Melbourne-Washington on points (revisited)

[Walter Plinge]

A couple of months back I posted a query about MEL-IAD (Washington) on points and querying why I couldn't get an award/PE MEL-LAX-IAD flight and had to go MEL-LHR-IAD. The consensus was that I was looking at too short a timeframe (6 weeks) and the award direct flights were booked out.

I've just booked the flight 10 months ahead and still couldn't get a direct award/PE flight. I dithered about whether just to fly direct in Economy (23 hrs) or the long way in PE (33 hrs and $160 extra in fees). I'm not a frequent flyer so I did the latter, leaving a day earlier than planned. The LHR-IAD section is a BA codeshare. Oh well.

One factor I considered was the last time I flew to the US in June the outgoing flight was delayed for 10 hours in MEL due to fog, resulting in a missed connection at LAX and having to stay overnight. Some morning departures in June this year were also badly fog-affected. The longer flight leaves mid-afternoon and is less likely to be delayed.

Coming home (JFK-MEL) was fine - Qantas PE all the way, no codeshare and a USD$112 fee.

 

[dajop]

I've just booked the flight 10 months ahead and still couldn't get a direct award/PE flight. I dithered about whether just to fly direct in Economy (23 hrs) or the long way in PE (33 hrs and $160 extra in fees). I'm not a frequent flyer so I did the latter, leaving a day earlier than planned. The LHR-IAD section is a BA codeshare. Oh well.

I missed the earlier thread. But the simple explanation is that you cannot fly in Y+ from LAX-IAD therefore the online booking engine will not bring up MEL-LAX-IAD as an option in Y+. The system isn't smart enough to say "oh you really want Y+ on the 14hr flight, and doesn't matter about the 5hr flight". Likewise if there is availability in Y+ from SYD-LAX but not MEL-LAX it will not bring up Y+ availability as the MEL-SYD sector would be in Y.

In your case, I assume you mean June, there is Y+ availability MEL-LAX and MEL-JFK, you would have to couple these flights with a Y sector from LAX or JFK to IAD/DCA, using the multi city booking engine.

 

[Walter Plinge]

I missed the earlier thread. But the simple explanation is that you cannot fly in Y+ from LAX-IAD therefore the online booking engine will not bring up MEL-LAX-IAD as an option in Y+. The system isn't smart enough to say "oh you really want Y+ on the 14hr flight, and doesn't matter about the 5hr flight". Likewise if there is availability in Y+ from SYD-LAX but not MEL-LAX it will not bring up Y+ availability as the MEL-SYD sector would be in Y.

In your case, I assume you mean June, there is Y+ availability MEL-LAX and MEL-JFK, you would have to couple these flights with a Y sector from LAX or JFK to IAD/DCA, using the multi city booking engine.

Thanks - that makes sense.

Update: I experimented with a multi-city booking per dajop's suggestion. It works but there are two downsides: (1) The LAX-IAD leg is a AA codeshare, flying Y. No 'discount' in points however -- you pay the full 96,000 it 'costs' to go PE all the way to IAD. (2) You don't get the benefit of a quicker transfer at LAX as you would be a straight-through booking (I think you get diverted out of the passenger stream and bussed between terminals if flying direct).

The booking engine enforces a minimum 2 hour gap between flights. In reality this means a 8.5 hour stop in LAX waiting for an afternoon flight, arriving IAD midnight. I'd rather sleep in PE from LHR to IAD and arrive the next morning.