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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.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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