Hello QF Folks!

I thought I'd ask the regulars on this board - as my question surrounds inventory availability and routing options from DFW to MEL on the Qantas flights.

Just found out I'll be leading a team down under (Melbourne) starting in early July.

The good news - the company will foot Business class for the flights - and so I began to pull together some plausible itineraries for my travel department to book.

My routing will be from DFW>MEL - with desired dates 7-10 July on the outbound - and 13-17 Sep on the return for the first of many trips over 18 months.

I first tried booking on aa.com - and found no flights available DFW>LAX>MEL, the only ones that came up had me routing DFW>SFO>AUK>MEL - with MEL>LAX>DFW available on the return.

Checking Expert Flyer - I see that every day during the week of 7 July is zeroed out in all classes on the LAX>MEL QF flights. Zoinks!

Granted - I'm only booking out ~2 weeks from departure -- but is LAX>MEL that popular a route in their autumn/winter time period (I think I got that part of the season right :-) ).

So - unless I'm not using Expertflyer correctly - or the routing is truly sold out -- I was wondering if any frequent travelers had suggestions for creative routings in getting from DFW to MEL (i.e. perhaps a circle pacific fair?) - routing me DFW/LAX/HKG/MEL/LAX/DFW?

Pricing it out on our company website -- they have me going DFW/HOUSTON/LAX/AUK/MEL on Continental and Air New Zealand -- and our corp discounted rate is $15Kish, checking the routing on AA - it's $19K in business. Been a few years since I (rather, my company) paid for a business class trip down under -- and I was a bit sticker shocked -- I remember business fares being around $8 or $9K (I thinks).

So - this Texan would surely appreciate thoughts on routing options for those make this trip (or have made this trip) on a regular basis!

Take care --

Since you are planning to be here for some 8 weeks or so why not come via Asia. The extra travel time may well be worth it. How many in your party?

You might also be able to do a DCIR22 from LAX, and buy some return fares DFW-LAX?

Eg buy DFW-LAX return, then buy a DCIR22 LAX-HKG-MEL-AKL (or BNE) -LAX for closer to US$10,000...

(Edited to add - visit the friendly OW Forum and find out more about DCIRs and DONEs Here)

(Edited to add II - or go visit CNS or SYD or both! - how about LAX-HKG-CNS-BNE-SYD-MEL-AKL-LAX)

I expect the ex-US pricing for that would be considerably under US$10,000. Even a DCIR26 that could easily include the LAX-DFW portion would be well under.

As the OP is an AA EXP member, he may be interested in routing DFW-NRT (and using an E-VIP to F) and then NRT-MEL on QF or NRT-HKG-MEL on CX, all fitting nicely into a Circle Pacific fare.

A DIRC22 is US$5,500 ex-US and a DCIR26 is $6,600 (+ taxes in both cases). Nobody in their right mind would pay $15k - $19k (or 3 times as much) unless (a) somebody else is paying (which presumably they are in your case) (b) you have to go direct, as quickly as possible and (c) you want to buy full J for maximum availability. Your travel department should be fired, based on the advice they gave you.

DFW-NRT-MEL-LAX-DFW is 20,644 miles so a DCIR22 (maximum of 22,000 miles) would be $5,500 + taxes.

Information is on the oneworld website -

http://www.oneworld.com/ow/air-trave...e-pacific-fare

As already suggested, I'd post in the oneworld forum, if you haven't done already.

DFW-NRT-HKG-MEL-LAX-DFW is 22,015 miles - so close yet so far ...

Both daily AA flights DFW-NRT are D7 every day the week of July 7 (except the 12.05 pm on Monday July 7, which is D6), so no problem with availability there. Use an evp to upgrade to F.

The QF flight NRT-MEL only runs 3 days a week and is being cancelled begining early September. However, for your purposes, it's D9 on Monday July 7 and Thursday July 10 but D0 on Saturday July 12. You can't make the Monday flight unless you leave DFW on Sunday July 6. I'd fly Monday, spend 2 days in Tokyo and then the Thursday flight down to MEL. Alternatively, fly ex-DFW later in the week and connect direct (into NRT mid-afternoon, out at 8.20 pm)

Coming back - LAX-MEL the week of Sep 13 - D availability is a bit all over the place, both on QF and the AA codeshare, but it's there - just pick your day from what's available.

ExecPlatinum_Lord, US to Australia fares used to be a LOT cheaper then they are now, even ignoring the "fuel surcharge". The word you might be looking for is 'monopoly'.

Congrats on coming to Melbourne (my home town) - you'll love it here as long as you like changing weather.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. I was travelling back from Boston to DFW last night, got in late and didn't get a chance to check FT until this morning.

Well - it's Saturday morning here in Dallas - and you kind folks have given me a lot to consider before I ring up Amex on Monday to lock down my travel plans.

I'd forgotten about NRT and the ability to use my E-VIP's to upgrade to First, and getting 20K miles for the round trip is another plus to consider!

I'm wondering if my travel department is even aware of the Circle Pac fares... I noticed that the DIRC22 in First Ex-USA is $7900, still much less than the $15K our Corp website was quoting. If my team has budgeted $15K per trip every 8 weeks, I might be able to negotiate a return trip home more often - AND still save a few dollars for the firm.

Visions of QF First are bouncing in my head now... :-)

And - thanks to the warm welcome from everyone. I pop onto this board every once in a while - although I usually stay put on the AA forum. This is definitely a more cordial place to visit!

Enjoy your weekend folks!

[QF mod hat]

Since we're now in the province of DCIRs, I suggest we follow this thread in the friendly OW forum.

ExecPlatinum_Lord the posters there will be able to help you maximise opportunities of miles and status for your $$$.

[/mod hat]

I think your problem with availability will be due to school holidays (in Victoria 28Jun08 to 13Jul08) - always a peak time for trans-Pacific flights.

Hmmm but Qantas is listing award seats on MEL-LHR for many dates in early July, up until July 18. But not after this date, and none for August.

And MEL-LAX shows nothing for all of July and August, and has for the past week at least.

Any explanation for that? (I'm checking multiple times daily!) I can really see why people laugh at Qantas' award seating now...

Not sure what this has to do with my comment about school holidays - award seat availability is not a fair representation of how full the flight is - and the dynamics of LAX-MEL pax are dfferent to MEL-LHR pax.

I see a J award MEL-LAX on 23Jul08 and Y awards on 31Jul08 and 06Aug08, then nothing more until 27Aug08 - regardless, the OP was asking about LAX-MEL (zero availability 7-10Jul) as opposed to MEL-LAX (plenty of seats in multiple classes 7-10Jul)


The award availability that I see is not significantly different to any any point in the year with two weeks to go (apart from the Christmas/Summer Holidays period) to the departure date.

School holidays cause business class on a $15k+ route to sell out?

ExecPlatinum_Lord, just curious how the planning is coming along?

One further twist to consider if you're going to being doing this multiple times over the next 18 months is that RTW tickets (including A/DCIR22 and A/DCIR26) are priced based on the point of origin. An ACIR22 and ACIR26 are about $6,200 or $7,500 ex-Hong Kong (plus taxes).

Given that the ticket is good for 12 months, you just need to get to HKG on the first leg(s) of the first ticket (ex-DFW) and then start another ticket from there. Keep going round until you finally (before the 12 months are up) use the rest of the legs on the first ticket. The ticket has to be 'issued' in Hong Kong but the AA RTW desk should be able to set it up for you and then you just need to call AA in HKG to have the ticket issued.