Flying to Australia from North America on Delta and Virgin Australia

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.

Delta and Virgin Australia are partner airlines, and route all their North American flights through Los Angeles. Here you'll find advice on mileage programs and credit cards associated with these airlines, as well as the flight numbers and schedules for non-stop flights to/from Los Angeles and Australian cities. Note that (2+) signifies a flight that arrives two days later than its departure.

DELTA
Delta offers two non-stop routes from Los Angeles to/from Melbourne and Sydney:

Los Angeles - Melbourne
LAX-MEL: DL6796 - 11:40pm - 8:30am (2+)
MEL-LAX: DL6797 - 11:00am - 8:30am

Los Angeles - Sydney
LAX-SYD: DL417 - 10:10pm - 6:20 am (2+)
SYD-LAX: DL16 - 11:20am - 8:12am
SYD-LAX: DL6799 -1:40pm - 10:25am

Check out this post on How to Get to Australia with Delta Skymiles, and know that Skymiles exchange rates will change after June 1, 2014. In general, these are the Delta Skymiles exchanges for flights from North America to the Southwest Pacific:

Delta Skymiles
Before June 1, 2014: Saver, Standard and Peak
Economy: 100,000, 135,000, 200,000
Bus/First: 135,000, 250,000, 380,000

Delta Skymiles
After June 1, 2014: Saver, Standard and Peak
Economy: 100,000, 150,000, 200,000
Bus/First: 160,000, 250,000, 380,000

To boost your SkyMiles earnings, consider the Amex Delta SkyMiles Gold card, with a welcome bonus of 30,000 SkyMiles when you spend $500 within 3 months, and an annual fee of $95 waived for the first year. Starpoints earned on SPG Rewards cards like the Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express or Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express also transfer at a 1:1 ratio to Delta.

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA

The airline has three non-stop routes between Los Angeles and Australia, to Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney:

Los Angeles - Brisbane
LAX-BNE: VA8 - 11:20pm - 7:25am (2+)
BNE-LAX: VA7 - 10:15am - 6:30am

Los Angeles-Melbourne
LAX-MEL: VA24 - 11:20pm - 10:05am (2+)
MEL-LAX: VA23- 1:10pm - 8:45am

Los Angeles-Sydney
LAX-SYD: VA6551 - 8:20pm - 6:20am (2+)
LAX-SYD: VA2 - 9:50pm - 7:50pm (2+)
SYD-LAX: VA6552 - 12:20pm - 7:00am
SYD-LAX: VA1 - 2:25pm - 9:15am

Velocity Frequent Flyer Miles needed for these round-trip flights:
Economy 94,000; Premium Economy 141,000; Business 188,000; First 282,000

Note that Velocity Frequent Flyer Miles can also be used for bookings on partner airline Air New Zealand.