Booking qantas business on points

[PFJL]

I am flying Brisbane - Paris on 20/4/11.
Using the 353 day seat release limit I got onto the Website and when there was no Business availability, rang Qantas to book 2 Business class seats on Points. There were no Business Class seats available on the website and there are still were no seats availabe on the website.
By ringing over a number of days and paying the booking charge in points I was able to get Business for all except Singapore - Heathrow which is Premium Economy.
All at full Business Points though.
Does anybody have this problem or got any suggestions.
Tks

 

[cove]

Can you start making Singapore Kris Flyer points so you are not competing with so many Qantas frequent flyers?

 

[serfty]

At 353 days, either ring early in the morning (paying the assisted booking fee) or look online at 00:00 UTC (10am in BNE)

 

[munitalP]

Few available seats for some reason

As a platinum I see

J 18/4, 2/5, 3/5 and 5/5

No Y+ or F

Y available 18, 19, 20, 25 through to 05/05

Do these seats get released at a later date? That is very slim pickings for 11 months out indeed!

Mr!

 

[cove]

You could also do enquiry for one seat at a time then if you see one available call at 10.00 and see if they can put it through by paying 5,000 points.
If you do book one you may need to read up on your marriage contract if you book yourself first.
Also be flexible on departing through Sydney and Melbourne.
I have done well out of Melbourne even though I am usually starting from Perth

Kris availability is wonderful and QF is not.

 

[munitalP]

You could also do enquiry for one seat at a time then if you see one available call at 10.00 and see if they can put it through by paying 5,000 points.
If you do book one you may need to read up on your marriage contract if you book yourself first.
Also be flexible on departing through Sydney and Melbourne.
I have done well out of Melbourne even though I am usually starting from Perth

Kris availability is wonderful and QF is not.

The availability I previously showed was BNE/SYD...

MEL/CDG...

May 10, 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27 All have available J seats

Every day in May except 8, 9, 14, 15, 16 have available Y seats

I cant see Y+ of F available


Mr!

 

[ComeFlyWithMe]

Newbies may not realise that separate award seat allocations are offered to WP/SG members than to QC/SG/NB.
Seats can be hard to find without status.
In addition, on some routes QF don't allocate any award seats at all (A380 J/F SYD-LHR comes to mind...)

 

[cove]

Getting to London in J ex Sydney using QF points is difficult even when you go 355 days out both there and then to get back.
Try all reasonable departure points including Melbourne,Perth and Brisbane and try single flyer as well as two flyers.

 

[browski]

FWIW, there is availability on Apr 20 for HKG-CDG in F on CX
There is also availability on Apr 20 for HKG-AMS in Y, J and F on CX

Surely the few extra points are worth it to fly J on CX rather than on QF?

 

[PFJL]

Thanks for all replies
Have just tried the 353 day booking for Rome - Brisbane - same problem!
Mot much use having ebnough points for business class if you can't use them!

 

[Emkay]

Each year for the past few years I have bought a J seat for return (or RTW) flights to a conference somewhere around the world, quite frequently in Europe. Each year my wife accompanies me, in QF award J seats,. We have never failed to get the award seats, but have achieved this by watching the availability timing patterns of J awards on several alternative routes for a week or more before the '353 days before' day, being flexible about the route, and grabbing the J forward seats the moment they become available - pick up the return award flights when they become available. Once we have the award flts locked in, I buy my own ticket. For travel to Europe, we usually go via HKG rather than SIN, as the availability has always been better, and we liked the BA beds better thn the QF 747 beds. Yet to have the privelege of a 380 flight! For travel to the Americas, we usually go RTW (flying westwards of course)

 

[markis10]

Availability of award seats to WP/SG is much better than non status passengers.

 

[Emkay]

Availability of award seats to WP/SG is much better than non status passengers.

Agreed, but this is only my second year on Plat status, although I had Gold for a year or two before that - but I was regularly successful in getting award Js for my wife prior to that by using the tactics outlined earlier. But I suppose availability could be tighter now that then?

 

[cove]

If you join Kris you will have improved your chances by at least 10 times as you can then look at going out one carrier and back on the other if availability remains tight.
You are competing head on with 7 million QF members and that is no fun for Europe now that a stack of post war baby boomers want to go there seeing the Euro currency is so far down.

 

[Archphoto]

I've had similar experiences both as WP and Gold; it comes down to being persistent and flexible.

I booked a flight last year that needed to be around a specific time, checked regularly day after day. One of my flights just couldn't be found as a J class, and ended up taking CX instead and paying the booking fee.

Lo and behold the very next day, Qantas released a whole heap more J seats on the flight I'd originally wanted! Ticked off - you bet, but nothing I could do - seats were booked and I wasn't going to lose FF points just to change to a QF flight.

Keep checking - they have done this before when I've been researching flights to various OS destinations.

Think it's entirely up to them what the release, how many they release and when they decide to release them . . . . . . :mrgreen:

 

[cove]

If you have separate bookings you can just lose 5,000 points and go up to the better flight offered when it shows up.

 

[mosanator]

The availability I previously showed was BNE/SYD...

MEL/CDG...

May 10, 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27 All have available J seats

Every day in May except 8, 9, 14, 15, 16 have available Y seats

I cant see Y+ of F available


Mr!

And some of those flights are on an A380 - QF9 ! I thought someone said that QF didn't release any J award seats on A380 operated flights

 

[cove]

You can get Y,Y+,J and/or F on points on A380

 

[Sprucegoose]

If you join Kris you will have improved your chances by at least 10 times as you can then look at going out one carrier and back on the other if availability remains tight.
You are competing head on with 7 million QF members and that is no fun for Europe now that a stack of post war baby boomers want to go there seeing the Euro currency is so far down.

Cove that is three posts pushing Kris - we get the message!!!!!!!!

 

[jbc]

Kris availability is wonderful and QF is not.[/QUOTE]

Are you serious cove. I have been trying to book business on SQ, SIN-IST for six weeks and it is always waitlisted (without fail).

What is you tactic. (I am trying for Saver awards).