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Use points to fly Qantas’ Inaugural 787 Dreamliner from Brisbane to LA and biz from LAX to JFK.

a row of seats in an airplane

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Flights take off September 1st, 2018

It was just announced that Qantas would be flying their gorgeous, new 787-9 Dreamliner from Brisbane to Los Angeles starting September 1st, 2018. That flight will also continue on to New York which creates great bonus flight opportunities utilizing Alaska miles. Just for giggles I searched for possible availability on the inaugural flight from Brisbane to LA on the 1st. Sadly, no business class seats were available, but there were premium economy seats.  What’s even better, if you utilize Alaska’s stopover benefit, you can fly from LAX to JFK in their amazing business class at a later date. Check it out.

The 787-9 Configuration.

  • 42 business class seats
  • 28 premium economy
  • 166 economy

Business Class:

These are Vantage XL seats similar to what’s found on SAS’s business class.

Premium Economy:

Economy

Alaska shows the flight as available on September 1st. The inaugural.

These are booked into Premium Economy. You could end there, but for just 7500 more miles you could continue on to NYC at a later date.

How?

Alaska allows stopovers. You need to call in to book them, but if you find the space, they can book it. Alaska requires you to stay on the same airline, or combine the partner with Alaska metal. You can see that reflected in the itinerary below.

If we can find space from LAX to JFK at a later date in first or business, the whole itinerary will price into that cabin. Only 7500 more points.

Finding the LAX to JFK space.

You can’t just search the space from LAX to JFK. The DOT doesn’t allow this ticket to be sold separately so you’ll need to search an itinerary from Australia to NYC.

This one shows one possible option…not the best.

Much better! You can see on September 14th there is space available on QF11 from LAX to JFK. If you wanted to book this in conjunction with the inaugural, you could, but you’d need to call in and give them the exact flight information you see below.

What’s even better? Qantas may open space from BNE to LAX, and since you’re already paying for that cabin, you can get bumped up into it. Need to buy miles? Alaska is offering a 40% bonus. Buying miles with this bonus is equal to paying ~$1100 for two separate flights. Great deal.

 

Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

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