SFflyer123

I am a 1K in SFO. I don't need any more miles to make 1K, but of course, I can always use the miles for free tickets. My 3 options SFO to SYD I am considering are:

1) SFO-SYD UA. 787 2-2-2 seating (old business class, not true Polaris seating)
2) SFO-LAX-SYD. Virgin Australia 777 1-2-1 seating with the new Virgin Australia awesome seats
3) SFO-YVR-SYD. Air Canada 777 1-2-1 seating with the new Air Canada awesome seats

Not gonna fly Qantas because it's basically UA's configuration at 2-2-2 and I don't get any miles.

I don't want to fly Singapore Air or Cathay Pacific because the times are totally bad for me. ANA requires change of airport. Asiana is too long of a layover.

What do people think of these options?
1) The UA's pros are that it's direct and faster, but the cons are that it's the crappy 2-2-2 old CO legacy seating arrangement. I get UA EQM and dollars, but I don't need any more to get 1K. I'll easily clear 100,000 miles this year.

2) I heard that Virgin Australia with the new awesome seats are the best. 1-2-1 configuration with total aisle access, privacy, and great food. I heard that this is the best way to fly to Australia. However, I need to fly to LAX and deal with the heinous connection procedures at LAX (leave the terminal, exit security, take a bus, etc). Also, no UA miles, so basically fly without any miles, just the experience.

3) Air Canada's new YVR-SYD's 777 1-2-1 configuration seats are identical to the Virgin Australia seats. However, I heard the food and the service are not as good as Virgin Australia. However, I connect through YVR, which I heard is not as painful as connecting through LAX. Also, I get UA miles.


I would appreciate any thoughts from people! Thanks.

Gino Troian

Just take the direct on UA... 15 hrs vs 19+

rankourabu

VA or UA >>>>>>>>>>>>> AC (wouldnt even consider that because of the connection and general suckage of AC business)

For experience, VA clear winner, this isnt even close vs United - in every aspect (except LAX connection), for convenience, I guess its UA

Why wouldnt you get any miles on VA? - its a Delta partner.

What about NZ - much better business than UA and AC, and still Star Alliance. Just make sure AKL-SYD is on a widebody

Mwenenzi

And Delta & AA also fly LAX-SYD
Or as above SFO-AKL-SYD. Some NZ AKL-SYD can be A320's. Changing aircraft at AKL is way better than at LAX (same terminal all airside)

Making a connection is going to negate any (perceived) benefits for a better experience. After all it's just xx hrs in a metal tube to get from A to B.

nrunning24

VA is by far the best product of the options you proposed. I flew them LAX - MEL, 2 months ago and it was great. Flew back on the UA 777-300ER AKL - SFO and it was MILES behind. Just depends if you are willing to have a layover vs flying direct.

SFflyer123

Thanks guys. Seems like Virgin Australia is the winner. I looked at a video of the Delta product, and it appears to be the old style herringbone layout. Although the UA flight is so convenient, I can't stand the thought of giving United $7500 (not my personal money) for an average business class product. That is so much money, and they should not deserve to get that kind of money for such a mediocre product. It seems Virgin is the best, but AC may be a compromise in that it's the same seat as Virgin, but I will get Star alliance miles. I am not a delta loytalist, so Virgin miles don't mean much to me. I don't want to do Air NZ because it's basically similar to UA (2-2-2). If I am going to do a 2-2-2 layout, I'll just do United and not connect.

Mwenenzi

https://www.wheretocredit.com/virgin-australia/j A guide. Check the ffp web site.

rankourabu

Do not fly AC. The flight to YVR will be an old A320 (average age 30+ years) with an abysmal <50% on time performance. The J service on YVR-SYD makes United look like a 5* airline.

SFflyer123

Thank you! Great tip!

SFflyer123

Thank you. But I would be fying SFO -YVR. I really don't care about that leg. It's the trans-pacific leg I care about. It seems that AC's new product is almost identical to Virgin Australia (seat only). What do you think?

rankourabu

The seat may be the same but everything else falls short of VA ....wayyyyy short.

Amelorn

Substantial error alert: Air NZ's business cabin is 1-2-1. https://www.airnewzealand.com/long-h...siness-premier

Bonus: You'd rack the miles up for the AKL-SYD route, and you can fly on a wide-body with nearly identical service to longhaul (seat, great meal & drinks). Trans-tasman J on NZ spoiled me for short-medium haul premium cabin service.

Duke787

I understand not wanting to give UA your money but are you really willing to give up 75k RDMs (let's say $7k after taxes x 11 1K MQM bonus and the 75k cap)? The VA option gives you ~31.2k SkyPesos (15.6k in total distance at 200% RDMs for a J ticket).

If you were a DL person, I'd say the VA option is the easy one. It nets 40% MQDs which puts you at $6240 (aka enough for DL Gold off one trip) but presumably you don't have the 50k MQMs that you'd need to go with that (you'd likely net 150% MQMs so 23.4k).

31.2k SkyPesos gets you a OW Y TATL flight or a perhaps a OW domestic F ticket if you hit the right timing vs. 75k additional UA miles gives you a OW TATL J ticket or a OW TPAC J ticket (or nearly if you are using partners).

It sucks to give the dollars to United but if it were me, I'd rather just suck it up because of the higher ROI.

I'm surprised that NH requires a change of airport. You should be able to go SFO - HND - SYD but maybe United isn't willing to sell that since it competes with their SFO - SYD flight (you'd have to fly United on SFO - HND and then connect to NH for HND - SYD with a long layover at HND).

SFflyer123

Thank you. Good to know.

SFflyer123

Thank you so much for the correction. Yes, you right. I should have stated that I would rather not fly in the herringbone business class. I have flown the herringbone business class, and it just does not seem very luxurious.