Booking advice - Need two seats only 1 cheap fare left

[WLGFlyer]

Hi there,

looking at booking DRW-SYD. If I select 1 Passenger on the QF Website I get a price of $299. When I select 2 Passengers I get $419 pP.

I understand that it won't let me book two passengers on one ticket in different booking classes but how best handle this without spending an extra $119? Book one ticket at the lower price and then the second one at whatever price comes up, I am assuming it would be $419 as I can select 10 seats at that price? Downside is I will end up with two different PNRs which is less than ideal for upgrades or in case of flight changes. Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[mannej]

Have you looked at the cost in points?

 

[kalboy]

I had the same issue once with needing 4 tickets and only two were available, i used two laptops and booked them simultaneously. not sure if i indeed needed to go to that extreme but it worked.

 

[Dr Ralph]

Can you book them from separate accounts?

 

[kalboy]

you will of course be able to link the 2 PNRs after booking so you can sit together.

 

[Quickstatus]

Fares are divided into buckets each with its own alphabetical letter and price even if ticket conditions are same There is one fare left at the cheaper price of $299.
I would buy 2 separate tickets
You cannot link the PNR into one but can advise the airline by calling 131313 that you are sitting together if you can't select adjacent seats.

 

[love_the_life]

And I presume if the $299 one has gone, you will need to purchase 2 of the more expensive fares. My sister was once booking a flight from BNE to MEL and I was guiding her over the phone as to date/times etc as we were meeting in MEL. I left her to finish making the booking as she needed to go and get her credit card out of her wallet. She got waylaid and when she went to book on later that evening the cheap priced tickets had all gone so she was stuck with something more expensive.

 

[Quickstatus]

And I presume if the $299 one has gone, you will need to purchase 2 of the more expensive fares. My sister was once booking a flight from BNE to MEL and I was guiding her over the phone as to date/times etc as we were meeting in MEL. I left her to finish making the booking as she needed to go and get her credit card out of her wallet. She got waylaid and when she went to book on later that evening the cheap priced tickets had all gone so she was stuck with something more expensive.

If the cheaper fares are actually gone then yes. However there is the sneaky issue of Internet cookies. The airline tracks your movements through website. Often when you go through a process of buying a fare then cancel before the payment stage and when you come back later the cheap fare has gone. But the fare is still there. So deleting browsing history and cookies is one way to ensure you don't get scammed. Sometimes the cheap fare is taken off the shelf when you are in the process so no one else gets it before you get to payment but it sometimes takes time to make its way back to the shelf.

 

[burmans]

If the cheaper fares are actually gone then yes. However there is the sneaky issue of Internet cookies. The airline tracks your movements through website. Often when you go through a process of buying a fare then cancel before the payment stage and when you come back later the cheap fare has gone. But the fare is still there. So deleting browsing history and cookies is one way to ensure you don't get scammed. Sometimes the cheap fare is taken off the shelf when you are in the process so no one else gets it before you get to payment but it sometimes takes time to make its way back to the shelf.

two browsers should work!

 

[Quickstatus]

two browsers should work!

Except if you are on a Lan with a firewall/network translation or using the same computer - has been my experience . The website only sees one IP address and so it can occur with two browsers.
I have tried renewing the dynamic IP address via network settings and also power cycling the modem with varying success

 

[WLGFlyer]

Thanks all. Booking on points is not really an option, no classic awards available and bad ratio otherwise.

Maybe I'll try booking it from two different accounts/networks at the same time - I will probably try to bid on an upgrade later on so having two different PNRs would be less than idea. Would a competent travel agent be able to issue one ticket for the same flight with different fare buckets for each passenger?

 

[Quickstatus]

Thanks all. Booking on points is not really an option, no classic awards available and bad ratio otherwise.

Maybe I'll try booking it from two different accounts/networks at the same time - I will probably try to bid on an upgrade later on so having two different PNRs would be less than idea. Would a competent travel agent be able to issue one ticket for the same flight with different fare buckets for each passenger?

Upgrade Bids are a lottery
If you have >1 pax on PNR upgrade bid has to be for everyone on PNR. That means its an all or none proposition. Having 2 PNR makes the possibility better but has the downside of 1 person getting upgrade and not the other.

Possibly a TA can do. Have no idea there.

 

[WLGFlyer]

Upgrade Bids are a lottery
If you have >1 pax on PNR upgrade bid has to be for everyone on PNR. That means its an all or none proposition. Having 2 PNR makes the possibility better but has the downside of 1 person getting upgrade and not the other.

Possibly a TA can do. Have no idea there.

Yeah, I think the mrs. wouldn't be too happy if I sit in the front and she doesn't

 

[Dr Ralph]

Did you get a result for this WLGFlyer?

 

[Mattg]

I have wondered about this in the past.

Booking at the same time on separate computers seems to work sometimes.

A little while ago I was looking 2x tickets for BNE-CNS. QF had one fare left at $115, but if I tried booking two they both priced at $175 each. I was prepared to buy 2x tickets at $115, but not $175. I wondered if it would be worth calling Qantas and asking if they'd release another "E" class fare (or whatever it was), but I figured they'd probably say no and just booked VA for $105 each instead.

 

[bismarck]

You can use Expert Flyer to check how many tickets are available in each fare bucket. What dates are you looking at

 

[froggerADL]

Yeah, I think the mrs. wouldn't be too happy if I sit in the front and she doesn't

I'm sure the mrs would be OK with her up the front though. And you'd probably earn a few brownie points!

 

[WLGFlyer]

Did you get a result for this WLGFlyer?

Yeah, the cheap seat disappeared over night and I ended up booking two at the more expensive rate. Oh well, one less thing to worry about.

 

[Dr Ralph]

Yeah, the cheap seat disappeared over night and I ended up booking two at the more expensive rate. Oh well, one less thing to worry about.

Sorry to hear that you had to go with the more expensive option.

I've learnt from previous experience never to wait. If it's cheap BOOK IT!

 

[burmans]

Yeah, the cheap seat disappeared over night and I ended up booking two at the more expensive rate. Oh well, one less thing to worry about.

Ouch. Agree with Dr Ralph on this, heed the "this is in short supply" message and snap them up. I have in the past occasionally seen more cheap seats open up, but the more common (by far) experience is to see them disappear, these days I try and act quickly.