The next big step in my trip with Erin to the USA and Ecuador late November 2024 has been successful with the first flights booked from Melbourne to Los Angeles.
As this trip is a graduation and 18th birthday gift to my niece I want to make it as special as possible so I used Qantas Frequent flyer points to book business class seats for us both 🙂
Attempting to use points to fly to the USA for anything other than economy especially for 2 people is almost impossible. But 30 seconds after flights opened for booking for Friday 29 November 2024 I quickly grabbed two seats on Fiji Airways FJ934 Melbourne to Nadi (Fiji) which is a 4 hour 40 minute flight, then after a 2 hour 25 minute transit we switch to FJ810 Nadi (Fiji) to Los Angeles which a 10 hour 10 minute flight.
These flights cost 108,400 points and $165.24 in fees each. This compares to the $4,729.54 each if would cost to book directly so a nice saving. There are no award seats from any Australian capital to Los Angeles now on that date, so you need to be quick. The first flight is on a A330-200 with the second longer one on what looks like an amazing plane a new A350-900.
Next Steps
While we are already booked on the Ecuador tours, one around Ecuador including the Amazon, and the other a visit to Galalpagos Islands, we still have flights between USA and Ecuador and home flights to book as they open.
But I’m also playing around with th idea of extending the trip and doing a Carribean cruise since we will be going to Maimi and cruises leave from this port. I have one cruise in particular that looks interesting that I’m investigting.
I’ve never done a cruise unless you count Antartica trip but that seems a bit different to want people expect on a cruise!
Nathan's Insights 
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