Free lounge access

[Mal]

At what point they print the customer manifest and the FAs would notice a body in that unsold seat.

The manifest seems to be constantly printed (and sometimes reprinted). I'm sure if your ticket was cancelled, the onboard staff would find out and/or know already. Could make for some great explaining!

 

[kpc]

Ok I enjoyed reading those threads and it probably wouldn't be worth the hassle just for lounge access but then...I started thinking...

1. Buy 1 x Y seat at the best price
2. Buy full fare F seat on the same flight

3. Perform OLCI for both seats, ensuring print 2 of the same F boarding passes.

4. Check-in and clear customs with the Y BP.

5. Enter the F lounge with the F BP and enjoy.

6. On leaving lounge, cancel the F seat and pass the gate check using Y BP.
7. Board the aircraft using F BP and go to the (now) unsold F seat.

At what point they print the customer manifest and the FAs would notice a body in that unsold seat.

I know I wouldn't have the nerve to pull it off and enjoy the ride, but others might. I'm sure that they would have a system tocover this...wouldn't they?

I would have thought that this would constitute fraud / theft, with the appropiate penalties if caught

 

[Travel Guru]

You didn't recently stop working for a french bank did you albatross?? :mrgreen::mrgreen:

TG

 

[albatross710]

TG like I said I would never be able to carry it off....but I do have a good record of spotting loopholes in systems...I just never use them.

 

[JohnK]

I have not read the FT thread but why would anyone want to do this just to meet someone?

1. Buy 1 x Y seat at the best price
2. Buy full fare F seat on the same flight

I am not sure you would be allowed to check-in twice for the same flight.

Lounge access? Maybe I have missed the point but wouldn't it be much cheaper, and much simpler, to buy a WHY ticket and buy some beers at the bar after after immigration and duty free.

 

[albatross710]

Yes agreed I probably crossed to the dark side after reading that FT thread.

I found some QP visitor passes which will do the job far easier.

 

[Dave Noble]

I have not read the FT thread but why would anyone want to do this just to meet someone?


I am not sure you would be allowed to check-in twice for the same flight.

Lounge access? Maybe I have missed the point but wouldn't it be much cheaper, and much simpler, to buy a WHY ticket and buy some beers at the bar after after immigration and duty free.

How would a zero overall cost fully refundable ticket be more expensive than buying drinks at a bar?

Dave

 

[NM]

How would a zero overall cost fully refundable ticket be more expensive than buying drinks at a bar?

Dave

It would not be more expensive, providing the refund is delivered before interest is charged on the CC on which the said refundable fare was purchased. Purchase a $10K ticket and find the refund comes say 2 weeks after the statement due date, and he could well be in for well over $80 in interest.

If the refund is before the CC payment due date then no cost would be incurred.

 

[simongr]

I am not sure you would be allowed to check-in twice for the same flight.

The easy solution to that would be to buy a ticket on a different flight.

 

[Dave Noble]

It would not be more expensive, providing the refund is delivered before interest is charged on the CC on which the said refundable fare was purchased. Purchase a $10K ticket and find the refund comes say 2 weeks after the statement due date, and he could well be in for well over $80 in interest.

If the refund is before the CC payment due date then no cost would be incurred.

Only if you use debt cards and incur a debt beyond what you can pay off. I don't use debt cards so wouldn't be likely to be hit for debt card interest

If I was to do it, I wouldn't go for a 10k ticket, I would get something like a $1400 YY F class one way SYD-AKL ticket issued for travel on LA. If it took a few weeks to get refunded, it wouldn't be a huge impact

Dave

 

[simongr]

If you don't use debt/credit cards then you incur the opportunity cost of interest you would have earned if you hadn't loaned the money to the airline for 6 weeks.

 

[Dave Noble]

If you don't use debt/credit cards then you incur the opportunity cost of interest you would have earned if you hadn't loaned the money to the airline for 6 weeks.

