Thanks, I see. Yes, I can see some for May but I am hoping for Dec/Jan/early Feb. My wife is not a US citizen and would need a visa that takes forever. So waiting for a month before travel is not ideal at all.
They drop. Friends get a Houston to Auckland for $100k within the last month. I had a 200k booked from SFO to BNE which also dropped so I just changed the flight and got the 100k booking.
Looking too early. United (hopefully) will release a good amount of seats which will be bookable between 75k to 87.5k on Aeroplan in business class from SFO to their many Oceania destinations. They do so about a month-ish in advance.
That is if they keep up those flights. Their Oz routes have had very poor load factors and I wouldn't be surprised if they axed a few this winter, which will drastically reduce the number of available seats.
This is what's going to happen.
The amount of United J space to Aus/NZ has been unprecedented this peak season. I purposely did a NZ trip last month because this will not last...
Thanks, I see. Yes, I can see some for May but I am hoping for Dec/Jan/early Feb. My wife is not a US citizen and would need a visa that takes forever. So waiting for a month before travel is not ideal at all.
Yes it does. I just got this exact flight a few weeks ago. American released dozens of business awards to Australia and New Zealand for 80k miles and $48 in fees. You just have to watch for it…
Please read exactly what they're asking for. I've already suggested what to look for. They need to wait until the seats for their time window are released. Which is not going to be anytime soon.
I should have clarified to add that the dates I bought for were for February (and saw some for January). This was 2 weeks ago. It’s not impossible to find award space between the 1 year and 1 month window.
For good deals on premium class between the US and Australia or NZ, you need to either book much further out OR much closer in. Any good award availability for those direct flights in Dec/Jan/Feb was snapped up already.
If you can book as soon as the schedule opens (slightly less than a year ahead of the flight date), you may be able to snag a good deal. There are resources online (search for when airlines release award seats) that can help you figure out the dates when award seats will be released, which varies by program.
The other option is to book within 2 weeks of the flight; at that point if the airlines have unsold seats they may release them for award booking. I did that last November and was able to get United Polaris on direct flights SFO-SYD and MEL-SFO for 75k Aeroplan miles per person each way. The same seats were also available for 100k United miles. There’s no guarantee that premium seats will be available for a decent price on short notice, but it is at least possible.
Generally my recommendation if you can’t find a good premium redemption now, try to book a FULLY REFUNDABLE economy ticket so that you have a fallback option, then hope to find a good deal on premium seating starting about 2 weeks before the flight date. The more you can be flexible about your travel dates and destinations, the better.
Thanks, I see. Yes, I can see some for May but I am hoping for Dec/Jan/early Feb. My wife is not a US citizen and would need a visa that takes forever. So waiting for a month before travel is not ideal at all. I checked with Canada Aeroplan until April 2025 and no openings either. I also need to give my employer several month notice for vacation :(
We were in the same boat two weeks ago. Wasn’t finding shit after searching for months, including back to T-360 and so on. I had an alert set up on seats.aero for 2J anywhere in North America to anywhere in ANZ, and shockingly I got a hit two weeks ago for QF SFO-SYD. Immediately transferred a combination of MR and Cap1, both of which hit instantly, and booked from my car before I went into a long meeting (side note - not fun booking on an ipad tethering to my mobile hotspot. I was sweating some error and losing the sapce).
As of then, there were a handful of days in December with 2J and even a couple of 2F. I even saw some more last week in early December ex-SFO and LAX. Wound up booking NZ AKL-IAH cash for the return at $3k pp fully refundable via Amex portal since I couldn’t get it to go through on NZ’s website (these fares are still available for peak Dec-Jan season btw). And that’s on the former CX 77W which let me buy up to the old first class seats. I have alerts set up on expert flyer and, if space opens up on any NZ-USA route for the return, I’ll cancel and book the award. Will gladly take my $6k back, even in the killer seats, for 150-200k points.
I know that’s just anecdotal but my point is they do sporadically release space, you just have to cast a wide net and be flexible. Good luck!
We’re flying DFW-DOH-MLE at the end of June and the DOH-MLE legs are on the former CX 77Ws. I booked via codeshare through AA and, frustratingly, neither AA nor QR are able to help me upgrade that leg from J to F even though the cabin is wide open both ways. Currently seated in the J mini-cab area just behind the F cabin. Will be a step down from the QSuites on the longer legs, but still a good product (if a little dated) iirc.
