My Trip - Few Questions

[Harpoon]

Hi I'm new here! Firstly let me say i wish i knew this forum was here years ago. but oh well

I'm travelling Economy MEL-HKG-LHR in March on QF29 and QF30 on the way back in April. I am currently a QC Silver member. I have not travelled much, but work this year sent me OS a few times which quickly boosted my membership to Silver and gets me in cheap to QC. But my knowledge of FF and QC programs is prtty basic.

1) As I'm going to London via Honkers, on my membership and fare type can I use the CX lounge or can I only use the QF lounge for the stopover?

2) I have a fare type "S". Is that discount economy or regular economy? I cant seem to figure it out from the qantas website.

3) My FF runs May 1 to Apr 30. I just hit silver a month ago. I don't think I'll earn enough to hit gold by end of April. So all of the status points I earn on my trip (on my way to gold), will they be reset to 0 when Apr 30 rolls around? How do they points work when trying to hit a new status level?

4) Premium Economy. How can I find out if there will be premium economy available on my return flight as I saw it's coming in April? If it is available, having already booked and paid my fare, can I change it and pay extra? Can I apply for an upgrade?

5) Exit row seats - I'm a tall bloke, can I only request an exit row upon check-in? If so, Ny reccomendations on how best to get one? other than being the first person to check in? Perhaps giving the checkin person a box of chocolates? Also, does check-in open 3 hours before hand? Can I get there earlier than that?

Sorry for the probably stupid questions. But thanks in advance if you can answer any!

Tim

 

[Evan]

Hello and welcome back..

Ok i am assuming your employer pays for your Qantas club membership or your using the free passes on reaching silver ?

1.) in any case the answer will be that no CX lounge access for you, you need to be gold OW sapphire, or platinum OW emerald. You can only use the QF lounge up near where you have just passed immigration on the way into the airport. Its an ok lounge anyway.

2.) for SC earn it will be classed as discount economy, all QF economy flights earn 1 point per mile regardless of economy class.

3.) correct you will get reset to 0 status credits (keep your miles/points though), so once again next year you will need to earn 700 for gold, 1400 for platinum, and whatever it is for silver.

4.) best way is check the seat map a couple of days before, i cant remember the exact routes it will be on first, not sure if it was via HKG.

5.) Can't help here, i usually aim to be at the airport 2hrs before if i want something special, too early and they may be reluctant to allocate it.
Generally i think checkin will be from about 3hrs before but since it in AU you may find you can check in just about any time (I have before but i am also a higher status which can maybe make a difference)

E

 

[Harpoon]

Hello and welcome back..

Ok i am assuming your employer pays for your Qantas club membership or your using the free passes on reaching silver ?

I get an excellent corporate rate which I can also salary sacrifice making it pretty dam cheap, which is hard to pass up. As far as I'm aware, gold gets you a free QC membership not silver?

1.) in any case the answer will be that no CX lounge access for you, you need to be gold OW sapphire, or platinum OW emerald. You can only use the QF lounge up near where you have just passed immigration on the way into the airport. Its an ok lounge anyway.

Okay thanks for the info. Hopefully I can take a quick shower in HKG.

2.) for SC earn it will be classed as discount economy, all QF economy flights earn 1 point per mile regardless of economy class.

Okay thanks. I was more interested from a status points point of view. Economy gets me ~280 pts which is about 20 pts short of Gold. But Discount Economy only gets me 140 so I'd still have heaps to go But no matter

3.) correct you will get reset to 0 status credits (keep your miles/points though), so once again next year you will need to earn 700 for gold, 1400 for platinum, and whatever it is for silver.

Shame. But I guess thats the way it works, so no biggie

4.) best way is check the seat map a couple of days before, i cant remember the exact routes it will be on first, not sure if it was via HKG.

