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Answers (10)

Business Class to Australia

Business Class to Australia

  1. sboivie New Member

    My wife and I want to go to Australia in approximately 2-3 years. We want to somehow use rewards to fly business class because of the length of the flight. We are open to getting new credit cards and really focusing all our spending to build rewards, but we are unsure of what cards or rewards ecosystem to focus on.

  2. sboivie New Member

    I can give more information as needed if that will help give us advice. Neither one of us has applied for a new credit card in awhile. I already have a Chase Sapphire Reserve card.

  3. OCTinPHL Diamond

    W
    [QUOTE=”sboivie, post: 65598, member: 5845″]I can give more information as needed if that will help give us advice. Neither one of us has applied for a new credit card in awhile. I already have a Chase Sapphire Reserve card.[/QUOTE]

    From where are you leaving? Do you want nonstop (from the US, I assume) or are you open to transferring in Tokyo, Hong Kong, etc….

  4. sboivie New Member

    We are located in Central Texas so we can fly out of almost any airport in Texas if necessary (DFW, IAH, AUS are preferred but San Antonio would be feasible too). We would prefer not to have to transfer in Asia b/c that adds lots of time onto an already long trip.

  5. OCTinPHL Diamond

    [QUOTE=”sboivie, post: 65602, member: 5845″]We are located in Central Texas so we can fly out of almost any airport in Texas if necessary (DFW, IAH, AUS are preferred but San Antonio would be feasible too). We would prefer not to have to transfer in Asia b/c that adds lots of time onto an already long trip.[/QUOTE]

    I think that limits you to Quantas out of DFW or United out of IAH (I don’t know if United flies that route). Unless AA adds an Australian flight out of DFW in the intervening time period (which it may). If you want nonstop from Texas I’d suggest getting a card (Chase?) from which you can transfer points to United.

    Don’t rule out making a stop in Asia. Flying in Biz you’ll have access to some nice lounges. Probably with showers.

  6. sboivie New Member

    It doesn’t have to be nonstop from Texas. A stop in the US is fine, I would just prefer not to stop in Asia if possible.

  7. OCTinPHL Diamond

    As a One World flyer I am more familiar with Qantas and AA, so I don’t know where Delta and United fly from to Australia. AA flies from LAX, but I don’t think Citi or Chase (I know Chase does not) transfer points to AA. Maybe Qantas. And as more of an AMEX MR guy, I should know but I don’t recall if AMEX transfers to Qantas. Qantas will for obvious reasons give you the most and probably best options for nonstop to Australia. But you should join Quantas’ FF program so you can access award seats when they first open.

  8. David W Community Ambassador

    There are quite a few options from the West Coast. Services are mainly concentrated to LAX & SFO to SYD, BNE, MEL and AKL. There are also select services from IAH and DFW.

    The issue is that the airlines servicing US-Australia/New Zealand are sinty on awards. So while connecting in Asia might not be ideal, you have a greater chance of securing seats in a premium cabin if you connect in Asia.

    It’s also hard to predict what happens in 2-3 years in terms of routes and airline partnerships so the best option would be to get credit cards with transferable points. Since you already have the CSR, I think it’d be a good idea if you also get the Freedom or Freedom Unlimited cards. It can boost rewards in categories that dont otherwise earn more than 1 point/$. I’d also suggest that your wife obtain her own cards as well.

    Additionally, Amex cards earning Membership Rewards and/or Citi cards earning ThankYou points is a good start. Having points with those programs will give you some flexibility.

  9. MidSouthSkier Community Ambassador

    I’ve never looked for award availability IAH-SYD but have looked for it out of DFW and don’t recall seeing 2 seats though it’s not like this is something I do a lot. For my trip this year I was able to find 2 seats SFO-SYD but on Qantas, not United. I was looking at flights out of DFW, LAX and SFO to SYD, MEL and BNE. On the return I actually found 3 business class tickets on the BNE-LAX flight.

    I found it very helpful to set Expert Flyer alerts and I’d also subscribe to Spencer’s award list for notifications when lots of seats become available. His website is [URL]https://www.straighttothepoints.co/[/URL]

  10. Rhoman New Member

    [QUOTE=”sboivie, post: 65598, member: 5845″]I can give more information as needed if that will help give us advice. Neither one of us has applied for a new credit card in awhile. I already have a Chase Sapphire Reserve card.[/QUOTE]
    My wife and I just had a similar bucket list trip last year. We are located in Chicago and flew to SFO then direct to Sydney via United Business. We then flew via Singapore Airlines in first class to Singapore. We stayed there for several days. Then flew JAL first class to NYC(stop over in Haneda) to visit family before flying back to Chicago. Given the amount of premium class, it took several years of careful planning and excel spreadsheets. We each opened Chase Sapphire Preferred, United Explorer Card, and AA plat. We also utliized UA/AA dining/shopping portals. If you can manage premium class it is definitely worth it given the duration of the flights. As a few other people have mentioned, if you don’t mind a stop over in Asia it vastly increases the airlines.

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