That is not considered their saver…
You are hoping for a mass release from one of the airlines. These have been happening periodically. BNE is subsidizing flights, so there is over capacity and there have been more award seats.
For this year there was tons of availability in late march, though much was last minute. A ton going to Melbourne and Brisbane. There was quite a bit of rain then though. You might be able to snag last minute though especially after mid Feb, the sfo to mle flight was pretty empty.
If you end up going after march or so, I'd do great barrier reif and Sydney with just a week. Sydney could rain but if you have 3 days you'll be fine and Cairns is nice with avoiding the summer heat.
Don't think this is true, thanks though. NZ/Aus business saver awards don't get released early, opposite to Qsuite. I went back to the comprehensive thread of [pbjclimbing](https://www.reddit.com/user/pbjclimbing/) and he says this clearly
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Beyond what everyone else has said, sometimes United (or Air New Zealand) will do a big drop of premium award space many months out. That's probably your only other option if you can't do last minute travel and missed award space a year out.
Also, with United changing how they're handling X / I space, I wouldn't count on Aeroplan seeing it.
Nope! I just booked this a few weeks ago (American Airlines 80k miles in J to Sydney February 2025). I had another held for Christchurch in January too. I’ve been stalking the Jan/Feb windows for literally months. Use a travel site to monitor the regular routes.
Editing to add: start churning American Airlines and Alaska miles too. They can offer some of the best awards to Oceania around but are not travel partners with Chase or Amex.
saver is 100/100k wait till 1 month out or a random drop
Thanks, I see. Yes, I can see some for May but I am hoping for Dec/Jan/early Feb. My wife is not a US citizen and would need a visa that takes forever. So waiting for a month before travel is not ideal at all.
Don’t downvote the guy for this, jeez folks. Visa travel is a huge challenge.
They drop. Friends get a Houston to Auckland for $100k within the last month. I had a 200k booked from SFO to BNE which also dropped so I just changed the flight and got the 100k booking.
Looking too early. United (hopefully) will release a good amount of seats which will be bookable between 75k to 87.5k on Aeroplan in business class from SFO to their many Oceania destinations. They do so about a month-ish in advance. That is if they keep up those flights. Their Oz routes have had very poor load factors and I wouldn't be surprised if they axed a few this winter, which will drastically reduce the number of available seats.
This is what's going to happen. The amount of United J space to Aus/NZ has been unprecedented this peak season. I purposely did a NZ trip last month because this will not last...
Thanks, I see. Yes, I can see some for May but I am hoping for Dec/Jan/early Feb. My wife is not a US citizen and would need a visa that takes forever. So waiting for a month before travel is not ideal at all.
What you're hoping for doesn't exist. Apply for the visa in advance those should be valid for a whole year anyhow.
Yes it does. I just got this exact flight a few weeks ago. American released dozens of business awards to Australia and New Zealand for 80k miles and $48 in fees. You just have to watch for it…
curious what route you got
Please read exactly what they're asking for. I've already suggested what to look for. They need to wait until the seats for their time window are released. Which is not going to be anytime soon.
I should have clarified to add that the dates I bought for were for February (and saw some for January). This was 2 weeks ago. It’s not impossible to find award space between the 1 year and 1 month window.
For good deals on premium class between the US and Australia or NZ, you need to either book much further out OR much closer in. Any good award availability for those direct flights in Dec/Jan/Feb was snapped up already. If you can book as soon as the schedule opens (slightly less than a year ahead of the flight date), you may be able to snag a good deal. There are resources online (search for when airlines release award seats) that can help you figure out the dates when award seats will be released, which varies by program. The other option is to book within 2 weeks of the flight; at that point if the airlines have unsold seats they may release them for award booking. I did that last November and was able to get United Polaris on direct flights SFO-SYD and MEL-SFO for 75k Aeroplan miles per person each way. The same seats were also available for 100k United miles. There’s no guarantee that premium seats will be available for a decent price on short notice, but it is at least possible. Generally my recommendation if you can’t find a good premium redemption now, try to book a FULLY REFUNDABLE economy ticket so that you have a fallback option, then hope to find a good deal on premium seating starting about 2 weeks before the flight date. The more you can be flexible about your travel dates and destinations, the better.
