Quantas?
 

I plan on going to Australia next year and would like to try and use my AA miles for either Business or First. Business is 125,000 miles and First is 145,000 miles. If you've flown Quantas Business or First, is the extra 20,000 miles for First worth it? I'm willing to spend the extra miles if the product is far more superior.

Thank you.

I've heard of "Qantas" and did the LAX to SYD flight which is a long one--almost 15 hours in economy; especially with the 31 inch pitch. I checked www.seatguru.com

Business has 78" pitch and 20 width
First has 79" pitch and 21 width

Not much difference.

Business has skybeds
First has Fully flat sleeping pods

Is a sleeping pod more private than a skybed? Does the skybed in Business go 180 degrees flat? If it does, I'd go business.

Please note that many of those frequent flyer tickets are blacked out during holidays.

Did you check www.qantas.com?

the qantas websit will show you tghe differences in seat class.

We flew United First ( using reward tickets) and I woould "spend" the extra 20,000 miles for first.

Thanks and sorry for the "Quantas".

I have reviewed the Qantas website and now that Qantas is offering the Business Skybed, First does not seem as necessary. However, if First is an exceptional experience that should not be missed, then I'm totally game as I have plenty of miles. I was hopeful someone could offer first hand experience.

Have you checked to see what classes of seats are available.

It's possible that the choice could be made for you.

Considering that regular Business fares are about $9K and First another $4K more; that's a good use for your 20K miles if you look at the "money" side.

If you have miles to spend, I'd suggest you take the F, if seats are available.

First it is...those sleeping pods look kinda fun, plus, it's a rather long haul to Australia.

Many airlines have doubled the number of miles needed. Are you flying by yourself or with someone. It might be hard to get two rewards for first. If you like privacy, you may want to be upstairs where there is only 22 people in business. Keep your options opened.

I just flew QF in F from LAX to SYD. Had a fabulous time. There is more to F yhan just seat pitch and width. Better wine/champagne selection. Better food offering, 2 dedicated FAs for 14 seats, plus the purser if necessary to help out. F lounge access in both LAX and SYD during departure, and actually if you are connecting to AA during return, you will also be able to use the LAX F lounge during your return.

If you travelling by yourself, it should not be a problem to secure award seat, 2 seats may be a problem. QF FFs get to pick seats 360 days out whereas any other OneWorld FFs cannot get award inventory released till 330 days out. I called AA in October or November to get my seat in late March. Got the first date (Easter Sunday) with no problems. I had seat 1A (VERY private) and that will be my recommendation if you are travelling alone. Rows 2 and 3 are too close to the middle seats. Row 4 window seat seemed ok as well. For couples the middle seats are great.

Anyway, you could read my short report about the flight here:

<b>http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessages.jsp?fid=3&amp;tid=34591969&amp;numrespo nses=15&amp;start=0</b>


PS - You could also look into OneWorld award. In many instances it could be better than just a straight AA All Partners award, which is what you seem to be looking at. It's based on miles travelled (BUT, only the miles between the stopping points count, NOT all the miles flown) So for instance - I'm in the middle of my trip now and here is my routing LAX-SYD-AKL-SYD-HKG-LAX, but only the mileage between LAX-AUK-SYD-HKG-LAX (straight line mileage) counted since I did not stop in SYD on the way out, so for 185K miles I flew QF F to SYD and J to/from AKL (only a 2 class plane) and will be flying in F on Cathay Pacific to/from Hong Kong. You may not want to do that, but maybe you may want to explore New Zealand or some of the South Pacific islands besides Australia, in which case the OW award may be worth looking into it. Read more about it on AA.com or got to flyertalk.com and look at the OneWorld forum. It will explain most if not all possibilities.

Good luck!

AAFF - thanks for the post. Excellent information. I'm traveling by myself as most of the friends I'm meeting are flying UA Business and First. Since it's just me, that might make it a little easier to get a First award. If not, I'll try to get upper deck Business. I'm going to look into your OneWorld suggestion as I'm considering adding an additional week in New Zealand to the back end of my trip.

I'm envious of your current trip. I wish I had enough vacation time or could take a sabatical and do the exact same thing.