5.) Can't help here, i usually aim to be at the airport 2hrs before if i want something special, too early and they may be reluctant to allocate it.
Generally i think checkin will be from about 3hrs before but since it in AU you may find you can check in just about any time (I have before but i am also a higher status which can maybe make a difference)

E

Thanks for the info

 

[Dave Noble]

Since you have Qantas Club membership, I would suggest asking the QC staff to try and get you the exit aisle or middle seats rather than at check in; the staff at the lounge tend to be a lot better at handling these requests

Dave

 

[Harpoon]

Since you have Qantas Club membership, I would suggest asking the QC staff to try and get you the exit aisle or middle seats rather than at check in; the staff at the lounge tend to be a lot better at handling these requests

Dave

Okay thanks for the tip.

So I check in, go through immigration/security up to the intl. lounge at MEL and ask the staff in there? Then they can try to switch me?

 

[Evan]

Okay thanks for the tip.

So I check in, go through immigration/security up to the intl. lounge at MEL and ask the staff in there? Then they can try to switch me?

Correct, Dave makes a good point, so you check in, still ask for your prefered seat and if you dont get it or still want to check for better see the desk in the Qantas club. or just take anything and hit the QP for a change.
So probably no harm in aiming for the airport 2.5hrs or so before departure, me personally i much prefer to be a little early and to sit in the club and just read or relax than be rushed, i hate being rushed if i dont have any reason to be.

QFF Gold gets you QC, but silver used to get you a free entry pass or 2 in your silver pack regardless of being a QC member, you could give it to a friend etc.

As a general rule...
QP membership (not gold, the paid membership) gets you into all QC clubs when flying QF,BA,AA as i understand it, and also BA and AA lounges when flying QF or AA/BA respective to the lounge you wish to access.
(I think there may be some finer points with regards to flying AA or BA and having access to the Australian lounges but i never had any issues getting into the QC when i was only a QC member and flying ex SYD on BA)

E

 

[Harpoon]

Correct, Dave makes a good point, so you check in, still ask for your prefered seat and if you dont get it or still want to check for better see the desk in the Qantas club. or just take anything and hit the QP for a change.
So probably no harm in aiming for the airport 2.5hrs or so before departure, me personally i much prefer to be a little early and to sit in the club and just read or relax than be rushed, i hate being rushed if i dont have any reason to be.

Sounds like a good plan to me.

My itinerary from the travel agency says 40D. I'm not sure if that's just a generic seat assignment?? I asked them to give me a forward aisle if possible so 40D sounds okay to me. but I will see if I can grab an exit row for the legroom from staff in the QC. I can always try anyway

Also, does checking in at the QC/Bus checkin desk help in getting better seats? Because I will most certainly be doing that to avoid the 200 person queue for economy checkin.

 

[Mwenenzi]

My itinerary from the travel agency says 40D. I'm not sure if that's just a generic seat assignment?? I asked them to give me a forward aisle if possible so 40D sounds okay to me.

40D is your seat unless QF or you change it. Y starts at row 34 on B747-438 (14P/50J/315Y) QF allocate some international seats when the booking is made. Look at the seat map on Manage My Booking in the QF web site or plug you booking reference into www.checkmytrip.com

Edit
40D is classed as poor seat on SeatGuru Seat Map Qantas Airways Boeing 747-400 3-Class (744) due to lack of recline (toilet block directly behind) Phone QF and ask if its the B747-438 (14 first /50 business /315 economy). If it is you can ask to change to a seat up a few rows

 

[Mr_Gimlet]

Sounds like a good plan to me.

My itinerary from the travel agency says 40D. I'm not sure if that's just a generic seat assignment?? I asked them to give me a forward aisle if possible so 40D sounds okay to me. but I will see if I can grab an exit row for the legroom from staff in the QC. I can always try anyway

Just beware of the window seats on the exit rows, they have even less leg room than a normal seat because of the bump on the door.

Don't get your hopes up too much for the exit row - they tend to be grabbed by platinum members who can request them at booking - but these are also the passengers most likely to be trying for an upgrade.

