Problem booking Premium Economy ASA

[blueythecat]

I’ve got a quick question about booking Y+ ASA’s (international) that have a connecting domestic leg. For example I want to fly the following route CBR-SYD(OR MEL)-SIN in Y+, but the ASA booking engine won’t allow it. I know there is availability on the day in question as I can see them there when I attempt to book a classic award.

I assume the error is caused by the domestic leg, which won’t have Y+, messing up the ASA booking engine (for some random reason). Does anyone know a way around this either online or using the premium desk (although I’d rather not pay the fee)?

Thanks for you help.

 

[AnonymousCoward]

There doesn't seem to be a problem booking these online (even at 45K points). It's just that you also need to pay about $1400 on top.

 

[blueythecat]

Funny cause no matter what I do I can't make the booking tool book cbr-syd-sin in Y+

Are you using the "Multi-city" booking tool or the normal one?

Edit: Actually fixed it using the "Multi-city" tool - so all good. Interesting the cash contribution is so much though - maybe they just want to punish canberran's (and fair enought I guess ). Anyone actually know why though?

 

[elbarto]

Are you talking about this error?


That appears because the CBR-SYD sector will be in Y instead of Y+

 

[blueythecat]

Yeah that's the error - interesting they shouldn't allow this when they'll happily book you on cbr-syd-sin in J where the only J leg is cbr-syd??....the Qantas booking engine is a bit of mystery to me sometimes.

 

[chocolate_bilby]

Please go easy on me this is my first post - I've lurked there forums for a while now, but only signed up this morning so I could specifically ask about this problem too.

Like the OP I want to book an Y+ ASA but am getting a ridiculously expensive price - in my case I want to go adl-syd-sin-syd-adl. From all the reading I've done on this forum I thought if classic awards were available you could get an ASA for pretty much the same price. I think that is correct, or maybe not? Can some explain why this doesn't seem to be the case for Y+ ASA's from non international departure ports?

To me it seems like a "bug" in the system and I’m guessing the OP and myself aren’t the only ones that would like to know if there is away around this?

 

[straitman]

Please go easy on me this is my first post - I've lurked there forums for a while now, but only signed up this morning so I could specifically ask about this problem too.

Like the OP I want to book an Y+ ASA but am getting a ridiculously expensive price - in my case I want to go adl-syd-sin-syd-adl. From all the reading I've done on this forum I thought if classic awards were available you could get an ASA for pretty much the same price. I think that is correct, or maybe not? Can some explain why this doesn't seem to be the case for Y+ ASA's from non international departure ports?

To me it seems like a "bug" in the system and I’m guessing the OP and myself aren’t the only ones that would like to know if there is away around this?

Hi chocolate_bilby,

Welcome to AFF.

ASA seats are costed the same way regular seats are costed. If regular, paid tickets are expensive then ASA tickets will be expensive.

i.e. if there is high demand and few seats likely to be available then they will be expensive. If there is low demand then they will be cheap.

 

[blueythecat]

Hi chocolate_bilby - firstly I'm glad it's not just Canberra Qantas is picking on - I was getting a bit of a complex there for a while! Seriously, I agree with you though - if what you are seeing is the same as me then it totally doesn’t make sense.

Straitman based on what I've seen I'd have to disagree with you, the Y+ ASA's out of Canberra are not linked to the paid ticket price in any way that makes sense to me (I could be crazy or stupid though). I've just done a quick search on the Qantas site for a random date in August that has Classic Y+ seats and the table below shows the price differences (the syd-sin leg is the same plane in all cases). I'd be keen to hear if anyone has a logical explantion for the pricing

[TABLE="width: 342"]
[TR]
[TD]Fare Type[/TD]
[TD]Routing[/TD]
[TD]Cost[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Classic[/TD]
[TD]Cbr-syd-sin[/TD]
[TD]45k + $290[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]ASA[/TD]
[TD]Cbr-syd-sin[/TD]
[TD]45k + $1420[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Paid Fare[/TD]
[TD]Cbr-syd-sin[/TD]
[TD]$1422[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Classic[/TD]
[TD]Syd-sin[/TD]
[TD]45k + $247[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]ASA[/TD]
[TD]Syd-sin[/TD]
[TD]45k + $328[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Paid fare[/TD]
[TD]Syd-sin[/TD]
[TD]$1317[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

For me I think the only way around it is to buy a ticket to syd then book the Y+ ASA out of there. Anyone else have any good thoughts?

