Dfw-syd-dfw

[CarolAB]

Hi there folks,

My son and his family live in Texas and are hoping to use AA points to come out over the Xmas period this year. He has tried calling the AA number from 331 days out but they tell him that there are no available seats or that Qantas hasn't released them to AA as yet.

Does anyone know how far out they release their award seats. I did call the Qantas frequent flyer line and enquired and the nice lady told me that it could be 10 months out not 353 days with qantas.

They were so excited about the direct flight as they have a 2 and 4 year old and hated the layover in LAX.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as they hope to only have to pay for the tickets for the children as they have enough points for the two adults. Otherwise it appears it may cost in excess of $8,800.00 to pay for the four of them.

thanking you in anticipation of your help

CarolAB

 

[serfty]

Firstly, "the nice lady" was wrong -Qantas release award seating 353 days out, so award seats are often snapped up before AAdvantage member can get access to them.

Also, Christmas is peak period for travel and any availability may be minimal.
They could check for award availability themselves by joining Qantas Frequent Flyer (free for US residents) on Frequent Flyer - Welcome and then searching on-line yourself.

 

[wingspan]

It also depends on what you are referring to as the 'christmas period'. I can see return flights for as cheap as $1213 departing DFW at the beginning of December and returning in January. Anything closer to christmas-proper will be more expensive, naturally.

 

[NM]

Its a maximum of 330 days out, but there is no guarantee or requirement for Qantas to load award availability on any specific flight at any specific point in time.

One option is to subscribe to ExpertFlyer and set an email alert to tell you when award seats become available.

I can see some business class award seats available on QF8 (DFW-SYD via BNE) through to the end of December 2011. But nothing in January. Note that December and January are notoriously difficult to find award inventory on international routes, especially to/from Europe and USA) as its the Aussie summer vacation period and peak time for leisure travel.

 

[CarolAB]

Thank you everyone for your reply. they were hoping to leave around Dec. 21 and back around mid Jan so it looks as though they will have to pay for peak seats. I will advise him to join expert flyer as well.

CarolAB

 

[moa999]

A lot of the award seats were snapped up within days of the route being announced.
You need to move quickly.