G'day Mate... We're Going to Sydney
 

Just got this email:

In awe of Australia? We are too and we've got your ticket!

We'll be the only airline bringing you six continents when we begin daily non-stop service from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Sydney, Australia (SYD)* on July 1.

Make the trip in a spacious Boeing 777-200LR, which offers our BusinessElite® service with its state-of-the-art in-flight entertainment system; a five-course menu by celebrity chef Michelle Bernstein; a reinvented wine program; full-size pillows and duvets; and in-seat power outlets. You'll arrive rested, refreshed and ready to soak up all things Aussie.

Then visit the famous Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge, do some whale-watching or relax on Bondi Beach. You'll never want to leave.

Got it too. Round Trip BE for 240,000 miles. Yikes that's a lot.

booked for July, used a PMU and paid about $3500 :)
Business on Qantas used to cost about 12-15K
Hope this route lasts.

I hope this route is successful as well but expect DL to face a little pricing pressure and resistance from QF, UA and VA ...

Just priced this out with random dates in July from SLC... coach ticket $900, first class $8000. WHOA! That is an expensive FC ticket!

Mileage was 140,000 coach (lowest) and 304,000 FC (lowest) but it routed you SLC - FAT - LAX - SDY for first class for some reason.

I am rooting for them to succeed, as Skyteam desperately needs a South Pacific trunk line like this, but traffic and ticket prices have both got to come up. I can't see four airlines duking it out on LAX-SYD in this economy for the long term.

240k or more miles for BE is off the hook. For business class to Oz I've been used to spending 160k with BA (which gets you CX via HKG) or 150k with NW (which gets you KE or MH).

Full and Fair Disclosure. That was not the lowest award tier at 240K. It was yellow or mid-tier.

[QUOTE=jasonpbyu;11409886]Just priced this out with random dates in July from SLC... coach ticket $900, first class $8000. WHOA! That is an expensive FC ticket! QUOTE]

Actually at 16,000 miles roundtrip... if those are roundtrip fares it would only be .05 cents a mile in coach and .50 cents a mile in F to LAX and C to SYD. Those are some of the cheapest fares for a route of that stage length. Haven't looked up DL's CPASM but its got to be close to .12 cents. They are definitly entering this market and trying to dramatically undercut QF and UA. Last time I looked which was a few weeks ago UA's published tarrif for C to SYD is in the $15K range while F is nearly $21K (with QF being similar).

[QUOTE=777Brian;11409993]Have another look. UA has been offering discounted business tickets (typically Z fare) out of LAX/SFO/DEN/IAD/ATL at a big discount, sometimes just one half of DL's cheapest business fare. Yes, even out of UA hubs where they should expect some Mileage Plus loyalty.

On the coach side, DL isn't the price leader: V Australia is.

At the Pay per Miles rate of 1c/m, that's a horrible redemption rate. And for those that thing $900 in July is a good rate, remember it's the dead of Winter in the Southern Hemisphere. I'd be more curious to see what fares Nov or Feb are running.

Jeff

Yep, I agree with you. I'm sure the route will be extremely performing very well. I know the flight# will be on this route is FLT#17/16.

Ok, I just checking the loads on this flight for LAX-SYD is doing quite very well. I'm sure if the reasonable fare will be reductions from $1,000 to less than in between $600 or $700 R/T.

[Last time I looked which was a few weeks ago UA's published tarrif for C to SYD is in the $15K range while F is nearly $21K (with QF being similar).[/QUOTE]


But no one in their right mind pays these fares when you can take advantage of Circle Pacific and other fare types

Even worse I thought it was top tier.

Well, "dead of winter" in Sydney isn't all that deadly. At least in comparison to "dead of winter" where I live :D

Note that July 1 is the dead of "winter". Even in Sydney it can be a bit chilly, although for most Americans it won't seem like winter.