 

[AnonymousCoward]

I think they are charging you a Y+ award out of Sydney, and a full Y ticket (or similar) from CBR to SYD. Evidently the engine is not smart enough to book X class CBR-SYD (is X class even available?) and then Z from SYD-SIN

Straitman is correct, for most normal ASA seats, the points cost will be approx 100 points per $1 of the fare - except where there is classic seat availablity.

My suggestion would be to book a two separate tickets: CBR-SYD and then SYD-SIN

 

[blueythecat]

Straitman is correct, for most normal ASA seats, the points cost will be approx 100 points per $1 of the fare - except where there is classic seat availablity.

I agree and the key thing here is "except where there is classic seat availability" and in all my example there is classic seat availablity - thus why I'm confused

I think you are right though - I'll have to split the booking which is going to cost a bunch more. Funny the booking engine doesn't have the same problem with JASA's when there isn't a J seat on all legs - at least in that case whilst you are paying more than you should (ie it charges you J for all legs even if one is Y), I kind of understand what the booking engine is doing. I this case I've got no idea!!

How to you reckon I'd go if I rang up and tried to get a phone operator to do the booking - do you think I'd have any more luck?

Edit:

Evidently the engine is not smart enough to book X class CBR-SYD (is X class even available?)

Didn't see this on the first read - just checked at there is heaps of X class on the flights I was looking at.

 

[chocolate_bilby]

ASA seats are costed the same way regular seats are costed. If regular, paid tickets are expensive then ASA tickets will be expensive.

I thought that was only the case when there wasn't classic award seats on the flight??? Could be wrong though? The flights I'm looking at, and by the look of it blueythecat too, all have classic premium econ seats.

 

[lbalzer]

Pardon my ignorance, but what is an ASA?

 

[straitman]

Pardon my ignorance, but what is an ASA?

ASA = Any Seat Award.

See: Abbreviations and explanations.[h=2][/h]

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Please go easy on me this is my first post - I've lurked there forums for a while now, but only signed up this morning so I could specifically ask about this problem too.

Like the OP I want to book an Y+ ASA but am getting a ridiculously expensive price - in my case I want to go adl-syd-sin-syd-adl. From all the reading I've done on this forum I thought if classic awards were available you could get an ASA for pretty much the same price. I think that is correct, or maybe not? Can some explain why this doesn't seem to be the case for Y+ ASA's from non international departure ports?

To me it seems like a "bug" in the system and I’m guessing the OP and myself aren’t the only ones that would like to know if there is away around this?

I think they are charging you a Y+ award out of Sydney, and a full Y ticket (or similar) from CBR to SYD. Evidently the engine is not smart enough to book X class CBR-SYD (is X class even available?) and then Z from SYD-SIN

Straitman is correct, for most normal ASA seats, the points cost will be approx 100 points per $1 of the fare - except where there is classic seat availablity.

My suggestion would be to book a two separate tickets: CBR-SYD and then SYD-SIN

I agree with buying two separate tickets. I would compare a Classic Award vs YASA CBR/SYD/CBR then an ASA in PE SYD/SIN/SYD. Even though you have 2 separate bookings if you tell them in CBR you have a connecting flight to SIN they can check the bags CBR/SIN & get both boarding passes. The advantage with 2 separate tickets is that if you want to stopover in SYD in each direction you can.

A friend of mine had the same issues looking for PE availability BNE/xSYD/DFW where the cheapest PE ASA's would only show QF8 BNE/SYD connecting with QF7 SYD/DFW.

I agree and the key thing here is "except where there is classic seat availability" and in all my example there is classic seat availablity - thus why I'm confused

I think you are right though - I'll have to split the booking which is going to cost a bunch more. Funny the booking engine doesn't have the same problem with JASA's when there isn't a J seat on all legs - at least in that case whilst you are paying more than you should (ie it charges you J for all legs even if one is Y), I kind of understand what the booking engine is doing. I this case I've got no idea!!

