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

[Newk]

re: Has anyone had success with the call-up method for "Marginal" xASA's?

Tried twice today to get a BNE-SYD-ADL-ASP return JASA booked. The website is quoting 72,000 points and showing availability in U for all legs, but on my first call I was told the minimum points was 112,000 with a co-payment of $738 and the second call quoted a minimum 128,000 points with a cash component of $806. The classic co-payment is coming in at roughly $240. I should highlight that both CSRs were completely down with the "ASA booked in U" thing and knew exactly what I was trying to achieve, but they said the system was not letting them nominate a 72,000 as the point spend. One of them went to a supervisor to check and said it should be doing 72,000 points but for an unknown reason was knocking it back. Even then the co-payments seem ridiculously high (I'd expected something in the realm of $600). What am I doing wrong?

I don't think you are doing anything wrong. I am guessing this the sort of thing that is coming to light with the new system. It doesn't like the hops that the old system allowed. If there are direct flights to places you want to go it prices the hopping flights differently. Someone will come along with a better explanation of distances though I'm sure

 

[Aussie_flyer]

re: Has anyone had success with the call-up method for "Marginal" xASA's?

Tried twice today to get a BNE-SYD-ADL-ASP return JASA booked. The website is quoting 72,000 points and showing availability in U for all legs, but on my first call I was told the minimum points was 112,000 with a co-payment of $738 and the second call quoted a minimum 128,000 points with a cash component of $806. The classic co-payment is coming in at roughly $240. I should highlight that both CSRs were completely down with the "ASA booked in U" thing and knew exactly what I was trying to achieve, but they said the system was not letting them nominate a 72,000 as the point spend. One of them went to a supervisor to check and said it should be doing 72,000 points but for an unknown reason was knocking it back. Even then the co-payments seem ridiculously high (I'd expected something in the realm of $600). What am I doing wrong?

That route was never possible before at that price point, or if it was then it would have had a very large co-pay. You do have to somewhat follow an 'allowed' routing between the two places, in this case BNE-SYD-ASP or BNE-CNS-ASP should work, both are allowed routings for published fares. If you force a different route it is going to price them up separately.

It works in other situations like DRW-BNE-TSV as it is an allowed routing on a paid fare, as is CBR-SYD-HBA and so is both MEL-SYD-ASP and MEL-ADL-ASP.

 

[fresherbill]

re: Has anyone had success with the call-up method for "Marginal" xASA's?

You do have to somewhat follow an 'allowed' routing between the two places, in this case BNE-SYD-ASP or BNE-CNS-ASP should work

Thanks for that - I think I'm starting to see how it works. I had thought that since there were no direct flights from BNE to ASP it'd be lenient with pricing up any combination of sectors. But I guess what really happens is this: it'll allow a mASA for the shortest possible routing (whether it's direct or otherwise) and penalise you if you select anything more complicated than that. Here I was getting all excited about a 6 sector trip to ASP being offered for the same classic points as a 4 sector trip...

 

[medhead]

re: Has anyone had success with the call-up method for "Marginal" xASA's?

I'm kinda screwed I think. Got ADL-tsv, but nothing available to return. Well the BNE-xsyd-ADL I found is asking for 40000+$246. Argh!

Is there any reason a 24000 minimum route should be 40000 minimum?

 

[Aussie_flyer]

re: Has anyone had success with the call-up method for "Marginal" xASA's?

I'm kinda screwed I think. Got ADL-tsv, but nothing available to return. Well the BNE-xsyd-ADL I found is asking for 40000+$246. Argh!

Is there any reason a 24000 minimum route should be 40000 minimum?

yeah because it seems that if the routing is not allowed on a commercial fare then it prices it as two separate bookings as I mentioned above. Qantas now only sells BNE-ADL direct, no option via Sydney without making it two fares.

 

[medhead]

re: Has anyone had success with the call-up method for "Marginal" xASA's?

yeah because it seems that if the routing is not allowed on a commercial fare then it prices it as two separate bookings as I mentioned above. Qantas now only sells BNE-ADL direct, no option via Sydney without making it two fares.

Unless as a classic award which is showing as 36000 points minimum. Ah, which is the longer zone zone cost. [insert many swear words]

To Y or not to Y

 

[Aussie_flyer]

re: Has anyone had success with the call-up method for "Marginal" xASA's?

Unless as a classic award which is showing as 36000 points minimum. Ah, which is the longer zone zone cost. [insert many swear words]

To Y or not to Y

yes in that situation its pricing as total distance which does work out better.

This does seem to be one negative change since the removal of online bookings. The mASA follows the rules of a commercial fare in which stopover points are allowed.

 

[ketsuzei]

re: Has anyone had success with the call-up method for "Marginal" xASA's?

Any ideas as to how to go about compiling a list of those routings that are permitted (on commercial fares) and those that aren't?

For example, why is BNE-SYD-CBR permitted at 16,000 points while SYD-MEL-ADL is reportedly not bookable at 24,000?

 

[kpc]

re: Has anyone had success with the call-up method for "Marginal" xASA's?

Just made my 3rd call to get this same routing ticketed. The CSA assured that nothing is wrong with the booking, the quote is still correct, and will get it manually ticketed (as the automatic ticketing doesn't seem to work in my case). Hopefully yours have better luck with the ticketing process, but remember to check.

Points and cash debited as expected...no eticket as yet....not too worried, if not ticketed in a few days wiill give the Plat desk a buzz to sort out.

 

[asg29e]

re: Has anyone had success with the call-up method for "Marginal" xASA's?

The minumum points for a mASA are based on Orgin-Destination Great Circle Distance., while classics are based on total segment distance.

e.g. TSV-xBNE-DRW is 2460 miles (zone 4) while TSV-DRW is 1156 miles (zone 2).

