"Hidden City" reward booking

[TedE]

Just had an interesting experience with a reward booking that I thought people here might like to hear about. I was looking for PER-MEL flights in November, but there was no availability at a time that would work for us. Out of curiosity, I looked at PER-CBR for the same day. One of the options was for PER-CBR via MEL (same no of points as PER-MEL, just a nominal additional amount of taxes, say ~$25). I didn't understand why there would be reward seats available for PER-MEL-CBR, but not on the PER-MEL leg alone.

I rang the call centre (who answered immediately on a Saturday, very impressive when compared with the experience of calling Qantas). They couldn't explain why no reward seats were showing up for PER-MEL when they were available for PER-MEL-CBR. They did however confirm that I could get my bag short checked to MEL and just forfeit the MEL-CBR leg. Based on that, I've booked PER-MEL-CBR. Hope it goes smoothly. Wish me luck.

 

[Saab34]

If it backfires, when you get to Mel go to the service desk/boarding gate and say your very sick and cannot continue your journey can I have my bag please. Still a risk your bag will flow on though. Or perhaps say you have Covid or something. I don’t believe bags are allowed to go without the passenger, but it’s Swissport so anything can happen

 

[NM]

Make sure there are no more flights on the same itinerary, such as a return back to PER. Once you no-show for a sector, any remaining sectors will be cancelled.

I do hope the MEL-CBR flight is not delayed too much while they page the failed-to-board passenger.

 

[TedE]

Make sure there are no more flights on the same itinerary, such as a return back to PER. Once you no-show for a sector, any remaining sectors will be cancelled.

I do hope the MEL-CBR flight is not delayed too much while they page the failed-to-board passenger.

Yep, no more flights on the itinerary, MEL-CBR is the last leg. I'll certainly drop by a service desk before leaving Melbourne Airport to let them know we won't be on MEL-CBR, so hopefully that will prevent any delays to that flight.

 

[SYD]

Yep, no more flights on the itinerary, MEL-CBR is the last leg. I'll certainly drop by a service desk before leaving Melbourne Airport to let them know we won't be on MEL-CBR, so hopefully that will prevent any delays to that flight.

You might actually get the chance to push that sector to a future date - if that has any value?

Back in the heady days of JASAs, I managed to get a CBR-SYD-ADL (same day return) nested with a work trip SYD-CBR (return - o/n stay before the JASA). A combo of fog, frost and work poo hitting the fan meant that I got back to SYD from ADL and instead of doing the the final SYD-CBR (and seperate CBR-SYD), I went to the service desk (do they still exist?) and asked to get off the Merry Go Round. After an initial look of surprise, I got a “No worries” and asked when did I want to fly to CBR? I picked a random weekend date in the future and I was able to manually change the paid flight back to SYD for a further Status run!

 

[Happy Dude]

To have the airlines encouragement is terrific. Certainly in stark contrast to some other airlines that sue passengers for the fare difference.

 

[SYD]

To have the airlines encouragement is terrific. Certainly in stark contrast to some other airlines that sue passengers for the fare difference.

“encouragement” might be a stretch.

The other usual comment regarding “hidden city” type fares is “don’t make a habit of it”.

 

[Mattg]

To have the airlines encouragement is terrific. Certainly in stark contrast to some other airlines that sue passengers for the fare difference.

I'm personally very surprised a VA staff member recommended doing this. It's probably deliberate that the PER-MEL flight wasn't available but PER-MEL-CBR was - this is how married segments work.

 

[Must...Fly!]

I'm surprised that a married segment award was available. To my recollection this hasn't really been a common thing on VA domestic.

 

[TedE]

Arrived back in Melbourne. The check in agent in Perth was cool and happy to short check the bags to MEL. I explained why and he understood and took us off the MEL-CBR leg so that should not be delayed (unlike the PER-MEL leg which was delayed by 80 minutes by an engineering issue, not fun when travelling with a toddler and an infant). Our bags were one of the first on the carousel in MEL. In the cab on the way home.

 

[Bagpuss]

Just had an interesting experience with a reward booking that I thought people here might like to hear about. I was looking for PER-MEL flights in November, but there was no availability at a time that would work for us. Out of curiosity, I looked at PER-CBR for the same day. One of the options was for PER-CBR via MEL (same no of points as PER-MEL, just a nominal additional amount of taxes, say ~$25). I didn't understand why there would be reward seats available for PER-MEL-CBR, but not on the PER-MEL leg alone.

I rang the call centre (who answered immediately on a Saturday, very impressive when compared with the experience of calling Qantas). They couldn't explain why no reward seats were showing up for PER-MEL when they were available for PER-MEL-CBR. They did however confirm that I could get my bag short checked to MEL and just forfeit the MEL-CBR leg. Based on that, I've booked PER-MEL-CBR. Hope it goes smoothly. Wish me luck.

Ex PER, this has been common for some months that you cant get to the like of MEL / SYD / BNE direct, but opens up for indirect routings.
It's no different in that PER > MEL > CBR could be a cheaper revenue fare then PER > MEL.

I think it's because they can get the revenue at the moment for the direct flights, but not neccessarily for indirect pairs such a CBR. So instead of using Qantas they can entice you to stick with Virgin and use those Velocity points.