Award Ticket Laundering

[kangarooflyer88]

Earlier this week the JQ flight I had to HBA which I booked using my QF points was cancelled. When I went into the QF app to rebook I was given a number of options both JQ and QF flights departing that day. Obviously I ended up choosing a QF flight to replace the JQ flight that got cancelled. For those curious, the reason why you would choose a QF award flight over a JQ award flight is better seating, baggage allowance if you have QF status, the possibility of there being a meal served on the flight, and a near guarantee that you'll have access to the QF lounges since they are generally open whenever a QF flight takes off. Oh and the ability to do a points upgrade either in advance or at the airport to get you into J.

For those curious, there can often be a significant difference in the terms of the number of points and taxes & fees you have to pay booking a Economy Classic award on JQ versus QF, here's one such example for my HBA trip:


This experience made me wonder, how viable is it to book JQ flights classic award flights that are very likely to end up getting cancelled so that you can rebook on a QF or other partner airline? I understand a lot of it comes down to luck at the end of the day, but I reckon there are some JQ flights you can book that are more likely to end up getting cancelled than others

Food for thought!

-RooFlyer88

 

[DC3]

How about just booking the QF flight first up, for an extra 2,400 points + $19.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

How about just booking the QF flight first up, for an extra 2,400 points?

That's always a possibility when there is QF economy classic availability. However, sometimes that isn't available at time of booking and all that's left in economy classic are JQ awards. Also, those 2,400 points saved could very nicely go to the redemption of a new toaster (or kettle!)

-RooFlyer88

 

[Oubline]

It’s a good question! I had been wondering the extent to which Qantas would take responsibility for a cancelled Jetstar award flight in terms of rerouting. For example with other partner airlines it seems like you’re on your own to find new availability and won’t be rerouted on Qantas flights.

If they would reroute as though it was a cancelled QF flight, that does open up some possibilities!

 

[kangarooflyer88]

It’s a good question! I had been wondering the extent to which Qantas would take responsibility for a cancelled Jetstar award flight in terms of rerouting. For example with other partner airlines it seems like you’re on your own to find new availability and won’t be rerouted on Qantas flights.

If they would reroute as though it was a cancelled QF flight, that does open up some possibilities!

My understanding is that if you book an award flight with QF points, it's QF that holds the ticket not the operating airline. In other words if you were to book say an EK or KL award flight using the QF points, and that segment drops they are supposed to accommodate you be it on their own metal or OAL when that's not possible. At least that is how other airline frequent flyer programs I've dealt with have handled it.

Now the real question is to what factors can help you predict whether the flight you are on is about to be cancelled? Is looking at load volumes when you make the booking a good indicator (e.g. low load flights are more likely to be cancelled). Perhaps looking at the historical cancellation data for a route or OTP data could give you some insight. IME, the later in the day you have a flight the more likely it is to be cancelled.

-RooFlyer88

 

[MEL_Traveller]

My understanding is that if you book an award flight with QF points, it's QF that holds the ticket not the operating airline. In other words if you were to book say an EK or KL award flight using the QF points, and that segment drops they are supposed to accommodate you be it on their own metal or OAL when that's not possible. At least that is how other airline frequent flyer programs I've dealt with have handled it.

Now the real question is to what factors can help you predict whether the flight you are on is about to be cancelled? Is looking at load volumes when you make the booking a good indicator (e.g. low load flights are more likely to be cancelled). Perhaps looking at the historical cancellation data for a route or OTP data could give you some insight. IME, the later in the day you have a flight the more likely it is to be cancelled.

-RooFlyer88

You first paragraph is accurate for disruptions on the day of departure... in the case of IRROPS airport agents have freedom to re-route you as best they can, which may involve other airlines.

But for schedule changes or cancellations for future travel, I'm not sure there's the obligation you mention.

While Qantas issues the ticket, an award ticket on a partner airline is not much different to any other ticket. If the partner airline cancels their flight, Qantas isn't under any obligation to reroute you. They will try and work with the partner airline through the OneWorld disruption desk, but if the other airline doesn't play ball there's not a lot Qantas can do except refund you. This is pretty much common across all FF programs and all redemptions.

If it is QF's own flight they have cancelled, they will accommodate you, as per their terms and conditions. Outside of covid, if the partner cancels their flight they will usually accommodate you on another flight of their own, albeit with a delay of several hours, or maybe the next day.

We've seen some cases in other threads where Qantas is buying revenue fares for a partner because Qantas has not ticketed in time, but that's a different matter.