Qantas' Idiotic Award Booking Engine (Or How to Book Classic Awards Whenever, Wherever)

[encryptededdy]

classic awards bookable on a QF code

Hmm. Wonder if those count as a Qantas Marketed Classic Reward for the purposes of Points Club SC earn. They should.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Hmm. Wonder if those count as a Qantas Marketed Classic Reward for the purposes of Points Club SC earn. They should.

Per the Qantas classic flight reward table site they should:

Status Credits will only be earned on Classic Flight Rewards if the flight is marketed or ticketed as ‘QF’, if the member is a Points Club or Points Club Plus member at the time of flying, and if the member’s Qantas Frequent Flyer number is added to the booking.

 

[RichardMEL]

Hmm. Wonder if those count as a Qantas Marketed Classic Reward for the purposes of Points Club SC earn. They should.

yes.

 

[tradingup]

Hi Everyone, I am hoping to book an award flight out of Cairo. The Qantas online booking system will not accept Cairo when it is flight 1 in multi-city or as a simple point to point booking. If I find availability, by listing it as a second flight, can the call centre book for me? Would this incur a booking fee? Is there another workaround for this? Any advice is appreciated.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Hi Everyone, I am hoping to book an award flight out of Cairo. The Qantas online booking system will not accept Cairo when it is flight 1 in multi-city or as a simple point to point booking.

The origin of a first flight determines the point of sale for the ticket. I believe (although I could be mistaken here) that Qantas doesn't have a point of sale out of Egypt. Hence you would likely need to call it in as you suggest.

If I find availability, by listing it as a second flight, can the call centre book for me?

That's correct.

Would this incur a booking fee?

No, it shouldn't. If an agent tries to charge that, ask them again how you are supposed to make that booking online. The whole point of booking fees is to discourage people from making phone bookings when online booking is possible.

 

[exLXCXFF]

However, a normal award search should show you China Airlines award availability. And if I may be so bold, I would go so far as to say that the multi-city tool isn't even relevant with China Airlines in the sense that business availability is wide open, particularly if you are booking several months in advance.

Thanks mate - that just saved me to get a J flight back into SYD in early August.

 

[SCM]

While we're having this discussion, I've found very consistently that it's almost impossible to find reward J seats on the way back to Sydney. Sometime I find them going out - but never coming back.

Many different hubs, airlines, dates, etc - this is one very very consistent phenomenon that I have seen.

 

[jase05]

I see that CI is increasing capacity from BNE to TPE including increasing the schedule to a 5 times weekly flight between the two cities. In addition, (and unbeknownst to me) is the service from TPE to BNE continues onwards to AKL. This of course could be a potential boon for those trying to find business classic awards across the Tasman, although I couldn't find any CI classic awards between the two cities. Could this be due to a routing rule imposed by Qantas? In any event, supposing this is bookable it could be potentially valuable considering you've got a lie flat to AKL as opposed to the usual ho-hum Qantas narrowbody experience across the ditch.

-RooFlyer88

You can only book CI flights between Australia and TPE

 

[kangarooflyer88]

While we're having this discussion, I've found very consistently that it's almost impossible to find reward J seats on the way back to Sydney. Sometime I find them going out - but never coming back.

Many different hubs, airlines, dates, etc - this is one very very consistent phenomenon that I have seen.

You can always get to/from Australia to/from anywhere in business if you put in the time. The key is not to trust what the QF award search engine is showing you since it will only look for the most obvious routings mostly involving OneWorld partners which we know may not have the most fabulous routings. Mixing carriers on multi-city tickets can force a routing to appear (i.e. SYD to TPE on CI, followed by EK from TPE to ZRH for instance). Sometimes going in the wrong direction can help (i.e. flying SYD to LHR via LAX with AA to LAX and BA to LHR). Sometimes pulling in a stopover at a key hub will allow you to travel on dates when saver awards are available can help.

You can only book CI flights between Australia and TPE

You are absolutely right here, but sometimes that can make a huge difference since AU to Europe on EK or OneWorld partners is notorious for not having saver availability whereas out of a smaller hub like TPE there may very well have such availability. Whether it is worth spending the extra miles to take a less optimized routing to secure a classic J award is up for debate.

-RooFlyer88

 

[CaptJCool]

When my friend booked a OWE ticket he said the hardest sector was getting out of Australia.
So one needed to use ingenuity, and be flexible on dates, timings and departure / arrival cities for the sector to actually get out of OZ

As for the rest, fairly decent availability across a spread of days

 

[DC3]

…. be flexible on dates, timings and departure ….

Good point. Flexibility is the key to this.

 

[Cynicor]

When my friend booked a OWE ticket he said the hardest sector was getting out of Australia.
So one needed to use ingenuity, and be flexible on dates, timings and departure / arrival cities for the sector to actually get out of OZ

As for the rest, fairly decent availability across a spread of days

You mean a Oneworld award with Qantas points, or a Oneworld Explorer paid ticket (xONEx)?

 

[CaptJCool]

You mean a Oneworld award with Qantas points, or a Oneworld Explorer paid ticket (xONEx)?

xONEx
oneworld Explorer Around the World Fare
DONE4 RTW

 

[Cynicor]

xONEx
oneworld Explorer Around the World Fare
DONE4 RTW

Interesting. It’s not that hard to leave AU in D class.