New American Los Angeles To Sydney Flight Now Bookable

We're really excited that American are gonna be flying down under. It will be interesting to see whether they do any targeted promotional activity in the Australian market.

480k miles roundtrip in F, I'll pass.

Lucky,

Having recently taken QF in Biz from DXB-LHR on the day flight on the A380 - I'm not sure I'd agree with the comment " Qantas will have substantially better service in business class." It's ok - crew dependent of course. As for food, I don't think the menu on my flight or even the reviews of your F SYD-LAX or C LAX-JFK are all THAT much to write home about. And that said - with the 'bar' on the AA 777-300 self service in J is pretty straight forward.

If ever a choice of reward space between the two were available, or if I have occasion to buy a revenue ticket, I think I'd go this way (mostly based on the hardware side - since in my view service levels are probably close to a push, and menus aren't (based on other AA long haul) all that much different):
1) QF F
2) AA F
3) AA J
4) QF J

One man's opinion - for what it's worth.

does AA have a last minute or close in trend of releasing award seats ?

I would disagree that qantas business class service is anything to write home about. Marginally better than AA but not worth going out of your way to book.

Maybe I'm not seeing things correctly but It seems like it's cheaper booking two awards to go via Asia than direct with American. And with AA's cramped cabin of 10 across versus 9 across on JL or CX, I think I'll pass on this new flight.

@ Ted -- You're absolutely right for the most part. Better off redeeming Delta SkyMiles for travel on Virgin Australia, or otherwise routing via Asia using American miles, given how much space there is. If there's no saver space, the only reason to book this flight using miles would be because you absolutely need a direct.

@ victor -- You're probably right. Ultimately they have better amenities, like pajamas, but otherwise it's probably not that great.

@ choi -- Not with any consistency, unfortunately. I've seen cabins completely empty just hours before departure where they still don't make a single saver level award seat available.

@ Mike -- I'd probably agree with your ranking.

I do like that you pointed out how many miles we can get per class of cabin and even ticket class. It's nice to see more options flying great distances as competition always means better prices. However, it's American. I mean there service really isn't great. Generally speaking they have one of the lowest customer satisfaction ratings ( http://www.customerservicescoreboard.com/American+Airlines).

I agree with Mike and Victor - Qantas' service is very hit and miss, so best not to expect much. Make your choice based on hard product on offer, which at least can be relied upon to a greater extent. You can get lucky and hit good crews on both carriers, or hit the slightly more common really bad ones, with most being meh on both carriers.

Obviously being in International First on both carriers tends to improve the chances of a good cabin crew, but by no means rules out an ordinary or horrible one.

How can they want that many miles for a business class roundtrip to fly on AA metal, yet you could fly on Etihad less miles. It makes no sense that partner awards are so much lower.

This is an area where Alaska miles are far more valuable than AA. Roundtrip in F on QF is only 100k.

@john holland I thought the loophole to book Qantas F with Alaska miles closed? I think the only way to get it is 331 days out...

@Jon Holland - "Roundtrip in F on QF is only 100k."

Where are you seeing this? Roundtrip from USA to Australia/NZ in QF F with AS miles is 140K.

@ Jon Holland -- Just to clarify, they charge 55,000 miles for one-way business class on Qantas, or 70,000 miles for one-way first class. But the real value of Alaska miles for travel to Australia is that you can route through Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific.

I stand corrected, I was thinking of the Business class rates.

Actually have a trip coming up where I route to AU using QF and return via a Hong Kong stop-over on Cathay.

@Jon Holland - "I stand corrected, I was thinking of the Business class rates."

Business is 110K.

@Lucky - Refresh my memory, but one can use Alaska points and travel on Etihad to get to Sydney with a stopover in Abu Dhabi for free with Business and First Class right ? How do I find out how many miles are required for this and seat availability on Etihad and I am assuming I will have to call Alaska to get those seats ?

Andrew F