Booking Qantas business class from Sydney to Miami

Hi, so I am needing to book a couple of business class as well as premium economy flights Syd to Miami for next July. Of course, nothing on Qantas aircraft is available using my QFF points and I notice prices are quite high to purchase tickets outright from Qantas at the moment - Can anyone tell me if it is simply too early to book to get good deals on this route?  Am I better holding off for now - do they bring out early bird deals for the U.S. as they do for Europe? 

I've always found FF tickets - especially J - almost impossible to get on the North American routes with QF.

Wow, just checked out flight duration with QR and it comes in at a whopping 30+ hours.  Looks like I am going to end up purchasing Qantas tickets.  From previous experience can anyone tell me if Sydney-Miami or Sydney-Dallas route is likely to get discounted between now and next July.  I realise no one has a crystal ball on this but past experience will hopefully shed some light on whether I should buy now or wait.  Thanks in advance!

Try waiting until just before Xmas (if possible) as QF and many airlines run a number of promos (including double status points earns etc). Might be your best bet to get a good deal. 

Thanks for that suggestion.  I think I will do that.

We flew Perth-Miami and LAX-Perth (multicity booking) earlier this year in Economy for just $1400 return with Qantas and AA (for the DFW-Mia leg).

At the moment return fare Syd to  Miami is beng sold for $K4 in PE and over $K9 Business Return on Qantas. And I need 6 tickets !! Having never done this leg I have no idea if this is a crazy price but sure looks like it to me!  Just can't bring myself to do economy on such a long haul either.

Have you considered AA? They are introducing premium onto Sydney using a 789.  I don't think they have any specials at the moment but just an idea.

I had good deals come out in Feb/Mar for a may/june flight to Miami via Dallas, was $1800 with the double status offer. I used to worry but l regularly see flight specials throughout the year to the states. The biggest cost is the LAX to Miami, which is one of the high cost flights in the US, but i'd book a ticket the whole was through as flights out of Miami are notorious for delays. I was also able to secure a flight on the AA 777

Another bonus with the Dallas flights is that with the reduced number of passangers you can guarentee a whole row to yourself at the back of the plane. Only letdown is the lounges at Dallas, they aren't as good as LAX, but if flying business, you can now access the AA first class lounges if you have gold status above or pay for entry into the Centurion Lounge, which is top notch.  

Another option to try is via santiago, a lot more reward availability and then you could choose LAN or AA to Miami. I haven't tried the San Fran route but another option you could try.   

Thank you so much for all the info. Definitely some food for thought. I'll do a little more research into AA especially. 

You could also look at flying into Fort Lauderdale with AA, LAX/FLL and DFW/FLL.  FLL is only a short drive 50kms.  Also, have a look at the AA US website for fares.

What really surprises me is that we are not able to book reward tickets with 1 year advance notice in QF premium classes to the US...always 0 availability...makes me think my almost million miles are worth nothing...

My sentiments exactly !!!!!  Annoys me to no end - all those points and you cannot use them.  Using them as cash + points towards any flight is just a plain rip off in my opinion so there we are stuck with these points and the only way to use them is on economy if you are lucky.  Try and use them on a QF business flight and you get re-routed to an obscure airline any you can usually count on adding a number of hours to an already long haul flight who I for one would not consider flying with.  About time Qantas showed some loyalty back to it's QFF...

August is getting a bit late to book award tickets to the US for July next year.  But there are W, J & F seats available still, but you need to be flexible with your dates.  What is your status, for it can also determine whether you can see all available award seats.