re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread
Hmmm more food for thought, thanks vetrade. Do you think I'd be better to look at coming back a week or so earlier (ie. mid-ish Jan) and work out the earliest date I want to come back and just check availability 355 days out from that date and every day from then on until I got something, or would I be better trying to reverse the trip - coming back from SA perhaps a bit easier?? The outbound leg will not be school holidays, so to US flights maybe easier to come by?
Thanks again....
I think you will struggle to get anything from the US to Oz anytime in January – some people want to have Xmas OS and then return in the New Year and others wait till just before their kids are due back at school at the start of Feb. No matter which direction you do the trip try and avoid times when lots of other people will be wanting to fly those routes. Obviously when QF knows that demand will markedly outstrip supply, they won’t bother releasing award seats because they prefer to get customers who will pay cash (at non discounted rates).
If reversing the trip fits OK with your personal requirements then I’d go that way. If you can lock in the return from the US first then you have the hardest bit over with. I have a OW RTW trip coming up next April/May which is similar to yours in that we are going via JNB and returning from LAX to MEL. I do therefore have some recent personal experience with searching out awards (2 x J) on those flights albeit not around Xmas like you’re trying to get. Still you might find the following hints helpful:
1. I watched availability closely for weeks and found there are some days of the week when no J awards show up even if you are logged on the minute they are supposedly released. Availability from LAX – MEL was only regularly available on Mondays – seemingly demand is less then because business people don’t want to have the start of their working week interrupted by leaving LAX on a Monday and arriving back in MEL on a Wednesday. You do need to be ready to book right on 10.00am though because they can go quickly. I won’t fly Y long haul these days so I can’t comment about what Y availability was.
MEL - LAX flights IME never seemed to reliably have a certain day (like Monday) when availability was regularly available - a case of just pot luck it seems.
2. If you’re prepared to fly LAX – BNE and then connect to MEL your chances are much better – MEL & SYD arrivals are the scarcest so BNE is well worth your investigation.
3. I never had any luck finding J awards on the DFW – SYD flights.
4. Re SYD – JNB – unlike for LAX – MEL (or SYD) I found that award seats didn’t usually all get taken up on the day of release – usually you could still get 2 x J seats 3 to 4 days after release.
5. Finally, maybe consider flying via HKG or NRT between the US and OZ - or vv - as long as you don't risk going over the 56,000km limit. Last year we got award seats from SYD - NRT - DFW - MIA - CUN when nothing was available flying direct from Oz to the USA.
