No business class reward seats to the US

[Kangol]

I agree with lack of U class (J award) SYD-LAX or SYD-DFW even trying 353 days ahead for the DEC-JAN period. Only P class (F award). So I managed 3 P A380 return SYD-LAX for the DEC-JAN period instead.

You got three P seats on QF11 and three on QF12???? Without requesting any due to WP? Wow!

 

[ozkid]

Too find seats Expert Flyer is excellent, when they become available they email you pronto, one time i got back from USA this way.

Out of curiosity, do you need to get a paid subscription, or is the free one sufficient to get these alerts?

 

[Maca44]

Out of curiosity, do you need to get a paid subscription, or is the free one sufficient to get these alerts?

Paid annual subscription. About AUD$90+, but well worth for those times when you need to search seats/flights.

 

[Limewood]

Paid annual subscription. About AUD$90+, but well worth for those times when you need to search seats/flights.

With my EF sub I opt in and out think its $7.95 for month.

 

[Quickstatus]

You got three P seats on QF11 and three on QF12???? Without requesting any due to WP? Wow!

Correction:
QF Gold.
4pax:
3 P QF11 Mid Dec SYD-LAX
1P QF12 Mid Jan LAX-SYD
2P QF94 same day LAX-MEL

So i will have to buy 2MEL-SYD to meet up with QF12 and a paid return J QF11/12 to maintain status.

Would have preferred U as points burn less for a still impressive product.

Interestingly the return P seats from US came up later than usual release day. They just popped up at the T-348 day mark, and later in day too. Got an expertflyer email about LAX-MEL, booked that, went back into QF award search had a look at LAX-SYD, and the QF11 popped up after about 2 screen refresh. Expertflyer email about QF 11 arrived just as I was in the middle of the booking process for QF11. Only X seats were released at usual release day, along with the CX awards via HKG which uses up a lot of points and takes 12 hours longer. No U or Z released.

 

[Kangol]

Correction:
QF Gold.
4pax:
3 P QF11 Mid Dec SYD-LAX
1P QF12 Mid Jan LAX-SYD
2P QF94 same day LAX-MEL

So i will have to buy 2MEL-SYD to meet up with QF12 and a paid return J QF11/12 to maintain status.

Would have preferred U as points burn less for a still impressive product.

Interestingly the return P seats from US came up later than usual release day. They just popped up at the T-348 day mark, and later in day too. Got an expertflyer email about LAX-MEL, booked that, went back into QF award search had a look at LAX-SYD, and the QF11 popped up after about 2 screen refresh. Expertflyer email about QF 11 arrived just as I was in the middle of the booking process for QF11. Only X seats were released at usual release day, along with the CX awards via HKG which uses up a lot of points and takes 12 hours longer. No U or Z released.

Awesome, I was unaware that they would release 3x P seats on the A380 flights to/from the US, let alone any A380 flights at all! Most I've seen is two on the LHR ones.

What day of the week did you get them on? My limited experience is that weekend flights for P/U on the MEL/SYD-LAX return are near impossible.

 

[Quickstatus]

What day of the week did you get them on? My limited experience is that weekend flights for P/U on the MEL/SYD-LAX return are near impossible.

I got them for a Tuesday. Was trying to get U but X popped up at the usual time, and then 2P popped up and later in week 1P popped up for the same date as the 2P. No Z at all. Same on return: X always available, then 2P popped up to MEL and after 2 screen refresh 1P popped up for SYD.

Its a mystery to me. Im a lowly SG (exactly 700 SC).

 

[Jo145]

My experience has been to start looking 47 weeks out from the date you want to travel. They are rare and disappear quickly!!

 

[Newk]

Thanks so much for all your help guys!!! Looks like the best way will be with Cathay. I still cant believe there are no Qantas reward flights to America all year! Its a joke! Thanks again everyone!!

