Weasil,
As you may remember Northwest operated a 747-400 direct LAX-SYD and then went through Japan on fifth-freedom to Aus. for a while. When they started going through Osaka, there was quite some controversy surrounding the reciprocity of the arrangement and then for some strange reason they stopped both services. I've spoken with a retired Northwest skipper who now flies at Netjets and he said the aircraft were always so full they were off-loading pax or freight;-normally pax. He said that it was totally strange to him that they canceled the service.
Others have made reference to United. The prices, quality of staff and appearance of the aircraft are nowhere near as good as on Qantas. I have never seen a space positive ticket on United cheaper than QF in seventeen years of being a passenger on that route. It just seems that everything is better on Qantas, especially if you have kids with you. Last August we did a ski trip in New Zealand before going to Oz and everything ran great the whole way down and back. The flight attendants were really nice to my 3 year old and made him feel very welcome. My twelve year old made the comment when we got back to Pittsburgh that it was the greatest travel experience he could ever imagine and that the quality of Qantas was amazing by comparison to the US carriers.
I know that some of you who at QF are upset with management, but the workers are great.