No more EK F on Alaska points - Will this affect QF too?

[Guvner]

Apologies if this has been posted somewhere before, I did a search to no avail.

Will this affect Qantas Frequent Flyer First Class bookings on Emirates?

Fly Emirates - Airline partners - Mileage Plan | Alaska Airlines

You can earn and redeem Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles on flights with Emirates.

www.alaskaair.com

" Book your First Class award travel with Emirates by March 31, 2021. Beginning April 1, 2021, Emirates will no longer allow partner access to First Class award bookings. Mileage Plan members can continue to redeem on the Emirates’ award-winning Economy Class and Business Class. "

 

[nevgon]

Apologies if this has been posted somewhere before, I did a search to no avail.

Fly Emirates - Airline partners - Mileage Plan | Alaska Airlines

You can earn and redeem Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles on flights with Emirates.

www.alaskaair.com

" Book your First Class award travel with Emirates by March 31, 2021. Beginning April 1, 2021, Emirates will no longer allow partner access to First Class award bookings. Mileage Plan members can continue to redeem on the Emirates’ award-winning Economy Class and Business Class. "

This is bad I flew once from Hong Kong to Stockholm with Qantas Business and the stop in Dubai needed a recharge, shower etc... Imagine not having this facility...

 

[RichardMEL]

This is bad I flew once from Hong Kong to Stockholm with Qantas Business and the stop in Dubai needed a recharge, shower etc... Imagine not having this facility...

That refers to AS/EK agreements. QF/EK partnership is quite different.
Of course if you are trying to use AS miles then it is very relevant

 

[Mattg]

Looks like Alaska Airlines and Emirates will end their partnership altogether on 31 July 2021.

Fly Emirates - Airline partners - Mileage Plan | Alaska Airlines

You can earn and redeem Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles on flights with Emirates.

www.alaskaair.com

Expect Alaska to open up Oneworld Alliance-wide awards shortly after.

 

[2infinity]

I am so glad I got my F redemption last year. At least I got to experience it.

I suppose the good news, so far at least, is that we can still redeem QFF points for F awards on EK, at least up until 2023 when the QF/EK partnership is reviewed.

It will be sad if F redemptions are ever removed. But at least there doesn't seem to be any attack on J redemptions..........yet.

This is more than I can say about actually redeeming QFF points for a F or J award on Qantas. Qantas just don't seem to release F or J awards for long haul on popular routes like SYD - LON or SYD-LAX, so what little crumbs we can pick up from Emirates seems to still be more than what is offered from Qantas.

 

[PineappleSkip]

AFF article linking to this thread

Emirates Restricting First Class Awards & Upgrades

Emirates First Class is arguably one of the best ways to fly, and before the pandemic it was a hugely popular frequent flyer points redemption for

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

This comment is spot on

Clearly Emirates, which just reported a AUD$7 billion loss for the last financial year, wants to make it harder for customers to access its First Class cabin without paying for a ticket.

I was searching EK availability in Y (client requirement ) for travel into Aus (BNE, SYD or ADL) in Sept this year. They are only selling F in Sept, J in Oct and Y is first available in early Nov. This was also the case last time I booked, so it looks like a deliberate strategy.

think certainly if Project Sunrise isn’t well and truly up and running QF will want to extend it, and perhaps even if it is.

Yes the [QF-EK] agreement ends in 2023, I hope they extend the partnership especially when regular flying will be return.

Sunrise will only get AF direct flights into LHR and maybe one or two other cities in EU. The partnerskip allows them to sell tickets to any number of EU cities, so it complements Sunrise.

I miss the days when EK handed out op-ups to F all the time. Best status value I ever got!

cheers skip

 

[Lemon_Party]

I've just booked into F with EK for mid next year in the hope that travel restrictions are removed. QF point balance just keeps growing and if there's half a chance of all partners being restricted access it would be a shame to miss out on another chance to shower in the sky. Better to act now while you still can IMO.

 

[SOPOOR]

I had booked and cancelled a trip of life time in F last year but was cancelled due to covid.
So what's the best way to use and get F on a a380 at this point in time?

Book now for mid next year and hope restrictions have gone by then?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I had booked and cancelled a trip of life time in F last year but was cancelled due to covid.
So what's the best way to use and get F on a a380 at this point in time?

Book now for mid next year and hope restrictions have gone by then?

I think it's a good plan. By the time they announce restrictions are over and we can travel, award seats will be snapped up in an instant. If you can find flights now, the only potential downside will be the 6K point cancellation fee.

 

[hb13]

I think it's a good plan. By the time they announce restrictions are over and we can travel, award seats will be snapped up in an instant. If you can find flights now, the only potential downside will be the 6K point cancellation fee.

Did they drop the 6k point cancellation fee recently till a certain period of time? I thought I heard that, but I may have been mistaken. I'd like to book in some flights towards later in 2022 in the hope that borders open for vaccinated Aussies.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Did they drop the 6k point cancellation fee recently till a certain period of time? I thought I heard that, but I may have been mistaken. I'd like to book in some flights towards later in 2022 in the hope that borders open for vaccinated Aussies.