Paul

Exactly why is it a joke? There are limited reward seats. And you can discuss those limits all you want but let's assume for the sake of a mental exercise that the WHOLE plane is let go as award seating...there will come a time when the educated and quick will snaffle all the seats. And likely that will be very soon after they become available. What should QFF do then? Put on another plane so that everyone who wants to can have an award flight? Think about it a bit and you will soon see that there will be times when availability is limited or zero

 

[smit0847]

Exactly why is it a joke? There are limited reward seats. And you can discuss those limits all you want but let's assume for the sake of a mental exercise that the WHOLE plane is let go as award seating...there will come a time when the educated and quick will snaffle all the seats. And likely that will be very soon after they become available. What should QFF do then? Put on another plane so that everyone who wants to can have an award flight? Think about it a bit and you will soon see that there will be times when availability is limited or zero

I think the OP means that compared to other FF programs, QF has extremely limited availability.

I do agree with your post though - many people sign up for QFF not understanding how it works, then spend thousands of dollars collecting points and then can't use them in the way they expected to be able to. It's sort of like buying a car expecting it to have a sun-roof and then finding out it doesn't and never did.

 

[kirstyoz]

Hey PG
Hope you get it all sorted! I'm pretty new here too and learning from the AFF gurus... I managed to get 2 travellers CX J PER-HKG-LAX with QFmiles a couple of months ago but I got it right on when it was released, it seems to be the trick. For the return journey I booked using AAdvantage miles TPA-DFW-LAX-HKG-PER through the AA USA call centre. All thanks to advice from the AFF geniuses!
Also, I have to go to training in Barbados in June, when I posted my flight options eg travelling J CX or QF pretty much everyone said to pick CX because the J is such a good product. Also it was $1500 cheaper and made little difference to the travel duration in the end. So you probably won't be disappointed with CX

 

[Newk]

I think the OP means that compared to other FF programs, QF has extremely limited availability.

Idid.

Fair nuff from that point of view.

 

[beaglex]

Interesting and very helpful thread. Now I know why I was having so much difficulty in trying to use Q FF points towards business class to the USA.
Is it the same problem for business class awards to Singapore & Hong Kong?

 

[Limewood]

Well done kirstyoz!.

If in PER/FNQ or not in SYD/MEL/BNE and the like, going CX via HKG to USA or Europe (great selection of cities too) is an excellent alternative, not forgetting the brilliant CX J seats too.

Two of us going to Europe via HKG found many 2 x J award seats last month for this May!!, and out of HKG there are so many award seats to many world destinations its not funny and the fees are next to nothing.

 

[JohnMcC]

I think the OP means that compared to other FF programs, QF has extremely limited availability.

I do agree with your post though - many people sign up for QFF not understanding how it works, then spend thousands of dollars collecting points and then can't use them in the way they expected to be able to. It's sort of like buying a car expecting it to have a sun-roof and then finding out it doesn't and never did.

Sorry to disagree. It's sort of like buying a car advertised with a sun roof and then finding out it only works at certain times - such as when it is raining. Paul is new to the site and brings with him the assumptions that one makes reading the FF program highlights. He believes Qantas is okay for him to use his accrued points when the more experienced of us know, Qantas makes money by NOT allowing you to use the points, or use them only at times that suit Qantas. Newk posits the scenario where Qantas makes a whole plane available for FF claims and then faces the choice of putting on another plane to cope with overload. But...why not? Qantas took the money and advertised the service, why would they not allow people to receive the anticipated benefits? To be fair to Paul, our problem is trying to claim on One World programs. If you think Qantas is bad (and they are) try Japan Airlines. Their "taxes" are double those of Qantas and their availability coincides with solar eclipses. Star Alliance on the other hand (especially United) has so many more seats available. Our bad luck there is no Star Alliance company working within Australia to give Qantas some competition.

 

[drron]

As to *A it can be exceedingly difficult to get premium SQ awards to and from Australia unless you are comfortable waiting until 14 days out.
And to be fair to QFF they have far less J seats to SIN than SQ.

 

[Newk]

What a fascinating reply two above. In fact you can use your points any time you want to purchase a seat on QF. Called an Any Seat Award. I should have mentioned this before.

Also I'm sure that in all QFF literature there are many disclaimers about availability of classic award seats. So I'm not sure that you can say that expectations are set too high.

