Qantas or Cathay Pacific

[klfrodo]

Using FF miles and miles not an issue.

 

If you were looking for 1st Class or Business Class R/T travel from North America to Australia, which would you choose and why?

[imsulin]

Using FF miles and miles not an issue.

 

If you were looking for 1st Class or Business Class R/T travel from North America to Australia, which would you choose and why?

 

The Milllennium Falcon with the hyper-speed thing, because that's as close as I'll ever get to flying r/t to Australia first-class!

[FlyerTalker]

Being a big fan of lounges, I'd lean to CX for the ability to enjoy "The Wing" at HKG. Maybe even get a stopover and enjoy Hong Kong along the way.

 

I have not flown either up front, so I'll defer to others on inflight evaluations.

[Gardyloo]

Are they Alaska miles by any chance? ('Cause if so, you have to pick one carrier and can't mix-and-match like you can with other airlines, e.g. American.)

 

Definitely Qantas, using the A380 suites from LAX to SYD. The HKG Cathay lounges are fine, but can't hold a candle to the Qantas first class lounges in Sydney or Melbourne (esp. SYD.) Plus, if you want to go somewhere in Oz besides Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane or Perth, you'll have to ride Qantas anyway.

 

If in business class, a bit more of a push, but I'd still go with Qantas and the A380. Once CX installs its new business class seats, I'd try them out, but the rollout sounds like it's going to be slow.

[klfrodo]

Are they Alaska miles by any chance? ('Cause if so, you have to pick one carrier and can't mix-and-match like you can with other airlines, e.g. American.)

 

Definitely Qantas, using the A380 suites from LAX to SYD. The HKG Cathay lounges are fine, but can't hold a candle to the Qantas first class lounges in Sydney or Melbourne (esp. SYD.) Plus, if you want to go somewhere in Oz besides Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane or Perth, you'll have to ride Qantas anyway.

 

If in business class, a bit more of a push, but I'd still go with Qantas and the A380. Once CX installs its new business class seats, I'd try them out, but the rollout sounds like it's going to be slow.

 

Yes, AS miles.

 

Thanks for the feedback

[kenish]

We flew QF in first class on an award ticket. The A380 is quite an experience in itself so that may be the tiebreaker right there. Also as pointed out if you are flying domestically within Oz, you can get one domestic leg covered by your miles.

 

An example since you're from SEA: SEA-LAX-MEL is the outbound award segment. Then, you could fly MEL-CNS on a separate ticket (Qantas, Jetstar, or Virgin Blue). The homebound leg is CNS-SYD-LAX-SEA but since you're allowed a stopover at a gateway in either the US or Oz you can visit SYD...thereby including the CNS-SYD flight in your award ticket.

 

Another tip- sign up for Qantas' frequent flyer program (free for US / Canada residents). You will get fare sale bulletins that will help you shop for domestic flights in Oz. More importantly, you can see award seat availability by date, flight, and class of service. If seats are available to Qantas FF members they are usually available to Alaska and AA.

 

Hope this helps!

[Globaliser]

Being a big fan of lounges, I'd lean to CX for the ability to enjoy "The Wing" at HKG. Maybe even get a stopover and enjoy Hong Kong along the way.

The HKG Cathay lounges are fine, but can't hold a candle to the Qantas first class lounges in Sydney or Melbourne (esp. SYD.)

I've always been a tiny bit underwhelmed by the Wing. I've always regarded lounges as glorified waiting rooms with facilities rather than as destinations in themselves, so maybe my mindset is not quite right to begin with. They're certainly useful, but mostly they wouldn't be places that I'd choose my travel on, and the Wing is a bit spartan. Next month, I think I may go back to the BA/QF lounge now that the old combined lounge is purely a first class lounge, to give it another try.

 

However, having had two experiences of the QF first class lounge in SYD in the last couple of months, this is definitely an exception to the rule. I had a 12-hour connection at SYD, and would have gladly spent the entire time in the lounge and more (but I had an important coffee date taking up part of that time). It's a truly a destination in itself, and I made sure that I went early to the airport before the second flight (when I was just departing SYD).

 

If you're flying CX first class from SYD, you'll get to use the QF first class lounge there.