Booking Jetstar flights - it's cheaper to do it on the Qantas site!

[munitalP]

Im have spent a fair amount of time today booking flights for the next month or two, MEL/SYD or AVV/SYD

I have noticed that the same fare (Y) and flight are priced differently.

If I book a flight on the Jetstar website MEL/SYD/MEL Jetflex, it will cost: $612.00

The same flight on the Qantas website costs $535.00 but then kicks you off to the JQ website where it changes the price of the fares.

Whats going on? If QF are advertising a cheaper fare, shouldn't we be paying that price?

 

[oz_mark]

Im have spent a fair amount of time today booking flights for the next month or two, MEL/SYD or AVV/SYD

I have noticed that the same fare (Y) and flight are priced differently.

If I book a flight on the Jetstar website MEL/SYD/MEL Jetflex, it will cost: $612.00

The same flight on the Qantas website costs $535.00 but then kicks you off to the JQ website where it changes the price of the fares.

Whats going on? If QF are advertising a cheaper fare, shouldn't we be paying that price?

One of the annying features of the way QF and JQ have this set up.

You can pay that price, but you have to do it in conjunction with a QF flight (one of your flights needs to be on QF, either outbound or inbound)

In other words, QF won't sell you the ticket with nil QF content, but get a QF flight on there.....

 

[eastwest101]

Just a suggestion - would it be possible to book a fully refundable seat on a following QF leg after your JQ flight and then cancel the QF leg? Or won't the QF site allow a mix of fully refundable QF fares following a JQ booking?

Just answered this myself by checking the QF multi-city one-way and return booking engine - "no more than one departure from your city of origin is permitted" - how sneaky!

 

[pshepvic]

Just a suggestion - would it be possible to book a fully refundable seat on a following QF leg after your JQ flight and then cancel the QF leg? Or won't the QF site allow a mix of fully refundable QF fares following a JQ booking?

Just answered this myself by checking the QF multi-city one-way and return booking engine - "no more than one departure from your city of origin is permitted" - how sneaky!

The way to do it would be two separate bookings with a QF flight on each, then cancel the QF flights. ie. One booking MEL-SYD on QF and SYD-MEL on JQ, and then the other booking the other way around. Once you cancel the QF flights you'll be left with JQ each way, albeit on separate bookings.

Also remember though that there can be issues selecting seats and usin OLCI for JQ flights booked through the QF site. Even if you call and get the JQ reference, I've heard of instances where seats couldn't be selected and then the pax having to check in at the airport where all seating left were middle seats down the back.

 

[Mal]

It's strange isn't it.

Oh - and there's another similar "quirk" too. Often you can find JQ jetsaver flights on the QF site for less than the JQ Jetsaver Light fares on JQ's website.

So free baggage, and you're paying less!

(How this works, I have no clue...)

But as has been commented, you do need to add in a QF flight.

 

[pshepvic]

There are situations where it is cheaper on the JQ site - a lot of their sale fares are only on their site and not the QF site.