smokeyjoe

My husband and I are trying to get to SYD in Feb with a return from AKL in March. We have a nice cruise in between. Looking for either an Economy fare that can be upgraded, or mileage usage. DL wants 1 million miles from ATL, (yuk) and AA although Exec Plat will only put us on the upgrade standby list. Can leave from anywhere stateside basically. Desperately need your help and suggestions, have 48 hours to confirm cruise ship. HELP

Mwenenzi

Have you looked at cash fares?
Upgrades can be hard. Do you have airline ffp status?

What freq flyer miles and/or hotel points to do you have? But 48hrs may be too quick to transfer & book airline ffp awards

There are many threads on awards USA to Australia/New Zealand. A lot of people are trying for premium cabins.
2 people trying for an award on the same flight is 3 times as hard.
Look for the trans Pacific Ocean long haul award first. Then add on any domestic flights

You need to flexible with dates, route, departure city & destination city. SYD is not the only airport in Australia. Look at BNE & MEL and even ADL for Au east coast trips. Trans Tasman flights (~3:25) between Australia & New Zealand are frequent and to/from many cities

Dedicated AA threads
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...solidated.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...er-thread.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...ec-2015-a.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...aster-thd.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...solidated.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...demptions.html

A typical Delta thread
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...r-airline.html

Others (will add to list later)
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/infor...w-zealand.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/infor...avel-help.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/infor...australia.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/infor...-then-bos.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/infor...irst-help.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/infor...w-zealand.html


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

Airlines that fly USA/Canada to/from New Zealand are (not from all airports to all airports)
- American Airlines AA (LAX - AKL) from 23 June 2016 [OneWorld Alliance] (AS partner)
- Air New Zealand NZ (LAX SFO IAH YVR- AKL)[Star Alliance]
- Air Tahiti Nui TN (LAX AKL via Tahiti) (AA & DL partner)
- Fiji Airways FJ (LAX SFO HNL via Fiji) (QF AA & AS partner)
- Hawaiian HA (HNL-AKL)(AA & VA partner)
- Qantas QF (via SYD BNE & MEL) [OneWorld Alliance] (AS partner)
- United UA (SFO - AKL) from July 2016
- Virgin Australia VA (via BNE & SYD) (DL partner)
And others via Asia & Middle East

Jasper2009

Getting an upgrade on AA is extremely hard.

Upgrading using miles generally makes no sense since you generally need business class award availability to upgrade, and in that case you could just redeem for a business class award ticket.

Awards in business class to OZ/NZ are among the toughest to book.

How many miles do you have in each program?

Mwenenzi

Not that hard on the LAX-SYD route compared to other long haul routes. Many have had success. A lot of capacity on the LAX-SYD route now. But upgrades are never guaranteed. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...l#post27494017

LondonElite

I think this is a case of just keep looking. If you need to commit to a cruise within the next two days then you have a bit of searching ahead of you. Alternatively you may wish to consider an award booking service to do this for you.

Kiwi Flyer

Paid flights between Sydney and Auckland are fairly cheap so you could look into simple return awards/fares for either US to Sydney or US to Auckland, and buy a oneway separate ticket to complete the loop (with the cruise). The US round trip fare or award availability may be much better than an open jaw.

holocker

I am looking for a Business flight also to SYD and today did find 80k Business seats on American for Oct 15. Thant was literally the only date with Business Saver seats open for Sept/Oct. I need a little later in the month so will wait a couple days.

The problem I found is I need to go SAN-LAX-SYD. There were 2 seats open on the LAX-SYD leg, but only 1 one the SAN-LAX leg. Wanted to route me through PHX to get to LAX if I wanted 2 tickets.

Mwenenzi

You may not get an award.

Trying for 2 people on the same premium award flight is 3 or 4 times as hard as 1 person. You may need to split and travel on different day/routes/cites/airlines

Concentrate on getting the the long haul. As guess the cash price SAN-LAX (109 miles) is not a lot. Most people would have snapped up long haul award and paid cash for the feeder flight. Or driven the short 109 miles.

The first rule when using miles/avios/points in any program is "book what you can find" i.e. you can't expect there to be availability on every flight. Or an award you see today still will be available tomorrow. If you need to get from A to B on a certain time, using points is not always a viable option.

sdsearch

Your Profile says you're in Carlsbad. The AA LAX-SYD flight departs in late evening. Why not just drive to LAX and fly from there, instead of backtracking south from Carlsbad to SAN airport, if you can't get SAN-LAX nonstop flights but can get LAX-SYD?

I live a bit north of LAX and yet flew from SAN (including needing to get a cheap hotel because it was an early morning departure) when I could only get an award flight from SAN.

JDiver

Two Business award seats LAX-SYD? I'd grab them, as if two days later opens you can change without cost, but you're not very likely to find two seats "de novo". At worst, take two days of unpaid holiday or leave and take advantage. But eschewing US-Godzone seats because they're not on the right day...

Also check to BNE, MEL or AKL connecting to SYD.

Or AA partners FJ / Air Fiji connecting via NAN, or TN / Air Tahiti Nui connecting via PPT, etc. (Could require another connection to SYD using QF, etc.) Cheap or award flight to HNL, onward on Hawaiian. Assiduous and broad searches help - I've secured a number of US-Aus-US Business awards over the years.

Mwenenzi

Yes Have not seen that before

The holockeray Au award thread http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...r-airline.html Post from that thread


Looks like holockeray may be heading north first
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ocean...-where-go.html

shonamac

And although one (or both) of you are Exec Plat, you have not flown much on AA international flights, have you? Perhaps you were status matched to Exec Plat? I ask because had you tried using an EVIP during the last 18 months or so, you would have been almost invariably put on a waitlist initially.

But they do clear ... I have had two of them clear on different dates this year.

JDiver has given you excellent advice (as he ALWAYS does) in suggesting that you grab whatever you can get now, even if it is 2 days away from your ideal date.

Also, if you can get only one seat confirmed now, you should take it and keep the other one on the waitlist.

holocker

I have been checking American Airlines for LAX-SYD Business Class tickets daily the last few days as I am looking for some seats for Oct 2017 and what I have been finding is 2 Business Class and 1 First Class seat are released at 330 days out on the LAX-SYD flight. For positioning flights from other airports I am finding only 1 seat on a direct routing to LAX and if you want 2 seats on the same flight I am given a round about routing. One routing for a SAN-LAX flight had me going SAN-JFK-LAX.

MileSaver Business on AA from LAX- Australia (can include a connecting flight on Qantas within Australia) is pricing out at 80k. They are all American Airlines flights. Have never seen a LAX-SYD Qantas flight come up.

What I have not figured out yet is if the seats are released at the same time every day or different times. On some days I have seen the seats around midnight PST and other times not till the morning.

Usually, the seats are gone that day, but there were seats open for Oct 15, 2017, that were online for 2 or 3 days.

For Delta, I have found no pattern. Cheapest I have ever found is 110,000 miles one way, but often cheapest is 175k and have even seen 300+k for 1 way Delta One seats. At the 110,000 level I am often seeing only 1 seat. I am also only seeing Delta flights. I have never seen a Virgin Australia flight to SYD come up.

Mwenenzi

From holocker's other thread

AspiringWorldTraveler

I've entirely exhausted my expertise, looking for a flight for my mother to visit my now expecting sister who is living in Sydney. She's got a nice stock of miles in both UR and AX, but I'm having a hard time finding anything. Looking JFK-SYD anytime after 4/23 (before 5/5) NOT flying Saturday. Only things I've found have been with non-lie flat. Any connection ideas (flying on separate itin) are welcome.

Thanks in advance