Is booking rewards flights always this difficult?

[cjd600]

You should be able to see the booking (flight numbers,times etc) online even if the E-ticket hasnt been issued?

 

[rock86]

So after an hour i got through to a very helpful agent who waived the fees as agreed i couldn't book online.

My intention was to book J seat SYD-HKG 9 (QF) and HKG-CPH (EK); and then call back in a couple of weeks to do my return leg hoping more seats opened up.

When asked about return i explained i couldn't find a way home in J, I mentioned having checked coming home from HEL via HKG/BKK/SIN/NRT/HND/ADL etc, she offered to take a look and came back with HEL-DOA-SIN (QR), have to spend a night in SIN which is fine and then SIN-SYD (BA). Not have a fan of BA having flown them to SIN before in Y, but J has to be better. So I booked it all in.

Hope it is all ok when ticket comes through - the reason i like to book online is so I have all the flight numbers and times etc.

interestly i asked about adding in a Y flight from VNO-HEL and the taxes would have gone up by $300 which is the same price as buying that flight and earning points - so i told her not to add it.

Feel like I've had a huge win, as just earned Gold last month (first time ever), but due to changes in travel policy at work and fact i now have a PE Classic Reward in Dec and a J Classic Reward in June/July accounting for majority of travel in next 12 months I may not even qualify for silver (m FF year is Aug-July).

FYI still no word from the SMS help which is supposed to be quicker.

Congrats you had a win, dealing with QF CS is such a lottery!

I just spent half an hour on the phone (after the 3 hrs callback wait) stepping through the changes for a frustratingly long time, to then be told when we come to actually putting the changes through that the QF F flights which she told me were available 20mins earlier are no longer available - riiiigghht.

 

[Lynda2475]

Thanks Sorry you didn't get the flights you wanted. Its so random depending which person you get.

E-Ticket just arrived with all the correct dates and flights but online the outgoing flights are showing the wrong dates - hopefully it will correct itself over time.

 

[Pleb Status]

Self moderating does not equal being a qantas apologist.

Self moderating means a forum has no rules, and no moderators. It means ‘enter at your peril’ because there could be personal attacks, trolling, or any other behaviour that is prohibited on moderated forums. It does not mean a forum has differing views giving both sides to an argument.

AFF is not self moderating. But we do have a huge collective experience which helps us provide advice to people with problems (or those just wanting to vent ). Being able to offer an explanation about why something happened (or didn’t), or to manage expectations of outcomes or compensation, does not make us self moderating.

In case you missed it, 'self moderating forum' is the term that QFF management gave to AFF. This is purported to be one of the reasons for removing their presence here.

They are happy to allow the QF 'Faith Militant' to step in and brutally put down any insurrection that may be brewing within the 'flock' and to 'manage expectations' down to the poor level that QF provides. There is no need for QF to have a presence to 'moderate' the discussion to follow the company line when there are plenty here who will do it for them for free. Hence the term 'self moderating forum'. They are not talking about the actual operation of the forum as a whole, as they most likely do not care what the 'rules' are or if they are enforced.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

In case you missed it, 'self moderating forum' is the term that QFF management gave to AFF. This is purported to be one of the reasons for removing their presence here.

They are happy to allow the QF 'Faith Militant' to step in and brutally put down any insurrection that may be brewing within the 'flock' and to 'manage expectations' down to the poor level that QF provides. There is no need for QF to have a presence to 'moderate' the discussion to follow the company line when there are plenty here who will do it for them for free. Hence the term 'self moderating forum'. They are not talking about the actual operation of the forum as a whole, as they most likely do not care what the 'rules' are or if they are enforced.

More likely the person who said that thought we were self moderating, and therefore not a place where their rep could influence outcomes? Not everyone said 'yes, great, we agree with you'. I see it more a case that not everyone agreed with everything the rep said.

 

[Pleb Status]

More likely the person who said that thought we were self moderating, and therefore not a place where their rep could influence outcomes? Not everyone said 'yes, great, we agree with you'. I see it more a case that not everyone agreed with everything the rep said.

I think the current arrangement suits QF very well, as I agree, it would be difficult to influence the 'debate' in a meaningful way.

It would be very difficult for an official company representative to defend the indefensible. The QF 'Faith Militant' do it with ease however and it sounds far more credible coming from them as well.

More than three hours to talk to anyone on a normal working day. More than seven hours to make a simple booking change by text. What do you expect, less than hour?

An award J fare to Europe which takes you up to 15 hours out of your way and includes up to 12 hours of Y travel. It is the experience that counts!

An award fare to Europe on some 'average' carriers that could have a taxes and surcharges component exceeding AUD1500. It could have been more!

What about priority boarding? Even the QF 'Faith Militant' has given up on this one!!

 

[CaptJCool]

Sounds like a busy doctors surgery...

Or a bankers delight...
Please can we get you to join the Far Queue?

 

[cove]

I booked SIL and niece to come from LAX to SYD in First for 288,000 QF points in June 2020 because it was there at the end of Perth school holidays.

