What's the best way to get from DTW to MEL (w/o going over the atlantic).

Does one just bite the bullet and go DTW-NRT and then Quantas?

Company wants me to use TED, is that even something worth considering? TED's business class doesn't exactly look like much to write home about. A 15 hour flight w/o layflats doesn't sound like fun.

Thanks,

-B

If you want full EQMs for just about the entire trip, you could take NW into HNL and pick-up Hawaiian, you could also take KE into Seoul and then into Oz and then in either case hook inter Oz to Mel. Also, you could do CO to Cairns and hook inter Oz as well. Just in all three instances pay attention to fare class as you might end up getting either some or no EQMs.

fly on united short stop in syd and your there

Anyone care to compare/contrast the United Business Class to NW's?

Sure, ever seen one of these on a transpac flight on NWA?

United FC Seat

How many of these do you think you could fit in a CRJ? Hmmmmm.......

Very nice, but this should be somewhat more relevant to the question.

From what I understand, UA C is better than old WBC but not as good as new WBC.

I had to go to ADL. Our company wants us to travel on AA/QA. There isn't a good way of getting to Australia, especialy ADL on NW and it's partners without spending a lot of time in transit. If you want to take QA, DTW-LAX(NW) and then QA to MEL is the best way.

My 2 cents if you want full EQM on SkyTeam/NW:

1) fly NW to Guangzhou (Canton) and take CAN-MEL via CZ
2) get yourself to Seoul Incheon via NW and ICN-MEL via KE
3) max your EQM to Singapore and go SIN-MEL via AF (last I checked they codeshare with SQ)
4) get to KUL (fly to SIN and short hop on the shuttle) and fly KL to MEL (they codeshare with MH)

Options 3 and 4 will earn no WP miles on the codeshare flights. Flying Blue members could earn miles on the AF/KL codeshares, but NW will not let you earn miles on SkyTeam-partner codeshares operated by an airline which is not part of SkyTeam.

Oh, and the AF flights to Australia are codeshared with QF (Qantas), not SQ.

My suggestion continues to be Korean Air:

Either fly NW to DTW-NRT-ICN and then ICN-MEL on KE, or fly NW to one of KE's North American gateways (LAX, SFO, LAS, SEA, ORD, ATL, JFK, IAD, DFW, HNL, ANC, YYZ, YVR) and fly KE via ICN from there.

Full miles, relatively little hassle and probably a halfway affordable fare as well, especially if you break the trip into two tickets (i.e. DTW-SEA-DTW on NW, SEA-ICN-MEL-ICN-SEA on KE).

Or you can go SIN-MEL or KUL-MEL using GA with a stop over in either Jakarta or Bali and get miles (though no EQM's)

If your employer is paying for business class, I'd just take Qantas non-stop (QF94) from LAX-MEL and return on QF93 from MEL-LAX non-stop. Qantas has their SkyBed's in business and they're nice.

See my blog at the end if you want to read about the Qantas Business Class service as I was in QF Business on QF25 back in July.

Here's a pic of the SkyBed I took:Picture of Qantas Skybed

The pic is of a SkyBed seat on the upper deck of the 744. It's very comfortable and service was superb. You can see the lockers by the window on the upper deck, the seat itself, the remote control for the AVOD. In the seat in front of you is a good sized TV. Not all of the 744's have AVOD yet from what I understand.

If you want NWA mileage, you can take Korean Business Class to SYD and catch a QF domestic over to MEL. This will get you EQMs. You can also take Malaysian Airlines Business Class out of LAX or EWR to KUL and then down to MEL. No EQM's but you get Business Class mileage.

Otherwise, take NWA WBC as far as SIN and pick up QF non-stop to Melbourne from there. It really does add on a lot of travel time to go via Asia -- I've done this myself on award tix a couple of times. The time I spent flying LAX-ICN, I almost could have been to MEL. Instead I had another 12 hours + of flights plus connecting time on the ground routing via ICN-KUL-MEL.

I honestly believe you're probably best going United or Qantas -- it takes a lot of time off the journey and you skip having to transit Asia. I personally would take QF business over UA business. If you purchase a through ticket, you'll probably be routed on AA for the domestic. If you don't have an AA account, this would be a good chance to jump-start your earnings.

The UA flight stops in SYD before going onto MEL (or you transfer to the other UA aircraft in SYD depending on your routing). If you fly QF, you can knock out the entire LAX-MEL in one flight. There is also QF 26 which goes via AKL - this operates in a Y/J config only with a 747-400, but the non-stop QF 94 has an F/J/Y config and is a 747-400ER. Was 15 hours 3 minutes wheels up to wheels down last time I took QF94 LAX-MEL.

SDF_Traveler

P.S. If you need to buy any duty free, including duty free liquid products, there is a Duty Free shop on arrival at MEL before you clear Immigrations and Customs. It's not the cheapest, but better than street price for some items.