Intro, new member in BNE

[expansionist]

Hi All,
I am a QFF WP based in BNE.

Due to my work policy of flying discount economy everywhere, and purchasing only the cheapest tickets regardless of airlines I just scraped in this time around, but also it means I have close to zero status with any other airline.

Ive been platinum now for around 1 year.

When I first made WP I thought life would become a lot easier - but in fact I really noticed no difference. I still found myself stuck in bad seats while people with no or less status got spare or forward seats and no one in Qantas seemed able to explain to me the seat allocation process!

A colleague at work introduced me to this site, and Im here to unlock the mysteries of how to make economy class long flying more amenable!

Ive got a million QFF points in the bank and I am also happy to see a lot of good advice on this site for gaining maximum advantage of these.

Thanks in advance to all!

 

[kevrosmith]

Welcome to AFF expansionist.

Are you travelling the Golden Triangle a lot? (BNE-SYD-MEL?) I find that seat allocation on those sectors is generally a bit more restricted due to the high volume of status pax.

Do you select a seat when you book? How far in advance are you booking?

Another key timeframe that may work for you is T-80 (T minus 80), which is 80 hours before your flight departure time (generally Sydney time). Seat allocation "opens up" a bit more at this time and is often a handy time for snagging a good/better seat.

With that many points, and depending on your travel, you may want to consider on-departure upgrades.

A tool like Expert Flyer may also give you some handy hints on seat allocations around you and prior to departure.

A few JASA-based Status Runs will also help solve the "just scraped in" problem for re-qualification, if you don't mind doing a few of your own flights on weekends etc.

Good luck!

 

[expansionist]

Hi Kevrosmith. Thanks for the reply. No, I tend not to go to SYD or MEL often. I really only worry about seat allocation on BNE - SIN flights or SIN - BNE flights where I have to try to sleep.

Yes I hadnt even known that you can accrue SC's for reward trips until I joined this forum so that is great to know.

Whats expert flyer? I'm not familiar with it.

Again - I hadnt heard of T80 until I joined this forum!

 

[kevrosmith]

Expert Flyer allows you to view Seat Maps, flight availability (displays fare buckets), search for Award availability etc. You can try for free for 5 days, or it's about $100 for a year. It's a very handy tool for the frequent flyer. Flight Availability | Upgrades | Frequent Flyer Information

There are other free services out there for some of the features also.

 

[expansionist]

well next week Im going BNE - SYD - BKK - SIN - BNE.

I have logged on now to look at seat allocations (and despite my forward window profile) got a fairly forward aisle... I will try again at T80.
Is it 80 hours before scheduled take off? and for each sector?

 

[kevrosmith]

well next week Im going BNE - SYD - BKK - SIN - BNE.

I have logged on now to look at seat allocations (and despite my forward window profile) got a fairly forward aisle... I will try again at T80.
Is it 80 hours before scheduled take off? and for each sector?

Yep. 80 hours before departure for each sector. If you put the date/time in a cell in a spread sheet, you can then minus 3.333 to get T-80 date/time.

If you want to post or PM me your flight dates and flight numbers, I can send you the Expert Flyer seat maps as they look now.

 

[expansionist]

After that i got delayed a week, so now I am going:

Monday 14/1/13 QF 517 09.25
Monday 14/1/13 QF 23 14.15
Wednesday 16/1/13 QF52 21.30

 

[JohnK]

Welcome to AFF expansionist!

Ive got a million QFF points in the bank and I am also happy to see a lot of good advice on this site for gaining maximum advantage of these.

Very nice points balance.

 

[straitman]

Hi All,
I am a QFF WP based in BNE.

Due to my work policy of flying discount economy everywhere, and purchasing only the cheapest tickets regardless of airlines I just scraped in this time around, but also it means I have close to zero status with any other airline.

Ive been platinum now for around 1 year.

When I first made WP I thought life would become a lot easier - but in fact I really noticed no difference. I still found myself stuck in bad seats while people with no or less status got spare or forward seats and no one in Qantas seemed able to explain to me the seat allocation process!

A colleague at work introduced me to this site, and Im here to unlock the mysteries of how to make economy class long flying more amenable!

Ive got a million QFF points in the bank and I am also happy to see a lot of good advice on this site for gaining maximum advantage of these.

Thanks in advance to all!

Hi expansionist,

Welcome to AFF.