Has anyone had success with the call-up "Marginal" xASA's?

[ts911993]

Have you first checked that premium economy is available for a paid fare on the route you are looking at, on the day you are looking at? Not all routes have premium economy. Some routes only have it partially - only on certain days when a 747 is flying the route, and not on other days when an A330 is flying the route. Confusing much.

Also, premium economy is the smallest cabin so it tends to have the least award availability.

Good luck searching.

yes, there are paid PE seats available on the dates I wanted. No drama though as there are some business seats showing up on Cathay which i am about to ring up and try and book.

 

[JessicaTam]

yes, there are paid PE seats available on the dates I wanted. No drama though as there are some business seats showing up on Cathay which i am about to ring up and try and book.

You won't be able to get them as a mASA.

 

[QF WP]

Call just made - took all of 7 minutes and successful. CSA knew exactly what I meant when I used the "Any Seat Award in U class" and no need to quote the Right on Q.

Flight date & number given (PER/BNE on 24 April), tappyity tap, "Mr QF WP, I'm pricing it at 49K+ points". I asked if he "could look at the Classic rate which should dial it down to 36K" and sure enough within 30 secs he had confirmed 36K + $229.47 (which sounds spot on). Longest part was the taking and waiting for acceptance of CC details. Time taken also included him reading everythin back to me. He did advise that it might take a couple of hours to ticket - no issues as I'm not flying for 5 weeks.

Just checked my activity page and sure enough:

QANTAS & JETSTAR ANY SEAT AWARD 1 ADT

 

[JessicaTam]

Call just made - took all of 7 minutes and successful. CSA knew exactly what I meant when I used the "Any Seat Award in U class" and no need to quote the Right on Q.

Flight date & number given (PER/BNE on 24 April), tappyity tap, "Mr QF WP, I'm pricing it at 49K+ points". I asked if he "could look at the Classic rate which should dial it down to 36K" and sure enough within 30 secs he had confirmed 36K + $229.47 (which sounds spot on). Longest part was the taking and waiting for acceptance of CC details. Time taken also included him reading everythin back to me. He did advise that it might take a couple of hours to ticket - no issues as I'm not flying for 5 weeks.

Just checked my activity page and sure enough:
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Well done. Did you catch the name of the CSA?

 

[QF WP]

Peter IIRC, But don't quote me ;o

 

[BLK343]

Successful and smooth JASA booking with CSA "Annie". Everything completed within 7 minutes.

Seems the CSAs are now getting used to mASA bookings

 

[legroom]

Successful and smooth JASA booking with CSA "Annie". Everything completed within 7 minutes.

Seems the CSAs are now getting used to mASA bookings

You haven't met Erica yet !

 

[BLK343]

You haven't met Erica yet !

Good to know... If next time I get Erica, I know to HUACA

 

[ketsuzei]

Mar 14 | May 14 | J | ASP-SYD-MEL | 24,000 | $189.63 + $7 CC fee | $82.63 | 45,070 | 120

Ooooooh, nicely formatted

 

[JessicaTam]

Just got off the phone to Enza in Melbourne with my ASP-SYD-MEL booked after 9 minutes. She was very conversant with the process (even if she did need a prompt to waive the booking fee).

Edit: as noted above by Ketsuzei. And yes, I had better get the formatting right!

 

[JessicaTam]

Well that was close. Just checked my booking to find it was out by a day (26th vs 25th). A quick call to Andrea and fixed. ASA booked into U still the case.

 

[QF WP]

Re: Sucessful ASA Bookings booked at classic rates Reference Guide

Mar 14 | May 14 | J | ASP-SYD-MEL | 24,000 | $189.63 + $7 CC fee | $82.63 | 45,070 | 120

Looks like an ozfest return flight JessicaTam - great value!!

 

[JessicaTam]

Looks like an ozfest return flight JessicaTam - great value!!

Yes it is. See you there?

 

[QF WP]

Yes - only missed one! You'll also meet Mrs QF WP

 

[JessicaTam]

Yes - only missed one! You'll also meet Mrs QF WP

Noice.

Glad you found my post quoting your post.

 

[flyingfan]

Goal: book MEL-SYD-HKG
Agent: Carl
Time on phone: ~5 minutes
Outcome: Success (mostly-see later)
What happened: I quoted the instructions verbatim as per recommendations here verbatim: “I would like to book a Classic Award fare as an Any Seat Award please.” Carl was on to it and as my aim had me in MEL-SYD in J and SYD-HKG in P so quickly it almost made my head spin. He confirmed it was the type of booking that would earn points and SCs, calling it a "marginal Any Seat Award."

<...>

I look at my activity statement and see that instead of:
QANTAS & JETSTAR ANY SEAT AWARD 1 ADT REF
my MEL-SYD-HKG booking is listed as:
CLASSIC AWARD POINTS DEDUCTION 1 PASSENGER REF

Panic stations! And on then on to:

CALL 3:
Goal: fix first booking and book NRT-SYD-MEL
Agent: Nikki
Time on phone: 12 minutes
Outcome: Success (hopefully)
What happened: I asked Nikki to have a look at the MEL-SYD-HKG booking and said it seemed to be showing up as a Classic award despite what I’d asked for and what Carl had assured me was booked. Nikki had a look and assured me everything was what it was meant to be. She assured me I’d get points and SCs and made notes in the booking about our conversation to cover it. Then she put me on hold and a few minutes later came back saying there had been some issue which, she said, would have been picked up at some stage, however it was good that I called them about it now. She assured me it was fixed and I’d definitely get points/SCs.

My MEL-SYD-HKG flights posted on my activity statement as 0 points and 0 SCs I knew that when the booking came up as 'CLASSIC POINTS DEDUCTION' that I was in for a fight. I emailed QF on Friday; today I received an email saying it had been corrected and sure enough, I have been credited everything for the MASAs.

Is this telephone booking a backwards step - yes, is it frustrating when the agents make a mistake - for sure, but I'd rather deal with this than QF enhancing away MASAs completely.

 

[OATEK]

I wonder how many non-AFFers book the MASA flights since they were removed from the web site? It would also be interesting to know the volume of bookings now/then?

 

[sumthinfornuthin]

I wonder how many non-AFFers book the MASA flights since they were removed from the web site? It would also be interesting to know the volume of bookings now/then?

would HAVE to be LESS for sure IMHO !!

 

[Deleted member]

I wonder how many non-AFFers book the MASA flights since they were removed from the web site? It would also be interesting to know the volume of bookings now/then?

This goes to the heart of another thread about sharing knowledge with others. The conspiracy theorist in me feels that the loss of online ASA's is largely down to us promoting and discussing it.
What other reason could there be for making something more costly to do ( from the QF end) other than reduce the frequency and success of the online bookings.
I am quite convinced that the next phase is to make them more costly and eventually morph the ASA into a points + Pay option, which is dearer for us, and by virtue, more profitable for QF.
I have had to cancel a JASA to LHR via MEL in May due to increased biz commitments, the call centre lady said " you'll never see these at this price ever again" .......don't I know it !!
But I am ever the optimist, and we plan on trying for some shorter , closer to home options shortly.

 

[cmon0005]

Anyone know what the points cost for a JASA OOL-SYD should be?