Looking for advice in planning Sydney to Los Angeles flights for a family of 4

G’day,

Im new to the points hacking community, so looking for advice.

Im planning/budgeting for a USA road trip holiday for 2027. Its for a family of 4 (both kids under 12) We are hoping to use points for the flights currently we have 400k worth of points (will probably have double when booking) we are planning for later in the year.

I like to plan ahead hence sooo far out.

  1. Is there any advice on securing the seats and dates we want?
  2. How far out should/can I book reward seats?
  3. Any other tips?

Thanks

J

Hello and welcome @JRMAN

Planning ahead is good! In my experience, the more you’re able to plan ahead, the better your chances of getting the flights you want.

The two Point Hacks articles below are in need of updating, but they’re a good place to start. Have a read and then get back to us if you have any more questions.

All the best!

Thanks for the info. ill have a read

Thanks for the info above after some reading I have some thoughts and some questions.

So its looking like we will have about 1 million points by the time we fly. Alot of spending to get there. (Should be enough to request return flights by my math)

We are Gold and Qantas club members and will have this status moving forward will we have a better chance if we:

  1. Book flexible fares to the USA as soon as the flights become available
  2. Request a points upgrade as soon as we book and pay
  3. Is it worth splitting the booking in to 2 so we aren’t attempting to get 4 Business class seats all at once

As always love to get some community thoughts and knowledge here.

Cheers

Hi @JRMAN

I think the answer is “yes” to all 3 of your questions, though of course the big caveat is that upgrades to business class are by no means guaranteed. If you book economy tickets there’s every chance that you’ll end up flying economy. But yes, if you want to maximise your chances the 3 steps you suggest are good ones.

See below for more information on how Qantas upgrades work.

Please let us know how you go!

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