And I do find it interesting that other airlines seem to have more reward seats available. Can anyone suggest why this is so. And that's a serious question. Is it an aberration that they're available for the routes that we want? Or do they release a greater percentage if their seats as award seats? Are their points harder to get and hence less competition for seats?
I'd love to see a discussion about this.

Edit to change "there" to "they're". Could also have been there IS availability. Sorry. Bad typo sadly reproduced below. Red face.

 

[JohnMcC]

What a fascinating reply two above. In fact you can use your points any time you want to purchase a seat on QF. Called an Any Seat Award. I should have mentioned this before.

Also I'm sure that in all QFF literature there are many disclaimers about availability of classic award seats. So I'm not sure that you can say that expectations are set too high.

And I do find it interesting that other airlines seem to have more reward seats available. Can anyone suggest why this is so. And that's a serious question. Is it an aberration that there available for the routes that we want? Or do they release a greater percentage if their seats as award seats? Are their points harder to get and hence less competition for seats?
I'd love to see a discussion about this.

Thank you, I would also like to know why. Before I switched from UA to SQ last year I used up the last of my points. I got a J Class seat to Paris and back for my wife from Melbourne, 4 months notice, in January and total taxes and charges $200. At the same time I tried to use my JAL and QF points to get to Thailand with my kids in December. Nothing available, apparently, on QF, CX, MH, EM, JL or any One World and no matter how unlikely and far flung the connecting point. United on the other hand had seats on SQ to Bangkok via Singapore. NO problems, again minimal charges. I think it is a One World thing (although apparently AA are very good) and I'd love to know more.

 

[Reggie78]

I think the OP means that compared to other FF programs, QF has extremely limited availability.

I do agree with your post though - many people sign up for QFF not understanding how it works, then spend thousands of dollars collecting points and then can't use them in the way they expected to be able to. It's sort of like buying a car expecting it to have a sun-roof and then finding out it doesn't and never did.

This is the exact reason why I will now move away from QFF, I can get Award flights flying QF cheaper through other FF programs. For someone who does not fly enough for status, I can't see the point of remaining loyal when I can get the same Award fare for using less points and at the same (if not better) earn rate.

Having said that, I just burnt my points balance on a Classic Award J booking x 2 CBR-BNE-LAX-JFK. This was around the 350 day mark, and it seems there were only 2 available BNE-LAX....

 

[bertair]

The crux of this problem for many QF FF is that for many years we have remained loyal to Qantas, used their services and often foregone cheaper fares offered by budget carriers to get QF FF points to use one day for that "big trip".
The offer of status credits does not really enter into the equation for me as I do not fly often enough to retain them year after year, even though I may take one long haul flight at least once a year and about 4 to 6 domestic flights using qantas or affiliates like Qantas Link.
I have accumulated 100 of ks worth points from flights, services and yes, my AMEX Card, Everyday Rewards and some other loyalty cards.
Now when after about 6 or 7 years of not using my points, not only do I feel that they have become de-valued, I am getting my brain in a knot trying to find a Business Class seat (bed) on a SYD/LHR one way using my points for a flight in the latter part of 2014.
I accept that the are people with the smarts to book 353 days to, but I have no idea of what I can do almost 1 year out.
This thread is concerned with flights to the US, but I think to European destinations, they could even be harder to find as I am now discovering.
I like the idea of going via Dubai, but that seems impossible to me, HKG, and Japan perhaps.?
Paying Qantas to use the services of Reservations staff while may not cost much, I think that they will they still charge me even if they can't find a seat.
Oh and by the way, I am going to pay full fare for a business class seat for my partner on the same flight that I hope to find using my FF points for a Classic Award or Any Seat.
Once I burn my points, I am looking at another carrier to join their FF Programme like CX Asia Miles and Marco Polo.
As a slightly side issue, I found that Cathay Pacific allow free corporate membership of their Marco Polo Club if you have a US address, but not an Australian address.
I wonder why.??
Many on line enquiries relating to travel appear to be rejected if you are using an Australian ISP when it comes to travel.... Another barrier to free trade perhaps ?