Qantas Multi City Problems

[sazzyg23]

Trying to book my flights home from Rome to Brisbane using QF points and having some major issues!

The multi city tool shows the following flights as available, which are exactly the same as the ones I booked for going over to Rome.

However, whenever I put in my details and try to proceed to the payment page, I get hit with this "generic error":


So far I've tried:

• Booking the same flights for the next day - hit with the same error
• Calling Qantas twice - the first time they said one of the flights was unavailable and the second they said to log out and try again tomorrow
• Different browsers, mobile, different computer
• Waiting a few days

On all of these occasions the flights are still showing as available but I get hit with the error. Could it be a married segments issue?

Any advice on how to get around this?
Or alternatively any suggestions for other options for getting two people from Europe to Australia in Economy during the weekend of 21-23 July 2023? Happy to go on a creative route if it gets us home eventually...

 

[levelnine]

That is an obscene amount of flying in Y to get home.

Do you have any way of accessing Star Alliance rewards (eg SQ, AC, UA points)?

There's a one stop flight from Milan to Brisbane that weekend on Eva Air.



As to your error, I assume it comes from mixing JQ & AY — too complex for the simple Qantas computer. I'd keep calling. Ask the agent to identify which flight is unavailable.

 

[Mattg]

What happens if you try removing the FCO-HEL leg, or try to book something from Europe through to HND via HEL without breaking up the search as you have above? (i.e. above you've searched FCO-HEL and HEL-HND separately, which might be causing a married segment issue).

You could also try adding a longer stopover in Helsinki.

 

[levelnine]

which might be causing a married segment issue).

Ahh yes, Matt is right. Searching FCO-HND yields no economy seats:

 

[sazzyg23]

Thanks for your help everyone, I finally figured out that I needed to separate the FCO-HEL leg from the trip and have booked it separately.

Yes, I know this is a very complicated way of getting from A to B but I am new to the points game so not working with much, and don't have cash to spare either! It should be quite the (exhausting) adventure.

 

[Mattg]

Thanks for your help everyone, I finally figured out that I needed to separate the FCO-HEL leg from the trip and have booked it separately.

Yes, I know this is a very complicated way of getting from A to B but I am new to the points game so not working with much, and don't have cash to spare either! It should be quite the (exhausting) adventure.

Don't feel bad about coming home this way - you're travelling in the busiest week of the year for flights from Europe to Australia. Everything will be fully booked. Just getting economy seats at this point is an achievement.

 

[jpp42]

What happens if you try removing the FCO-HEL leg, or try to book something from Europe through to HND via HEL without breaking up the search as you have above? (i.e. above you've searched FCO-HEL and HEL-HND separately, which might be causing a married segment issue).

In the original screenshot it shows a stopover in HEL (Flight 2 is a day after Flight 1). Shouldn't that get priced as two separate fares, and thus not a married segment? Or does the stopover need to be longer?

Too bad O.P. can't get that business flight on the same day itinerary though...

 

[Mattg]

In the original screenshot it shows a stopover in HEL (Flight 2 is a day after Flight 1). Shouldn't that get priced as two separate fares, and thus not a married segment? Or does the stopover need to be longer?

Too bad O.P. can't get that business flight on the same day itinerary though...

In some cases (such as this connection) even a stopover of 1-2 days can have married segment implications. Same thing with EK connections through DXB.

 

[RichardMEL]

That is an obscene amount of flying in Y to get home.

Do you have any way of accessing Star Alliance rewards (eg SQ, AC, UA points)?

There's a one stop flight from Milan to Brisbane that weekend on Eva Air.

View attachment 314482

As to your error, I assume it comes from mixing JQ & AY — too complex for the simple Qantas computer. I'd keep calling. Ask the agent to identify which flight is unavailable.

How is Eva Air helpful when they're Star Alliance and not bookable with QF points.

I'd also note the AY flight arrives HND and departure flight is from NRT. Plenty of time to connect but still.

 

[levelnine]

How is Eva Air helpful when they're Star Alliance and not bookable with QF points.

Read the second sentence of my post.

 

[RichardMEL]

Read the second sentence of my post.

Fine except OP mentioned using QFF points. but ok - I did miss that part. apologies.

 

[exLXCXFF]

I'd also note the AY flight arrives HND and departure flight is from NRT. Plenty of time to connect but still.