MEL-TSV is 1274 miles (zone 3) while ADL-TSV is 1192 miles (zone 2)

And this is what makes ADL-BNE-TSV JASA such a great one. There is no direct flight to TSV from ADL so the itinerary is allowed under the "new" system, and yet the points cost and co-payment are moderate for such a decent swag of SCs.

 

[asg29e]

re: Has anyone had success with the call-up method for "Marginal" xASA's?

Tried twice today to get a BNE-SYD-ADL-ASP return JASA booked. The website is quoting 72,000 points and showing availability in U for all legs, but on my first call I was told the minimum points was 112,000 with a co-payment of $738 and the second call quoted a minimum 128,000 points with a cash component of $806. The classic co-payment is coming in at roughly $240. I should highlight that both CSRs were completely down with the "ASA booked in U" thing and knew exactly what I was trying to achieve, but they said the system was not letting them nominate a 72,000 as the point spend. One of them went to a supervisor to check and said it should be doing 72,000 points but for an unknown reason was knocking it back. Even then the co-payments seem ridiculously high (I'd expected something in the realm of $600). What am I doing wrong?

You have come up against the "direct flight available" problem. BNE to ADL can be done direct, and there are now MANY posts on this thread attesting to the fact that there is now often great difficulty in scoring an indirect JASA on these routes. The QF computers seem to be pricing them as two separate JASAs in these instances. There are a few exceptions posted, but I think the majority of these are now priced like your quote. Unfortunately.

 

[medhead]

re: Has anyone had success with the call-up method for "Marginal" xASA's?

Any ideas as to how to go about compiling a list of those stopovers that are permitted (on commercial fares) and those that aren't?

In theory it doesn't matter because I'm purchase two flights rather than one flight with a connection. So any time they charge it as 2 flights then a stopover is allowed. Instead of an hour between flights I could have had any amount of time for the same cost.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

re: Has anyone had success with the call-up method for "Marginal" xASA's?

Any ideas as to how to go about compiling a list of those stopovers that are permitted (on commercial fares) and those that aren't?

The routing rules between any two city pairs is found on the GDS... but the best value ones are already well known. They are:

MEL-SYD-ASP
TSV-BNE-DRW
CBR-SYD-HBA
ADL-BNE-TSV

These are the most popular but others also go on longer runs too. You will see them all being frequently mentioned on the successful ASa award booking thread

 

[ketsuzei]

re: Has anyone had success with the call-up method for "Marginal" xASA's?

The routing rules between any two city pairs is found on the GDS...

Thanks, I think that's what I'm getting at... could you elaborate? It would be nice if there were a definitive way of knowing that something is likely to be rejected by the computer, and why.

(I'm pretty familiar with the successfully booked JASAs

 

[tuapekastar]

re: Has anyone had success with the call-up method for "Marginal" xASA's?

Booked my first JASA since they went offline last week. I had been reading the 'step-by-step' instructions in the sticky where point 2 suggests the wording for the request and point 4 suggests an alternate wording should point 2 not get the job done. Somewhat embarrassingly I managed to meld the 2 points and mangle the request as well, resulting in a classic award being offered.
I said to the polite agent (Scott I think his name was) that I'm after an ASA from the U fare bucket but the false start meant I wasn't getting far till mentioning the magic words RoQ7740.
Was on hold at least 5 minutes but then got my MEL-SYD-SIN one way for 60K points and $436.30. Had hoped to pay maybe $100 or so less but happy enough - guess going via SYD adds a few bucks on? He also had to double check the cancellation conditions (it was a 'business' fare hence full points and $$$ refund.
Interestingly, when the e-ticket receipt arrived via email there was no link to the fare rules. A little concerned (I like to be sure) but a combo of the fare being 'U' and the points deduction from my account containing the words 'Any Seat Award' allayed any fears.
Still easier doing it online!

 

[ketsuzei]

re: Has anyone had success with the call-up method for "Marginal" xASA's?

In theory it doesn't matter because I'm purchase two flights rather than one flight with a connection. So any time they charge it as 2 flights then a stopover is allowed. Instead of an hour between flights I could have had any amount of time for the same cost.

Sorry medhead, I get what you mean now... I didn't mean "stopovers", rather "valid transit points".

 

[ketsuzei]

re: Has anyone had success with the call-up method for "Marginal" xASA's?

Looking at the fare rules for CBR-BNE on expertflyer, I see only "TRANSFERS PERMITTED IN ACCORDANCE WITH ROUTE MAPS." So what is the "route map" that says CBR-SYD-BNE is permitted, whereas other indirect routes seemingly aren't?

 

[medhead]

re: Has anyone had success with the call-up method for "Marginal" xASA's?

Sorry medhead, I get what you mean now... I didn't mean "stopovers", rather "valid transit points".

now you mention it, I misunderstood what you meant.

 

[ketsuzei]

re: Has anyone had success with the call-up method for "Marginal" xASA's?

now you mention it, I misunderstood what you meant.

I'm just trying to find a hard and fast rule for why BNE-xsyd-ADL prices as BNE-SYD + SYD-ADL, and want to rule out CSR "initiative".

 

[fresherbill]

re: Has anyone had success with the call-up method for "Marginal" xASA's?

I'm just trying to find a hard and fast rule for why BNE-xsyd-ADL prices as BNE-SYD + SYD-ADL, and want to rule out CSR "initiative".

Me too - It just seems very hit and miss. From my (now) three goes today I would have to conclude that samh004's KTA run (BNE-MEL-PER-KTA-PER-MEL-BNE for 72k + $) should not be valid, yet it is. It's very confusing, not to mention frustrating.
Being able to do this on the website would have saved an hour of CSR time, and several of mine.