Pathetic [Where are the advertised extra award seats? ]

[p--and--t]

So I'm a lowly bronze and I can see a whole month of availability J lax to Syd/Mel around Jume next year. Direct with QF. These weren't showing last week....or even on the 18th. I've been keeping an eye on this route for a while and never seen availability with QF like this ..
Soaybe they are there.

I concur, when looking last year LAX to aust on QF metal in J was very rare for Bronze and couldn't find a suitable date for my travel.

If there is indeed J availability over many days in the same month, things have significantly improved.

 

[Hillbilly64]

Out of interest, have you tried to book any of those seats? I've heard there has been quite a bit of phantom award availability lately.

No..they are outside the dates I need. But I've booked a few J reward flights (with Jal and EK) recently that I've seen available with no issues. I'll report back if the dates I need become available and I can book them.

 

[BriarFlyer]

Hillbilly64, can I ask what route you found EK J availability on? I've not seen any EK business availability with QF points of late. F and Y, yes, but not J.

 

[Hillbilly64]

Hillbilly64, can I ask what route you found EK J availability on? I've not seen any EK business availability with QF points of late. F and Y, yes, but not J.

Sorry my mistake EK was F. But there was J
when I was booking. BNE-SIN. It is very random though. I was anticipating booking 250 days out as that as what had been the norm...but randomly checked at around 350 days from when I needed and it showed availability. J and F. (hadn't seen that before)

 

[BriarFlyer]

That's exactly the route I was checking, as there often has been awards to be found. But lately I've not seen any J. Sadly.

 

[Duffa]

Apologies to EVERYONE. I've found flights!
It's not where or when I want to fly, since I'll just be back from Europe in Suites, but it is availability.
I feel really guilty now and not so broken or bitter.

D

 

[drron]

Thankyou, must admit (wrongly or rightly) if I can get a redemption on a partner (CX,JL,QR,SQ,EK etc) I usually choose that instead of QF..............Although as a QFNB, I seem to see available QF (J) less often.

The problem with AA is that they only release awards ~330 days out even on partner airlines.They have basically canned the low cost premium cabin awards to be released ~ 1 month out if seats not sold.For the partners often awards nabbed by other airline loyalty members before AA members can see them.Not nearly as good as they were.

 

[kpc]

The problem with AA is that they only release awards ~330 days out even on partner airlines.

3 years ago, I was after 4x J Hkg-NYC (JFK or Ewr) Cx award seats. At around T-360 days when Cx releases its awards, there were at least 4, sometimes 6, J award seats on each of its 5x daily flights to NYC...as the count down to T-330 days when I could use my AA miles, I watched anxiously as the award seats disappeared every day....finally when I could book them , I got the last 4x J awards on the Cx Hkg -Ewr service. As a result, my valuation of AA miles plummeted and I stopped buying them!

 

[ozflier]

FYI - some positive news (well I think). I just had to change a classic award that was booked last week. Turns out the points cost is based on date of PNR, so I was able to change my booking, but at the previous (pre-18 Sep) points costs. I am also getting a refund on some of the taxes, presumably because the carrier charges have come down.

This is good news - hardly expected of Qantas.
It would be good to see it confirmed.

 

[Limewood]

Im seeing more award J seats OZ to LAX return be is more points and dish , maybe its true?.

 

[Danger]

. . .
Charging customers QFF points + fuel surcharge for economy awards where the fuel surcharge alone is almost the same as the revenue airfare is daylight robbery. It's pathetic way to treat customers . .

Almost the same indeed.

Malaysia Y award KUL-SIN 4 January. Qantas, MYR232. American, MYR36. Cash fare on the same flight, MYR219.

 

[JohnK]

Qantas sent out a survey yesterday and the changes announced in June were part of the survey.

Sorry Qantas, fail.

 

[Mattg]

Qantas sent out a survey yesterday and the changes announced in June were part of the survey.

Sorry Qantas, fail.

Unless the changes announced in June were a test for further "enhancements" to come...

 

[mviy]

I think a lot of members here that got the survey would have been scathing.

LTP threshold is ridiculous. I’d have to have a job that paid for Business class flights to London/New York more often than every two months (or equivalent flights) for about 20 years to get there. Completely unrealistic.

The points needed for Business and First seats have gone up and availability is still terrible.

 

[MarcB]

That's good news. Can you confirm that your changes were just changes to dates and flight numbers but do not include deleting flights and adding new route segments outside of Australia?

My original itinerary was BNE-LAX in Z class (72,000 points) on QF // LAX-BNE in U class (96,000 points) on QF.

Changed itinerary is BNE-MEL-SFO (QF) - LAX (AA) all in U class // LAX-BNE in U class.

Points went up slightly because I am going via Melbourne and that pushes me to the next zone, but I was charged at the 'old' 112,000 zone 9 points cost (up from the 72,000 zone 8 PE cost).

So I changed flights and cabin and it was still based on old rates. I was the first one that the operator had assisted and she involved her ticketing team, but the system priced it automatically at the old rates.

 

[oobi doobi]

Fantastic for P1s and pathetic for us NBs.But even with no status with SQ I get great value there.Not on QFF.

Agree 100%. I always go to SQ first.

 

[JohnK]

Unless the changes announced in June were a test for further "enhancements" to come...

I wouldn't be surprised and arrogance may fit somewhere in that equation.

 

[Duffa]

Interesting exercise last week. Sat down with a QF Gold flyer and we both logged in at the same time to check availability for various routes. He could see much more premium availability than me on the kangaroo route. BUT when he clicked through to those "extra" seats it was some dodge combination like MEL SIN in QF J and then BA J through to London, costing about 180,000 points ONE WAY! There was no availability on QF metal all the way.
I definitely don't feel so bad now !

 

[TonyD]

Was able to book 4 J class on QF1 three weeks ago for october 2020 - on the first day of release at 11am - BUT can i can get anything now at all on QF metal back - NO - not 2 seats nothing - with WP status

 

[siri]

Upto 2018 sept. seats towards europe was available with Qantas and when China market opened, suddenly all FF seats to europe via asia ( except china ) disappeared .. Qantas is playing a double game since do not go to Europe via china since airports are notorious for transit facilities.
I suggest trying one way bookings firsts and Japan and BK as transit points and also try next day transit flights since they are available.