EK award availability to/from Australia this Nov/Dec onwards

[yld200]

Finally after multiple calls I managed to get an outcome. Not the exact one I wanted but I now have SYD-DXB F seats in March.

After a few calls to South Africa over the last few days, the agent this morning wasn't able to book my preferred seats from Melbourne due to 'false availability'. Before attempting to escalate the availability issue to EK, we did some spot checks from Sydney which yielded a despite not showing up on QFs website so mixed results but I have flights

 

[Virgin Bart]

How very Qantas.

Glad you got a satisfactory outcome though.

 

[jaseb]

Finally after multiple calls I managed to get an outcome. Not the exact one I wanted but I now have SYD-DXB F seats in March.

After a few calls to South Africa over the last few days, the agent this morning wasn't able to book my preferred seats from Melbourne due to 'false availability'. Before attempting to escalate the availability issue to EK, we did some spot checks from Sydney which yielded a despite not showing up on QFs website so mixed results but I have flights

Glad you got a decent result. I was told recently by QFF call centre consultant that you can't use QF points for EK F seats.

 

[Matt_01]

I was told recently by QFF call centre consultant that you can't use QF points for EK F seats.

Surely that cannot be serious I would not like to be one of the punters who have to wait for hours to get through to the QF agents and then to be told this.

 

[jaseb]

Surely that cannot be serious I would not like to be one of the punters who have to wait for hours to get through to the QF agents and then to be told this.

haha, unfortunately i am one of those punters who has to wait for hours given i have no status. that said, persistence is key and as painful as the experience always is, i find the result (J or F long haul for a minimal dollar figure outlay) to be worth the punishment

 

[Matt_01]

@jaseb I know within a couple of years I will lose my status and access to get through an agent normally within minutes (VIP line) will be gone and something that I am not looking forward to. I am currently planning the return EK legs preferably in F and being able to discuss options with QF is helpful. On a few dummy bookings I could not see FRA-DXB in F but could see LHR-FRA-DXB (assuming a married flight) when I called QF the agent said they could see FRA-DXB and was bookable.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Glad you got a decent result. I was told recently by QFF call centre consultant that you can't use QF points for EK F seats.

It is true that EK has removed F inventory for most - all? - its partners except for Qantas, because of the JV. The agent is likely confused and thought the ban applied to all partners.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Glad you got a decent result. I was told recently by QFF call centre consultant that you can't use QF points for EK F seats.

Not true.

 

[yld200]

Glad you got a decent result. I was told recently by QFF call centre consultant that you can't use QF points for EK F seats.

I’ve found that the agents in the South Africa call center can be very green and give very different advice.

 

[Franky]

haha, unfortunately i am one of those punters who has to wait for hours given i have no status. that said, persistence is key and as painful as the experience always is, i find the result (J or F long haul for a minimal dollar figure outlay) to be worth the punishment

Jaseb - all I can say, is you're very stoic...

 

[frodo]

I managed to book SYD-DXB-ZRH in F in late March, although there was also availability for other European cities such as FRA.
Hoping that SYD-DXB will be an A380 as their flight schedules are only updated until around late March and anything after that is still showing up as a 777.

 

[RichardMEL]

EK did remove F reward availability for some partners - eg AS - so it was a thing for some - but as above, not QF.

I am reminded of SQ who are even more stingy with partners. For example there used to be a block(maybe still) on UA redeeming F and J seats on A380 and I think 77W(I maybe wrong on the type it was definitely another type with the 380) but you could, for example, book J on the A350 flights. Talk about being selective. Of course somewhat understandable with the 380 Suites product I suppose but still. Certainly a precedent That may still be a thing, I have not tried to book SQ with UA for a long time.....

 

[Mattg]

I am reminded of SQ who are even more stingy with partners. For example there used to be a block(maybe still) on UA redeeming F and J seats on A380 and I think 77W(I maybe wrong on the type it was definitely another type with the 380) but you could, for example, book J on the A350 flights. Talk about being selective. Of course somewhat understandable with the 380 Suites product I suppose but still. Certainly a precedent That may still be a thing, I have not tried to book SQ with UA for a long time.....

There is no longer an issue of SQ selectively blocking award seats available to United members...

But that's only because SQ is now blocking all award inventory to all partner airlines. This has been the case for over a year now

 

[Michaell2]

I managed to book a business class reward seat on Emirates SYD-CDG in May 2022 (through Qantas website). I have since been looking for a business reward seat home (from either CDG, FCO or ATH) with no luck. I have noticed on the Emirates website there are business reward seats from CDG/FCO - SYD in late June 2022, however not available on Qantas site.

Assuming these seats will become available on the Qantas website, when can we expect these seats to be available?

Thanks!

 

[Mattg]

I managed to book a business class reward seat on Emirates SYD-CDG in May 2022 (through Qantas website). I have since been looking for a business reward seat home (from either CDG, FCO or ATH) with no luck. I have noticed on the Emirates website there are business reward seats from CDG/FCO - SYD in late June 2022, however not available on Qantas site.

Assuming these seats will become available on the Qantas website, when can we expect these seats to be available?

Thanks!

Keep in mind that Emirates makes *all* seats available to its own frequent flyers as award seats. But the pricing with Skywards is dynamic and tied to the availability of paid fare classes.

I think Emirates Saver award availability should roughly match QF.