China Airlines reward seats using Qantas points

[MEL_Traveller]

I've been looking at an AMS-xTPE-KUL fare, both flights on CI. The mileage for AMS-TPE is 5878 and 2012 TPE-KUL for a total of 7891. The mileage for AMS-KUL is 6363.

The Qantas website is quoting me 119.2K (7001-8400 band) rather than 104.5K (5801-7000 band).

If both flights are on the same carrier and the intermediate point is only a transit, should the mileage be A-C, rather than the sum of A-B and B-C?

Always sum of the sectors unless the same flight number.

QF1 SYD-LHR will be the distance SYD-LHR, QF81 connecting to QF1 in Singapore would be the sum of SYD-SIN and SIN-LHR.

 

[MelbFlyer]

Calling Qantas: agent insists that the flight does not have any reward seats…

Very common annoyance of mine - we can see and select the reward seats online, but the agents can't.

It would be immensely helpful if we could make changes to reward bookings online, but it seems too hard for Qantas to implement.

It would save us (customers) and agents so much time and stress going back and forth, and also not having to HUACA until we get a competent consultant who can see the flights and help.

 

[half-hour]

I managed to book premium economy Classic Reward tickets from Sydney to Heathrow via Taipei.

However, the process of doing it was arduous.

The flights weren't visible on the multi city search.

The only way of finding them was on the normal search, and selecting the Classic Rewards filter.

However, the most difficult thing is that the booking engine would only show the option of China Airlines outbound flights if the return date happened to be one where China Airlines were also available. If a return date is selected with no China Airlines flights available, then the outbound flights would disappear.

I don't understand why the booking engine would be programmed to do that.

 

[AIRwin]

I don't understand why the booking engine would be programmed to do that.

To prevent mix-and-match?

 

[half-hour]

To prevent mix-and-match?

I thought mixing of airlines is usually allowed for Classic Rewards? For example the booking engine allows me to select Jetstar to Japan and return with Cathay Pacific.

But, the frustrating thing with the China Airlines flights is that the booking engine allows you to select the outbound flight, then shows return availability on numerous dates (via the scrolling calendar-view, so you can't see which airline it's going to be with until clicking on it)... Which is all good up until the next part..

.. then, if you click on any of those return dates (without even selecting a flight on that date) then the outbound flight vanishes because those return dates are via a different airline.

I only managed to successfully book my flights as my original searched dates just so happened to be the exact dates with China Airlines availability.

It appears that if you search for an outbound date with availability with a return date without China Airlines availablity, then it'll never show you the outbound availability in the first place. Or, at least this was the quirk for the dates I was searching.

 

[AIRwin]

It appears that if you search for an outbound date with availability with a return date without China Airlines availablity, then it'll never show you the outbound availability in the first place. Or, at least this was the quirk for the dates I was searching.

Why not make separate one-way bookings?

 

[Danger]

I've just got off the phone with Charne in CPT where I had similar issues to what it sounds like ZzzzLying had. I'd checked availability online and pieced together my whole multi-stop itinerary across several carriers. Charne could see all availability - except for the China Airlines flights. "I also checked on Google", she said. Apparently, there's some kind of relationship between Google and Qantas that I'm not aware of. Naturally, I could see availability on the CI flights, then and there, but of course that makes not an ounce of difference.

I phoned again and this time selected a different option in the phone menu and was fortunately routed to HBA. Frank was able to book it as I had confirmed available online. He did, however, have to make sure he was searching availability in Oscar for CI business, rather than uniform as it is in oneworld. He finished the call by adding "Because there's Cathay Pacific and China Airlines flights, I'll make sure this is ticketed right away." Sure enough, not an hour passed and I had a confirmed reservation in my inbox.

Interestingly, I was able to select a seat on a KLM flight in economy through the CI website, a seat KLM wanted to charge me USD12 for.

 

[half-hour]

Why not make separate one-way bookings?

It's not something that occurred to me, but I'll bear that in mind next time, thanks.

I was pretty fed up with all the booking engine errors, so I wanted to grab the only flight dates that showed up as a return booking ASAP before they totally disappeared.

 

[TheInsider]

Why the different flight number (and redemption charges) for what appears to be the same flight?

View attachment 319730

QF have moved to a free-sale codeshare arrangement. It was previously block-space. Because of the change they needed to change flight numbers.

 

[mad_atta]

I've just been able to book (online) 2 awards in PE SYD-TPE-SGN in May. A nice thing is that even the intra-Asia leg is in PE on a widebody, plus at time of booking the required number of points dropped from 93K each to 81.8K each.

An oddity is that although the site let me book two tickets on SYD-TPE-SGN it would only show one ticket available if I looked only at SYD-TPE.

Now I just need to figure out how to get a CI booking reference / record locator, as the CI site requires both that and e-ticket number in order to view booking. I guess I'm going to have to brave the QF call centre to get that? :-\

Edited to add: maybe I could call the CI call centre to get it? I'm sure that's not as painful!

 

[Danger]

I've just been able to book (online) 2 awards in PE SYD-TPE-SGN in May. A nice thing is that even the intra-Asia leg is in PE on a widebody, plus at time of booking the required number of points dropped from 93K each to 81.8K each.

An oddity is that although the site let me book two tickets on SYD-TPE-SGN it would only show one ticket available if I looked only at SYD-TPE.

