveller Plus (which I'm a big fan of) was only $10 more than for a regular Coach ticket when booked directly through BA.

[This message has been edited by leroy11 (edited 07-09-2002).]

Is the World Traveler Plus business class? What are its advantages? Travel within Australia? It's 7.5 hours from Singapore to Brisbane. That's a long time to sit in the back of the bus, but a great deal if business class.

--Thanks, Leroy11--very valuable information--a post worth printing--

WT+ is a premium coach product (BA now has 4 classes). Same meal service as economy but a better seat. A historical note: WT+ seat is identical to the very first Business class seat (38 inch pitch). Great value but a giant step down from BA's Club World product (business class with flat beds).

Skymiles to Australia?
 

I fly mostly Delta and have over 200,000miles with them and also 100,000 with AX and 20,000 with Starwood AX. I also have accounts with UAL, US Air, and AA with small amounts of miles in them. We want to go to Australia in the summer of 2003 and travel in Business class. What is the best way to do that with what we have to work with? Thanks so much!

Qantas using your AA or USAir miles. (transfer in from Amex or *wood)

[This message has been edited by Spiff (edited 10-01-2002).]

You can do a search on Austraila and find lots of information.

You have to go through ICN using KE.

Mileage required for North America - Australia:

Economy Class 100.000
Business Class 150.000
First Class 200.000

What is the cheapest way to Australia?
 

I want to go to Australia but earn miles (and potentially use mileage for an upgrade). I am PM. Can someone tell me the cheapest upgradeable and non-upgradeable fares for February or March travel? I also want to maximize my mileage earning opportunity. Korean quoted more than $2K for a non-upgradeable ticket via Seoul. Would it be cheaper to fly AZ or AF to HKG or SIN and then buy a ticket on a non-Skyteam partner. Or could I fly AF to Papeete and purchase a separate ticket to SYD or MEL?

Many thanks.

Cheapest is buying a consolidator ticket on UA. Skyteam is not competitive in this market, you will pay about double for the pleasure of flying Skyteam. Best way is to fly Air NZ out of LAX.

--Lax/Syd non-stop is 14+ hours. Please ask yourself if it is really worth the time, trouble and fatigue to go through so many machinations in order to receive miles. I cannot even begin to think how long the flights would be on the itineraries you have proposed. I did that non-stop in FC on Qantas a few years ago, and was still pretty weary at the end.

Your best non-consolidator bet is Qantas, ex-LAX, ORD or JFK. You may even be able to better with a consolidator from one of these gateways. Look to a business class consolidator. The average coach fare is about US$1400-1700.

There is relatively little competition in the US-Oz market. Namely, only United, Qantas, and Air New Zealand fly there directly, which results in high fares.

Some strategies for getting there cheaper include going the long way:

US - Europe
Europe - Oz

In your case, you can fly DL or AF to CDG and then AF CDG-SYD. It's sometimes even less if you fly to LHR, then LHR on, but if you want to stay with SkyTeam, that may be difficult.

Doing it this way also allows you a stop in the intermediate city if you buy them as separate tickets.

The other way, which you touched on, is via SIN. LHR-SYD is too far for a 747-400, so many carriers stop in SIN. This results in an excess capacity of QF, BA, and SQ seats SIN-SYD.

http://www.flightcentre.com.au/ is a large Australian consolidator. Not sure if you can buy US-originating tickets there, but you can inquire (or enquire, since they're Australian).

Edited to add - Flight Centre does allow US bookings. Click "not an Austrlian resident" at the top of the website, and you get a country choice for US, and a wesbite with a toll-free number featuring a LAX-SYD RT for $875.


[This message has been edited by channa (edited 01-08-2003).]

I recently have been looking into a trip back to Australia (I lived in Melbourne for a short spell). I'm not really a "travel package" kinda guy, but I would seriously consider www.australia.com There are numerous packages under $2k , all for about 2 weeks or so. I think it's run by the tourist board. These packages include flight to and fro Australia, inter-Austalia flights and lodging the whole time you are there. The flights to and fro are on United, ANZ and Qantas. Some packages are cheaper than just the LAX-MEL flights I was finding.

[This message has been edited by chobby100 (edited 01-08-2003).]

If you wanted to visit some countries in the Far East, I would suggest looking at Cathay's "All Asia Pass" ($999 non-peak) and paying the $500 surchage for Australia. There are many restictions though: no FF, depart LAX/SFO/JFK only, certain days require surchages, etc.