Olivia:

No availability on Qantas for jan/feb but they showed good availability on Virgin Australia..

We are finding NZ and Australia very difficult now with FF miles.

Frank is right about Virgin Australia.This was quite a while ago. We has Qantas tickets but wanted to change dates. No way on Qantas. Someone mentioned Virgin Australia (maybe Frank) and we had not looked at Virgin Australia before or even realized they flew there and we were surprised to find availability there. We ended up staying with our original plans so did not use Virgin Australia but I had never even thought about that airline. Another good choice to consider.

I was able to get to New Zealand in feb. Using aa miles on Fiji airlines. For the return from Melbourne Australia, I actually contacted the points guys, and they told me what I had found on my own was fine, and that they could not do better. So we are on Qatar from Melbourne to DFW. I was proud that I was able to find at least as good of a deal as they could. And that they were honest about it!

I really believe sometimes is a hit or miss. computer/phone call even the points guys. I actually did better with my own option than the ones they came up with for France/Italy but it all takes times I guess you have to weigh the options..

I knew one thing I didn't want to lose direct flights Lax-Syd and then Brisbane to LAX ,and the Virgin Business product looks pretty good as well.. 160k Delta miles roundtrip per ticket.

For OneWorld awards, I second Rachel's suggestion of Fiji Air for New Zealand. We are working on award tickets for early 2015, and I've found decent business class availability. We had an awful flight in coach to Fiji on the old Air Pacific (prior to rebranding) and said "never again," but the business class on their new Airbus planes looks like a pretty good option. A stopover in Fiji on the way home from NZ sounds great, too! I've been wanting to go to NZ for a long time.

Qantas has to be the hardest airline on which to use points. I had the choice of one flight from NY to Sydney in the month of September (business class). Couldn't find one to fly out on so am flying United with Michael's points - sons come in handy now and then!

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You are right, but delta requires 160k points, and I burned down my Amex points for last reward for China in November. Trying to see what I can do with Chase SP CC now and buying a few more. Unfortunately I cannot run any business charges thru cc's as I don't have a biz. Good in some ways, not in others!

Olivia:

Another option is using US Air miles and going the other way. Qantas or Qatar airlines New York London/Dubai to Australia..

110k miles per ticket I believe.. A little longer but another option..

Great thought Frank, but I don't think USAirways miles "work" anymore? oh my, maybe I'd better ask my points guy. How in the heck did you find this??? I'm pretty desperate, as my new Chase Sapphire points bonus (for Delta) won't work this month.

One of the points guys wrote a really interesting column recently about using USAirways miles now that they are part of OneWorld. I had no idea about all the routing restrictions AA imposes, but it sure sounds like USAirways miles have a lot of value for routing possibilities.

http://boardingarea.com/onemileatatime/2014/05/05/us-airways-oneworld-award-routings-whats-allowed/

Woo hoo! Emirates is going to start flying the A380 to Houston so I'll be able to check out business class on both the 777 and A380 on my trip home.