Need help SYD-NYC for a new guy [18 June 2012]
 

the price of tickets is preposterous atm, so im looking to go the mile route.

whats the cheapest way to get from Sydney to new york via miles?
dates are 18-19 jnue until the 25th june till 1 of july

so far i saw that united has 40k flights and taxes comes out to 200$, any ideas? where would i pay less miles and fee's overall? even doing one ways with different miles?

Do you mean June 18, 2012?

That's in 3 days! Don't forget to factor in the close-in award ticketing fees.

1) What miles do you have?
2) Have you checked and see if there's any award availability on any of the FFPs that you have miles?

Good luck!

Actually it is in only 2 days now, keep in mind the time difference due to the flight originating in SYD.

OP, given your timeframe you may want to grab whatever award you can find if you are not flexible on dates and times and don't want to spend money on a last-minute ticket.

Do you have any AA/QF miles? Qantas is great on this route (especially if you can snag the A380) and they have heaps of award availability in coach. I see 3 award seats available for June 20 in economy on flight QF11. I fly this route annually and I would avoid United like the plague...

can AA book qantas flights?

Yes they are a partner in One World.

g-d dammit! the qantas site is down...
anyway where would you select the award using partners with qantas? and is there a chart that would show me how much it is?
are there any 1 world partners that i could use MR points for the flight that wouldnt charge fee's or have low fee's?

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

To redeem AA miles for travel on QF, you must call AA -- not QF -- and pay the telephone-ticketing fee (in addition to the close-in award fee). It is not possible to book QF award flights online when redeeming AA miles.

One-way between Australia and North America costs 37.5K AA miles in Coach.

You can find all three of AA's award charts (zone-based AA metal only, zone-based Partner, and distance-based "Explorer") at aa.com under the "AAdvantage" tab.

what about the other way round? qantas on AA? or ana on qantas or aa?

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

To redeem QF miles on AA (which does not fly to or from Australia), you must investigate QF's redemption rates and policies.

ANA miles are not redeemable on AA; I don't know whether ANA miles are redeemable on QF. (ANA is not a oneworld member.)

what my best option for 100k MR points?

You can transfer your MR to Cathay Pacific or British Airways and use them for QF flights. I would recommend Cathay Pacific, because they do not have as many "surcharges" as BA charges. How would you buy MR points at 1.7 cents each? Your alternative would be Delta from SYD-LAX on the 19th and return flights are available on the 25th/26th/27th. It costs 100k DL miles (MR partner) + 116.20 (taxes+surcharges).

it is possible to buy united miles for 30$? per 1000?

Understood, no further explanation needed :D . I think that Membership Rewards would be better than UR in your position. I would honestly consider making the trip longer due to the 14 hour time difference and spending 23 hours on a plane.

so what would i do?