Sime

I'm doing a half business / half pleasure trip to the US with my wife beginning of 2005 - looking for the best way to book the domestic legs in the US. I'll be paying, not using points for these legs.

I was looking at booking online directly through the American Airlines website, but they don't let you purchase from internationally ? Something about reserving, then needing to purchase once you are in the US ?

Does anyone have any experience with this kind of thing, or have any suggestions on the best way of booking US domestic fares from AUS ?

martynriddle

If it is half business, why not look at a Circle Pacific ticket. You may find it costs very similar to a straight forward return to whichever city in the US you need to go for your business but will allow you to add on a few other cities for free. Only downside is that you will need to either go or come back via an Asian city (Hong Kong or Tokyo are favourite) to legitimise the fare.

The other benefit is with all the travelling, as long as the tix are booked on the correct class, loads of SC earning potential. I am sure greater FT minds than mine will have all the answers.

I did exactly this for my in-laws a couple of months back and they still keep thanking me!

Dave Noble

"I was looking at booking online directly through the American Airlines website, but they don't let you purchase from internationally ? Something about reserving, then needing to purchase once you are in the US ?"

The AA website only allows payment for tickets using US or UK creditcards. All you need to do once you have decided what flights you want is to phone the AA reservations office in Sydney and make the reservation.

Dave

NM

If your "business" component is in economy, see if you can pay the difference to upgrade to a BxEE1YA fare. This fare permits up to six stopovers and travel to most places in the USA. It may be cheaper than adding extra flights in a separate booking, and has the advantage of all being on the one ticket meaning less problems with connections etc.

honu

How about VUSA fares? Does AA offer them? (I know UA does.) Couldn't ever use them myself when I lived there (they're only for non-residents), but I heard that they could be a bargain. Is it still true, even with all the low fares available on so many routes nowadays?
Also, as far as booking engines, Travelocity.com, Expedia.com, and Orbitz.com also offer low fares (often better than what you find at aa.com). I'm not sure about their respective credit card requirements, though.

Bundy Bear

If they don't want your money then try another airline, Jetblue and Southwest will gladly take your money from an Australian Credit card. Check to see if they offer non stop service on the places you want to go.

If you really want points then try one of those visit North America passes. As long as you fix your first flight in the US the others can easy to change.

Sime

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I just had a thought though ... I may actually have enough points to do award flights for some of my US domestic legs (I had forgotten that the wife has actually accrued some points of late ^ )

I know you can't book much in the way of US domestic award flights online through Qantas - but I believe you can get American Airlines award flights if we call Qantas direct ? Anyone know how many points it would cost to do 2x economy flights LAX-FLL-LAX ?

tt7

As others have suggested above, I'd try to see if you can work your non-business U.S. legs into your 'business' ticket.

As for LAX-FLL-LAX, the lowest published fare on AA currently appears to be U.S. $183. If you were using AA miles, AA would want 25,000 miles for an economy ticket .... there is absolutely no way I would ever waste 25,000 miles on a ticket I can buy for $183.

I've never flown into FLL but it seems to get high marks from those that have and AA seems to be 'pushing' traffic to it, rather than Miami. For example, AA currently has an 'ex-Boston' sale on - $198 to Miami but only $138 to FLL. If you need to get from LA to south Florida, I would check out various alternative airports (on both ends) and various alternative routes - often, you can be very creative in the routing for not much more money than a direct flight.

Kiwi Flyer

Actually some airline websites will let you book with other cc's despite the message (I have done this on various airlines with kiwi cc but not tried AA). Have you tried completing the purchase?