Qantas FF Redemption - Cathay Pacific & Europe

[jbmarshall90]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking at making a classic rewards redemption for 2016 and I'm finding odd flights when I look at returning from Amsterdam to Brisbane (usually ending up being routed via Perth with a 7 hour stopover at night).

I've found that there is award availability on Cathay to Hong Kong (arriving on a Thursday morning) and award availability on Cathay from Hong Kong to Brisbane (departing later the same day). Am I safe to book this ticket using award points? I've had to run it as a multiple city reward rather than the straight Amsterdam to Brisbane reward. I thought I read somewhere that once Cathay see it in their system they will cancel the booking??

(If this has been addressed before I'd appreciate being referred to the right post - I couldn't seem to find it when I ran a search!)

Thanks so much in advance!

 

[snabbu]

If you see the award availability on the QF engine then book with confidence. If segments change down the track a quick call to QF should fix any issues.

 

[madrooster]

I've found that there is award availability on Cathay to Hong Kong (arriving on a Thursday morning) and award availability on Cathay from Hong Kong to Brisbane (departing later the same day). Am I safe to book this ticket using award points? I've had to run it as a multiple city reward rather than the straight Amsterdam to Brisbane reward. I thought I read somewhere that once Cathay see it in their system they will cancel the booking??

If you had to search as AMS-HKG and HKG-BNE to see availability, then it won't confirm when you go to try and book it or CX may cancel the booking as it's a violation of married segment rules. If you are not stopping over in HKG you must search as AMS-BNE to get the correct availability.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

If you had to search as AMS-HKG and HKG-BNE to see availability, then it won't confirm when you go to try and book it or CX may cancel the booking as it's a violation of married segment rules. If you are not stopping over in HKG you must search as AMS-BNE to get the correct availability.

I disagree with this.

Quite often award search engines don't return results for an entire itinerary and you need to break it up by segment. This even happens when going via the call centre. I've had this many times on the QF engine for CX.

If you get two flights and the system allows you to book them, you can go ahead and do so, CX won't subsequently cancel. If you have any doubt, contact the QF call centre and ask them to make a dummy booking. Once they confirm the itinerary is valid, you can book on line.

 

[jbmarshall90]

I disagree with this.

Quite often award search engines don't return results for an entire itinerary and you need to break it up by segment. This even happens when going via the call centre. I've had this many times on the QF engine for CX.

If you get two flights and the system allows you to book them, you can go ahead and do so. If you have any doubt, contact the QF call centre and ask them to make a dummy booking. Once they confirm the itinerary is valid, you can book on line.

I"ve had to do a search exactly as described... How long would Cathay take to notice and then cancel the booking if it was in fact determined to be invalid from their point of view? On the Qantas site it allows me to go right through to the booking summary page.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I"ve had to do a search exactly as described... How long would Cathay take to notice and then cancel the booking if it was in fact determined to be invalid from their point of view? On the Qantas site it allows me to go right through to the booking summary page.

CX won't cancel. If the ticket is sold it's good to go. Married segments aren't that easy to circumvent... probably not by a passenger using an on-line booking tool.

If it was a case of married segments, you shouldn't be able to construct the ticket. A example (if I have this right) is QF offering award space LHR-DXB and DXB-Au separately. But if you try to book them as an immediate connection, one or other of the segments will drop off the screen.

 

[madrooster]

I"ve had to do a search exactly as described... How long would Cathay take to notice and then cancel the booking if it was in fact determined to be invalid from their point of view? On the Qantas site it allows me to go right through to the booking summary page.

If it takes you to the payment page, then you are fine. By the time you're at the payment page it has confirmed and grabbed the seats into a PNR.

I disagree with this.


Quite often award search engines don't return results for an entire itinerary and you need to break it up by segment. This even happens when going via the call centre. I've had this many times on the QF engine for CX.


If you get two flights and the system allows you to book them, you can go ahead and do so, CX won't subsequently cancel. If you have any doubt, contact the QF call centre and ask them to make a dummy booking. Once they confirm the itinerary is valid, you can book on line.

There are times that CX block marrying 2 segments together, and it will error out on you before you get to the payment page. This is what I was talking about in my previous post. It also happens on QR.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

There are times that CX block marrying 2 segments together, and it will error out on you before you get to the payment page. This is what I was talking about in my previous post. It also happens on QR.

But there are also times when selecting two CX segments that it errors out and it doesn't mean it's a married segment issue, it can mean a QFFF engine issue. I've had this several times, calling QF reservations has sorted that out.

Searching for a route as a whole can mean someone misses out on a whole variety of options... needlessly. Try searching Australia to USA or Europe - unlikely QF is going to give you (m)any options on CX via HKG. You have to put it together by segments.

 

[jbmarshall90]

But there are also times when selecting two CX segments that it errors out and it doesn't mean it's a married segment issue, it can mean a QFFF engine issue. I've had this several times, calling QF reservations has sorted that out.

Searching for a route as a whole can mean someone misses out on a whole variety of options... needlessly. Try searching Australia to USA or Europe - unlikely QF is going to give you (m)any options on CX via HKG. You have to put it together by segments.

Thanks for your replies Looks like everything's good if I can get it to book - much better than extended layovers in Perth!