Cassandra suggested I post this on the Airline board for you! Here's my original post on the Australia and U.S. Forums. I've received a wealth of information, but would love to pick your brain, too.

Our actual "flexible" travel dates are February 8 departure and February 28 return. We just have to be in Queenstown by February 16, 2009. We disembark our ship on February 27 in Auckland to return home (DFW). &lt

3/05/08 Post:
It is my understanding that American Airlines has a 329 day policy for booking flights. So, today, March 4, I thought I would be able to book a flight departing on January 28 or 29 of 2009.

Since we want to use miles, I called the Aadvantage desk to see what flights/options are available from LAX to New Zealand, with a week-long layover in Australia.

The agent started checking for me and couldn't find ANYTHING on Qantas. She started with January 29 and went all the way back to January 1. She thought is was possible the flights weren't "loaded" into the system or Qantas hadn't released seats to them yet.

I'm able to go on the Qantas website and PURCHASE a ticket all the up until February 21, 2009. Of course, we'd rather use miles with the hopes of flying Business or First since the flights are sooooo long.

Does this sound correct to anyone? Do you have any hints on how to secure a ticket to NZ/Oz using miles?

I have been wanting to use my AA miles to go to Australia and have been told several times from Advantage mile desk agents while redeeming the miles for other trips that Quantas is "next to impossible" to get free trips on especially in business class miles tickets. Good luck!

It's Qantas! Maybe that is the problem.

dutyfree,

I had a challenging time trying to secure a buiness award ticket, so I opted for first and had no problem. If you have miles to spare, first is very much worth it. The experience was so enjoyable that I could have flown a little longer.

Sounds right. Keep trying. I don't know how first/biz class on Air Tahiti Nui compares to Qantas, but they are a partner with AAdvantage. Might be possible to fly to LAX on AA and then Air Tahiti Nui to Auckland via Papeete. I don't know if this is an option but I'd ask.

I believe American has a code share agreement with Hawaiian Air. You might check if that extends to their New Zealand and Australian flights. I seem to recall those are about to start if they are not already on the schedule. It is possible that AA can sell AAdvantage seats on those flights.

mjz_kc
We have the miles and would prefer First. But, when I was checking the Qantas website to see how much tickets would cost (cough-cough!), I would only get pricing for Business. "Not Available" would come up for First Class. Surely it's not sold out on that many flights.

So, I checked their seating charts and it looks like there's only 14 seats in First!

I'll try Hawaiian...I didn't know about that being a possibility. I'll also try Air Tahiti Nui...Air Pacific...etc.

Thanks for everyone's great suggestions! And, thanks for the "Good Lucks" ...sounds like I need them ! Once a route is figured out and FF tickets retrieved, I'll post to let everyone know!

jewelhawg,
I hope it works out for you. Multiple first class tickets will be a challenge. When I went, I only needed a ticket for myself and had no problems on my first try. Maybe I lucked out. Have a blast on your cruise!

Got 'em!

I just completed putting the puzzle together at this morning.

Every morning (329 days out) I called between 5:30 and 6:30 CST. I was able to retrieve 4 Business Class seats on Air Pacific from LAX to Auckland, NZ with layovers in Fiji (2 tickets depart & return on different days from the other 2 tickets...could not get 4 on the same days/flights). I always had them check Qantas First and Business Class...on every possible route...and the answer was mostly "nothing available". On rare occassions, there would be ONE seat available.

I was told by a couple different agents that Air Tahiti Nui (LAX-Papeete-Sydney-Auckland) only offers ONE Business Class and ONE First Class seat on each flight. There are only 6 First Class seats on their planes, so I knew the odds of getting the 2nd seat upgraded was next to impossible. Plus, that route took an additional 6 hours.

Since you can only book 329 days out and AA only holds the reservation for 2 weeks, I had to book and ticket a return trip for an earlier date. I was able to call back and change the return date without any fees since I was able to keep with the same airline as orginally ticketed. If those ever-elusive Qantas tickets had become available for the return, then there would have been $100 fee.

Now that I have the tickets, I will continue to call over the next 10 months to see if Quantas has opened anything up in Business or First on their direct flight from LAX to Auckland. If that happens, I'm happy to pay the $100 fee.

One more note, originally I had a 3 night layover in Auckland, then an award flight from Auckland to Queenstown as part of the original reservation. I was able to ticket this itinerary...I thought. When I called back a couple days later to change the return date, I was told it did not get ticketed because it was an "invalid" itinerary!

The agent figured out that my layover was considered to be in Fiji, even though it was only 3.5 hours! It wasn't considered a continuing flight. Since I had booked a 3 day layover in Auckland, my ticket became "invalid". So, I cancelled the Auckland to Queenstown portion and my ticket was then issued. I just paid for the Auckland to Queenstown portion. By buying it on the Qantas (Jet Connect) website, it was only $119 NZ ($93.50 US). The entire plane is Coach.

Thank you Fodorites for all your help. I received so much valuable information from you. If I hadn't checked here first, I doubt I would have gotten tickets. All suggestions were "spot-on"!

When I was asking questions about AAFF miles someone suggested that I check the posts at this website. You may be able to find some answers there. These are experienced flyers and good luck

http://flyertalk.com/forum/

ttt

I just booked an award on Air Tahiti Nui using AA miles for March and it's definitely possible to find more than 1 business class seat on each flight.

I used ExpertFlyer to check availability before calling AA and saw up to 2 first class and 4 business class seats on certain days for LAX-PPT and up to 2 business class seats for PPT-AKL/SYD. I just put 2 business awards on hold.