Do you pay for full-price business class tickets?

[Mattg]

There has been some discussion in this thread about how expensive Qantas' domestic business class fares are, and whether anyone actually pays those amounts - or whether the business cabin is mostly filled with people on upgrades/reward bookings and corporate travellers whose companies got a discounted rate.

For example, Qantas business "rack rate" fares from SYD-BNE start at $904 one-way - which is a lot for a 1.5 hour flight on a Boeing 737. For a trans-continental flight, the J fares are well over $2k one-way. Presumably, the cabin isn't filled with passengers paying these kinds of prices? (If it is, that would be good news for Qantas though!)





So I thought I would put the question out there - do you ever pay the advertised price for business class tickets?

 

[flyingfan]

I don’t pay full priced dom J unless there’s a DSC and part of a status run. My recent J trips have been points upgrades, given we’ll probably get status extensions.

Haven’t done transcon in J lately but regardless, QF has always seemed very good at filling up J regardless of sector - maybe a mixture of upgrades and those that do pay full freight?

Edit: You used to get more for the $$ too - hot towels and a choice of water or juice… nada on my last two sectors.

 

[pippen_2k]

I have paid ONCE for a business sale ticket to NZ but every other time points upgrade.

 

[Denali]

Ive paid for J is for overseas trip and even then Ive looked around for best deals. I paid for hubby to fly to the US with me (work related) and booking VA flights via Delta was half price over what Virgin wanted for the same seat. By memory still got status credits, points but no sector recognition.

For domestic, I either use points or buy Y and use points to upgrade. I also used the bid function with VA that worked out for us.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Perhaps the title of the thread is whether people pay for Qantas domestic business class. VA is offering $279 for the major trunk routes, lounge access (and spirits on board!). QF is 4 times the price with not much more in terms of offering. I suspect a number of the seats are filled with pax connecting to/from Sydney as part of international itineraries. Similarly Rex I would pay for.

QF is different to most other carrier who at least offer some sort of 'leisure' option for their front cabins... book in advance, maybe forego some flexibility, and you can travel in premium cabins anywhere else in the world for a reasonable price.

 

[jase05]

We get the best QF corporate rates for work involved trips but it’s still quite a steep price in comparison to VA but it’s not my money so I’m not too fussed. If travelling for leisure I’ll always try to fly with VA but on occasions where schedule is important I’ll pay the going rate for QFd J.
I fly very little paid QFi purely because there are so many more better options out there. I do however use points regularly on routes like SYD-CGK

 

[Daver6]

Full price? Never on QF. A couple of times got great sales deals from PER to AKL and NOU for ~$1k return. Otherwise it's been points upgrades.

I've paid rack rate for AA domestic F in the past.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Sale/Saver for QFi with DSC
Never for QFd, but I might pay sale/saver with DSC for trans-con.

 

[henrus]

Never paid for a QF J domestic flight. The only times I've flown QF J dom have been when connecting to/from an international flight.

For the price QF ask you could book half the VA J cabin to yourself and you might even get spirits in the process .

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Going slightly off topic, it does pose a question about value of points redeemed - whether one should use VA as the benchmark of price rather than QF price.

 

[bPeteb]

Domestic upgrades only

 

[Princess Fiona]

In general no. I will pay $ for the QF NZ special fares, AA domestic, BA Club Europe if the price / SC earn is worth it.
On QF domestic the majority of my J flights are outright Awards, upgrades or sectors that are part of much more complex RTW J fares ticketed on other carriers. Have booked the odd golden triangle sale fare but very rarely.

 

[encryptededdy]

I've paid for a QFd J fare before.... as part of a QFi sale fare from SYD-MEL-AKL.

$550 for SYD-MEL-AKL or $900 for SYD-MEL? Hmm...

 

[jakeseven7]

I’ve paid for QFi J direct from QF.com but it was when I was working overseas they had some great deals out of Europe.

QFd J our work gets excellent fares and rebates from QF, we are allowed to use the special fare rate for personal use and I have a couple of times but for personal use we only get the fare discount, not the rebated - but it’s still very good.

 

[justinbrett]

In the US, almost always fly AA First. Yesterday I flew LGA-ORD-LAS which cost me about A$615 for transcontinental, over 6 hours of flying. And I got spirits.

I‘ll only book QF domestic business if it’s cheap and I’m chasing SCs, otherwise I go for an upgrade.

 

[Matt_01]

I have paid for domestic J but not often, have paid J to AKL when the sales are on as ADL-SYD/MEL-AKL is often cheaper than ADL-MEL. When travelling as family (school holidays) I will book J rewards for Mrs & MissM and if I cannot get a 3rd reward seat will wait for the J sale and book my flight.

 

[Forg]

In the federal public service, once you get to a certain level you’re officially entitled to business class travel … a lot of people in that position travel business, even Sydney-Melbourne or Canberra-Sydney, just because. Despite those trips being so short that paying 4x as much is a total waste of money.

 

[Buzzard]

I did pay once for QFd J when I needed 4 seats but could only get 3 reward.

 

[burmans]

Are you ******* joking, this is AFF, anyone who pays full price should get an instant ban from this forum!

 

[Seat0B]

I have occasionally paid full fare for domestic QF J on the leg to Perth when I could claim it on my business/get a reimbursement from a client. Sometimes, I paid the difference between full flexi-economy fare that the client paid, and the business add on myself. Usually this was part of a status run or DSC, back when they were a thing.

At the rates charged by Qantas, I definitely do not pay for domestic J. I have used my points plenty of times though to book award business seats, and occasionally to book an upgrade. I only book points upgrades when I could not stand to do the flight in Y eg red eye from PER-SYD or travel top DRW from Canberra, which used not to be direct and so took at least 6 or 7 hours of travelling to get there.