Flight History - Full or not

[11sjw]

Hi,

I have an employee that has just submitted an expense claim and has given me a story of a last minute booking and Y being full so she had to fly J. Is there anyway I can verify if Y was full? It's a Qantas domestic flight from a week ago.

Travel Agents? Ring the airline and ask?

 

[simongr]

Was there no pre-approval of travel?

Personally I think you are onto a loser but I would be factoring poor planning into the performance appraisal...

 

[11sjw]

Was there no pre-approval of travel?

Personally I think you are onto a loser but I would be factoring poor planning into the performance appraisal...

Story:

Late one day an unhappy client said "Get up here tomorrow." Travel is normally booked via a TA near head office (Sydney) but too late for that as it was 5pm in Perth. Credit Card was used for vehicle and flight.

Just wondewring if I can establish if the flight was full in Y.

 

[QF WP]

I agree with simongr. Do you have a company travel protocol and if so, was it followed. Was she required to get on that flight, or could she have got a later flight for a better fare (and in Y)?

 

[11sjw]

I agree with simongr. Do you have a company travel protocol and if so, was it followed. Was she required to get on that flight, or could she have got a later flight for a better fare (and in Y)?

The unwritten rule is go as cheaply as possible. She was on 1st flight out and last back to give her as much site time as possible.

I was just wondering if you can verify post flight if the the Y section was indeed full or I'm being had.

 

[medhead]

I be incline to believe it was true. Basically they werre asked at 5pm to get to site the next day. they took the first morning flight. you mention being in perth from that i assume that site is a mine site, but with commerical flight operating. given my experience with getting to mine sites on late notice i think it is entirely possible that the flight was full except for the expensive fares.

 

[11sjw]

I just want to know does anyone know of a way to check the fact of whether or not Y was full?

 

[Sprucegoose]

I just want to know does anyone know of a way to check the fact of whether or not it was.

I dont beleive you are commercially entitled to that information.

If the client is reimbursing the cost of the airfares, why wouldnt they reimburse for the cost of last minute decison making?

SPRUCE :shock:

 

[JohnK]

I believe, suspect, there are a few people on this site that could source that information. Not sure whether they are willing to do it though for various reasons.

Why don't you call Qantas and explain the situation to them?

 

[11sjw]

I dont beleive you are commercially entitled to that information.

If the client is reimbursing the cost of the airfares, why wouldnt they reimburse for the cost of last minute decison making?

SPRUCE :shock:

What has the nature of the contract we're on got to do with anything??

Suffice to say we make allowance for reps to head to site but it isn't at that rate.

She's not getting the sack or anything like that I've been asked to verify whether or not her story was true.

 

[11sjw]

I believe, suspect, there are a few people on this site that could source that information. Not sure whether they are willing to do it though for various reasons.

Why don't you call Qantas and explain the situation to them?

Oh, I was definitely not asking anyone in here to do it for me. Oh man sorry if I gave that impression. Like I said I've been asked to do it and thought someone in here would know how.

 

[Must...Fly!]

i doubt qf would find out for you.

it's entirely possible that it was sold out in Y...were both legs bought at the same time and both in J?

if one was in J and one Y, i would be inclined to believe the employee. if both were J though, maybe you could check every day around that time and see whats available for the next day? it won't give you a solid answer but it might give you an idea if the first flight out and last back is regularly full in Y.

 

[JohnK]

Why wouldn't QF release that information?

Oh, I was definitely not asking anyone in here to do it for me. Oh man sorry if I gave that impression. Like I said I've been asked to do it and thought someone in here would know how.

You did not give that impression at all.

I think you will find QF does keep a history of flight data (the manifest that is printed for each flight would get stored away somewhere in the database) and I believe they will release that information to you if you ask them nicely and explain the reason why you need the information.

 

[tuapekastar]

As to the question, I can offer no more than what has already been offered, ring QF and see what they may disclose.

Unless the employee has a 'history' that would suggest they may deceive the company, why would they be doubted in the first place?

 

[jamesatfish]

Expert Flyer appears to return some availability data for flights on previous days, so try jumping on there and checking what was available for sale for the particular flight.

The information is hit-and-miss - for instance looking at yesterday's QF flights some MEL-SYD flights still show the booking availability. I can see that QF 414 yesterday had Y9N0 availability but QF 416 was Y9N9 - suggesting that QF414 was full in economy (they'd only sell full-fare Y tickets and hope for a no-show) whilst there were plenty of spare seats in economy on QF 416 (as they were still selling Red e-Deal tickets). The rest of the MEL-SYD flights don't show any availability data any more, but you might be lucky and find the specific flight you are interested in still has data.

Of course that's just sale availability, and may not indicate the actual passenger loads on the aircraft, but it might help.

 

[markis10]

Its pretty rare for only a J seat to be available for sale, but it does happen (have a look at SYD-MEL tonight for instance), if I was forced to book such a flight I would be calling my boss as soon as I could, not waiting a week after the event.

 

[wrldtrvllr]

The airlines should be able to verify loadings. I had an unfortunate circumstance of being unable to board an AA oversold flight and needed a confirmation from them for travel insurance purposes - they are usuallly happy to oblige requests like yours.

 

[ChrisBNE]

That's a very complicated thing to answer - at what time did she book it? Perhaps 3 hours before the flight, the case may have been there was no Y, but then an hour later 4 pax moved to another service, so it was no longer full... very hard thing to prove.

 

[sr81]

I had this happen on a Friday morning before the Aust. Day Weekend from MEL-HBA. I was booking two days in advance and the morning flight had J only with DJ not even selling tickets.

I booked and then the day before DJ became available in Y at $50 less than my J fare. Needless to say I checked with the boss and he was ok to let me stay in J.

It does happen and if it is a route with only one service it is possible.

 

[MelUser]

I think you need to trust your employee and let go and move on.

Perhaps have a policy in place for next time.