Qantas Amex Ultimate Card - trying to book the complimentary flight

[kort]

Just got off the phone with Amex about trying to book my "free" flight that comes with the Qantas Amex Ultimate Card.
I had planned a MEL-SYD Friday night flight with a SYD-MEL on Sunday night. A popular timeslot but I figured by booking a few months in advance I would be alright.......

They searched and the girl told me that there was not a single Friday night flight from MEL-SYD until 24 Dec (I didn't bother with the return leg given I couldn't get the first leg)?!!! What the? Doesn't seem much point to this free flight if I can't book a decent time. I was rather baffled and hung up without booking anything.

I understand that Qantas and Amex have some "arrangements" but geez, EVERY Friday ticket is booked for the rest of the year? Its easier booking Frequent Flyer tickets to the USA :-S

I asked if there was someone I could talk to above her that could help resolve the situation - Was informed that someone will call me but I am not holding my breath.

 

[drewbles]

Just got off the phone with Amex about trying to book my "free" flight that comes with the Qantas Amex Ultimate Card.
I had planned a MEL-SYD Friday night flight with a SYD-MEL on Sunday night. A popular timeslot but I figured by booking a few months in advance I would be alright.......

They searched and the girl told me that there was not a single Friday night flight from MEL-SYD until 24 Dec (I didn't bother with the return leg given I couldn't get the first leg)?!!! What the? Doesn't seem much point to this free flight if I can't book a decent time. I was rather baffled and hung up without booking anything.

I understand that Qantas and Amex have some "arrangements" but geez, EVERY Friday ticket is booked for the rest of the year? Its easier booking Frequent Flyer tickets to the USA :-S

I asked if there was someone I could talk to above her that could help resolve the situation - Was informed that someone will call me but I am not holding my breath.

AFAIK, The Amex freebies book into OPTWEBU, or O class. Doing a search on EF or other sites should show O class. I've always been able to ring and specify exact flights that I want.

It's also possible that QF have "OC" in their res system meaning "Closed" for bookings. They may only be offering E or N fares.

Have a dig around for the right fare class and ring them again with the exact dates/flight numbers and see what they say. I've always had them ask me "how do you know all about this? Are you a travel agent?". They seem to like it when you do the work for them

*edit*
Just had a quick look for April 16 in the evening MEL-SYD and April 18th in the evening SYD-MEL, and I see SC NC QC OC XC E0 for the MEL-SYD segment, with SYD-MEL wide open. It looks like QF have decided to close off a large range of fare classes. May 14 and May 16 are showing similarly. I wonder what QF are up to. It's also possible they just haven't gotten around to loading those fares yet, as the May ones even have some 'VC' as well as the S/N/Q/O and X.

 

[serfty]

Retry in the morning.

Often Qantas Yield Management restore some fare bucket availability.

Also, use SeatCounter - The Booking Class Availability Machine to check for O class.

 

[kort]

very interesting information

Amex just called me back and told me to refer to the T&C....Errrr thanks. However the person on the line was incredily helpful (same one who I initially got connected to) and I ended up getting a Friday 2pm flight, which just means I have to work a half day on the Friday ;-)
Booking the Sunday return flight was pretty painless which was another positive thing. Just got to remember to book a 2pm Friday flight it seems!