 

[smckay]

So here is my history of rewards bookings.
I am a humble un-frequent flyer with currently silver status, thanks to double status credits.
In the past 5 years I have booked 3 RTW trips (Thanks AFFF, you showed me how to do it) all in J and within time frames we wanted using the 280K 'scam'
As has been posted, you cannot expect to have flights available on the day you want to fly to where you want to fly. I have spent many hours with a pad and pencil, looking up routings and connections and getting annoyed.
However, if you are smart you can do it. The last trip we took was SYD-HKG-FRA-AMS-LHR-HKG-SYD and we managed to do that without a QF plane.
Next trip is SYD-DFW-BTR-ATL-LHR-DUB-LHR-HKG-SYD. Ireland was an add on because to make the 280,000 reward terms we needed to go that way. But you know what? I don't mind spending a week in Ireland.

Few things I have found:

• You have to book as soon as the reward window opens. For me, I think thats 350-odd days out.
• QF are are hard to get rewards seats in J. Our next SYD-DFW trip was originally SYD-BNE-LAX-DFW but after booking I checked the QF website everyday at 10am for direct flights; lo and behold 2 seats popped up and I grabbed them. Cost 5,000 points each but believe me, when we landed in DFW at 11.00pm after travelling for over 30 hours those 5,000 points would be nothing.
• Don't book one leg for long haul. Our next return is BA LHR-HKG and QF HKG-SYD. Sure it's a 4 hour stopover but I get lounge access, a shower and a bit of a change.
• In 4 flights we have only ever got 1 LHR-SYD J reward flight for two of us. Lucky
• Our current trip I saw the HKG-SYD QF flight which the call centre lady thought I should not be, but I talked myself into it by describing the booking and details fully. She put me into it, but maybe that's because I am insistent and it was easier to do that to get me off her line

The RTW deal does lock you into awkward dates, but so far we have managed to have the time we wanted and it's not been hard. Our current trip is 5 weeks, which is a week longer than we usually do and that's simply because we had to work around rewards availability.
BUT if I were going to book hoping to be somewhere at 10am on the 12th then I'd pay cash and take the seat.
The QF system does not appear to have the reward seat availability of others - recall the 7 leg flight to Frankfurt without one QF plane in site - and I do laugh that a business would willingly give business to another company. I now know that CX has expresso made to order in J, BA J is cough seating and AA give you Tom and Jerry's ice cream but QF A380 massage seats are a welcome feature. QF cabin crew are the best out there (or maybe I am just missing home after 3-4 weeks away)

I spend probably a good few days researching flight, legs and times but when I realise I have just booked a $30,000 retail trip for a couple of big ones and some (easy to get for me) points I like it.
Like I tell my friends, once you turn left you cannot turn right.

And the SMS system is just utter, total, complete shiite. Like someone said, a billion dollar company with a $3.50 website. I've always found the call centres to be excellent, but as a QF Club member maybe I get the business half of the room and they treat you better.

 

[jinks485]

Hey OP, if you're still looking for seats to the USA in November, Qantas released a whole bunch of them yesterday.

QF Classic Award J F SYD-USA Nov/Oct wide open

Seems a glut of 2J and 2F Classic Awards have been released on QF11/12 SYD-LAX, LAX-SYD through most days October/November. Similar for SYD-DFW-SYD QF7/8

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[rock86]

Hey OP, if you're still looking for seats to the USA in November, Qantas released a whole bunch of them yesterday.

QF Classic Award J F SYD-USA Nov/Oct wide open

Seems a glut of 2J and 2F Classic Awards have been released on QF11/12 SYD-LAX, LAX-SYD through most days October/November. Similar for SYD-DFW-SYD QF7/8

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Some of these aren't available and seem to be phantom, as I found yesterday.

 

[levelnine]

Searching for MEL-JFK classic award availability. Plenty of great options available ...

 

[Lynda2475]

Try searching from SYD-JFK or BNE-JFK, easy to find a domestic leg separately later. How far out are you searching, JFK and LHR are two most popular routes - need to be looking around 350 days before for J or F availability.

You could also try to search for MEL-SFO, then look for an AA flight from SFO to NYC (so JFK/LGA/EWR). Or even look at routing via AA hubs so MEL-HNL-LAX/ORD-NYC. Have to be a bit creative sometimes.

 

[MathNerd]

Searching for MEL-JFK classic award availability. Plenty of great options available ...

View attachment 180306

Certainly a great option, I wouldn't hesitate to book it right now!
/s

 

[get me outta here]

What am I missing, it's all Y isn't it!

 

[Quickstatus]

It's their points at the end of the day and by flying to NZ and using rare QF FF business class inventory, it leaves increased SQ availability for me

Many QF FF also have substantial points in other FF programs including SQ - you are not an outlier.

 

[MathNerd]

What am I missing, it's all Y isn't it!

MEL-PER looks to be in J, everything else Y. According to QF, a small component of a multi-leg itinerary being in J qualifies the entire itinerary to labelled as J!

 

[get me outta here]

Somehow the sardonic aspect eluded me.

MEL-PER looks to be in J, everything else Y. According to QF, a small component of a multi-leg itinerary being in J qualifies the entire itinerary to labelled as J!

 

[MathNerd]

Somehow the sardonic aspect eluded me.

Gotta love a *double* trans-con trip in AUS, followed by a trans-pac, followed by yet another trans-con trip in USA. Alan Joyce should be proud of what his website just spat out as a possible itinerary.
Is there a place we can nominate QF for "best trip planner of the century"?

 

[chk123]

Certainly a great option, I wouldn't hesitate to book it right now!
/s
View attachment 180318

sorry for the change of topic, just wondering if you could share the program to generate this flight map please?