I cannot see the interest on $1400 over 6 weeks to be of any significance tbh; plus that assumes that the money would have been making interest anyway

Personally I wouldn't do it anyway since it comes to me as being obtaining goods or services by deception

Dave

 

[NM]

Only if you use debt cards and incur a debt beyond what you can pay off. I don't use debt cards so wouldn't be likely to be hit for debt card interest

If I was to do it, I wouldn't go for a 10k ticket, I would get something like a $1400 YY F class one way SYD-AKL ticket issued for travel on LA. If it took a few weeks to get refunded, it wouldn't be a huge impact

Dave

But just having the cost of even a cheap fare tied up on a debit card (and hence not earning you interest) does incur some cost. So its not a no-cost situation. Might be a low cost option if managed correctly.

 

[JohnK]

How would a zero overall cost fully refundable ticket be more expensive than buying drinks at a bar?

It would not be zero cost. If booking over the internet then the booking would incur an $18 credit card surcharge, yes I know debit card does not have surcharge, which is not refundable or if booking over the phone then a $38.50 booking fee. A couple of Crown Lagers at the bar would cost ~$15. All this hypothetical hassle just for lounge access?

Now I am still not convinced that you can have more than 1 booking, whether one flight or multiple flights, active at the same time when checking in at the airport. So I check in for QF1 to receive a WHY boarding pass and straight away check in for QF5 to receive an F boarding pass. Hmmm. I think there would be all sorts of red flags raised.

Also I would not want to flirt with customs/immigration by checking in and filling out outbound immigration cards, visiting a lounge to meet someone, and then cancelling ticket and returning back into the country without having gone anywhere. It makes no sense. Do that a few times and your profile may not look so clean.

 

[Skoogle]

If you don't use debt/credit cards then you incur the opportunity cost of interest you would have earned if you hadn't loaned the money to the airline for 6 weeks.

I have been getting a 2-3 day turnaround for refunds this year. I do call up, so that may be the difference.

 

[beardoc]

If its J domestic, then the fare would be refundable, but who would waste their time stuffing around and waiting 6-8 weeks for a refund just to get QP access.

If its an intl J ticket, there would be cancellation fees higher than the cost of the QP.

Personally i'd just pay for QP membership.

TG

Actually, as someone that previously bought a number of fully flexible/refundable tickets, it doesn't take 6-8 weeks to get your money back from QANTAS - it would take me 2-3 days - and this was a regular occurence - not a fluke!

 

[NM]

Actually, as someone that previously bought a number of fully flexible/refundable tickets, it doesn't take 6-8 weeks to get your money back from QANTAS - it would take me 2-3 days - and this was a regular occurence - not a fluke!

I have only had to refund one ticket - a DONE4 - and it took 4 weeks. Got it just a few days before the CC payment was due. But that was 2 years ago.

 

[Dave Noble]

It would not be zero cost. If booking over the internet then the booking would incur an $18 credit card surcharge, yes I know debit card does not have surcharge, which is not refundable or if booking over the phone then a $38.50 booking fee. A couple of Crown Lagers at the bar would cost ~$15. All this hypothetical hassle just for lounge access?
.

If I was going to do it, I wouldn't be buying the tickets from "what new charge can we invent this week" airlines but where there is no booking fee

( got to love QFs latest scam of charging $10 for changing the date/time of a fully flexible ticket over the phone )

Dave

 

[beardoc]

It would not be zero cost. If booking over the internet then the booking would incur an $18 credit card surcharge, yes I know debit card does not have surcharge, which is not refundable or if booking over the phone then a $38.50 booking fee. A couple of Crown Lagers at the bar would cost ~$15. All this hypothetical hassle just for lounge access?

If you cancel a fully refundable fare, you get even the credit card surcharges refunded.

 

[Dave Noble]

But just having the cost of even a cheap fare tied up on a debit card (and hence not earning you interest) does incur some cost.

Only if the money being used would otherwise have been earning interest, which is not necessarily the case

Dave