QF Any Seat Award Redemption - AMAZING!!!

[taswegian77]

I just wanted to share my experience with QF Award Booking system this evening in the hope that it may help others in getting the sort of booking deal I managed to get, somehow! Before I start I want to say what makes this even more amazing in my opinion is that I wanted to book flights for travel next week.

Ideally I want to travel to Bangkok on Tuesday 26th August from Melbourne but would be willing to travel on Wed or even Thurs.

Classic Award availability to BKK for the 26/8
MEL-BKK (via SYD) – NIL
SYD-BKK – NIL (I wanted to check which leg was the constraint thus the SYD-BKK look up)

Any Seat Award Availability to BKK for the 26/8
MEL-BKK – Strange but the cheapest was Flexi Saver for 142,335pts, the dearest economy was 153,255.
I then decide to see how much an Any Seat Award in Business would cost to BKK for the 26/8
MEL-BKK – Business Saver = 613,907 – Business = 502,432 and First = 599,386 (NO WAY I AM GOING TO WASTE THAT MANY POINTS)
Hmmm, at this stage it looks like I am struggling and will have to fork over quite a few points to fly economy, not a pleasant thought.

As I was watching the Olympics and viewing the AFF forum pages I decided to just try different combinations in Any Seat Awards, don’t ask me why but I did so many searches it was not funny, but the result I ended up with was AMAZING! Here is the final booking I ended up with, I let forum members be the judge if you think I got a good deal from QF Any Seat Awards.

Itinerary – Tuesday 26th August 08
QF422 MEL-SYD 10:00 – 11:20 in business class (U)
QF001 SYD-BKK 17:00 – 23:15 in wait for it………… First Class (P)
Total point spend = 122,832 points.
(If anyone is travelling that day through either MEL dom or SYD intl I am happy to guest them into the F lounge at SYD or the J lounge in MEL. Just send me a PM.)

I know a First class Classic award is about the same points but the chances of getting a First Class seat for that little points spend using Any Seat for a flight next Tuesday I think is phenomenal considering when I first did a business/first search the points was 599,386 for First.

The amazing part in this is that when I finally cracked this search result I was excited as I found a Business Saver Any Seat Award for 122, 832 points. So when I clicked on the radio button and went Proceed that was when I go the greatest shock and it said one of your classes of travel was not available. At first I just took it as the MEL-SYD leg would be in economy so I could handle that, but upon closer inspection it said Note! Your flight between Sydney and Bangkok will be in First Class.

Let’s just say I was not asking for another confirmation and duly booked the flight. I rang QF WP CS number 2 hours later to confirm my booking and yes it was all there and confirmed. Now I just need to prepare for a sweet 5 hour F lounge experience in SYD, bring on the Moet.

Am I just extremely lucky or has this occured to anyone else since any seat awards were introduced? Would this have been some form of QF system logic issue! I am waiting for the dreaded call saying they made a mistake, fingers crossed the booking will hold.

 

[tscharke]

its good when things appear to have swung your way! (lets hope that by posting on here the relevant authorities haven't been made aware )

assuming that i am reading it right, you are forking out 122k points for a one-way tix to BKK in F! WOW :shock: thats a high price to pay!

Comparing that to AA awards (without any intention of sparking up the old debate!) 90k AA points will give you a return tix to BKK in F! And from my experience snagging a F seat on BA to BKK isn't that difficult when it comes to availability at short notice!

anyhoo - the main thing here is that tassie will be enjoying the flounge and a seat up the front! have fun

 

[moa999]

I would suppose that a Classic Award seat opened up whilst you were doing your searches and that appeared in Any Seat ???

Anyway, good to see you had a positive experience

 

[taswegian77]

yes, i know it is still a lot of points but the key point is that one search it was nearly 600K points and the next search it was 122K points, a big difference for any seat awards.

I also was searching MEL-SIN and found a business any seat award for 80K points when the standard was about 400K points so I guess bargains can be found when they are not available as classic.

Can't comment on whether it is easier to redeem on BA with AA as only stick to QF.

I guess my point is that the best I was expecting was a classic J seat for 72K points + $250 in taxes. I ended up spending another 50K points for F class and no taxes, so am happy. I have heaps of points, one of those FF that benefit from the new any seat changes.

 

[taswegian77]

oh yes and the other point that excited me and made me wonder was that I selected a business saver any seat and it then told me i was traveling in First class when ti brought up the next screen so that was weird. Weird because it was offering frist class any seats for all the selections at 599K points so why decide to give me a free (what i consider free up) when it was ot necesarry.

 

[straitman]

oh yes and the other point that excited me and made me wonder was that I selected a business saver any seat and it then told me i was traveling in First class when ti brought up the next screen so that was weird. Weird because it was offering frist class any seats for all the selections at 599K points so why decide to give me a free (what i consider free up) when it was ot necesarry.

Some times it's best not to ask too many questions. Just go with the flow and accept the reward.

 

[taswegian77]

yes i agree. i must admit i am a very loyal QF traveler.

 

[ejb]

Hi Tassie,

Did you try the Plat CSC to open a seat for you under Classic, I have tried 4 times and received 3.

ejb

 

[AnonymousCoward]

The AnySeat system seems to show Classic awards as well (but add on more points for the taxes and charges). So the 122k point redemption was most likely a 90k Classic award seat + 32k points for taxes/fuel fines (about $300 worth)

 

[taswegian77]

ok, so the deal i got was about on par to what it would have cost to get a classic first fare plus taxes.

The point I made earlier still holds as to why it told me I was going to fly first class as currently for the 26/08 QF are selling business class seats and they are plenty on offer. I am still surprised it upgraded me as part of the process when plenty of business seats are still on sale.

if you try to do a dummy booking for the 26/08 it allows you to select 9 J seats and you can book them but now only 2 F seats.