QF early-2017 award availability - restricted to elite status holders?

[Pushka]

Well even for me as a lowly Bronze bottom feeder - I am curious to know whether calling direct could yield a better result than the 'zero availability' experience on the QFF website. Someone mentioned this as a possibility early in the thread.

Might have to put a call in.

Seats are only released for WP1 and not always successful. They are the ones who fly the most so I have no issues with them receiving additional benefits.

 

[TahoeSkier]

Seats are only released for WP1 and not always successful. They are the ones who fly the most so I have no issues with them receiving additional benefits.

I certainly understand that, but I am not questioning whether a Bronze FF could have nonexistent seats 'released' by phoning.

On P2 exceladdict hinted that this recent lack of online availability could be some sort of 'policy change', and actually phoning to book could give one better visibility of available award seats. I am wondering whether this might be true for all QFF levels.

 

[BD1959]

Seats are only released for WP1 and not always successful. They are the ones who fly the most so I have no issues with them receiving additional benefits.

I think we're possibly talking about two separate scenarios here.

Award seats *may* be released to WP and above when none are available for any status levels - according to QF.com, EF etc etc - as a WP I've had this done for me.

This latest scenario has award available but only for certain status levels (anecdotally SG and above) but cannot be seen by those at a lower level or EF etc. The question is: since this *is* available to SG and above, would it be made available to the lower levels simply by a phone call?

Regards,

BD

 

[TahoeSkier]

I think we're possibly talking about two separate scenarios here.

This latest scenario has award available but only for certain status levels (anecdotally SG and above) but cannot be seen by those at a lower level or EF etc. The question is: since this *is* available to SG and above, would it be made available to the lower levels simply by a phone call?

Regards,

BD

Yup - this is where I am coming from.

 

[Pushka]

Ok. Fair enuf. I think if this is happening then it is a very recent change. Just checked Syd-Lax for Y and J in Feb and its wide open in an SG account.

 

[BD1959]

Yup - this is where I am coming from.

I think the only way we'll know for sure will be someone phoning and requesting, having first verified that their "cousin the WP" can see availability that they as NB or PS cannot.

Perhaps they can also determine whether this is a glitch or permanent enhancement.

Regards,

BD

 

[Coley]

Ok. Fair enuf. I think if this is happening then it is a very recent change. Just checked Syd-Lax for Y and J in Feb and its wide open in an SG account.

The change happened literally overnight when they announced the ability to upgrade award bookings using points. I was keeping an eye on award availability at the time for an upcoming trip and there was plenty (75% of days) of J award availability on my bronze FF account for Jan/Feb 2017 and then the next day there was zero. Not a single flight.

 

[TahoeSkier]

I think the only way we'll know for sure will be someone phoning and requesting, having first verified that their "cousin the WP" can see availability that they as NB or PS cannot.

Perhaps they can also determine whether this is a glitch or permanent enhancement.

I just had a chat with a Qantas booking agent.

He was adamant that all QFF members, irrespective of level, have equal visibility of award seat avails via the website. The only additional note he made, which we already know, is that Plat members can request that an award seat be made available.

So, make of that what you will.

 

[BD1959]

I just had a chat with a Qantas booking agent.

He was adamant that all QFF members, irrespective of level, have equal visibility of award seat avails via the website. The only additional note he made, which we already know, is that Plat members can request that an award seat be made available.

So, make of that what you will.

So he's either talking out of his APU or there's a major issue QF are unaware of.

Does any NB actually need an award - how about an example to go back to the QFFCC with?

Also, about time Red Roo happened along with a definitive response, too.

Regards,

BD

 

[Pushka]

The change happened literally overnight when they announced the ability to upgrade award bookings using points. I was keeping an eye on award availability at the time for an upcoming trip and there was plenty (75% of days) of J award availability on my bronze FF account for Jan/Feb 2017 and then the next day there was zero. Not a single flight.

Ah. Thats interesting. None of us at home have newbie status so I cant check any differences.
But I can see availability in Y everyday in Feb 2017 and pretty good availability in J Syd - Lax.

 

[Edge]

I'm NB on QF now. Just checked and can only see Y either way from MEL-LAX in March next year (even searching for 1 seat). See a couple of J from LAX-MEL but they are on Qatar airways.

