Any advice on one way YYZ - SYD for August 2011?

[justcallmeryan]

Hi everyone, new to the forum so I apologise in advance for my lack ok knowledge of the acronyms! I'm getting there slowly...

I am currently on a bit of a sabbatical in North America and need to get back to SYD sometime late August (new job starts in September). I don't have a return ticket as I flew myself over here on velocity points - and when VA upgraded me to J on the BNE - LAX leg I was one happy camper!

Being a silver Velocity member, I was planning on buying a one way LAX - SYD on VA to get back (combined with a one way YYZ - LAX on either VX or AC), as they used to advertise very low one way fares, around $550, but those fares seem to have disappeared!

For the seasoned flyers out there I was wondering if you had any suggestions on the best way to secure a one way Y or Y+ fare for either YYZ or LAX to SYD for late August? My preferences are VA or Star Alliance but I will consider anything if it's the right price.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[dfcatch]

I've regularly flown YYZ-SFO/LAX on both AA and AC, lowest I paid was $146, highest was $380 for Y or $772 for J.

August might be tougher for cheap fares, also if you fly from BUF you can save a heap.

Also look at Westjet.

 

[Baysider]

YYZ is notoriously expensive to fly out of. We saved hundreds of dollars by making the 2 hour trip to Buffalo (NY state, USA) and flying to NYC with JetBlue ($60). You can reach Buffalo by train (Amtrak), bus or hire car. The plus with this is that you'll then have a massive range of options out of NYC for the journey to SYD.

 

[NM]

Cheapest option, obviously pending availability of flights, may be to purchase some AA miles and redeem a one-way award. A one-way North America to South Pacific requires 37,500 AA miles for economy. At the moment they are offering bonus miles when purchasing so you only need to purchase 34,000 miles for US$850 and the bonus 4000 miles will put you over the 37,500 required. Still need to add taxes etc.

Now for great value, business class awards only require 62,500 AA miles (one-way). But there is a limit of 40,000 miles purchased in a calendar year (plus the 15,000 bonus for purchasing 40,000 makes 55,000 miles for US$1000). So if you had purchased some before new year and then the rest now, you could have booked business class (pending availability) for around US$1150.

Of if you can find first class award availability, the 72,500 miles needed would have cost US$1275 if spread either side of 1st January. Now that is good value.

 

[justcallmeryan]

Cheapest option, obviously pending availability of flights, may be to purchase some AA miles and redeem a one-way award.

WOW I didn't even know the above was possible! Thanks I will look into that for any future travel. For this time around though, it doesn't really work for me.

I did some research though and have come up with three options below. None are cheap but all have other reasons for me to take up. So you know, I'm not interested in QF or One World points as most of my travel is done on DJ in OZ and AC in North America. I'm also a silver DJ member.

Option 1.
Air NZ one way ticket from LAX to SYD via AKL accompanied by a one way ticket from YYZ or BUF to LAX. Grand total for Y is $1000 or Y+ (for the LAX - AKL segment) $2500.
Pros: It would get me a nice chunk of Aeroplan miles which I am saving up for a return ticket in J class SYD - YYZ. I'm halfway there and this would be a nice bonus. Also I could possibly try out the new "cuddle class" on NZ which could be fun.
Cons: Having an extra layover in AKL adds to the already long day of travel.

Option 2.
Buy a V Australia return LAX - SYD and keep the return flight for later use (a one way flight on V Aus is even more expensive than a return). This would be accompanied by a one way from YYZ or BUF as per above. Grand total for Y is around $1300 and Y+ $4000.
Pros: Counts towards my DJ status renewal and would leave me with a SYD - LAX leg that I could use later in the year. Being silver member also means remote chance of an upgrade to J class on LAX to SYD leg, which won't happen on any of the other options.
Cons: The return leg is annoying as I would probably end up paying fees to change the date, no plans to come back to the US until early 2012. Also more expensive in total than the NZ option.

Option 3.
I found en etihad one way fare from JFK to SYD via AUH. Accompanied by a one way fare from YYZ total would be about $1250 for Y. Can't afford their prices in J unfortunately and no Y+.
Pros: Would love to try etihad as have heard lots of good things about them. Plus with new DJ alliance I would get most of my status needed to renew silver late 2011.
Cons: Loooong flight. 13 hours JFK - AUH and then another 14.5 hours AUH - SYD. Could possibly tie in a couple of days in AUH but that adds to expense as well. Plus no possibility of upgrading to Y+ as per the above options.

I know this post is long winded but I'm wondering what the community at large would do? Do I go for miles towards my aeroplan "Savings" or go for status by flying etihad or VA? NZ is tempting me at the moment as I would love to try cuddle class

 

[NM]

Cons: The return leg is annoying as I would probably end up paying fees to change the date, no plans to come back to the US until early 2012. Also more expensive in total than the NZ option.

Note that tickets are usually only valid for 12 months from issue or first sector date. So keep that in mind if planning to push out the return date.

 

[sarvowinner]

You can fly JFK-SYD on Qantas for USD 1,130 one way or $1,300 return (depending on return date).

If you have any Qantas FF points, you only need 8,000 to fly YYZ-JFK.

 

[JohnK]

I know this post is long winded but I'm wondering what the community at large would do? Do I go for miles towards my aeroplan "Savings" or go for status by flying etihad or VA? NZ is tempting me at the moment as I would love to try cuddle class

Are you planning on going back to LAX ~12 months after returning to SYD?

If not then the one-way (option 1) for $1,000 would seem to be the logical option.

Actually that does not seem to be too bad a price. In early 2009 I paid ~AUD1,100 for a BKK-BNE one way as the next trip to Thailand would not have been for another ~357 days and I could not buy any airfares with my desired return date.

 

[justcallmeryan]

Are you planning on going back to LAX ~12 months after returning to SYD?

If not then the one-way (option 1) for $1,000 would seem to be the logical option.

I might be going back, but I'm not keen on having the return left over so not sure.

I think I'm going to do the one way on NZ and try the sky couch. Seems like too good an offer to pass up.