LAX to San Francisco - How?

[Caroline]

I need to get from LAX to San Francisco and I heard that One World might be the best way to go about it. can anyone advise how many points this mights require for a one way ticket. i can convert QFF points into miles.

 

[NM]

In my opinion, the best way to get from LAX to SFO is to rent a car and drive north along the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH). Much more interesting than flying. Can be done in a day, or break the journey and enjoy the sights such as Hearst Castle and Big Sir along the way.

Otherwise buy a cheap ticket on one of the many airlines that fly the route, such as AA or United Shuttle.

 

[browski]

Maybe fly from John Wayne airport in Irvine if u r south of LAX as an alternative if can't book an award out of LAX.

AA Eagle (OW partner) and United fly this route I think.

 

[inpd]

enjoy the sights such as Hearst Castle and Big Sir

That's one funny slip of the keyboard! I strongly recommend Hearst
Castle, Big Sur is so so in my opinion

Taking route 1 from LA to SFO is very scenic but will take 7+ hours.
Taking route 5 is not scenic (just one long straight road with one bend)
but will take 5+ hours because its a 75 mile zone. Note, my time estimates
are from city outskirts to other city outskirts. I once drove from SanFran
to Disney land. It took me 5 hours to get to LA but got stuck in peak
hour traffic so took another 1.5 hours
to drive the 20 miles to get to "the most happiest place on the earth"
(because your so damn glad to get out of the traffic).

Unless you have a full 10+ hours to kill, I would fly. Go to hotwire
or expedia.com and you'll see tickets are <$100 while one way car rental are about the same price.

Good luck!

 

[BlacKnox]

In my opinion, the best way to get from LAX to SFO is to rent a car and drive north along the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH).

Agreed. If you have the time (I'd suggest 2 full days at least) this is one of the most beautiful (and famous) drives in the world. Australians can rent cars in CA on their Australian licenses, so no need for an international one.

Some ideas. Take the PCH out of LA through Santa Monica and stop at Santa Barbara. Then onto Hwy 154(?) to Santa Ynez and Solvang (Danish Village) for the best patries in the U.S. Also some impressive cheap wines in this region so buy a bottle and stay (or push on). Onto San Simeon and Hearst Castle and then Big Sur, Carmel and Monterey.

Depending on season you can see dolphins from the Hwy etc. Enjoy.

 

[BlacKnox]

I need to get from LAX to San Francisco and I heard that One World might be the best way to go about it. can anyone advise how many points this mights require for a one way ticket. i can convert QFF points into miles.

Oh, and BTW Caroline welcome to AFF .

 

[inpd]

San Simeon and Hearst Castle and then Big Sur, Carmel and Monterey.

Depending on season you can see dolphins from the Hwy etc. Enjoy.

Yes, do stop at Monterey and go on the 17 mile drive.
If your a golfer it is a must-see. On 17 mile
drive is pebble beach GC, Spyglass GC and a few
other courses that are in the top 50.

 

[Caroline]

Thanks everyone . afraid due to time restrictions, flying is my only option but the drive sounds so great I'll have to do it another time

 

[NM]

Thanks everyone . afraid due to time restrictions, flying is my only option but the drive sounds so great I'll have to do it another time

Definitely do the drive some time. I would never take Highway 5. Might as well fly. PCH is the only way to go if driving. Think Victoria's Great Ocean Road on steroi_s.

We did it over 3 days (sort of), leave Anaheim on a Sunday (not too early) and having lunch with friends near Redondo Beach at LA. Then drive north through Santa Barbara and the other famous beaches and stayed the night at Lompoc.

Next day drove along PCH and stopped at Hearst Castle (at San Simeon)for a tour and picnic lunch in the car park. Then drove along PCH to Monterey where we stayed for 2 nights. Visited the aquarium and then half a day at San Jose boardwalk.

However, San Jose Boardwalk may not be the right place to visit in January! Its alive and active during the summer, but basically closes over winter - yes, even California winter!.

There are lots of great ocean road photo opportunities along the way.

 

[Caroline]

Can anyone explain to me how many points are required to book a flight from LAX to SFO

And is it possible to convert QFF points to doit?

