I had a long post that got wiped out.

The short version:
1) Nonrevving with 7 people can be a nightmare. I HIGHLY recommend a nonstop destination from ATL, either Central/South America or Europe.
2) Going to SYD sounds like fun but you'll be spending more time traveling to/from SYD than in SYD.

Agree completely. If you live on the west coast and only have to drive to LAX, go for it, but if you are starting on the east coast, have to fly to LAX, sit around, hope you get on, etc. for only 3 days? Not worth the effort, unless you like spending your 'vacation' at the airport and sitting in coach.

I love laying over in Sydney, but I stopped bidding it because I live in Florida and it just takes too long to get to LAX just to start my trip, and then it takes all day to get home too, (6am-7pm) after flying all night, for only a 24 hour layover in SYD? Not gonna do it no mo'.

Now, if it were a 48hr. layover I'd try to bid it, but then I couldn't hold it because EVERYONE would bid it!

It's a great city but it needs a good 5 days or more, since you are going to spend 2 of them enroute.

RE. what Dragnet said in his first line above; HEY MODS, what is with this board timing out? It's constantly logging me out and flushing my pm's.

Have you looked into ZED fares between Buenos Aires and Santiago? I've done the Argentina/Uruguay combo before but I had to do a separate trip to Chile for Santiago...neither I did well from a time management perspective.