Based on other explanations in this and related threads, I think the issue is that agents by default will only see flights that are approved for that particular booking class (fare bucket) and fare basis. The reason this can differ between classic rewards available for individual booking when you check ExpertFlyer or the Qantas web site, is explained well by Mel_Traveller in the following thread:
"No award flights available" - Really??? (see posts #7 and #8). Most outsourced agents seem to be only trained to do a basic search in their system that shows options where everything is already available.
It looks like what insourced agents (Hobart/Auckland) are doing when asked, is to see if they can open up availability on a flight that has seats available but otherwise not approved for this particular fare basis (i.e., a connection to an international classic reward). I am not sure if this is the same "bot" referred to in this thread (
QFF Platinum requesting release of extra Classic award seats?) , but it sounds like a similar process. It seems the insourced call centres are trained to understand that an involuntary change is a valid reason to request opening up a seat, whereas outsourced ones refuse to accept that justification, or are not trained on, the process for requesting a seat. The basic customer service problem seems to be that outsourced call agents are motivated to just say "it's not available" or "sorry can't help" rather than being empowered to truly solve the problem in a customer friendly way. The mysterious bit is why Qantas continues to train their agents so differently - we can only hope they don't respond by dumbing down Hobart's access and approach to this lower bar.
This is just educated conjecture based on summarizing information presented in a few threads here.
