Best Qantas flexi option?

[ChrisFlyer]

I'll be visiting HKG in December, and will be travelling with 3 others, who will all be on Qantas Staff Travel (stand-by). As I don't qualify for ST, I was trying to work out what the best flexible options are for the departing flight (the consensus is that as I've never been to HKG before, and the hotels will be booked on industry rates (thus requiring the staff member's Qantas ASIC or other QF ID), I should fly on the first A/V flight with available ST seats (eg. I fly with the QF employee, the other two on ST can then either fly on the same flight if there's room, or fly on an alternate service/routing and meet us in HKG).

Hopefully, the departing flight will be QF97 (BNE-HKG), dep. 1/12/11 at 11:15pm. When booking as part of a return fare, the following pricing options are currently offered for QF97:

Sale: $751
Red e-Deal: $877
Super Saver: $1047
Flexi Saver: $1278

I have been trying to decipher the fare conditions, but as I've never needed to purchase a flexible fare before, I'm really not sure which option to go with! Any input from those who have more experience with this will be greatly appreciated!

If it affects anything, any changes to this booking (if necessary) would be made in the few hours prior to departure, and will be made at the airport should there be no ST seats available on the flight. The fare comparison for this flight appears below, though I'm not particularly sure when each fee would be charged, and if the "fare difference" is to the equivalent bucket on a new flight, or the cheapest available at the time of the change. Any help here would be greatly appreciated!!!



EDIT: Sorry, change fees are $100 for Sale, and $60 for Red and Flexi. Cancellation fees are Non-ref/non-ref (Sale), $300/fare diff + $300 (Red), $250/fare diff + $250 (Super), and full refund/any fare diff (Flexi).

 

[medhead]

I was having a look at the change fees yesterday. As best I could figure out they will be charged if you change with a person at the airport, but not if you change online. You also need to check the limitations on changes, some fares have no changes on day of travel.

Finally if looking the change at the last minute, fare class will be come important as you won't be able to change if there is no availability in the required fare class. Or maybe you'll have to pay more. I would check if the fares can be change on day of travel first and see if that narrows it down. I'd guess that sale and redeDeal might be ruled out on this point.

 

[ChrisFlyer]

Thanks for that!

I ended up booking it as a Flexi Saver (B class) through the website, and then called up today to change that to Y class - as this isn't possible online (or via the "Change" option in MMB)... The guy was nice enough to waive the telephone fee, as he admitted it was a known system limitation that such a booking/change could not be made online... He did however mention that this wasn't normal practice, but as he had already quoted me the price before verifying that I couldn't change it myself, he said he was permitted to waive the fee in this instance only (and requesting the same thing in the future would result in the usual fee being charged)...

In the end B -> Y only ended up being ~$150 more, and will obviously now earn 60SCs instead of 30, cost 15k fewer points should a J upgrade be successful, and most importantly, will result in me qualifying for the next status level before my USA trip (so ~15,000 more points earned through the status bonus alone).