BillyIdol

We are planning on taking a family vacation to Australia ( IAD to SYD ) and I was going to use miles ( 960k ) to book three first class tickets with UA.

I was thinking about going IAD->LAX/SFO->SYD. This will occur in about a year, so it is hard to predict what the domestic segment options will be, but am hoping for a three cabin 747 from LAX/SFO to SYD.

Is United my best choice (using MP miles)?

Any tips, tricks, caveats, suggestions?

It's a lot of miles, so I want to make sure I get the most out of them.

Thx

jhayes_1780

As opposed to what else? Flying another carrier? Or using miles from another program? Or were you thinking about buying tickets?

Also, you mention using 960K... your going to book standard?

Finally, do you have status?

BTW, UA only flies the 3 cabin 744 to SYD (short of IRROPS).

star_world

You will have many other options if you avoid UA. Getting three seats in XF to open up on the UA segments down to Australia is extremely difficult. Consider options including the following:

IAD-FRA-BKK-SYD
IAD-FRA-SIN-SYD
IAD-LAX-BKK-SYD

On combinations of UA, LH, SQ and TG. You may end up in C rather than F but your chances of being able to book something will dramatically increase. TG availability in particular is generally excellent.

weirdlyndon

Is that a valid routing? I tried to get flights to SYD last week and MP said if originating in JFK, I can't go via Europe to get to Australia. I'd have to go via the west coast and connect either in New Zealand or Asia.

jhayes_1780

OP had not come back to indicate the answer, but they mention using 960K mi for 3 tickets. So that would pull from standard inventory, so no capacity controls on those flights.

BlueZebra

I would first try to be flexible on dates, to see if you can get slightly lower artes on some dates.

Next, I would try to book one person, which will probably get you a saver rate, which will probably be 80K miles cheaper. then try to book the others individually, to see if you can get them at Saver rates. If not, book them at the Standard rate.

Chances are you will, if you are 330 days out, only be able to get one Saver seat in F. There are only 10 seats from SFO/LAX to SYD.

aacharya

I would echo others. Pick another *A carrier (Oz?) and fly in C. No point in using that many miles (almost a million!) on standard FC tickets.

Using the CO.com site (much much better for award bookings) I see:

6/15/2012

IAD-LAX-SFO-SYD for 67.5 miles one way in business. You can then waitlist for the direct IAD-LAX-SYD flight.

I couldn't look at returning flights yet.

jhayes_1780

Just to clarify, there are 24 seats (12 from SFO, 12 from LAX), although I think you can make the case that pilots might take one or two on each flight if repositioning.

NYC2TheWorld

Not sure you can waitlist on UA flights bought with OP miles. I currently am booked in Feb on LAX-SYD in F but really want LAX-MEL in F. As of now, according to the OP service desk they could not waitlist me for LAX-MEL as the systems aren't that intergrated yet. They didn't know when that would beTry calling maybe my agent didn't know what s/he was doing, but that's the response I got. However, you might be lucky with CO as they allow more flexibile routings (as long as its over the pacific to/from). For example, on my way back to stay in first I'm going SYD-BKK-NRT-LAX-JFK just to experience SQ and NH.

CPMaverick

XF to SYD on United is not that difficult to find. I would say, in my experience, it is easier to find XF on United than 3 business class saver awards on LH or SQ (admittedly not a large enough sample size to be scientific, but still).

I went XF to Australia last year on United, and it was XF2 when I booked in both directions for the long haul segment. Considering that the OP seems willing to book standard awards, XF2 and a single standard award should be reasonably easy. There is no standard award option on other carriers, so you have to wait for 3 savers available... not an easy task.

United is very hard to secure XC on, but XF is a lot simpler IME.

My advice is to look carefully for XF2, and book two tickets, then keep looking for opportunities to get the last one. If you see the inventory dwindle to F3 or F2 on your flights after getting 2 seats, I would snag the standard award. LAX is typically lighter than SFO in terms of F class IME.

infamousdx

I'm personally just trying to follow along but why do I get the infamous error when trying to route this on CO.com / Multiple destinations?

udondenver

Taking the liberty of jumping ahead to Sydney suggestion... Hotel suggestion - Park Hyatt with an amazing placement under the bridge and an otherwise great location. Side trip - commuter rail ride to the Blue Mountains for a day trip or more. In town - book and attend a function at the Opera House. Have fun - it was 10 years ago but I'd go again tomorrow if I could.

BillyIdol

Yes, I was looking at booking three standard award tickets. I've been running "simulations" trying to book the equivalent flights for this year ( actual trip is next year ) and it is very difficult to find saver tickets, particularly three of them.

I don't have any meaningful number of miles with other programs, so it'll have to be UA MP miles.

I'm 1K and already requaled for next year, so status should be the same.

Thx

jhayes_1780

In that case, I would book 3 standard awards, see if saver becomes available, and book and cancel as needed.