For those who can make use of BMI's program, that actually provides even better value -- especially in the premium cabins. :)

Quelle Domage! no Singapore Air US to Oz
 

Thanks GUWonder and SATLawyer. From those threads it seems pretty complicated using DL miles, and not really worth it.

I did see a post on one of the threads talking about using DL miles to go to Oz via Singapore Air.. would that even be possible? It could be worth the extra miles to go on Singapore..

but Quelle Domage, just saw the news on the Singapore Air thread:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...E23349,00.html :(

UA has a sale on so instead of the usual 60,000 miles for saver Y it is only 45,000. Others are (Saver Y, Biz, First)

Alaska - 80/105/135
AA - 75/125/145
CO/DL/NW - 100/150/200
UA - 60 (45 at the moment)/90/120
US - 80/120/150

CO you can ticket a QF ticket or go via Guam to Cairns, other Skyteam is only on Korean Air from Korea. UA & US are Star Alliance metal so either UA, NZ (via New Zealand) or Air Canada via Hawaii. AA & Alaska are QF metal.

Hawaiian also flies from Hawaii to SYD although I am not sure of the award levels.

You can absolutely use DL miles to get to SYD on KE - my fiance and I are taking our honeymoon in April flying open jaw IAD-ICN-SYD and then ACK-ICN-IAD.

It cost 150K DL miles each for Business class.

Obviously it was not ideal to either have to go through ICN or to have to sue so many miles but we really wanted to go to Down Under, I REFUSED to fly coach that far and, at the time we were looking last fall anyway, the cheapest business class fare I could find was $8K each. DL was the only airline that I had a ton of miles saved up on, so it was our only option that met all the criteria. And I would rather add on the extra flying hours in Business than have the shorter flight in Coach.

I've been banking my AA miles for YEARS with the eventual intention of cashing them in for two biz class tickets to Oz. Right now that total is going to run me 250k miles. I almost fell over though when I saw above that on UA this would only run me 180K miles. 70,000 miles difference! Is the level of service that dramatically different? Are there any other reasons I'm overlooking? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

F
 

Essentially it is because UA is using its own metal while AA tickets on Qantas and QF doesn't give seats away for cheap. The QF product is better than either the AA or the US product in Biz but not by that much really. In economy I actually think UA is better than QF since QF has suprisingly small seats....

Of course if you ticket on NZ via New Zealand with UA miles you would get a pretty comparable experience to QF for a lot fewer miles.

Ticketing with QF miles is even worse - they double the economy rate for business rather than the 1.5 multiplier.

AA generally stinks for awards between the US and Australia. Not only is QF a routine pain when it comes to releasing seats for AA awards on US-Australia flights, it is also far more costly in miles than it is with say United.

The UA biz award to/from oz for 90k is about the best deal in the FF world IMHO.

As posted above UA just announced that coach awards have dropped for a short time to 45K.

Dear ozstamps,

For a limited time, a United Economy Saver Award between the US and Melbourne or Sydney is only 45,000 Mileage Plus miles. You must book your award ticket online. This offer must be ticketed by 15 March 2006 and travel must be completed by 15 May 2006. To enjoy this mileage savings, we encourage you to book your award travel as soon as possible.

Offer details

Offer valid for Mileage Plus members residing in Australia, the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands only.

Award ticket may be redeemed online only.

Must be ticketed by 15 March 2006 and travel must be completed by 15 May 2006.

There are no blackout dates.
Not combinable with other mileage redemption offers.

Go farther with fewer miles! Book your Saver Award travel now.

Allow me to translate: Hey, Mileage Plus managers! You are giving away the store. Please, please raise this award level as soon as possible! :p

Seriously, I'll delete mine if you delete yours. @:-)

From what I understand, those 90k biz awards between US and Aus/NZ are also among the more difficult to actually book. So they're probably not giving away too many of them, just enough to keep it interesting.