American/Qantas to Australia
May 19th, 2005, 04:49 AM
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American/Qantas to Australia
I just discovered that I can't use my American Airlines' miles to upgrade to business class on an American flight to Australia. The reason is that the American flight is operated by Qantas. Even though Qantas is a partner of AA, I can't use my miles to upgrade if I take a "real" Qantas flight either. AA is cramped in coach and I have trouble on an 11 hour flight so a 14 hour flight will be murder. Is the coach section on Qantas better? What does Qantas have in the way of entertainment to distract you? Thanks!
May 19th, 2005, 08:29 AM
#2
May 19th, 2005, 02:34 PM
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Its a Qantas Airlines flight that you would be on anyway I think as its a codeshare deal with AA.
The reason you are having trouble is that Qantas has just released a new set of FF points that are needed to a lot of destinations and those to the USA will be increased by May 25th so everyone has jumped in and booked flights before they need more points to have a trip. I have booked the first business class seats to the USA and that will be next May 5th so you see just about everything has been sold and that would be why you cannot get a seat with points.
Just take something to sleep. I do and a couple of weeks ago when I flew from LA I ate dinner as soon as we got on board, get up for breakfast and woke again when we were just about to land in Brisbane.... just had time to go brush my teeth! You know you forget the flight within hours of arriving if its not been that good and anyway whats wrong with a dose of the latest games and TV for a few hours?
The reason you are having trouble is that Qantas has just released a new set of FF points that are needed to a lot of destinations and those to the USA will be increased by May 25th so everyone has jumped in and booked flights before they need more points to have a trip. I have booked the first business class seats to the USA and that will be next May 5th so you see just about everything has been sold and that would be why you cannot get a seat with points.
Just take something to sleep. I do and a couple of weeks ago when I flew from LA I ate dinner as soon as we got on board, get up for breakfast and woke again when we were just about to land in Brisbane.... just had time to go brush my teeth! You know you forget the flight within hours of arriving if its not been that good and anyway whats wrong with a dose of the latest games and TV for a few hours?
May 19th, 2005, 05:33 PM
#4
AA miles can't be used to upgrade on any airline besides AA, regardless if it's an AA flight number via a codeshare. Same with most FF plans. You can try for award tickets on Qantas or any AA partner airline, in any class, but not upgrades.
AA has no service to the south Pacific past Hawaii. All services beyond that are codeshares on other airlines' metal.
AA has no service to the south Pacific past Hawaii. All services beyond that are codeshares on other airlines' metal.
May 19th, 2005, 06:24 PM
#5
I was just looking over my post and thought I'd poke around AA.com to see how comfortable you could make the flight even if you can't upgrade on Qantas. In doing so I discovered that some routings might be a couple hundred dollars cheaper to Oz if you travel via Hawaii.
I don't know where you're starting from, but give this a shot: Go to AA.com and select the "multi-city" option. Then type in your home airport as the starting point, then Honolulu (HNL) as the first leg. Then make the next leg from HNL to your Australian destination the following day. (The plane goes to Sydney, and that might be the cheapest destination, even if you're going elsewhere and have to book something cheaply once you're in Australia.) Also note Qantas flies that route only on Tu/Th/Sa, so you'd need to get to HNL early that morning or the night before (which would also help with jetlag BTW.) Coming back, you could type in Oz-your home which would probably put you on a nonstop to California, or you could do the Hawaii stop in reverse, although you'd probably have to take the first available connection from HNL rather than overnighting. But play with the system and see what comes up.
The good thing about the HNL-SYD leg, unlike the California-Oz flights, is that it's an all daylight flight - leaves HNL at 11:30 am, arrives SYD 5:30 pm (the next day, of course.)
When I picked an imaginary US origin (Dallas) and compared the HNL routing v. a straight DFW-SYD round trip, it came out $250 cheaper. I'm betting you could find a hotel in Honolulu for less than that for one night, even if it's not a 5-star on Waikiki.
The airplane Qantas uses on that route is an older (not old, but more mature, let's say) 747-300 that's set up as a two-class plane (i.e., coach and business, no first class.) Although coach seats are not that roomy, the fact that it's a day flight where you don't need to sleep if you don't want to helps, plus you could also turn up early at the QF counter at HNL and asked how much it would cost to upgrade. Sometimes they'll let you buy your way into business class for a couple-three hundred dollars at the gate if it's a light load up front/up top.
You probably can upgrade on the domestic portion of the itinerary, i.e., to HNL, using AA miles. Or, by splitting up the itinerary in this manner, you might be okay with coach as far as Hawaii.
Anyway, check it out.
I don't know where you're starting from, but give this a shot: Go to AA.com and select the "multi-city" option. Then type in your home airport as the starting point, then Honolulu (HNL) as the first leg. Then make the next leg from HNL to your Australian destination the following day. (The plane goes to Sydney, and that might be the cheapest destination, even if you're going elsewhere and have to book something cheaply once you're in Australia.) Also note Qantas flies that route only on Tu/Th/Sa, so you'd need to get to HNL early that morning or the night before (which would also help with jetlag BTW.) Coming back, you could type in Oz-your home which would probably put you on a nonstop to California, or you could do the Hawaii stop in reverse, although you'd probably have to take the first available connection from HNL rather than overnighting. But play with the system and see what comes up.
The good thing about the HNL-SYD leg, unlike the California-Oz flights, is that it's an all daylight flight - leaves HNL at 11:30 am, arrives SYD 5:30 pm (the next day, of course.)
