Flying lie-flat to Australia and New Zealand is one of the best uses of points and miles, period … so figure, they're among the hardest routes in the world to book, too. But something has changed recently.
We're always hunting for business class award space to Australia and New Zealand – those 15-plus-hour flights to the Land Down Under are rough in the back of the plane. After regularly coming back empty-handed for years, we've recently seen a dramatic return of lie-flat award space flying to Brisbane (BNE), Melbourne (MEL), Sydney (SYD), Auckland (AKL), and more for a trip winter and spring 2026 – exactly when you want to visit, right during peak season of summer and fall in the Southern Hemisphere!
It comes as airlines have added tons of new routes and additional frequencies to Australia and New Zealand, resulting in a 26% increase in business class seats flying those routes across the Pacific in January 2026 compared to January 2019. Clearly, that's left the carriers scrambling to fill some seats.
And it couldn't have come at a better time: With peak season just around the corner, it's high time to get booking to fly south this winter for the trip of the lifetime. And best of all, you have the best chance in months to do it in style, whether it's in American Airlines First Class (just before it disappears for good), American's business class, Qantas business class on the double-decker A380, Cathay Pacific First Class, or Delta One Suites!
Our Thrifty Traveler Premium members have seen it firsthand, as we've been peppering their inboxes with alerts for these once hard-to-find seats flying to Australia and New Zealand this year. Here's a sneak peek of what we've been finding recently.
American Airlines Leads the Way
American Airlines is on a heater when it comes to lie-flat points and miles deals to Australia and New Zealand. In fact, American's Oneworld Alliance is (almost) solely responsible for the uptick in this award space trend.
The deal that really caught my eye was this one flying from Los Angeles (LAX) to Sydney (SYD) from 75,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles each way in business class – or just 85,000 miles each way in the uber-spacious First Class seats. This could be one of your final chances to book American's international first class cabins on its Boeing 777s before they're put to pasture.
But really, the combination of widespread availability in both business and first class on these ultra-long-haul routes was staggering. Here's a look at one date next March with all four cabin bookable with points!
Most of American's long-haul flights will only have business class going forward, but that's not a bad thing. On some routes where we've seen business class bookable, it's just the opposite.
Debuting earlier this year, AA's new Flagship business class suites are as dreamy as they look. You'll find them flying between Dallas-Fort (DFW) to Brisbane (BNE) this winter as well as over to Auckland (AKL) next year. So we were floored to find widespread availability on both routes bookable for as low as just 83,000 American AAdvantage miles.
If you have American Airlines AAdvantage miles, the getting has been really good for a trip Down Under this winter!
Qantas Opens Up its Double-Decker A380
When it comes to flying to Australia, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better ride than Australia's own Qantas, the hometown Australian airline.
Aanother Oneworld carrier and partner of American Airlines, Qantas flies several routes between Australia to North American destinations like Los Angeles (LAX), San Francisco (SFO), Seattle (SEA), Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), and Vancouver (YVR). And on each and every one of those flights, you'll find sweet business class seats that look like this…
Read Next:Our Review of Qantas Business Class on the A380
Your best bet for booking Qantas business class is with the airline's own points program, which you can transfer in from major banks like American Express Membership Rewards points, Capital One miles, and Citi ThankYou points. Even then, finding business class award availability can be tough.
But we recently stumbled upon a goldmine, with widespread availability flying between Los Angeles (LAX) to Sydney (SYD) route bookable at 130,100 points each way and $366 in taxes and fees.
Cathay Pacific First & Biz Class, Too!
If you think booking a lie-flat seat to Australia or New Zealand is tough from the West Coast, don't search from New York City: It's practically impossible.
But there is an exception … and it's a beautiful exception: Our Thrifty Traveler Premium members were recently treated to this sizzling deal for ultra-rare first class availability flying Cathay Pacific down to Hong Kong (HKG), with quick connections in business class all the way down to Australia and New Zealand, too!
All of these flights, departing New York (JFK), were priced below 160,000 miles each way for one of the best first class cabins in the sky. Crazily, if you tacked on a connection, the price went down! That's how you can get 140,000-point rates to Auckland (AKL), Brisbane (BNE), Melbourne (MEL), Perth (PER), and Sydney (SYD) on this screaming deal.
To book, you need Cathay Pacific Asia Miles. But like Qantas miles, you don't have to be a Cathay frequent flyer to earn these. Cathay miles can be transferred in from American Express, Bilt, Capital One, or Citi!
A layover in Hong Kong might be unorthodox, but it's not an inconvenient pitstop – especially when you can head into the Cathay Pacific First Class Lounge when you get there … and believe me, you'll want to!
Don't Forget Delta!
Oneworld airlines don't get to have all the fun! Delta would like a word…
While 127,000 miles for a one-way flight to Australia might not be the deal of the century, that's as good as it gets for an airline notorious for charging 500,000 SkyMiles or more on these ultra-long flights. We've repeatedly found deals like this one flying the airline's new (and perhaps underperforming) route to Brisbane (BNE).
Better yet, it also included nearly every Delta city in the U.S. for the same rate as well!
This is just a quick snippet of all the U.S. cities included in this stellar deal to fly Delta One Suites on the super-long-haul to Australia this winter.
Bottom Line
Points and miles can take the sting out of the long, expensive flights to Australia and New Zealand. Lucky for you (and I), booking these award flights has gotten a lot easier over the past month.
It's one of the biggest and most exciting trends in the world of cheap flights. And we're guessing it won't be long before our Thrifty Traveler Premium members get the next deal.
