NYC to Australia/NZ in First - Help!
 

So I am planning a trip from NY to Australia and New Zealand. Won't be traveling for more than a year so really I am just trying to get organized.

I would like to use miles/points to travel round trip in First class. I have the following balances (approximate)

400,000 - AAdvantage
200,000 - ThankYou points
150,000 - Chase Ultimate Rewards
140,000 - SPG points

My original plan was to use ThankYou / Chase and possibly some SPG to do the trip all on Singapore Airlines. This is still my preferred option for the way home. I can seem to find availability 355 days out for SYD -> JFK in the Suites if I check at the right times.

The bigger issue is the way out. 355 days out I can try to snipe the JFK-SIN portion but it will not let me book the SIN-SYD because that is 356 days out. It seems I would have to get very lucky to wait an extra day or two and then hope the whole routing is available (this doesn't seem common)

So I am open to other options for the way out. As far as I can tell AA and Qantas availability is very spotty for First class awards.

Any other creative options?

You could fly Singapore one-way and wait for the availability on the other leg to open up and purchase that as a separate one-way ticket - I don't see a reason to necessarily book it as a round-trip. Singapore also has very modest change fees, so you may want to book that as your primary option and cancel if necessary.

You should be able to find some United availability to Australia/NZ in business, if that is acceptable. I wouldn't go so far as to say AA and Qantas availability from NYC-Australia is nil, but it's awful close. I've found and flown Qantas LHR-MEL in the past, which might be another option, and then there should be plenty of NYC-LHR awards as a separate ticket.

Thanks Steve!

To clarify - I would be booking the way out and the way home as separate one way awards.

I could do what you say booking JFK-SIN and then the next day grabbing SIN-SYD. The only problem is that it will cost me 50,000 extra points per person approximately :(

(110,000 + 75,000 vs 137,500)

Sorry - to be clear - I would wait for SIN-SYD to open up and hope that JFK-SIN is still available - I don't think JFK-SIN availability is guaranteed to disappear the first day it becomes available, although I could be wrong.

Why not book JFK - SIN and then call the next day and see if you can add the next flight on. As noted they have very low change fees and they might not even charge the change fee. I think that would be worth it.

Alternatively, you can book a stopover in SIN for $100 (I think SGD) on an award ticket.

Why not snag JFK - SIN and then do a stopover (you'll want it flying East to get to Singapore - we flew RDU - IAH - DXB - SIN earlier this year on EK F and were absolutely wiped out which has never happened on our Asia travel where we usually go West to get to Asia). You can have a night in Singapore (which is worth it) and then should have no problem getting a flight down to SYD (and you can choose from any of the options the next day or two days later).

I have 2018 targeted to do the exact same thing and that's $100 stopover is our plan regardless of whether availability is there to do it all on one go (just to break it up and also because you can't fly through Singapore and not stop and go get some food at the Hawker Centres

How do I go about booking the stopover? Is that the same process as trying to tack on the SYD flight the next day?

Basically book JFK-SIN and pay the miles and then when SIN-SYD becomes available I can call and ask them to add it to that flight either directly after or with a day or two stopover in SIN?

And the end result is the normal 137,500 mileage? I guess I wonder if this is standard for them. I also guess that I may be risking losing some of the 15% online booking discount (though I would get it for the 110,000 mile booking from JFK-SIN)

Call in. As long as it's all SQ metal, if it's unbookable online (which a 1 way stopover is) they will still honor the 15%.

Why first class? Very limited options on direct type route. Going via SIN or where ever will add much time and negate the first class experience.

Have you flown long haul business class in an international airline? Many people in USA, who have not flown internationally seem to think long haul first is like many USA domestic first class. It is not. USA domestic first class, on most aircraft, is more like a better premium economy or a poor business class. We have had such requests for first class awards into Australia before, but then when reality hits most people go for business class.

Few airlines fly first into Australia from anywhere. EY Etihad is an AA partner and may fly first into Australia (have not checked). EK Emirate does fly first class into Australia. TG Thai is another to check on.

Also SYD is no the only international airport in Australia, so also look for award flights into MEL & BNE in you searches

Airlines that fly USA/Canada to/from Australia (not from all airports to all airports)
- American Airlines AA (LAX - SYD) [OneWorld Alliance] (AS partner)
- Air Canada AC (YYR – SYD, BNE from Jun 2016) [Star Alliance]
- Air New Zealand NZ (LAX SFO IAH YVR via AKL) [Star Alliance]
- Air Tahiti Nui TN (LAX via Tahiti. Last segments on codeshares) (AA & DL partner)
- Delta DL (LAX – SYD) (VA & AS partner) [Skyteam Alliance]
- Fiji Airways FJ (LAX SFO HNL via Fiji) (QF, AA & AS partner)
- Hawaiian HA (HNL – SYD BNE via Hawaii) (AA & VA partner)
- Jetstar JQ JQ (HNL – SYD BNE)
- Qantas QF (LAX SFO JFK DFW HNL YVR*– SYD BNE MEL) [OneWorld Alliance] (AS partner) {* seasonal}
- United UA (LAX SFO – SYD MEL) [Star Alliance]
- Virgin Australia VA (LAX – SYD BNE) (DL partner) MEL LAX restarting 4 April 2017
And others via Asia & Middle East

Thanks for the detailed response!

I have tried international business but I definitely will use this list to see if there are any airlines whose products I want to try!

With SPG->Alaska you could do CX via HKG to CNS. Pretty decent availability in C - sometimes in F.

On the way back - a paid Fiji Air from SYD to LAX in C is good value.