 

[Harpoon]

40D is classed as poor seat on SeatGuru Seat Map Qantas Airways Boeing 747-400 3-Class (744) due to lack of recline (toilet block directly behind) Phone QF and ask if its the B747-438 (14 first /50 business /315 economy). If it is you can ask to change to a seat up a few rows

Oh nice one! I'll need to watch out for that. Thanks. I assume I can only change this on check-in though.

 

[Mr_Gimlet]

Oh nice one! I'll need to watch out for that. Thanks. I assume I can only change this on check-in though.

You can ring the FF service centre.

 

[Harpoon]

You can ring the FF service centre.

I do that on Monday, thanks mate.

 

[Mwenenzi]

I do that on Monday, thanks mate.

You can phone now. They are open 24 hours a day. Also worth checking from time to time as they can move you from one seat to another.

 

[Harpoon]

You can phone now. They are open 24 hours a day. Also worth checking from time to time as they can move you from one seat to another. QF Platiumn gives you more options

Is it best to ring QC or FF?

 

[Mr_Gimlet]

You ring the frequent flyer service centre as per the back of your FF card.

 

[Harpoon]

You ring the frequent flyer service centre as per the back of your FF card.

Done! Got changed to 39D. The girl on the phone agreed that 40D doesn't have the full recline. She also put a 'note' on my booking to request for exit row on check-in since I'm tall hehe.

Thanks for the tip

 

[Alanslegal]

Is it best to ring QC or FF?

I have emailed QF to request a change in seat allocation, and I was very pleased with their prompt response.

I did report this good service on an AFF thread, somewhere!

Basically, emailed them very early in the Sunday? morning (140am or so) and got a reply from QFF (at around 145am) saying "thank you mr alanslegal, your seat in Y - 35K? has been allocated to you".....

double checked on checkmytrip.com and it was true.

(? = iirc)

 

[Harpoon]

I have emailed QF to request a change in seat allocation, and I was very pleased with their prompt response.

I did report this good service on an AFF thread, somewhere!

Basically, emailed them very early in the Sunday? morning (140am or so) and got a reply from QFF (at around 145am) saying "thank you mr alanslegal, your seat in Y - 35K? has been allocated to you".....

double checked on checkmytrip.com and it was true.

(? = iirc)

Yeh, but like any customer service centre, you get good and bad. Just luck of the draw. But glad you had a quick response! I often think it's risky ringing any customer service centre on a Sunday....because it's a Sunday and the agent on the other end may not be so pleased to be working on a Sunday hehe

IIRC = If I Recall Correctly

 

[QuikSmart]

Also, does checking in at the QC/Bus checkin desk help in getting better seats? Because I will most certainly be doing that to avoid the 200 person queue for economy checkin.

You should check in at the QC/Bus counter any way - to avoid the queue. That's what you pay for when buying QC. No guarantees that you'll get the seat that you want, but you have a better chance of requesting it if you can ask before any of the other 200 in the Y-line.

 

[Harpoon]

Couple more Q's if you dont mind....

1. As QPs are in the airport, is leaving bags unattended in QP an issue - security wise? For example going to the loo/shower or getting food/drink... take everything with or leave it on your seat? The few times I've used QP I've left stuff on my seat but for no longer than a minute.

2. Anyone ever had an issue with theft in a QP with carry on bags, personal items left unattended? (Mostly out of curiosity) I assume since lounges tend not to attract shifty types that often it's not much of an issue...but you never know!

3. Does the QP at HKG have shower facilities available for the QF29 stopover? Likewise is it possible to shower in the BA lounge T4 at LHR? (I have a connection LHR-GVA with 3 hour wait). Also, may seem a pretty silly thing to ask but any tips for using showers in airline lounges? I mean I can't take passport/documents into the shower with me...safe to use?

4. Any other tips for lounge use???