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Home » American Airlines » Picture of the Week #8: LAX-SYD in Qantas First Class for $1200 r/t
American AirlinesQantas

Picture of the Week #8: LAX-SYD in Qantas First Class for $1200 r/t

Matthew Klint Posted onJanuary 11, 2010November 14, 2023 2 Comments
a screenshot of a flight schedule
 
Note the original $1243 a/i price for this fare, which booked tickets into First Class on Qantas codeshares. I am usually really good at monitoring the Mileage Run Deals forum on flyertalk and have taken advantage of quite a few “sale” fares the last three years. I missed this one, unfortunately.
 
While United honored a “full-fare” Business Class ticket from LAX-AKL via SYD a couple years ago for $1800 r/t (normal price ~8-10X that) AA quickly announced that it would not honor the tickets.
 
Nicholas Kralev, a travel correspondent for the Washington Times, reported that AA offered passengers with confirmed tickets the following:
  • American will honor the fare level that was originally purchased with travel in Coach Class on the same itinerary.
  • If the customer does not wish to do that, American will offer other deeply discounted fares in either First or Business Class. The First Class discount offered for travel from the U.S. to Australia, for example, is approximately 36 percent less than the normal fare mentioned above.
  • If the customer does not wish to do either of the options above, American will provide the customer with a full refund of the original ticket price and proactively offer to reimburse the customer for any out-of-pocket expenses that they cannot recover themselves – including cancellation penalties and other expenses. The customer will have to provide proof that they cannot recover these expenses.
  • No cancellation, change fees, or penalties will be charged to the customer by American Airlines.
  • As a gesture of good will, American will also provide each customer with a $200 travel voucher good for future travel on American Airlines or American Eagle.

While I would like to have seen AA honor the fare in First Class and would likely have fought hard to make that happen if I had taken advantage of this deal, I am impressed that they came out almost immediately and dealt with the issue.

The resolution is not ideal, but at least those who got in on the deal should be able to get a $200 travel credit for each ticket they booked.

You can read Kralev’s article on this topic here.

Note to self: check the MR forum and check it often!

 

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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2 Comments

  1. Erich Reply
    January 14, 2010 at 12:32 am

    Clue me in to the mind of a power flyer…
    What was the plan assuming this was ticketed? No way you are on the ground for 10 weeks in Australia. Would you typically book a SYD-US-SYD via an award (+flexibility) or paid fare (+(D)EQM)?

  2. Matthew Reply
    January 14, 2010 at 10:49 pm

    @Erich: I just pulled a random screenshot off of FT. I would have gone for just a week and burned some UA miles to hit either PPT, RAR, or NAN.

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