The cancellation and change fees are currently waived for bookings made by 31 July 2021, and where the change or cancellation is made by 28 February 2022.

 

[hb13]

The cancellation and change fees are currently waived for bookings made by 31 July 2021, and where the change or cancellation is made by 28 February 2022.

Oh nice, ok then, I may take advantage of that while it is available. I guess we can dream of these flights happening.

 

[Lemon_Party]

I think it's a good plan. By the time they announce restrictions are over and we can travel, award seats will be snapped up in an instant. If you can find flights now, the only potential downside will be the 6K point cancellation fee.

this was my fear and the main reason I've booked. For some reason availability seemed a lot better outbound than returning to AU when I was searching.

 

[SOPOOR]

I think it's a good plan. By the time they announce restrictions are over and we can travel, award seats will be snapped up in an instant. If you can find flights now, the only potential downside will be the 6K point cancellation fee.

the article says we are only able to book F with points until aug 2021, does that mean travel must be before aug 2021? or the booking has to be made before that date

I am happy to risk 6k points for my first and likely last trip on F unless I win lotto

 

[Matt_01]

@SOPOOR it is my understand and I have tested this by booking J and F international as well as Y and J domestic rewards, changing and cancelling on multiple occasions over the past 3 months. Rules are simple book a "classic flight" reward (QF points) prior to 31 Jul 21 and you can change it (including adding/ removing sectors) as many times as you want until 28 Feb 22. If you do the maths you can effectively make bookings prior to Jul 21 and then make changes for travel through to late 2022 without penalty. At this stage any changes or cancellations made post 1 Mar 22 maybe subject to the change or cancellation fees unless QF extend the date. It is a win-win situation.

 

[SOPOOR]

@SOPOOR it is my understand and I have tested this by booking J and F international as well as Y and J domestic rewards, changing and cancelling on multiple occasions over the past 3 months. Rules are simple book a "classic flight" reward (QF points) prior to 31 Jul 21 and you can change it (including adding/ removing sectors) as many times as you want until 28 Feb 22. If you do the maths you can effectively make bookings prior to Jul 21 and then make changes for travel through to late 2022 without penalty. At this stage any changes or cancellations made post 1 Mar 22 maybe subject to the change or cancellation fees unless QF extend the date. It is a win-win situation.

Are you able to book F using emirates miles for flights after July 21?

 

[Matt_01]

Are you able to book F using emirates miles for flights after July 21?

Yep I had booked and since cancelled EK F in Apr 22 MEL-DXB-ATH-EWR, I have also have booking EF F bookings for CHC-SYD in Jan 22 and SYD-CHC-SYD in Mar 22. I will be making a few ADL-MEL 'classic reward' bookings in Y for some random future date (only because they are about the cheapest I can find) prior to 31 Jul and in Oct/Nov 21 will use these booking to change to international travel for Sep/ Oct 22.

 

[SOPOOR]

Nice, good work

Looks like if I want to use my existing emirates miles for a chance at F
I better book before July 21, for and hope that restrictions ease or I'm able to change my flight..

so if I book a flight for say jun 2022 on f now
and I want to move it fwd or back few months does that mean F won't be available?

Yep I had booked and since cancelled EK F in Apr 22 MEL-DXB-ATH-EWR, I have also have booking EF F bookings for CHC-SYD in Jan 22 and SYD-CHC-SYD in Mar 22. I will be making a few ADL-MEL 'classic reward' bookings in Y for some random future date (only because they are about the cheapest I can find) prior to 31 Jul and in Oct/Nov 21 will use these booking to change to international travel for Sep/ Oct 22.

 

[Matt_01]

Looks like if I want to use my existing emirates miles for a chance at F

Are we talking about the same mileage program or getting our wires crossed. All of my experience and bookings are based on EK F redemptions using QF points see post #54 ""classic flight" reward (QF points)" If you are using EK miles via the skywards program I am not familiar with their rules, I have a skywards account but am only blue and do not accrue miles to that program. I do/did fly EK J and F however these are on the QF code share flight numbers. All my comments above are based on the current QF rules. Apologies if I have mislead you.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

the article says we are only able to book F with points until aug 2021, does that mean travel must be before aug 2021? or the booking has to be made before that date

I am happy to risk 6k points for my first and likely last trip on F unless I win lotto

Using QF points there are no planned restrictions on redeeming EK F.

Skywards may be introducing restrictions for their own members, and other EK partners are axing F awards. But QF will remain unchanged - at least for a few years while the QF/EK partnership continues.

In terms of cancellation, booking by 31 July gets you the cancellation/change fee waived. If you book after 31 July your booking have the normal change or cancellation fees. This is not linked to the availability of F awards through QFFF, just the ability to change or cancel for free (as long as those changes are before end Feb 2022. if after, you pay the fees.)

 

[MEL_Traveller]

JAL has just written to all members advising EK F awards no longer bookable after 1 September 2021.