Ghost Reward Seats?

[AstroBBoy]

I am trying to book reward seats for October next year.

I managed to find all the seats I wanted, put in the passengers clicked next and the dreaded Qantas generic error "An error has occurred in our central database. Please contact us for further information."

So I called Qantas and went through all the info and they told me, there are no business class reward seats on that date: 2nd Oct 2025 : MEL-HKG (QF29)
"So why did it allow me to choose it?", "Sometimes the website is wrong" was the reply.

So today I tried with a different date: 4th Oct 2025 : MEL-HKG (QF29)
Exact same thing happened. Called again, basically the same response.

I tried another route: 4th Oct 2025 : MEL-BLR (QF67)
Same error, but this time I can't be bothered calling them.

What's going on? Why are these seats showing up but are not accessable?
I have Silver membership, so these dates fall within the 323x days (and I assume I wouldn't be able to see them if they were not).

 

[DejaBrew]

It's by no means a guarantee of availability for reward seats, but Expert Flyer shows plenty of availability for both the October 2nd QF29 (J9 C9 D9 I9 Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 L9 V9 S9 N9 Q9 O9 X0 E0) and October 4th QF29 (J9 C9 D9 I9 Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 L9 V9 S9 N9 Q9 O9 X0 E0) flights. MEL>BLR on October 4th comes up as routing via SYD, but again, availability looks ok (J9 C9 D9 I9 Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 L9 V9 S9 N9 Q9 O9 X9 E0).

FWIW, I can also see reward seat availability (as a Platinum) for up to 4 seats in J on QF29 for both Oct 2nd/4th, but zero reward seating in J for MEL>BLR on October 4th.

From what I can gather, you're getting bad information from the call centre. Reward seating is definitely available and I would be inclined to call again and get them to look at it.

 

[tmdl]

I had a similar experience with trying to book ANA from HND-GMP, available on VV and expert flyer for 4 seats in business but couldn't make the payment so had to fly the horrible JAL

 

[sap1l]

FWIW, I can also see reward seat availability (as a Platinum) for up to 4 seats in J on QF29 for both Oct 2nd/4th, but zero reward seating in J for MEL>BLR on October 4th.

Anecdotally, as a Platinum, I couldn't add QF29 in October to an existing award booking, although I could see award seats online and EF was reporting availability. However, when I requested for a seat release (instead of just asking for the flight to be added), the agent magically could add the flight. FWIW this was Hobart.

Not saying that this is the solution (and it isn't even a viable "solution" for OP as a silver), but I wonder if there's some weirdness with the system that is refreshed by the action of requesting for seats?

 

[DAC1]

If it is showing on the website, you need to ask the call centre to add your frequent flyer number to the search when they are searching for the availability.

The reason for this is that the awards you are seeing are preferential awards for higher level status members only. If they search without your FF number they will not be able to locate them as they are not available to NB members given how far in advance you are searching.

 

[clifford]

I've had this kind of issue several times (as a Platimum), where each sector is available on its own, but when you try and string them together into one itinerary, it falls flat on its face when trying to access the payment screen. Up to that point everything looks good on the website, flights, points and $$$ payment.

For example, a couple of weeks ago I found (alleged) J award availability SIN-DRW-ASP-SYD-CBR. However, it would not ticket the whole itinerary, but would ticket SIN-DRW-ASP-SYD, which I accepted as better than nothing, and booked a cheap VA reward SYD-CBR.

I have spoken to agents about this and they can't offer an explanation, other than to say the itinerary is unavailable as a reward on the system, even when making a special request.

 

[Bajar]

I've had this kind of issue several times (as a Platimum), where each sector is available on its own, but when you try and string them together into one itinerary, it falls flat on its face when trying to access the payment screen. Up to that point everything looks good on the website, flights, points and $$$ payment.

For example, a couple of weeks ago I found (alleged) J award availability SIN-DRW-ASP-SYD-CBR. However, it would not ticket the whole itinerary, but would ticket SIN-DRW-ASP-SYD, which I accepted as better than nothing, and booked a cheap VA reward SYD-CBR.

I have spoken to agents about this and they can't offer an explanation, other than to say the itinerary is unavailable as a reward on the system, even when making a special request.

Could be that SYD-CBR is serviced by a Dash-8, and therefore no J class.

That's just a stab in the dark, though.

 

[clifford]

Could be that SYD-CBR is serviced by a Dash-8, and therefore no J class.

That's just a stab in the dark, though.

No, I selected Y for this sector. Could be that rewards like this can't have more than 3 sectors? Who knows?

 

[WilsonM]

No, I selected Y for this sector. Could be that rewards like this can't have more than 3 sectors? Who knows?

It's a married segment issue - trying to force those domestic connections doesn't work

I am trying to book reward seats for October next year.

I managed to find all the seats I wanted, put in the passengers clicked next and the dreaded Qantas generic error "An error has occurred in our central database. Please contact us for further information."

So I called Qantas and went through all the info and they told me, there are no business class reward seats on that date: 2nd Oct 2025 : MEL-HKG (QF29)
"So why did it allow me to choose it?", "Sometimes the website is wrong" was the reply.

So today I tried with a different date: 4th Oct 2025 : MEL-HKG (QF29)
Exact same thing happened. Called again, basically the same response.

I tried another route: 4th Oct 2025 : MEL-BLR (QF67)
Same error, but this time I can't be bothered calling them.

What's going on? Why are these seats showing up but are not accessable?
I have Silver membership, so these dates fall within the 323x days (and I assume I wouldn't be able to see them if they were not).

If you're trying to add these flights on to other connections, then this means that the flights are affected by married segments (or divorced, in this case) - same as above.

Basically, you can't force connections in some cases

 

[RooFlyer]

It's a married segment issue - trying to force those domestic connections doesn't work



If you're trying to add these flights on to other connections, then this means that the flights are affected by married segments (or divorced, in this case) - same as above.

Basically, you can't force connections in some cases

Have you ever heard of a Plat or above calling and asking for the married segment logic to be removed for a particular itinerary?

 

[WilsonM]

Have you ever heard of a Plat or above calling and asking for the married segment logic to be removed for a particular itinerary?

Married segment logic isn't an applied or not applied by a phone agent, although as long as there's fare class availability on the full itinerary you could request the seats to be released. But availability from MEL-HKG might be I9, but SYD-MEL-HKG might be I0 (as an example)

This is the realm of revenue management, and airlines controlling inventory.

 

[AstroBBoy]

I still don't know what was happening but I ended removing the Qantas flight(s) from the equation and went with SriLankan Airlines to get me to Asia. Again it crashed after entering passenger details but when I rang Qantas either I had a competent staff member or it was removing the QF flight that did the trick as they could book it for me.

Anyway, I'm now sorted - not exactly how I wanted BUT I have flights to EU return in business class so I am happy.

At this stage what @DAC1 was saying re: telling the staff member what status I had might have done the trick. And maybe the last person did that for me without asking (as I enter it when calling so they can identify me). Who knows.