When I picked an imaginary US origin (Dallas) and compared the HNL routing v. a straight DFW-SYD round trip, it came out $250 cheaper. I'm betting you could find a hotel in Honolulu for less than that for one night, even if it's not a 5-star on Waikiki.
The airplane Qantas uses on that route is an older (not old, but more mature, let's say) 747-300 that's set up as a two-class plane (i.e., coach and business, no first class.) Although coach seats are not that roomy, the fact that it's a day flight where you don't need to sleep if you don't want to helps, plus you could also turn up early at the QF counter at HNL and asked how much it would cost to upgrade. Sometimes they'll let you buy your way into business class for a couple-three hundred dollars at the gate if it's a light load up front/up top.
You probably can upgrade on the domestic portion of the itinerary, i.e., to HNL, using AA miles. Or, by splitting up the itinerary in this manner, you might be okay with coach as far as Hawaii.
Anyway, check it out.
May 19th, 2005, 06:48 PM
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Wow, Gardyloo, you really went out of your way for me. I'll take a look at everything you came up with. Just for drill, I called Qantas to see how much business class would cost. Coach is $1,000; business class is $9,900!!! I like your idea of paying a couple hundred at the counter. Even with sleeping pills, I don't sleep on planes. Traveling during daylight doesn't help much. My legs feel cramped and restless and I have a hard time sitting still. In the "old" days, I used to stand by the galley for 15 minutes at a time stretching and moving a little. Now we can't do that. I started taking aspirin just before I fly to thin my blood. Who knows if that does any good but I think it's been helping on shorter 5 hour plane trips. I haven't tested aspirin on a 14 hour flight. Maybe a stronger sleeping pill will do it.
May 19th, 2005, 06:50 PM
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Go to qantas.com and check out international travel. They have videos of the cabins and all the amenities they offer. Have been to Australia before and going again and dread the flight also, but it sounds like there is lot of entertainment to help pass the time. Have a good flight!
May 20th, 2005, 02:39 PM
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Oh Gardyloo you gave such a great deal of good information that I got on the phone to Qantas thinking that perhaps I could go via Hon to LA before next May with my FF points or buy economy and upgrade. NO GO - they told me that everyone with FF points has booked a trip before the points increase on May 24th to go anywhere. There were the odd seat here and there and surprisingly there were even some seats in economy before next May but the chances of doing anything which half of Australia is in the air over the next year is zip I am afraid.
Most of the Qantas flights now have the back of seat personal videos with games and movies but the ones to Hon "may" not as they are older.
If JeanetteC is unsure of the 14 hr flight perhaps if she requested rows 70+ on the window she would find that they are much more comfortable being that there are only 2 together and the one near the window has about 10 inches of space between the seat and the window. Also they are the last ones to be filled and if there are any spare seats on the flight those will be the ones and two seats are better than one seat - especially if you also have the extra 10inches where you can put your legs while you either watch a movie or play games.
Most of the Qantas flights now have the back of seat personal videos with games and movies but the ones to Hon "may" not as they are older.
If JeanetteC is unsure of the 14 hr flight perhaps if she requested rows 70+ on the window she would find that they are much more comfortable being that there are only 2 together and the one near the window has about 10 inches of space between the seat and the window. Also they are the last ones to be filled and if there are any spare seats on the flight those will be the ones and two seats are better than one seat - especially if you also have the extra 10inches where you can put your legs while you either watch a movie or play games.
May 20th, 2005, 02:48 PM
#9
Yeah, Qantas people on flyertalk.com are saying that all FF seats to anywhere for the next year are going fast. Jeanette's question was regarding paid tickets, which ought to have okay availability since I doubt Qantas is going to make additional award seats available for Qantas FFP members.
You might have a look at the <b>one</b>world awards offered through QF rather than their straight awards. They might come out of other inventory although I doubt it, and even if they did the passionate QF mileage sharks probably have long since drained that particular pond.
You might have a look at the <b>one</b>world awards offered through QF rather than their straight awards. They might come out of other inventory although I doubt it, and even if they did the passionate QF mileage sharks probably have long since drained that particular pond.
May 20th, 2005, 06:43 PM
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Correct me if I am wrong Gardyloo but I thought that if the FF seats were taken the chances of an upgrade were nix/zip/zero. Please let me know because I might be able to do a deal then by buying Economy and upgrading to Business thereby getting over to LA before May next year on the FF points. I would prefer the trip sooner than later actually but unless hubby can have his bum in business 'cause he is old and feeble he won't go and I do want to take him back to Disneyland before its too late!
May 20th, 2005, 07:37 PM
#11
The "gate" upgrade is a rare thing and totally up to the gate people at the time of flying. If a flight has regular Qantas FF members waitlisted for upgrades, then naturally they'd get first dibs on any available seats that the airline wanted to release. But sometimes there are business seats that the airline would rather get a couple hundred bucks for rather than flying empty. I'm not saying there are any guarantees, but sometimes it does happen. Always worth asking for - what's the worst thing they can say?
May 21st, 2005, 10:46 AM
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Gardyloo
Fascinating information - thanks for going into that detail. It'll make me look differently at planning a trip to USA.
The new version of Qantas FF stinks! Still plenty of options to NZ, though!
Fascinating information - thanks for going into that detail. It'll make me look differently at planning a trip to USA.
The new version of Qantas FF stinks! Still plenty of options to NZ, though!
