Qantas uses both the Airbus A380 and Boeing 747-400 on their routes to the U.S. and you would be able to ask your travel agent or contact Qantas directly regarding your original seat assignments. Some airlines do not give advance seat assignments, especially when they only allocate a portion of the coach cabin for advance assignment, and leave the rest of the passengers unassigned until the day of the flight. If you are traveling in premium classes, then you should be able to request a seat and have it assigned in advance.
- By the way, “QANTAS” is an acronym for Queensland And Northern Territory Aerial Services, and does not have a “U” in its name.
Qantas 108 is scheduled to be operated by a Boeing three-class 747-400, the likely seatmap is this one. Please be aware that equipment substitutions do sometimes occur, and you should check with Qantas prior to your flight. The seating layout in coach is 3-4-3, with the last few rows in 2-4-2 due to the tapering fuselage. There are no rows with 5 or 6 seats across, so the worst middle seat only needs to climb over one person, and the window passenger needs to climb over two people to get to the aisle.
Among frequent Qantas passengers on this route from JFK-LAX-SYD, it is an inside joke to refer to QF 108 not as QF One-O-Eight, but rather QF One-O-LATE. QF 108 originates from New York’s JFK airport, with a connection in Los Angeles, before continuing to Sydney. This flight is probably amongst the worst flights anywhere for being late, only being on schedule about 60% of the time.
Every seat on this plane should have AVOD (Audio Video On Demand), so you can have complete control over your entertainment choices. The meal service should be a “super” lunch with good portion, and a breakfast prior to arrival in Sydney.
- As for your return from Auckland to LAX, it is scheduled to be operated by a two-class Boeing 747-400, seatmap, this one. The on-time performance of this flight is even worse, you should take a look at the on-time statistics at FlightStats, a free internet site here.
With the scheduled three hours between the arrival of QF 25 and AA 2448, that should give you adequate time to go through US immigrations, wait for your luggage, clear customs, and re-check your luggage for the AA flight to DFW. At least it appears that you do not need to change terminals, as both flights utilize terminal 4 at LAX. Since AA 2248 connecting to AA 1332 is the latest scheduled flight to ATL on American Airlines, delays on QF25 arrival could cause you to miss your connection and possibly spend a night in Los Angeles.
If you have not already done so, you should sign up for American Airlines’ AAdvantage frequent flyer program. Since Qantas is in the same airline alliance as American, the miles you fly on Qantas can earn you miles on American Airlines. Your trip as you described should earn over 17,000 miles, and I did not factor in the portion between Australia and New Zealand as you did not include that information. The distance is 1345 between these two cities, so if you are flying on QF, then your entire trip should earn you over 18,000 miles. If you also sign up for a Citibank American Airlines credit card, (currently they are offering 25,000 miles bonus), the bonus miles combined with miles earned for your trip will give you more than enough for a Economy class ticket from the US to Europe during off-peak period (Oct 15 to May 15 for Europe travel on AA), or close to enough for a domestic FIRST class ticket. Husband and wife could sign up for separate credit card accounts, and each person would earn their own 25,000 miles credit card bonus. Just keep in mind that mileage from different people’s frequent flyer account cannot be combined without paying a substantial fee. Make sure that you provide your frequent flyer number to the airline before the flight, and verify it with the check-in agent, and make sure that you keep your boarding pass ticket stub as proof, so that you could use it to claim missing miles if there was a computer problem in crediting you with the miles.
Do not sign up for a Qantas frequent flyer program, as it is much less generous than American’s AAdvantage program. Crediting miles to different programs is not a good idea, as having a few miles here and there means that it is not enough for any purpose except maybe for magazines. Concentrate miles earning on one program, and you will see your rewards much faster. Doing as I suggested, your Australia/New Zealand trip can give you a free trip to Europe without paying any more for airfare.
As for hotels, if you are booking your own hotels, you should also look into hotel frequent stay programs. You will earn points on each stay, and can redeem the points for stays at many properties. The three biggest programs are Hilton’s HHonors, Starwood’s Preferred Guest, and Holiday Inn’s Priority Club programs. Each of these offer over 3000 properties world-wide, and sometime even the lowest level free membership will give you some recognition at hotels. A few years ago, we arrived in Las Vegas at 5am after a very long drive, and the hotel refused to check us in as it was too early, but the clerk noticed that I had just signed up for Hilton’s HHonors program, and told me that he could check me in right away. All of the programs I mentioned are free, and you will be paying the same rate whether you are a member or not.
Many package tour deals do not earn miles or points, as their rates are specially negotiated and are not eligible for earning points/miles. However, it still does not hurt you to sign up for the appropriate programs for other possible benefits.
Best holiday wishes to you and have a safe and enjoyable trip.
Thursday, March 12, 2009 | Author: The Seat Expert
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