No business class reward seats to the US

[paul_gibson]

Hi all,
I have been trying to use my points to make a business class flight to the US. After hours of searching all routes, I cant find one!! Do they come up throughout the year, or is that all they have allocated? Driving me crazy!!

Paul

 

[Hvr]

Hi paul_gibson and welcome aboard.

So what dates are you trying? How many seats are you seeking? And what is your QF status?

These all affect the number of available seats.

 

[paul_gibson]

Thanks for the reply. The dates Im looking for at the moment are mid April to early March, if not then early next year. I don't care what city I fly from or where to in America, just want a business class seat. Trying for 2 seats and Im only a standard QF. Two years ago I booked 2 business class seats from Cairns to Dallas, at the time there were heaps of reward seats available using the website. Very surprised to see I just cant find any all year?

 

[RooFlyer]

Rare as the proverbial hen's teeth. Usually find-able 10 months or so out but if you are looking at a period 0-6 months, little chance. There's just not that many and huge demand.

You can ask them to make a seat available over the phone, but unless you are 1) Plat or above and 2) its a few months out, there's little chance.

But you can always get lucky

Oh, and welcome to AFF! Keep around and you'll learn many tricks to work the system to your advantage (and/or learn when to stop banging your head against the wall).

 

[dalereardon]

How many points do you have? Is going with Cathay via HKG an option as usually far better availability.

Dale.

 

[paul_gibson]

How many points do you have? Is going with Cathay via HKG an option as usually far better availability.

Dale.

Hi Dale, I have around 500,000 points. Cathay is an option, is there a way to find availability on this service?

 

[amaroo]

Welcome to the club PG.

Big tip - if you want to use your QFF points for international first/business either start looking at 300+ days out or routes other OW partners offer. Other than that it's all economy with QFF IME.

Cathy Pacific will provide options if you have the points & time.

 

[dalereardon]

You will need to force the Qantas engine to search on that route by doing a multi segment itinerary - eg MEL-HKG-JFK etc

I can't remember all the routes that Cathay has to the US but they also do (pardon spelling) Newarc an airprt very near New York that has better availability.

The Qantas website doesn't always show you all the Cathay availability - it under reports it and you may need to ring up.

The other way is to get a free BA Exec Club account (you need to tell the website you live in Europe etc) and they have a better search engine for OneWorld flights.

Or ring up and get the Qantas FF staff to search for you and see what they can come up with - there is an operator assisted booking fee though.

Cathay I just remembered also flies a route via Vancouver and then onto the US which is being discussed in another thread and has good availability.

Dale.

 

[dalereardon]

Just thought of another possibility - the OneWorld 280K business class award which is explained and discussed in this thread:

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....am/oneworld-award-140k-280k-420k-8228-29.html

You only need to use 2 OneWorld carriers other than Qantas (Qantas not necessary) and you can fly up to 35000 miles - round the world is not required.

Malaysian and Japan airlines and possibly others are not shown on the online Qantas FF search tool so more flights exist. Again the BA search tool shows you all partners.

You should be able to piece together an interesting route and see a bit more of the world if you have time!

Dale.

 

[drron]

I have just searched QFF flights to the US in January next year.Quite a few dates have J awards on QF7 to DFW.Last day that comes up on calendar for this flight is 31/1.
Looking at SYD-LAX there were 14 days between 14/1 to 5/2-the last date this route comes up-when there are 2 J awards.Most however were on the SYD-HKG-LAX route.
There were even a few days when there were 2 F awards.Again this was on CX SYD-HKG-LAX with the segment to HKG in J but F on CX across the pacific.
I didn't search BNE-LAX but in the past this has had better J award availability than out of SYD.

 

[grussellt]

Thanks for the reply. The dates Im looking for at the moment are mid April to early March, if not then early next year. I don't care what city I fly from or where to in America, just want a business class seat. Trying for 2 seats and Im only a standard QF. Two years ago I booked 2 business class seats from Cairns to Dallas, at the time there were heaps of reward seats available using the website. Very surprised to see I just cant find any all year?

Is April 24 too late? There are 2J on SYD-BNE-NAN-LAX if that's any good.

 

[deejo77]

Easter.......and Anzac day with lots of people taking the 3days off in between..... left the run too late for direct Qantas flights

 

[paul_gibson]

Thanks so much for all your help guys!!! Looks like the best way will be with Cathay. I still cant believe there are no Qantas reward flights to America all year! Its a joke! Thanks again everyone!!

Paul

 

[Simo]

Look at going via DFW???

or Via NAN onto HNL and then get a US domestic flight.

 

[drron]

I can still see 2 J awards on QF metal BNE-LAX and SYD-DFW in January next year.
lesson if you want premium awards on QF metal to the USA you need to book the day those seats are released.For the 2 routes quoted flights are now open to 2/2/15.

 

[Limewood]

Plenty of J seats on CX to many ports in USA SFO/ORD/NYC/LAX out of HKG say Sept, so can miss that awful LAX if you wish. From FNQ the trip is not much longer than having to go via SYD and the CX J seats are excellent. With a bit of leg work might even be able to do a circle pacific?.

 

[Mwenenzi]

Welcome to the forum

I still cant believe there are no Qantas reward flights to America all year! Its a joke!l

There are/were award seats. People here start looking & book seats at 353 days out. Also look at BNE/SYD/MEL to/from LAX/DFW without any Australain or US domestic flights. May or may not show different availibilty.

 

[Nizar]

I didn't search BNE-LAX but in the past this has had better J award availability than out of SYD.

I've also found this to be the case, presumably because not on an A380.
BNE people are probably flying through either MEL or SYD !

 

[Limewood]

Too find seats Expert Flyer is excellent, when they become available they email you pronto, one time i got back from USA this way.

 

[Quickstatus]

I agree with lack of U class (J award) SYD-LAX or SYD-DFW even trying 353 days ahead for the DEC-JAN period. Only P class (F award). So I managed 3 P A380 return SYD-LAX for the DEC-JAN period instead.

I would have preferred U to P, however as QFi is in intensive care, I thought I should burn some extra points and get P.

ExpertFlyer.com was very helpful. I was logged in quicker than Flash Gordon when expertflyer emailed me with P availability.