Tag Archives for sydney.
While American Airlines Flagship first class largely means a bigger seat, a soup course, and more stuff in the amenity kit – and little else – departing from Sydney means access to the excellent Qantas First lounge as well.
The day began heading over to the terminal from the Rydges Hotel across the street, checking in with American, and then having breakfast in the Qantas first lounge before our flight.
We got to Cairns safely, only about 25 minutes late, so the trip was fine – just a lot more like Spirit before Spirit improved than the last time I flew Virgin Australia in economy.
I was actually excited to fly American Airlines Flagship first class. It’s been been several years since I’d done so. And with the introduction of new business suites with doors on new Boeing 787-9s, American will be eliminating Flagship First Class retrofitting their Boeing 777-300ERs to offer just business class. I knew this roundtrip might be my last time flying American Airlines long haul first class ever!
At the end of 12 days in Australia, my wife, three year old daughter, and I were set to fly back to the States on United award tickets in business class, Sydney – San Francisco. Flight UA870 was operated by a Boeing 777-300ER, the airline’s largest aircraft, and every seat was booked.
Here’s the experience in a nutshell: United Airlines business class is (usually now) a better seat than the airline used to offer, but one with less space than you’ll find on Delta, American, Air Canada or Air France. United has good bedding, an the wifi worked on my flight, but the rest of the soft product from food to service was subpar.
I flew Sydney to Gold Coast on Virgin Australia, and then back to Sydney on Qantas. That gave me a taste of two different Australian domestic options on the same route, and they were remarkably similar. (Jetstar and REX also fly between the two cities.)
While there wasn’t any award space on Qantas for my trip up to Gold Coast from Sydney, for our Thursday morning return there was plenty available. In fact the short flight can be booked in business class for just 9000 British Airways Avios one-way per person and $76, which is a nice value against a ~ $525 fare.
My overall Hyatt Regency Sydney review is that everyone was friendly, and service was fine. It’s in a good location, with small rooms, but the ability to upgrade to a suite here was a real advantage. Sadly the club lounge was still closed.
Air Canada offers an excellent if dated business class product and is very competitive between North America and Australia. Food lacks somewhat on the post-11 p.m. departure and service was somewhat indifferent but it was a good flight overall.
A man in Sydney, Australia is trolling airline passengers arriving into the city. He’s painted “Welcome to Perth” – which is the capital of Western Australia, and on the other side of the country – onto his roof. Passengers admit being fooled.
One hundred and thirty five Holland America cruise ship passengers were turned away by United Airlines on Friday night after cabin crew refused to work a flight to Sydney if they were allowed on board.
You can fly to Australia from all across the U.S. this fall and winter starting at just $360 roundtrip.
Airlines are waiving change fees for travel booked now, so if you do have to change your planes you’ll at least get a full travel credit without penalty to use on a future trip. Hopefully this is far enough out that we can travel again without worry!
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