 

[dajop]

Can anyone explain to me how many points are required to book a flight from LAX to SFO

And is it possible to convert QFF points to doit?

To provide simple answers to a simple questions ..

You need 10,500 QFF pts for a 1 way flight on AA from LAX to SFO (18,500 for return) in economy class. This includes 8,000 pts for the flight and 2,500 pts for doing a booking over the phone (can't book AA flights on the web). It would be 26,500 pts for First Class (Don't bother with this)

I assume you have QFF points you want to use. There is no need to convert QFF points, just ring a call centre and use them.

What others may have alluded to is that you can buy a fare for $100 or less - an award flight isn't the best use of QFF points - but that is very much your own decision based on your own situation.

 

[BlacKnox]

Can anyone explain to me how many points are required to book a flight from LAX to SFO

And is it possible to convert QFF points to doit?

You need 10,500 QFF pts for a 1 way flight on AA from LAX to SFO (18,500 for return) in economy class. This includes 8,000 pts for the flight and 2,500 pts for doing a booking over the phone (can't book AA flights on the web). It would be 26,500 pts for First Class (Don't bother with this)

AA calls their domestic business class product on 2 class planes (at best, more like Premium Economy IMHO) First class which means it costs a lot of points to book First class awards. Hence the comment don't bother. BTW this is useful when you are flying on paid F tickets, as it accrues F COS bonuses.

What others may have alluded to is that you can buy a fare for $100 or less - an award flight isn't the best use of QFF points - but that is very much your own decision based on your own situation.

Yes flights can be very cheap, but if you want to burn points then I'd recommend you stick with economy per our comments above.

 

[NM]

Can anyone explain to me how many points are required to book a flight from LAX to SFO

And is it possible to convert QFF points to doit?

Use Great Circle Mapper to determine the flight distance. This shows LAX-SFO to be 337 miles.

Now look up the Qantas FF points table on the Qantas Web site. This shows it to be a zone 1 award (0 - 600 miles) and hence costs 8,000 points in Economy or 24,000 points in First Class.

And if you need to book over the phone, add 2500 points for the assisted booking fee.

 

[Caroline]

Thank you everyone - wow what expert advice! this forum Rocks!!!!

 

[CdaWorld]

AA calls their domestic business class product on 2 class planes (at best, more like Premium Economy IMHO) First class which means it costs a lot of points to book First class awards. Hence the comment don't bother. BTW this is useful when you are flying on paid F tickets, as it accrues F COS bonuses.

Yes I did the LAX-SFO flight last week as part of my DONE4 and sat in First for this sector. It is very basic - just drinks and a packet of pretzels. The FA's were cheery and fun though but it really shouldn't be called First Class. Incidentally I then did the AA flight from SFO-JFK back in D. This was a 3 class configuration but F still looked cheap to me when compared to QF standards. I haven't seen an AA International setup to know if it is different.

 

[NM]

Yes I did the LAX-SFO flight last week as part of my DONE4 and sat in First for this sector. It is very basic - just drinks and a packet of pretzels. The FA's were cheery and fun though but it really shouldn't be called First Class. Incidentally I then did the AA flight from SFO-JFK back in D. This was a 3 class configuration but F still looked cheap to me when compared to QF standards. I haven't seen an AA International setup to know if it is different.

The service on the longer AA domestic flights (in F) can be very good and in some ways superior to QF and BA flights of similar length. But you need to pick the flights carefully.

If you can get a 767 or 777 aircraft, then the seating is superior to anything you will get on QF or BA flights of similar length. These can be found on main routes such as LAX-DFW, LAX-ORD, SFO-ORD, DFW-MIA.

But the 757 and MD80 flights are similar to business class on QF's 737s and probably better than BA's Club Europe on A320/737 aircraft.

I know I have bagged AA domestic F at every opportunity, but it really is not much different to QF domestic J. Some things are better, some things a worse.

 

[infoworks]

Flying in from outside, get a "pass" - usually minimum 3 sectors, but cheap, even if you burn one sector, but LAX-SFO and return are two, assuming you head back there.