Glad I burnt my points last year.

 

[yld200]

I'm a NB and just found availability on QF93 MEL > LAX on Jan 25th 2017 in J for 1 pax - nothing for 2

 

[craiglm]

I'm a NB and just found availability on QF93 MEL > LAX on Jan 25th 2017

In which class?

 

[yld200]

In which class?

Sorry in J for 1 seat. Searched again for 2 but no availability in J in Jan/Feb/March

 

[TahoeSkier]

I'm a NB and just found availability on QF93 MEL > LAX on Jan 25th 2017 in J for 1 pax - nothing for 2

Yes I see that too.

Mon 23rd there's J avail on QF95, or F on QF11. Tue 24th J or F on QF11 - all seem to be single seats only.

Interestingly, the F availability for these two days doesn't show up on my calendar view, but becomes visible once I select a J seat and proceed to the next stage. What's the deal there?

Flying via SYD seems a good way to 'double' my chances of scoring an award J or F, plus it would be nice to finally check out the SYD F lounge. It seems jagging 2x seats is going to be an issue though.

Edit: Just searched Expertflyer for U/P availability on QF11 for the above dates and nothing shows up. Go figure?

 

[yld200]

TahoeSkier - Have you tried checking award availability on another oneworld website like AA for 2 pax on the dates you're looking at?

Might show elsewhere and then you can try calling QF to book on the phone.

 

[Quickstatus]

Sometimes its just better to book whats available and make up the rest with a revenue seat. I would encourage people to consider "Best Fare of Day" The advantages are several. Its good to tweak the FF program as much as possible but in the end its just how the cookie crumbles.

 

[Coley]

I have called Qantas and attempted to make a dummy booking using my NB account. They advised that there was no availability in J for the route BNE-SIN for anytime in Feb/Mar 2017. I then told them that this was what I was seeing on the website, however it was very different to what I could see if a family member tried to book the same flight with a gold account. The award calendar for a Gold account showed J available for almost everyday in Feb/Mar except Sundays and Mondays.

This is where things got interesting. They then looked at the award availability for a gold account and found that there was none available in Feb/Mar in their main system. However when they switched to a different "office", their premium member FF system, then suddenly the award availability opened up. This would explain why Bronze, ExpertFlyer and partner airlines all see the same award availability (zero) while Gold and above members see far more availability. I then asked if I could simply book using my bronze account however as their is no availability in the main system I cannot unless I get my family gold member to book it for me.

They confirmed they are unaware of any policy change in regards to award flight availability. The only reason they gave for the difference in availability was that "the system was picking up on the gold account and giving them premium benefits".

This change not only affects NB booking J award flights but also the ability to search for awards using ExpertFlyer, and booking award flights on QF using partner airlines points. Where is RedRoo? We need clarification on this and the callcentre is not providing it.


Something very strange is going on at Qantas at the moment. The most alarming thing is that NB members have close to zero J award availability on QF metal in 2017 and even calling up renders the same result as the website.

 

[Quickstatus]

I don't think this is just a high demand issue. There are still plenty of Premium and some business seats available 2015. Hard to believe that every seat other than economy for Feb and March have gone so quickly.

The transpacific award seats are always in high demand especially during the holiday periods. It is true that there are a scattering of seats on many days but thee tend to be the non peak periods. The dates of peak travel transpacific tend to be Dec-Feb.

I could see 1U on QF94 and 1P on QF12 for 18 January 2017 and booked them and did a WP request for 1U on QF12. I booked these while mid air on a flight from JFK to DEN with inflight wifi on the day they were released. The WP request was made as soon as I landed. Date of booking? have a guess.....

I think its simply you did not book early enough.

 

[TahoeSkier]

I have called Qantas and attempted to make a dummy booking using my NB account.

They confirmed they are unaware of any policy change in regards to award flight availability. The only reason they gave for the difference in availability was that "the system was picking up on the gold account and giving them premium benefits".

Well there you go. Completely at odds with what I was told this morning. My QFF phone operator told me that all QFF member levels enjoy the same visibility of award seats when browsing on the Qantas website.

What's going on?