Lessons Learned with Making Complex Bookings on Qantas.com

[RSD]

I will add a post here about lessons learned during the day as that might help some others -

Firstly, with the DSC offer only applying to QF-operated fares, going QF to Singapore then picking up Emirates flights (with a QF flight number) from there does help with earning SC's from a trip. I've also found that going via Singapore instead of the one long sector direct to Dubai means that I arrive fresher at my eventual destination (in my case usually Cairo).

The QF search engine will usually give you lots of options from say MEL to say CAI - but they are all straight on to Emirates straight to Dubai - the option to go via Singapore usually isn't offered - so you have to make a booking using the Multi-City booking engine on the QF website. Right about there is where it all starts to turn to cactus unless you know a) the fine print in the rules, b) that Qantas will do everything to not offer you a seat on QF1/2 up to Singapore, and a few other complexities.

To get QF1 it seems as though you have to start your multi-city booking in Sydney (Canberra may possibly work - you would need to try it). The multi-city engine will allow you to select say MEL-SYD-(QF1)SIN and onward and will then let you enter passenger details etc and hire cars and what not - but you will never reach the payment page because at that point the whole thing collapses and you get a page with at least three error codes and it is back to the start again. So start your booking in Sydney and make another booking for the flights you need to get to Sydney.

A lot of the Emirates flights from Singapore are offered only as married sectors - so you can't put say SIN-DXB then DXB to say CAI into the search engine - if you do it will allow you to pick EK for the SIN-DXB leg but then it will only offer you DXB-CAI but via Amman on Royal Jordanian - which adds a few more hours to the overall trip and gets you about the same SC's as DXB-CAI direct on EK. Instead just put into the search engine say SIN-CAI and it will allow you to pick EK flights with QF flight numbers from SIN-DXB then DXB-CAI - or wherever you want to go.

Do the same for the return leg - CAI-SIN and then choose the flights you want with QF flight numbers, and only book as far as SYD on QF2 - otherwise the website goes into lots of errors again.

Its a bit of a stuff around but getting the DSC's on the SYD-SIN leg is worthwhile, and as I mentioned you may find that you arrive at your destination fresher - I do.

BTW I haven't flown Royal Jordanian but will try it sometime soon - they should offer a quality product. At the moment the nearest they fly to Oz is Bangkok which is their only destination in Asia as far as I can see.

 

[tdimdad]

BTW I haven't flown Royal Jordanian but will try it sometime soon as they have 787's and only put 9 seats per row in economy instead of the 10 skinny seats that Qantas and most other airlines squeeze in - so that suggests that they offer a quality comfortable product. At the moment the nearest they fly to Oz is Bangkok which is their only destination in Asia as far as I can see.

You might like the eight across JAL does in their 787 Y.

PS. Thanks for the great summary of learnings from your booking! It has points worth noting.

 

[RSD]

You might like the eight across JAL does in their 787 Y.

PS. Thanks for the great summary of learnings from your booking! It has points worth noting.

That would be nice! I flew MEL-LAX on a QF 787 a year or so before COVID and it was the most uncomfortable seat I have ever flown in - could not get comfortable no matter how much I tried - I turned, twisted, wriggled all the way there and arrived in LAX needing a physio - I posted about it on here and @Himeno posted a reply saying that Boeing designed the 787 for 3-3-3 seating but most airlines apart from JAL were equipping their 787's as 3-4-3 with very narrow seats - I've never flown on a QF 787 again - it was like flying Jetstar - you only made that mistake once!

Has been a massive day of frustration trying to get the website to accept my booking, dealing with the call centre who weren't much help at all, and trying all sorts of permutations of flights to finally get it to accept a booking and take my money! I saw that many error messages that it was getting to the point where I could almost predict what the error codes were going to be. It was a lot of trial and error, trying to deduce why the system wasn't liking what I wanted etc. QF1/2 is quite problematic if you only want to go as far as Singapore - QF really make it hard to book that - or else you can book it but then it won't let you book an ongoing flight on the same day - but it won't tell you this is the problem, instead it just throws error codes - lots of error codes. Hopefully what I learned will help a few others as they might not have an entire day to put aside to battle through making a booking.

Post automatically merged: Feb 21, 2024

Got home late and finally registered but I cant find any sweet spots for my usual travel weeks. Indirect routing to NZ now costs $400-500 more than direct.

Waiting to see if anyone finds anything decent.

Define decent in $ per SC?

 

[RSD]

Can vouch for the hard product on JAL Y on the B787. Although they have lots of different aircraft, the legroom is unbeatable, to the point that I thought I was in Y+ the first time I took it.

Oh, and it's award winning too...

https://www.jal.co.jp/jp/en/inter/service/economy/

Biggest problem is that I have absolutely no desire or need to go to Japan unfortunately.

BTW anyone know which date Oman Air are joining OneWorld? I tried looking on the OneWorld website the other day but it just said future member of OneWorld

 

[elanshin]

That would be nice! I flew MEL-LAX on a QF 787 a year or so before COVID and it was the most uncomfortable seat I have ever flown in - could not get comfortable no matter how much I tried - I turned, twisted, wriggled all the way there and arrived in LAX needing a physio - I posted about it on here and @Himeno posted a reply saying that Boeing designed the 787 for 3-3-3 seating but most airlines apart from JAL were equipping their 787's as 3-4-3 with very narrow seats - I've never flown on a QF 787 again - it was like flying Jetstar - you only made that mistake once!

OT but I assume you meant JL 2-4-2 config vs 3-3-3 the rest of the airlines employ. Also this was their first row in Y on a 788. Legitimately had more legroom than the finnair a330 PE. (I couldn't reach the wall at 1.8m unless I really tried).

 

[RichardMEL]

BTW anyone know which date Oman Air are joining OneWorld? I tried looking on the OneWorld website the other day but it just said future member of OnOneWorld.

OT but not yet determined. 2nd half of 2024 at the very least.

 

[RSD]

OT but I assume you meant JL 2-4-2 config vs 3-3-3 the rest of the airlines employ. Also this was their first row in Y on a 788. Legitimately had more legroom than the finnair a330 PE. (I couldn't reach the wall at 1.8m unless I really tried). View attachment 372075

That could well be the case - it was so horrible on the QF flight to LAX that I banished it from my memory and said never again!

 

[RSD]

OT but not yet determined. 2nd half of 2024 at the very least.

Ah OK cheers! RJ only fly to BKK(twice weekly) in Asia whereas Oman Air fly to BKK(x10 weekly), KUL(7x), MAN(5x), and "Indonesia"(4x) (doesn't specify which city in Indo for some reason). Its a pity that they don't fly into SIN too. No idea what their product is like but would expect that it would be pretty good.