Now I just need to figure out how to get a CI booking reference / record locator, as the CI site requires both that and e-ticket number in order to view booking. I guess I'm going to have to brave the QF call centre to get that? :-\

Edited to add: maybe I could call the CI call centre to get it? I'm sure that's not as painful!

You don't need both the PNR and ticket number. One or the other will do. The PNR Qantas generates is also the PNR for China Airlines.

 

[mad_atta]

You don't need both the PNR and ticket number. One or the other will do. The PNR Qantas generates is also the PNR for China Airlines.

THANK YOU! I had been confused by the interface. That really saved me some faffing around, very much appreciated.

I notice that both my flights seem EXCEPTIONALLY quiet in business class, judging by the seat map and the loads on ExpertFlyer. Does CI ever release additional business class awards closer to the time? I'll keep an eye on awards available on Qantas.com but would be great to know whether there's a pattern that is typically followed.

 

[mad_atta]

I notice that both my flights seem EXCEPTIONALLY quiet in business class, judging by the seat map and the loads on ExpertFlyer. Does CI ever release additional business class awards closer to the time? I'll keep an eye on awards available on Qantas.com but would be great to know whether there's a pattern that is typically followed.

Just bumping this - has anyone noticed what the pattern is with QF J award availability on CI, specifically on the SYD-TPE route?

Loads seem very low but I'm not seeing any QF business awards over the next few weeks so I assume this does not seem to be one of those situations where additional award seats are sometimes released closer to time of travel? On the other hand I'm not sure whether the QF site is a reliable way to search...

 

[auriga]

Just bumping this - has anyone noticed what the pattern is with QF J award availability on CI, specifically on the SYD-TPE route?

Loads seem very low but I'm not seeing any QF business awards over the next few weeks so I assume this does not seem to be one of those situations where additional award seats are sometimes released closer to time of travel? On the other hand I'm not sure whether the QF site is a reliable way to search...

I recall that business seats btwn SYD and TPE were easily found previously.
Don't tell me that since allowing onward flights from TPE, that availability has been slashed?
Or is it a case of seats being snapped up due to the change?

 

[mad_atta]

I recall that business seats btwn SYD and TPE were easily found previously.
Don't tell me that since allowing onward flights from TPE, that availability has been slashed?
Or is it a case of seats being snapped up due to the change?

I think the latter. There is the odd day with biz award availability. I was just looking at the low loads and wondering whether they might release last-minute award availability but it seems probably not.

Pretty good award availability in premium economy though.

 

[jase05]

I think the latter. There is the odd day with biz award availability. I was just looking at the low loads and wondering whether they might release last-minute award availability but it seems probably not.

Pretty good award availability in premium economy though.

I don’t know if they release the same awards to QF as they do to their SkyTeam partners either. Perhaps they do as I’m struggling to see awards with them either at the dates I want to/from Australia

 

[LT.]

I tried booking BNE > TPE > FCO (or anywhere they fly in Europe) and it kept getting an error online #4002. I rang QFF and they said they can't book from TPE onwards (tried Rome, Frankfurt, Vienna). Anyone had success in that and getting them booked outbound of TPE? The carrier charges are so low so would be ideal.

I ended up being able to book BNE > DPS > DXB > Italy on Emirates but I am a little concerned of the first leg to Bali on Jetstar if it gets delayed etc.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I tried booking BNE > TPE > FCO (or anywhere they fly in Europe) and it kept getting an error online #4002. I rang QFF and they said they can't book from TPE onwards (tried Rome, Frankfurt, Vienna). Anyone had success in that and getting them booked outbound of TPE? The carrier charges are so low so would be ideal.

I ended up being able to book BNE > DPS > DXB > Italy on Emirates but I am a little concerned of the first leg to Bali on Jetstar if it gets delayed etc.

Hi and welcome to AFF! If your jetstar flight is delayed you will be accommodated in the next EK flight out of bali. But it could be the next day. If you can accommodate that in your schedule then bali isn’t a bad option.

 

[LT.]

Hi and welcome to AFF! If your jetstar flight is delayed you will be accommodated in the next EK flight out of bali. But it could be the next day. If you can accommodate that in your schedule then bali isn’t a bad option.

Awesome thanks so much for the reply and great to hear. Puts my mind at ease around that

We are pretty flexible around schedule so that will be no trouble if that's the case and if has extra day delay. We originally wanted to fly BNE to FCO in business on points, so this was the only real work around I could find (and flying into Bologna instead). It will be my partners first time in business so looking forward to it.

Not sure if I could end up getting China Airlines to work, which one would be better in the end anyway (BNE>DPS>DXB>Bologna) or (BNE>TPE>FCO) - works out about the same for total transit time really anyway.

Now I've just got to find the flights back from Europe to AU

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Awesome thanks so much for the reply and great to hear. Puts my mind at ease around that

We are pretty flexible around schedule so that will be no trouble if that's the case and if has extra day delay. We originally wanted to fly BNE to FCO in business on points, so this was the only real work around I could find (and flying into Bologna instead). It will be my partners first time in business so looking forward to it.

Not sure if I could end up getting China Airlines to work, which one would be better in the end anyway (BNE>DPS>DXB>Bologna) or (BNE>TPE>FCO) - works out about the same for total transit time really anyway.

Now I've just got to find the flights back from Europe to AU

I think China Airlines has a nicer cabin. Emirates probably has better food and beverage. For peace of mind CI all the way probably wins… the stress of jetstar delays or cancellations may not be worth it.

try calling to see if they can get you the CI itinerary. If not, bali isn’t a bad alternative.