Trying to find SYD - SFO with VA for Christmas 2013

[AndyGoodyear]

Hi AFFers - bit of a long winded question here but I am hoping for some advice

I am planning a trip to San Francisco for Christmas this year (around 10th Dec - 5th Jan 2014) , and have started looking now at which flights are available. At this stage I'm not sure if I will be using points or buying a ticket, but have been searching on paid tickets just to see what's available.

I always thought that flights could only be booked 11 months in advance and this seems to be supported by most brokers websites such as Webjet, whose calendar only goes up to 5th Dec. Interestingly though, VA already have return flights showing for early Jan 2014.

The actual problem I am having is with the O/B flight though from SYD - SFO. There are flights available every day up until 3rd Dec 2013, but then no O/B flights showing at all right up until Christmas. Does this mean that there are flights but they are all fully booked already? Or is it more likely that VA simply haven't released the prices for O/B flights during peak December period (after 5th) and therefore you cannot yet book?

I have read about AFFers using another website which shows all seats available on all flights worldwide, but I cannot remember what this site is.

Any advice the community can give me regarding Christmas bookings in terms of best time to book and prices would be appreciated.

 

[jneufeld]

Quite possibly there is no DL or VX fares released yet. The DL website is not listing departures beyond Dec 7

 

[AndyGoodyear]

Quite possibly there is no DL or VX fares released yet. The DL website is not listing departures beyond Dec 7

Thanks for your reply. I would have usually put it down to the fares not being released yet either as there are no SYD - SFO departures beyond early December. As I said though, it's quite strange that there are SFO - SYD return flights already listed in January 2014 with prices, which is why I am confused.

 

[Deewhy]

I'd suggest you call the call centre and ask them. I did this last year at the similar time you are planning. You'll have two options - DL or VX connecting flights. When I booked the VX wasn't available until about 6 months out. I managed to book a DL flight, and had a supervisor note on the booking that i was able to change free of charge to a VX flight. (I wanted to try VX). Also note that if you do this trip in premium economy and go with VX, you'll get main cabin select (a few inches more legroom, free food and entertainment). Not sure whether you get DL's economy comfort though. However, as it's only an hour SFO-LAX, may not make much of a difference.