Hi all, I was glad to see AA load Brisbane to Dallas with a new 787-9 (hoping for good upgrade chances, ain't no way AA is filling a 51-seat Biz cabin on this route)

However, the cheapest one-way fare is something like $1400? Have they just not loaded cheaper fare buckets yet, or are they extremely optimistic for demand on this route? Haven't found any routings for sale of New Zealand via Brisbane to USA (via/to Dallas), which typically is cheaper than the ex-Australia departures

 

Give it some time for cheaper fares to be loaded. You can't expect that from the very introduction of a new destination.

 

I used the multi city search for a random Saturday and got $639 AKL-BNE-DFW.

 

AA flew its own metal between the US and Sydney in the early 1990s, but the route did not last very long.

 

When they switched to the A380 and the non-stop SYD-DFW, it was heavily weight restricted. I recall they had to fly it with 100 empty seats in coach. I believe it was the longest flight in the world at the time, around 2013. Made for a nearly-guaranteed row to myself in coach; poor man�s business class!

 

Do you have access to Yield Management data to make your comment?

 

Maybe it's just me...but $1400 for a one-way on this route doesn't seem that outrageous or expensive. Considering a roundtrip DFW-SYD purchased for next month is running USD~3K in main cabin on AA.com right now.

 

Admittedly... no. But, it's AA out of not Sydney/Melbourne w/ a bigger Biz class cabin than Qantas (which uses a 28-seat A330-200 to LAX, which I'd expect to get more demand than DFW from BNE unless AA is gonna induce huge amounts of demand with this route from BNE. Which, typically isn't done by sky-high fares)

 

I'm guessing they may be testing the waters regarding demand. If you live in the middle or south of the country, the west coast connections to Australia require a lot of lead time, making DFW a much more attractive routing. (I paid a premium last year to fly STL-IAH-SYD in lieu of STL-SFO-SYD on UA, and it was worth every cent). From my research last year it seems a lot of people flying to Australia these days are willing to invest in a business ticket due to the length of the flight, even on leisure trips. SYD is a pain for intl - to - domestic transfers (I understand MEL is much better), and BNE is a prime tourist launching pad for exploring the Great Barrier Reef. So this route has a lot of "pull" factors going for it imho. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see the fares drop too, but $1400 also does not seem "sky high" to me. The prospect of better routing already has me thinking about another trip sooner than I might have otherwise.

ETA: When I was at SYD last year waiting in the long line for an airside bus transfer from the international to domestic terminal, the Aussie behind me sighed loudly and said "this is what I get for not flying into Brisbane . . . "

 

Note that BNE is just as bad as SYD for international to domestic connections (or at least was in 2014). As you say, MEL is much better, since the domestic and international terminals are adjacent and walkable instead of almost 2 km apart in BNE and "only" a km apart but across a runway and therefore very unwalkable in SYD. So if BNE is the actual final destination, huge advantage. But if CNS or another airport truly at the reef is the destination, BNE "just" has the advantage of being several hundred miles more direct than SYD.

Absolutely agreed that routing from DFW to Australia beats the pants off of LAX/SFO if coming from eastern North America. Also agreed that $1400 one way doesn't actually seem insane for US-Australia.

 

Yea, done Int�l to Domestic on Qantas twice via BNE. 10-15 min bus that runs every 10-15 minutes, tho probably the lines for it are never as long as the Sydney transfer buses. Did that one once with 2.5 hrs buffer on separate tix and wasn�t sweating ever

 

I did an international to domestic transfer at BNE a few years ago, and not only did I have to take a long slow bus from one terminal to another, I had to pay a steep fare to ride that bus. There was no free transfer from the I to D terminal as far as I could find! Now, this was some time ago, so things may well have changed... but that is what i remember.

 

BrizzieBus is 110% free these days

 

Good points of clarification, thanks. Upon reflection, I think the Aussie I was quoting had BNE as his final destination, so he was really complaining about a direct versus connecting flight.

 

Before the pandemic, ORD was going to get a direct flight to BNE... guess that won't be happening now, disappointing!