There is no requirement for awards to start in the US. You can happily book SYD-LAX-SYD ( or even SYD-LAX-JFK-LAX-SYD ) for 75k(Y)/125k(J)/145k(F), or even book flights such as SYD-PER-SYD for 20k (Y)/35k(J) or LHR-SYD-LHR for 90k/120k/160k which don't go to the US at all

Dave

Dave and others, thanks for all this info. I have a few more questions regarding using AAdvantage from Australia.

1. Is there an Australian number to call for the AAdvantage reward bookings?

2. We all know that QF gives WP's good access to FF redemption seats (i.e. if loading is not tight, will convert any Y seat into a FF redemtion seat). Does AA offer any such equivalent to their EXP's? To me this is one of the main advantages of being a QF WP.

I think I got all the acronyms right!

Thanks

Jon

"1. Is there an Australian number to call for the AAdvantage reward bookings?"

Indeed there is. 1300-650-747

"2. We all know that QF gives WP's good access to FF redemption seats (i.e. if loading is not tight, will convert any Y seat into a FF redemtion seat). Does AA offer any such equivalent to their EXP's? To me this is one of the main advantages of being a QF WP."

They do on AA and can get access to the additional inventory on BA, I am not sure about additional QF inventory. I am not aware of QF converting inventory, however they do have T class for WPs as well as X class

"I think I got all the acronyms right!"

Except they are abbreviations rather than acronyms :)

Thanks

QF will not convert any Y seat to FF redemption. They do allow (WP's and I think SG's, but I have not been SG since the WP status was created) to redeem from the T discount paid fare bucket. So if booking far enough in advance, multiple seats in the WHY cabin are easy to obtain. QF WP's can get T class seats for awards on AA, BA, CX, AY as well. Not sure on others. Don't know if AA EXP's can get T on QF, but don't see why that would not be bilateral, but not many AA EXP's are willing to sit in the WHY cabin since they are so used to being upgraded on coach fares. They are alway consuming the U and Z inventory buckets.

NM and Dave: Not sure about the T-class thing. Many of my awards indeed end up booked in T, but in several conversations with QF Premium desk staff in the past few years, I consistently get the message that they have the ability to convert seats from many of economy class buckets into T (they have done this for me several times now at reasonably short notice, notably on heavily booked SYD-LAX and SYD-SCL flights). They are fairly evasive on this one ("don't worry, we should be able to get you a seat, we'll check with yield and call back later"), but seem to do it fairly quickly (i.e. within a day). Similar things happen with some of my colleagues (e.g. my boss often takes his kids with him on complex RTW tickets, generally booked 2-4 weeks in advance, all using points). Lower level WP's in our company cannot do this. This is why we suspect that there is an undocumented above-WP tier or service in the QFF program.....any thoughts? This is why I am reluctant to leave the program, even though I am really p***ed off by the changes.

On a couple of occasions I have had J/D converted to U for an award ticket. But that is not so common. They may be able to get yield management to create award seats, but I don't think it is accurate to say they will convert any Y seat to an award. If there was only one Y seat left on the flight, I very much doubt they will convert it to T/X for you. And in this case it is not the premium desk staff that are making the seat available. They are just pleading your case to the Yield Management dept who have the ultimate say in what happens.

T class award redemption
 

Yes, SG's have access to T Class as well; that's why 100K of Mrs (QPNB) Serfty's points winged their way across last week.

It's automatic with internet bookings. I haven't tried VR.

Several times over the years I have had to remind the QF operator that I was SG and 'please recheck', generally with success.