I don't think the system has the same problem as JASA's as regardless of availability, J class is offered on those routes. The issue with looking at ports such as ADL/xSYD/SIN in PE is that PE does not exist at all on the ADL/SYD sector.

 

[blueythecat]

What you're saying ozbeachbabe makes sense - although hardly a difficult problem for those well paid Qantas programmers to solve . I'll give the premium desk a ring in the morning and see if they can sort me out - cause of course one Y+ PNR from cbr straight through leads to more SC's (always important ) and less points used overall. I'll let you know if it is a success - i always like to be optimistic (possibly to the point of delusional!!).

Pity there is no way to "manipulate" the Qantas website to do the right thing.

 

[AnonymousCoward]

What you're saying ozbeachbabe makes sense - although hardly a difficult problem for those well paid Qantas programmers to solve . I'll give the premium desk a ring in the morning and see if they can sort me out - cause of course one Y+ PNR from cbr straight through leads to more SC's (always important ) and less points used overall. I'll let you know if it is a success - i always like to be optimistic (possibly to the point of delusional!!).

You won't get a Y+ itinerary all the way through - there is no W/T/Z booking class CBR-SYD. At best you'll get a reduction in the points required, so that it's 8K CBR-SYD + 45K SYD-SIN. If you try to book a revenue PE seat SIN-BNE-SYD or SIN-MEL-SYD or similar, you'll always be told that your domestic flight will be in Y. I don't see your itinerary being any different.

 

[markis10]

You won't get a Y+ itinerary all the way through - there is no W/T/Z booking class CBR-SYD. At best you'll get a reduction in the points required, so that it's 8K CBR-SYD + 45K SYD-SIN. If you try to book a revenue PE seat SIN-BNE-SYD or SIN-MEL-SYD or similar, you'll always be told that your domestic flight will be in Y. I don't see your itinerary being any different.

Why would you bother when J CBR SIN is 60000 + $895

 

[AnonymousCoward]

Why would you bother when J CBR SIN is 60000 + $895

Lack of U class availability? Z seems fairly easy to get on QF5 these days. U not so easy.

 

[blueythecat]

Lack of U class availability? Z seems fairly easy to get on QF5 these days. U not so easy.

The only reason I am going for a Z fare...not surprisingly

You won't get a Y+ itinerary all the way through - there is no W/T/Z booking class CBR-SYD. At best you'll get a reduction in the points required, so that it's 8K CBR-SYD + 45K SYD-SIN. If you try to book a revenue PE seat SIN-BNE-SYD or SIN-MEL-SYD or similar, you'll always be told that your domestic flight will be in Y. I don't see your itinerary being any different.

Don't want Y+ all the way through, as that of course isn't physically possible (ie no Y+ seats out of cbr). All I want is X cbr-syd then Z syd-sin, same as the Y+ classic award, and because there is classic seats on the day I want to fly I want it at the "same" price (45k + ~$340) as a Y+ classic award (ie the same way a JASA works when there is J classic seats on the flight). Does that make sense???

 

[MarcB]

The only reason I am going for a Z fare...not surprisingly



Don't want Y+ all the way through, as that of course isn't physically possible (ie no Y+ seats out of cbr). All I want is X cbr-syd then Z syd-sin, same as the Y+ classic award, and because there is classic seats on the day I want to fly I want it at the "same" price (45k + ~$340) as a Y+ classic award (ie the same way a JASA works when there is J classic seats on the flight). Does that make sense???

Makes perfect sense. I have this issue when searching for ASA ex BNE in Y+. My understanding is that you can book any classic award as an ASA if it's available. The online booking facility does not allow this if there is a non Y+ sector though. I suspect it is because most "sale" Y+ domestic sectors book into B class - not X. This is probably what is driving up your price. If you do it as multi city, it will price the 2 sectors individually and cost you 8000 points (min) more.

I would suggest that you ring the service centre on this one. Or did you already do that?

EDIT: Driving up the price because it then prices it as "T" class and "B" class.