MEL-LAX December 08 - QF or FJ?

[Timtammi]

Hi there all

Hoping some of you experts out there can help me interpret the rules and make a decision on the following.

I need to book 2 x adults, 1 x child to LAX in late December (after xmas).
As another poster has commented the fares around that time are horrendous.
2 x adults are both Gold QF FF and need maximum status credits if we are to retain this for next year. 1 x child is Bronze.
Have been looking at FJ as an alternative.
Advantages: cheaper by about $600 per adult, we can stopover in Fiji which is appealing with a 4 year old.
Cons: Heard they are pretty ordinary, can't put in for business class upgrades with points (although I assume our chances in QF are extremely slim for this at this time of year there is still a chance).

The one thing I can't figure out is what difference it will make with FF points and status credits. Will we still get full points on FJ and the same status credits? Is it possible MEL-SYD-NAN-LAX we might even get more if we go MEL-SYD QF and the rest FJ than a straight MEL-LAX return on QF?

$600 pp is a big difference, but I think if the points and status credits dont match up I might be tempted to try and find the difference.

We actually need to get to New York, but will just buy a one way for that as we are taking a cruise from New York to LA and will fly home from there. Any suggestions of good cheap alternatives LA to New York? Any I can get points/status credits on?

Thanks in advance for your help

 

[Mal]

MEL-SYD-NAN-LAX in discount economy (assuming your fare is FF point eligible ie in one of the classes listed under Air Pacific here: Frequent Flyer - About the Program - Terms & Conditions )

Will earn you 65 Sc's, and roughly 8500 FF points.

MEL-SYD-LAX with Qantas will earn 55Sc's, and roughly 12500 FF points.

The difference in points is from the Gold 50% bonus on Qantas, American Airlines, Jetstar or British Airlines flights - whereas Air Pacific doesn't have a bonus.

LA-New York is pretty expensive normally.

One option is to use the Qantas Multi-City International booking tool and book MEL-LAX, LAX-NYC, Land sector, LAX-MEL, and you should find the price fairly competitive vs a straight MEL-LAX trip. If you do this, you should be able to book QF107 from LAX-NYC which is a standard Qantas 747-400 like the one you flew over in. You'll earn SC and points etc.

If you fly with American Airlines (AA.com), you'll earn points and SC's, but maybe not on some of the cheapest flights. See the table above for details on what does and doesn't earn you points.

Perhaps you could consider Virgin America (Flights from Virgin America | Virgin Flights) (no SC, no points), but likely to be cheaper and has some pretty good reviews -eg http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/vir-america.htm

Havn't flown domestically in the US on anything other than AA though, so can't give particular recommendations.

 

[Travel Guru]

If you speak to a travel agent, most of the FJ fares allow you to fly QF in one direction, so you could go MEL-NAN-LAX (FJ) and LAX-MEL (QF) which is a big bonus and is alot cheaper than a QF fare.

TG

 

[Timtammi]

Thanks for the pointers guys - Virgin America does look good for LAX-JFK and the price is quite reasonable - good tip!

Spoke to an agent today and she mentioned the flying back via QF trick which we would definitely do. Only problem now is that while the outbound flight MEL-SYD-NAN is fine on the 29/12 the onward flight from NAN I wanted on 3/1/09 puts the fare up as I guess there are no seats left in the cheapest class. So much so straight QF both ways would probably work out cheaper. I've been quoted $2048 + $570 taxes for MEL-SYD-NAN stopover NAN-LAX if the NAN-LAX flight is on the 31st December (I guess flying new years eve is not everyone's idea of fun) but if its the 1 Jan flight its $400 more and the 3/1 flight I really wanted is more again.

Straight QF is looking better and better.

Can someone confirm for me if the LAX-MEL flights still go out of TBIT (yuck!) and the LAX-SYD ones from another terminal (4?). It might be worth doing MEL-SYD-LAX return for more status credits (?) and to avoid TBIT which I hate with a passion and swear every time I go through it somehow I'm going to avoid it next time.

Cheers