First Award Ticket Tips
Jan 15, 2012, 8:15 pm
#16
Join Date: May 2009
Location: SEA
Programs: AA EXP (2.5MM), Hilton Gold, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 4,859
I think your best bet is AA - 62.5K miles for one-way Biz, North America -> Australia. You could do something like BOS-LAX on AA, then LAX-SYD on Qantas. However, you would have to look early. Since you have 30K miles, a 50K credit card offer would do the trick.
UA costs 67.5K miles, and you may be able to route via Asia. Air New Zealand can also work.
*Edited no-coffee typos.
UA costs 67.5K miles, and you may be able to route via Asia. Air New Zealand can also work.
*Edited no-coffee typos.
Jan 16, 2012, 10:16 pm
#17
Join Date: Jan 2007
Programs: UA
Posts: 11
Added emphasis here. Finding a Biz or First award on Qantas with AA mile is extremely difficult. You will not only have to book very early, you will also need to be flexible on your dates. Actually, if you have enough miles, you may have better luck going USA-Hong Kong-Sydney. It costs more miles, but is a bit easiesr tha USA-Australia.
Good luck. Check early and often.
Jan 16, 2012, 10:25 pm
#18
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,821
I believe UA is a hybrid - some partner awards are still r/t pricing? while UA's own metal is one-way pricing.
NZ does not have F class if I recall it correctly.
NZ business class seats are very good. Our first business class award was a UA award to Australia / NZ on NZ, back in 2007 on the last days of the 90K miles chart.
