Question on QF J-Class availability on RTW bookings
 

Hi Everyone.

In late Summer I booked a RTW trip for 2 people using AA miles on oneworld, and was able to get all the flights I wanted with business class seats, except for one airline. Qantas. I booked the flights 9 months in advance for June 2010. In general, is the demand for such seats really that high on Qantas LAX-SYD & SYD-NRT flights, or are they just really stingy with releasing availability? My itinerary includes JL, CX and BA and didn't have similar problems. :confused:

SYD-LAX is a very busy and highly profitable route for QF. Premium award space is few and far between and even discounted fares are few and far between. Your best bet would be to go on a QF service via AKL.

I suspect SYD-NRT award availability may open up closer to the time although you might want to consider going via HKG.

You picked the worst two routes on QF for J class award availability.

J class award availability on SYD-NRT is also notoriously tight.

QFF members can redeem awards 355 days out. Award seats for June 2010 travel were released a couple of months before you made your booking.

It's precious little help to you, but I found myself in a very similar position a few years ago on a RTW award J itinerary. Booking with much the same notice, I had to base the entire itin. on the one day in October 2002 when I could get an award flight in J from LAX to SYD!

I see that there is still award availability on this route in QF Premium Economy on both June 7 & 8, 2010. This is by far the best Premium Economy in which I've travelled, and is a kind of Business Lite. If you can grab these seats, I'd suggest you do so.

Unfortunately you can't redeem AA miles for premium economy on any carrier.

For your leg to SYD, have you tried routing LAX-SFO-SYD or LAX-MEL/BNE-SYD? These may have more availability than LAX-SYD direct.

A pity. Perhaps because AA doesn't offer PE itself, they don't want the hassle of coping with it for awards. As you probably know, where it is offered, it's usually priced halfway between Business & Economy mileage. All the same, thanks for the correction.