It was a quiet morning and the train remained mostly empty at 5:30 am. I arose before dawn and left the Park Hyatt Sydney, taking the train to the airport. I could have added extra segments (such as Perth to Sydney and/or Los Angeles – New York) for no extra points, as American uses a zone-based award chart that does not take into account total mileage as long as there is no backtracking. I booked my ticket using 110K American Airlines AAdvantage miles plus about $42 in taxes. Nevertheless, I would argue there is no better way to fly between California and Australia. My journey home from Sydney to Los Angeles on the Qantas A380 in first class was quite pleasant overall with a heavenly bed and superb onboard cuisine, though the service did not feel much like first class.