Dumb newbie question: where shd I make bookings?

[soetes]

Hi everyone, here's another dumb newbie question: where should I be making my QF bookings? I have always used the QF site, but that doesn't seem to feature the upgradeable fares - only the Sale fares, which don't qualify. Nor do I see PE fares when booking for the US.

I'm a recent Silver FF, soon to reach Gold, but on reading these forums, I can see I'm seriously missing out on benefits and this seemed a good place to start.

Apologies for the basic nature of this question.

 

[blueflamenco]

I usually use the QF site when I make my own bookings. Choose Red e-deal, Super Saver and Flexi Saver for upgradeable fares. You can search for Premium Economy fares on the site so long as they are available on the route you are looking at. You should be able to select it under travel class.

 

[soetes]

Thanks. I can see these for domestic travel, but I don't get the same options when booking international. When booking SYD-LAX-JFK, for example, there is no PE option.

 

[JetLagged]

Each day there are PE seats available SYD-LAX - maybe the LAX to JFK is what is throwing things out, as this leg might not have PE on AA flights? Both PE Saver and PE Flex are upgradeable.

I looked this up from the main page without putting in any FF details - so you should be able to do at least as well as a Silver.

Happy hunting.

 

[straitman]

Thanks. I can see these for domestic travel, but I don't get the same options when booking international. When booking SYD-LAX-JFK, for example, there is no PE option.

soetes,

As JetLagged suggests have a look at SYD-LAX and you should see Y+ availability. It won't show from LAX-JFK if it is not available.

 

[JetLagged]

Re: Dumb newbie question: where should I make bookings?

soetes, you should see Y+ availability. It won't show from LAX-JFK if it is not available.

Likely means making two separate bookings - SYD-LAX, then LAX-JFK - but can do both on the one site. When I tried it on a dummy booking, couldn't do Y+ using multi-city booking, suggesting (as stated above) that +Y is not availability LAX-JFK.

 

[straitman]

Re: Dumb newbie question: where should I make bookings?

Likely means making two separate bookings - SYD-LAX, then LAX-JFK - but can do both on the one site. When I tried it on a dummy booking, couldn't do Y+ using multi-city booking, suggesting (as stated above) that +Y is not availability LAX-JFK.

Make two bookings but then ring QF and have them linked.

 

[drewbles]

I usually use the QF site when I make my own bookings. Choose Red e-deal, Super Saver and Flexi Saver for upgradeable fares. You can search for Premium Economy fares on the site so long as they are available on the route you are looking at. You should be able to select it under travel class.

For Domestic, Red e-deal's do not qualify for upgrades. As a rule, E, O, N and Q class fares are not eligible for upgrades.

*edit*
from QF:

Discount Economy^ (excluding E, N, O, Q and X class) to Premium Economy,+
Full Economy# to Premium Economy,+
Discount Economy^ (excluding E, N, O, Q and X class) to Business,

<snip>

^ For domestic flights within Australia, Discount Economy includes Super Saver (classes L, M, S, V) and fares booked in G. For International flights, Discount Economy includes classes B, G, H, K, L, M, S, V. Flight upgrades are not available on Red e-Deals and other heavily discounted domestic and international airfares booked in E, N, O, Q, X or P class.
+ Premium Economy is available on all Qantas A380 aircraft and selected B747-400 aircraft.
# For domestic flights within Australia, Full Economy includes Fully Flexible (classes Y, H) and Flexi Saver (classes K, B). For International flights, Full Economy includes class Y

 

[JetLagged]

Hi everyone, here's another dumb newbie question: where should I be making my QF bookings? I have always used the QF site, but that doesn't seem to feature the upgradeable fares - only the Sale fares, which don't qualify.

Not sure where you are looking: I tried a dummy booking on Sydney to Brisbane and both Red-E (non-upgradeable) and other fares (upgradeable) are there with these as the first two lines of the return fare:
Flights Back: Brisbane to Sydney - Thu 7 Oct 10

From To FlightRed e-Deal

Super Saver JetSaver

Flexi Saver

Fully Flexible JetFlex

Business

05:00 Brisbane 07:35 SydneyQF501 $101 $204 $325 $462 $600 Duration: 1h 35m 05:30 Brisbane 08:05 SydneyQF503 $139 $204 $325 $462

 

[Katie]

You can't do Y+ multi-city bookings on the QF website. I had to call the call centre recently, as LAX-SAN has no Y+. i did not manage to charm the lady sufficiently to drpp the $60 booking fee (i hoped, but didn't expect it might be dropped - also sent as-yet-unanswered feedback to QF abiut charging this when it is simply not possible to book online).

You *might* be able to see some Y+ availability if you try SYD-JFK, rather than adding LAX as a stop. You should get a warning that Y+ isn't on the LAX-JFK leg, but that might work??

 

[markis10]

Y+ is NOT available now on LAX-JFK - its an A330 folks!

BTW as Drewbles posted, its not fare name that determines if its upgradeable, its fare class, some red-e-deals are upgradeable on international flights, especially the ones from NZ.

 

[BensAdventures]

I had to book two trips to the US late last year, both in PE and both I had onward domestic legs with AA. I had to call the call centre and both times they waived the booking fee as they acknowledged their system was at fault, since I couldn't complete a seemingly simple booking.

This has been an issue for as long as QF has had PE, so surely they'll fix it one day....

 

[PineappleSkip]

I had to call the call centre and both times they waived the booking fee as they acknowledged their system was at fault, since I couldn't complete a seemingly simple booking.

I wish I'd tried that.

Have booked PE a few times online BNE-LHR, while it's been doable for a long time on BA's website, QF's website didn't show the option out of BNE at the time (last was booked early 2009) and we had to tack on separate itineraries BNE-SYD and SYD-BNE. Did this on red e-deals so missed out on upgradeable seats, this was probably the only disadvantage.

However they seem to have fixed that since then. [Aside: now they just need to fix the fares, Y+ bargains harder to come by these days]

BTW the separate itineraries weren't a problem. Because of A380 teething issues on the return we missed our connection SYD-BNE (last flight) and had to overnight, like a lot of other PAX. While we had requested the bookings be linked they weren't, or noone noticed the link and no prearrangements had been made for us in SYD. No problem, they still put us up for the night.

Cheers skip