Qantas Partner Award (ie. AA) Seat Allocation ?

[Aray]

Hi All,

My first time on the forum so please go easy on me if this is in the wrong section or been asked before !

Does anyone know the system used to allocate seats to qantas for FF award bookings for partner airlines ?

I just booked some US flights booked on AA via QF 'Classic' Awards - and noticed that seats availability is very sporadic - some days have great avail. while others have zero - yet AA website shows planes full of empty seats and budget fares on *all* days ..

My main question is this: If a particular day currently shows no flights at all - what is the likelyhood of seats becoming available again in the future ?

ie. Do AA release more seats to QF as dates get near - or am I better to just lock in a non-ideal flight now while they are avail ?

Thanks,

Adrian

 

[NM]

G'day Aray and welcome to AFF.

Since the question relates to redemptions under the Qantas FF program, I have moved this thread to the Qantas FF forum.

The operating airline sets the availability of award seats in their inventory systems and Qantas FF can book those seats for their members. In your example, its AA that is defining the availability and most likely doing it based on their projected expectation or being able to sell revenue seats on the flight. Not all flights will have FF redemption availability loaded. Availability can vary due to the day of the week or scheduled time of the flight as flights that are likely to sell out with revenue tickets are less likely to have award seats available.

Award seats do sometimes become available when they were previously not available, but its not something that can be depended upon. Its more common for new availability to appear in the last 2 to 3 weeks before the flight than to appear several months out.

 

[Aray]

G'day Aray and welcome to AFF.

Since the question relates to redemptions under the Qantas FF program, I have moved this thread to the Qantas FF forum.

The operating airline sets the availability of award seats in their inventory systems and Qantas FF can book those seats for their members. In your example, its AA that is defining the availability and most likely doing it based on their projected expectation or being able to sell revenue seats on the flight. Not all flights will have FF redemption availability loaded. Availability can vary due to the day of the week or scheduled time of the flight as flights that are likely to sell out with revenue tickets are less likely to have award seats available.

Award seats do sometimes become available when they were previously not available, but its not something that can be depended upon. Its more common for new availability to appear in the last 2 to 3 weeks before the flight than to appear several months out.

OK got it - appreciate the answer .. I might wait till those few weeks out and make the call .. as my own plans may change ..

I presume the QF Partner 'Classic' Award - despite the name - is not going to go away anytime soon - ie. should still be able to make changes for 2,500 pt penalty in May ..

 

[Dave Noble]

OK got it - appreciate the answer .. I might wait till those few weeks out and make the call .. as my own plans may change ..

I presume the QF Partner 'Classic' Award - despite the name - is not going to go away anytime soon - ie. should still be able to make changes for 2,500 pt penalty in May ..

Just be aware that you may wait and no seats will become available on the desired flights plus the less preferable options may have gone

Dave

 

[Alanslegal]

I've used QF points to redeem a flight on AA169 LAX-NRT.

I've been allocated 13A.

Its not that big of a deal in 13A but say if I wanted 11A, is it a simple request to QF to change the seat allocation?

 

[Dave Noble]

I've used QF points to redeem a flight on AA169 LAX-NRT.

I've been allocated 13A.

Its not that big of a deal in 13A but say if I wanted 11A, is it a simple request to QF to change the seat allocation?

best thing to do is get hold of the AA booking reference then go to aa.com and you can select any seat from the seatmap yourself

Dave

 

[Aray]

Just be aware that you may wait and no seats will become available on the desired flights plus the less preferable options may have gone

Dave

You are absolutely not kidding !!!

Last night in the nick of time I got the top-points I needed .. checked the net & got on the phone at 11pm grabbing the only route left via DFW on the day I wanted (better route via ORD had already gone that morning) ..

Checked the net again after I booked .. and they are all gone .. all of em .. on any of the days I was travelling !

Its a gamble pure and simple .. one of the biggest ones in booking air travel these partner award bookings ..