I'm starting my LONE4 at the beginning of September, and had some thoughts about the availability of L-class seats on my journey. My itinerary is as follows:
LHR-NRT-HKG-BKK//SIN-DRW//MEL-CNS-SYD-CHC//AKL-SYD-HNL-SFO-LAX-ORD-YOW//YYZ-BOS-JFK-LHR.
The first 2 flights are dated, the rest left open.

I was looking through the schedules the other day at the number of flights per day and got a little worried about the SYD-HNL, only flying 3 times a week. I plan to make this flight the beginning to mid July. Will I have a problem making a reservation with L availability if I leave it until only a few weeks before I've decided on a date to fly? I'm also curious as to whether any of the other flights I have are busy routes where I am likely to run into problems if I leave it too late. Maybe I'm just worrying over nothing though.

Thanks for any advice you can give.

If I were you from time to time I would monitor the open segments with an availability tool: when you see L availability go down below your risk level it's time to book the flight. Anything else is just guesswork.

If you can set dates for the whole thing now that at least gives you a 'safety net'.

Date changes are FOC so if your plans change and there are seats then no problem, if not the 'safety net' is there.

Only other thing you might need to watch out for is the high probability that by next July that Qantas will no longer fly SYD-HNL and it'll become a Jetstar route instead. There *should* still be the QF codeshare on the flight if it changes over to JQ, and the ONE rules allow JQ metal (with QF code) for those that originate outside Aus or NZ, but it may make for a less desirable flight (and also a good chance of schedule changes as part of the changeover as well). For those doing a DONE it's something to be even more mindful of, the downgrade from International Business Class to Star Class on Jetstar (roughly equal to Domestic Business Class on QF).

Why open date this kind of routing/ticket? I do not see any advantage, and a huge disadvantage: the risk of the route ceasing to operate by the time you fly. With a dated sector the airline will re-route you (including multiple sectors for free, or even on a non-OW flight if necessary), while with open-dated you get to reroute (and pay a reissue fee). E-tickets have eliminated 99% of the benefit of open-dated tickets.....am I missing something? It just seems stupid (or a great gift to the airline) to continue to use open-dated tickets, given that date changes are free and easy now (I've never had it take longer than 1 minute).

My opinion is that SYD-HNL is at great risk (with the double whammy of QF dropping a codeshare and/or L being sold out). L availability is quite poor on some routes, something to keep in mind. ORD-YOW is also risky too, I'd book that when possible.

A bit OT from the OP's original question, but your update on SYD-HNL leg moving to Jetstar caught my attention. I currently have a OW130 award in J on hold for next June. The leg home from NZ is not my ideal routing, but is currently the only thing available in J (CHC-SYD-HNL-LAX-DFW). This would be on June 16th of 2007. Would the SYD-HNL leg still be QF metal?

Maybe. JQ doesnt yet have approval - who knows how long this will take to come through.

QF is working hard to make sure that it is not on QF metal by June 2007 (QF is short on planes and crews and needs it on other routes). While regulatory approval is required -- and various competitors such as UA will file to object to the change -- I would guess 99% chance that it will go through by then and be a JQ route (with the fine JQ J service, a bit of a step down from QF, roughly equivalent to AA 757 F service).