Business Class Flights to Brisbane

Qantas flies Brisbane nonstop from Los Angeles and San Francisco on the 787-9 with its lie-flat Business Suite; United flies Polaris from San Francisco and Los Angeles; Delta flies Delta One Suites on the A350 from Los Angeles; American flies Flagship Business on the 787-9 from Dallas — at sixteen and a half hours, one of its longest flights — and from Los Angeles in season. Every nonstop is a widebody with a flat bed and none carries First Class; for First, Qantas's A380 to Sydney plus a one-hour hop is the routing, or the long way round on Emirates, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines or Cathay Pacific, all of which fly Brisbane. Air New Zealand via Auckland (three hours on) and Fiji Airways via Nadi (three and a half) are the one-stops with a stopover.

The westbound flights are overnight across the date line, landing early in the morning two calendar days after departure. Brisbane's international terminal has the Qantas and partner lounges, and the Airtrain reaches the CBD in 20 minutes and continues to the Gold Coast. Queensland is the point: the Gold Coast's beaches and Byron Bay (two hours) south; Noosa and the Sunshine Coast north; and from Brisbane's domestic terminal, Hamilton Island for the Whitsundays (1h40), Cairns and Port Douglas for the northern Reef (2h20), Lizard Island via Cairns — all bookable on the same ticket.

Brisbane runs on a different calendar from Sydney and Melbourne: its winter, April through October, is the season — dry, sunny, 70s by day — and the best time for the Reef, when the water is clear and the stingers are gone. The Australian school holidays (late June–July, late September–October) lift Gold Coast prices. November through March is summer: hot, humid, with afternoon storms and jellyfish season on the northern Reef, and the cheapest time to fly outside Christmas, with business fares from Los Angeles closest to our $4,700 starting price. Christmas–January is the general Australian peak.