I suggest that OP reads about recent transfer experience and maybe writes up a little cheatsheet to get it right (unless OP is super familiar with Tokyo and transfer options). Good news is that AY is almost always on time (or early!) but this transfer needs to go smoothly given baggage needs to be collected and re-checked in ahead of time.

 

[sazzyg23]

I suggest that OP reads about recent transfer experience and maybe writes up a little cheatsheet to get it right (unless OP is super familiar with Tokyo and transfer options). Good news is that AY is almost always on time (or early!) but this transfer needs to go smoothly given baggage needs to be collected and re-checked in ahead of time.

Thanks I will definitely do so. We travel carry on only so that should hopefully make the process a little smoother.

Another thing I noticed - there was an alternative flight by JAL for the same route that was ~9hrs, instead of Finnair which was ~13hrs. I went for Finnair as it had much lower taxes. Any idea why the flight lengths would be so different? Could I hope for a early arrival since JAL seems to do the same trip in 4 hours less?

 

[RichardMEL]

Another thing I noticed - there was an alternative flight by JAL for the same route that was ~9hrs, instead of Finnair which was ~13hrs. I went for Finnair as it had much lower taxes. Any idea why the flight lengths would be so different? Could I hope for a early arrival since JAL seems to do the same trip in 4 hours less?

Ukraine war. Since Russia airspace is denied to AY they can't fly over it so have to go the long way around (southern route) to the far east - hence much longer flight times.

 

[jpp42]

Another thing I noticed - there was an alternative flight by JAL for the same route that was ~9hrs, instead of Finnair which was ~13hrs. I went for Finnair as it had much lower taxes. Any idea why the flight lengths would be so different? Could I hope for a early arrival since JAL seems to do the same trip in 4 hours less?

Perhaps JAL hasn't yet re-timed that flight to avoid Russian airspace. I am flying NRT-FRA in April and they only re-timed it a few weeks back, it was originally 11 hours now 15. They might be hoping the war will end and they can go back to previous routings?

So I'd say wise to book the AY flight since that's the more realistic option, as it's unlikely Russian airspace would be opened up in July, I think. Had you booked the JL flight and it got re-timed later, that could have messed up your onward connections.

 

[BNEFlyer]

AY and JL flight times on HEL-HND are about the same (13.5 hours) but they each take a different route.

JL goes south through eastern Europe then across central Asia and China. AY goes north to take the polar route then down over the Pacific.

 

[dajop]

I had same erro message as OP even with a simple connection from intl -> dom at SYD from QF to QF. Plenty of availability in economy from SYD-MEL on that day, just about every flight, but none were available asI assumed a married sector problem. Only JQ later in the afternoon with a 7.5 hr connection. I ended up doing this but with 11 hr connection so I can make use of the day (as I haven't been to Sydney other than airport/ airport hotel prison, for 4 years).

Call centre did offer me a 7:30 departure to MEL on QF , which was the only flight they could see, I declined as I was arriving at 6:30. I assume it wouldn't have ticketed anyway.

 

[encryptededdy]

Somewhat related, I tried to book a SYD-xHKG-TPE flight recently with a ~3 hour transit in Hong Kong using the Qantas Multi-city tool, but the system kept erroring out with error 4002 [7597].


I called up the call center and the helpful agent (Hobart, sadly forgot their name) said that he'd seen this before, and it was because Cathay only wants the SYD-HKG award sector to be used for traffic to Hong Kong, not transiting traffic. Therefore I would need at least 24h before my next flight if I want it to ticket. I didn't ask if it mattered if I was transiting to a non-Cathay flight.

He helpfully offered to help me put in a Platinum award seat release request for the QF flight on the same day, to connect to the Cathay Flight, although I told him I already considered this and unfortunately the QF flight arrives too late to meet the MCT of the last CX HKG-TPE flight of the day.

Thankfully I was intending on visiting Hong Kong this trip too, so I just said I'd rearrange my travel to visit Hong Kong with a 2 day stopover first before continuing on to Taipei. He helpfully told me about avaliable China Airlines award space back from Taipei to avoid the Cathay transit problem.

Probably my most pleasant Qantas Call Center experience to date.

Anyway, it seems like Cathay has married segments between Australia and Hong Kong too, so be on the look out for those if you're booking transits and getting odd errors (strictly not married segments, more like... unmarriable segments? Is there a proper name for it?)