Non-stop award space in premium cabins between the US and Australia is one of the toughest things to find out of any frequent flyer award in the world.
And American has been anything but generous with premium cabin international award space generally, except during spurts when they open up space. I couple of days ago I wrote about just such a spurt.
There are still a handful of peak season Los Angeles – Sydney peak season business class saver awards on American available.
There are also some Los Angeles – Auckland non-stop business class saver awards for two or more passengers as well, albeit before peak season. You’ll see a few seats in the weeks that follow this as well.
American charges 80,000 miles each way between the US and South Pacific in business class, and of course British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Alaska and other partner miles should be able to book this space as well.
American Airlines Boeing 787-8 Business Class
The business class to Sydney is the leg from Los Angeles to San Francisco only.
Two tickets in August on hold. Thanks!
Hey Gary, I’m new to this site and quite new to international travel. My daughter is do an internship in London this summer (2017) and I’ve decided to fly over at the end of her stay so the two of us can tour around. We end our journey in Dublin,Ireland. We’ve already booked 2seats in coach on a non stop from DUB TO CLT, I’ve been looking almost daily for business mile saver to open up. But when I see that it has opened up on June 5 2017 the non stop flight is gone. My questions…..
does American only fly that non stop in the summer months or is those actual flights booked up?
Next when do you think that those business seats might open?
Thanks
BEWARE a lot of the “Business Class” award space to AUS/NZ lately routes via LAX-SFO and is in fact COACH across the Pacific. Just saying read the itinerary detail carefully before you book.
Your post is deceptive, AA shows Business and First Class availability but when you try to book the international portion, in most cases, is coach. A very deceptive practice by AA. Why would someone book a business class ticket on an international flight that only includes a two hour domestic flight.
@Michael, no this was non-stop space and actual availability, many have booked it.
There were/may still be a number of non-stop seats on the 787 to Auckland even a few Z seats on the 77W to SYD in August/September. American’s engine is somehow returning false results however with domestic first segments married with Quantas flights in X class (coach award) at business and first mileage saver pricing. I was able to find two but after using Expert Flyer to more quickly find the routes that weren’t false positives in TPAC in coach.
Gary, thanks for posting my comments. I hear what you are saying but if AA shows first class availability from a specific date from say Sfo to Lax and then from Lax to Auk when you try to book it downgrades the international portion. Not your fault, it is a AA issue. Probably the reason as an EXP Plat for many years I stop flying on AA in 2016. Stuck with 2.5 million miles that are not possible to use except for the BA scam and 8 Sys upgrades that I feel are not worth the effort for this year.
Agree with other posters. These false-hit posts about business class availability are very shallow. Almost every time I read one and go look sure enough they show up, but they are almost invariably Mixed class tickets, with the important long leg in coach.
AA needs to stop this practice of showing bogus results, or at least make it clear on the chart with a red dot or something to indicate mixed cabin. Fine if it’s a 1-2 hour domestic leg, but anything else is just a huge rip off.
I implore you to do a little more checking on the details of the flights before posting sensationalistic headlines that bare no resemblance to reality.
Thanks for your blog. Just looking to make it better through feedback!
Just wanted to thank Tim for his post and I think he was able to articulate my feelings about the bogus results on the AA website. Of course, it does not reflect the fake availability for Qantas that shows on the AA website and frustrates the AA Reservation Staff when EXP PLT attempt to book.
@Tim I totally get the frustration with the AA website but this availability was REAL and a bunch of readers did book it.
Hi Gary,
Thanks for your response. I guess my fear is for those who don’t check the details and book, later finding they are stuck with a lousy flight.
Could you possibly take a screen capture of the flight details showing first/business legs to show some of the skeptics out here? 🙂
On a side question, it seems a possible solution would be to show non-stop flights, if they had availability? Might not be possible if they are competing on routes, but was just a question I had.
Thanks again
AA mile saver business lax-syd connecting with Qantas in SFO has routinely been listed by AA as business even though QF is Y. while AA may show mixed cabin in detail it really is false advertising when searching in my opinion. I have complained to AA EXP and customer relations with no response. It is a huge waste of time to find availability and then realize TPAC is coach. Just another example of AA underhanded dealing with their customers. With a bait switch strategy, maybe they should sell weight loss products and flights on late night informercials. It might come in handy on AA 9-10 across international coach seating!
Gary is notifying his readers of potential availability. In all cases, there has been at least some availability as advertised–direct flights with business saver availability. Readers are the ones responsible for checking routing/class of service before booking something. The false positives are an AA issue, not his. If he never posted when SOME false positives show up, his readers would not be alerted when there is also real availability. You can check availability on Expert Flyer, but if you have a paid account and are in the market you should have an alert and be aware of availability before his post anyways. Be happy with the service he is providing, and consider the alternative–no posts as to real availability that actually exists.
Sorry Gary this is not true. You posted this a few days ago and I checked immediately. No availability over water, only over land! AA has been playing this game for some time. This is false advertising under any definition.
@Judy – LOTS of people have booked it…
Charging 80,000 points on international coach has got to be illegal!