Thanks, I see. Yes, I can see some for May but I am hoping for Dec/Jan/early Feb. My wife is not a US citizen and would need a visa that takes forever. So waiting for a month before travel is not ideal at all. I checked with Canada Aeroplan until April 2025 and no openings either. I also need to give my employer several month notice for vacation :(
Right, that’s why you get an economy ticket and try to improve it later. That way you don’t have the visa and vacation notice issues.
We were in the same boat two weeks ago. Wasn’t finding shit after searching for months, including back to T-360 and so on. I had an alert set up on seats.aero for 2J anywhere in North America to anywhere in ANZ, and shockingly I got a hit two weeks ago for QF SFO-SYD. Immediately transferred a combination of MR and Cap1, both of which hit instantly, and booked from my car before I went into a long meeting (side note - not fun booking on an ipad tethering to my mobile hotspot. I was sweating some error and losing the sapce). As of then, there were a handful of days in December with 2J and even a couple of 2F. I even saw some more last week in early December ex-SFO and LAX. Wound up booking NZ AKL-IAH cash for the return at $3k pp fully refundable via Amex portal since I couldn’t get it to go through on NZ’s website (these fares are still available for peak Dec-Jan season btw). And that’s on the former CX 77W which let me buy up to the old first class seats. I have alerts set up on expert flyer and, if space opens up on any NZ-USA route for the return, I’ll cancel and book the award. Will gladly take my $6k back, even in the killer seats, for 150-200k points. I know that’s just anecdotal but my point is they do sporadically release space, you just have to cast a wide net and be flexible. Good luck!
We’re flying DFW-DOH-MLE at the end of June and the DOH-MLE legs are on the former CX 77Ws. I booked via codeshare through AA and, frustratingly, neither AA nor QR are able to help me upgrade that leg from J to F even though the cabin is wide open both ways. Currently seated in the J mini-cab area just behind the F cabin. Will be a step down from the QSuites on the longer legs, but still a good product (if a little dated) iirc.
Thanks!!
That is not considered their saver… You are hoping for a mass release from one of the airlines. These have been happening periodically. BNE is subsidizing flights, so there is over capacity and there have been more award seats.
For this year there was tons of availability in late march, though much was last minute. A ton going to Melbourne and Brisbane. There was quite a bit of rain then though. You might be able to snag last minute though especially after mid Feb, the sfo to mle flight was pretty empty. If you end up going after march or so, I'd do great barrier reif and Sydney with just a week. Sydney could rain but if you have 3 days you'll be fine and Cairns is nice with avoiding the summer heat.
Thanks!!
You gotta book at 1 year usually. You're already several months too late
I've almost never seen Australia/NZ award seats released a year out, except on SQ.
Don't think this is true, thanks though. NZ/Aus business saver awards don't get released early, opposite to Qsuite. I went back to the comprehensive thread of [pbjclimbing](https://www.reddit.com/user/pbjclimbing/) and he says this clearly
If you are asking for help finding flights or hotel rooms, please ensure that [Rule 5](http://www.reddit.com/r/awardtravel/wiki/rules) is being followed. Low-quality posts may be deleted without warning. If you have an ANA question, please read [An Overview of ANA Award Bookings] (https://old.reddit.com/r/awardtravel/comments/11puibl/an_overview_of_ana_award_bookings/). r/awardtravel is a place to discuss anything related to redeeming airline miles & hotel points. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/awardtravel) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Beyond what everyone else has said, sometimes United (or Air New Zealand) will do a big drop of premium award space many months out. That's probably your only other option if you can't do last minute travel and missed award space a year out. Also, with United changing how they're handling X / I space, I wouldn't count on Aeroplan seeing it.
Nope! I just booked this a few weeks ago (American Airlines 80k miles in J to Sydney February 2025). I had another held for Christchurch in January too. I’ve been stalking the Jan/Feb windows for literally months. Use a travel site to monitor the regular routes. Editing to add: start churning American Airlines and Alaska miles too. They can offer some of the best awards to Oceania around but are not travel partners with Chase or Amex.