I recently used a US award to fly to Australia on Qantas in business. Going out, it was 2-class route (LAX-BNE) but they used a 3-class plane and I had seat 1A in the first class section. This was ok as a bed but not particularly good as a seat. Other aspects of the first class cabin were very good: nice toilets, heavy curtains separating the cabins and galley, and pleasant lighting (changes color to suit the time of day). I cannot comment on first class food and service, since on this flight they were the same as regular business class (the service was very good, and food ok).

Coming back, I was on a 3-class route (SYD-LAX) and had a skybed upstairs. I found the skybed uncomfortable in every position: very poor as a seat and hard, narrow and tilted as a bed. Service and food were mediocre.

If you want to use Qantas, I suggest using the extra miles for first since the seat and cabin are much better and I'm told the FC food and service are pretty good. Personally, though, I'd take United (which I have done several times to Australia).

BTW. You can check Qantas award availability by registering for their frequent flyer program on their web site, then using their award search.

One thing I liked about the Qantas flight was five minutes after take-off, the &quot;fasten seat belt&quot; sign was removed and not put back on until ten minutes before landing, although the pilot did announce that you were not allowed to sleep on the floor. Cheers to a smooth flight, mjz.

I've flown Qantas business several times and in fact, it's my favorite business class airline. The last flight was JNB - SYD. My favorite thing i the breakfast. For some reason, I love that you can preorder exactly what you want, fruit smoothies, toasted granola, etc. I also like that they have a little bar area where you can get water, wine, fruit, crackers, whenever you want. I have found their beds acceptable- but I woudl definetly ask for an extra pillow (a bit small).

I've flown first and business on Qantas and recommend first if you can swing it - better service all around.

I'm booked in Business (upper deck) on the way out and First on the way back. Hopefully, more First Reward Seats will open on the way out, but I'm not holding my death. Not a biggy as it beats Economy.

Be sure to let us know what the difference is. I'm flying Miami to London on BA and LHR to Perth on Qantas during the Christmas holiday. I'm in economy. As long as I get free food and a free glass of wine, I'm happy.

First class has cleared the entire trip. I'm going to enjoy this immensely, especially on the outbound portion - depart LA at 12:50pm - which means I probably won't sleep much, but getting into Sydney at 10:55 pm might be conducive to going to bed once I reach the hotel. I must say, I've always had good luck on claiming award travel in any class of service. Bet I just jinxed myself!

Qantas First was a fantastic experience and the extra 20,000 miles were more than it. Great food, service, wine/champagne, entertainment and First Class Lounges. I had seat 3K on the way over and seat 1A on the way back. Seat 1A was quite private, however, I felt like I had more room in seat 3K. Kudos to Qantas! I can't wait to return to Austrlia.

I have to agree! I've decided to go back again next year. I liked the idea that the flight attendants sit down when the &quot;Fasten Seat Belt&quot; sign comes on. It makes everyone take the sign seriously. Unfortunately, I will be in coach. I realized that if I got interested in the movie, I didn't realize how small the seat was.

<b>mjz</b>,

I agree. I do prefer the QF F service even more than CX F service. I guess it's a personal choice, but QF crew is more down to earth and very much western like and approachable. CX is considered the best in F and they are superb, but they are very much trained to be somewhat submissive and slave like. For some it works, for others, like myself, I prefer the fun crew willing to talk and laugh, yet provide an outstanding service. I also flew in 1A to SYD from LAX and the beautiful, extremely sexy FA and I had some middle of the night conversations in the galley. She was very impressed by my 2 week long journey to discover her birth country (which happened to be NZ) as well as 2 week long journey to discover her adopted country (AU). At the end of the flight she presented me with a choice of, a bottle of Dom Perigion(SP?) or a wonderful Chardonnay from AU to take with me. I picked the wine, go figure?. :-)

Anyway, I consider QF just as good as CX, but again, it's a personal choice, not reflecting the service one gets on either one, just the way one gets it.

I just flew from GRU(Sao Paulo) to EZE(Buenos Aires) on BA in F. Early morning 2.5 hour flight on a 747 and I had 2A on this one. The suites don't match up to CX, QF or AA. The crew was great, but the breakfast was somewhat lacking. I thought that perhaps it was due to catering coming out of GRU.



Reporting from Montevideo, Uruguay, getting ready for a free Montevideo Philharmonic Orchestra concert tonight playing all the traditional local and regional music including Tango with dancers. Best part? it's 1/2 block walk from the hotel! :-D