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

[Quickstatus]

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?

Its always been my understanding that Gold and above may see extra availability. Sometimes all status levels see the same, and at other times only visible to higher levels. Sometimes not at all. In the end the actual terms and conditions trump anything anyone may say about the subject

Important words are highlighted by me:

9. Preferential access will be provided, when available, to selected Qantas Classic Flight Reward seats for Silver, Gold and Platinum members. On selected flights, preferential access provided to Gold and Platinum members may be above the access available to Silver and Bronze members. Classic Flight Reward seat availability is limited and some flights may not have any Classic Flight Reward seats. When seats are available, preferential access is provided at qantas.com and from Qantas Telephone Sales and Qantas offices, excluding some international locations (Award Assistance Fee applies to assisted bookings).

 

[Coley]

Its always been my understanding that Gold and above may see extra availability.

As per my previous posts, the issue here is not that gold may see some extra award availability, but the fact that close to all J international award availability has been removed from NB accounts for all available dates in 2017. This very large change happened overnight with no correspondence, explanation or announcement from Qantas.

 

[Pushka]

But as per Quickstatus most recent post, this has been in the T&C's but maybe not enforced until now.

Having said that, if I want to book award flights I have always used my partners Lifetime Gold and WP account to book.

 

[awkwardpaws]

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.

Thanks Coley.

Looking forward to Red Roo's response..

 

[Coley]

Thanks Coley.

Looking forward to Red Roo's response..

No problem. Excess the grammar and spelling, I was on my phone!

Paging Red Roo.

 

[Quickstatus]

As per my previous posts, the issue here is not that gold may see some extra award availability, but the fact that close to all J international award availability has been removed from NB accounts for all available dates in 2017. This very large change happened overnight with no correspondence, explanation or announcement from Qantas.

This observation fits entirely with what I am saying and also with the T&C of the Qantas FF program. The airline may well have curtailed a lot of availability in Z,U and P as you described, however FF seats are still available in X. The FF program does not distinguish between cabin class with regards to availability of award seats.

I would suggest looking at availability tomorrow for the next release which is March 9 and see if any is released. Perhaps whatever U,P seats that are released as available for NB are snapped up on the hour that they are released?. Bear in mind that these seats may be also available to higher status flyers.

I know this is little comfort but I reiterate that while award seats are available (whatever the cabin class) then the airline is fulfilling their part of the bargain. Unfair probably especially when you have accumulated lots of points. Good availability really depends on how often you fly with the airline - hence the term "frequent flyer". Opening a frequent flyer account unfortunately does not.

I have heard that SQ availability is better. Friend who is the NB equivalent at SQ got points upgrade to Suites for travel in July.

Additionally telling the airline about Expertflyer and other ways of looking at award availability is never a good idea. Many airlines have banned / prevented Expertflyer from looking into their award bucket. RedRoo in his/her defence will just reiterate the standard company policy.

 

[bismarck]

Availability is pretty clearly different. First is Bronze view - no J/F seats on QF metal (and limited availability generally) compared to Gold view on same day showing J and F seats on both QF9 and QF1.

Make of that what you will.

 

[Quickstatus]

I have also checked availability with NB and WP accounts and they are different for the transpacific flights. No QF (U) for NB but ++ QF (U) for WP.

Sorry to say I really do not think this is a glitch. Qantas making the program "simpler and fairer" and 'enhanced" yes but within the T&C.

Additionally looking for February availability (if there was any) now is way too late.

To answer my own question, I booked my January 18 award flight on December 26.

 

[andye]

Is there a possibility that some of the lack of standard award inventory is to do with people (not just Australians) burning AA miles?

If you coupled this with a new policy of showing status-dependent award availability online (as opposed to release if you call up), that might contribute to the picture

(the different release dates for AA/QF award seats might clarify the first bit)

 

[Quickstatus]

Is there a possibility that some of the lack of standard award inventory is to do with people (not just Australians) burning AA miles?

If you coupled this with a new policy of showing status-dependent award availability online (as opposed to release if you call up), that might contribute to the picture

(the different release dates for AA/QF award seats might clarify the first bit)

Possibly depends on what QF lets AA see.
Typically the premium seats are released to QF Flyers first then to AA at I think t-300 day?.

I don't think the policy has changed. i have always believed that online award availability is status dependant (though not all the time). As I said - sometimes all can see, other times only upper echelons can see. Thats in the T&C. It seems consistent that premium award availability during the peak period of travel of Dec to Feb is constrained for NB.

 

[TahoeSkier]

This observation fits entirely with what I am saying and also with the T&C of the Qantas FF program. The airline may well have curtailed a lot of availability in Z,U and P as you described, however FF seats are still available in X. The FF program does not distinguish between cabin class with regards to availability of award seats.

I would suggest looking at availability tomorrow for the next release which is March 9 and see if any is released. Perhaps whatever U,P seats that are released as available for NB are snapped up on the hour that they are released?. Bear in mind that these seats may be also available to higher status flyers.

Interesting, thanks.

It would still be good to have an idea whether the recent events constitute 'the new normal' or just sporadic activity. Having contradictory information come out of the call centre doesn't help.

 

[Quickstatus]

The situation is not disimilar but also different in some respects over at VA. It seems that over there business rewards are released only on certain dates and (consistently for VA) visible to every status level. It is suspected by some that that the total pool of Velocity rewards especially in the pointy end category has been constrained this year for 2017 availability. At least over at VA you don't need to be a frequent flyer to be an reward recipient.

Me thinks the airlines are doing well with higher demand so constraining the non revenue seat availability to make hay while the sun shines with the FF points pool as a backup when demand slackens off.

 

[tania73]

I think that the lack of comment from red roo = no glitch and just changing their releasing award seats protocol to basically J seats is only for SG and higher

 

[Quickstatus]

As a general comment, RedRoo comes and goes and is not a 24/7/12/365 lurker in these parts. It would be impossible to respond to all on-thread requests. The best way to ask RedRoo a question will be to send a PM.

Please do not ask RedRoo or other company reps about discrepancies between their websites and other non company websites like Expertflyer. Im sure QF knows about EF but lets not give them a reason to stop EF and others from looking into their fare bucket availability especially award availability as some airlines have already done.

United and Delta has in the past blocked award visibility via EF. I think UA has reopened visibility recently in EF but not DL. Not sure about other airlines.

 

[exceladdict]

Wonder if this has anything to do with general evolutions of the program to/from points earned from sources other than flying. There have been very large CC bonuses lately, and lots of points going to status-poor people. I generally support rewarding status though moving forward I am flying less and as such, it will hurt me.

 

[Scr77]

Sorry to say I really do not think this is a glitch........Additionally looking for February availability (if there was any) now is way too late.
.

Doesn't ring true as there are still J & lots of Y+ available in November 15 NB?

I PMd Red Roo two days ago, but in fairness, Red Roo hasn't made any post since.

 

[Quickstatus]

Doesn't ring true as there are still J & lots of Y+ available in November 15 NB?

I PMd Red Roo two days ago, but in fairness, Red Roo hasn't made any post since.

My guess its not exactly peak season to the USA?. But this supports my contention that its all within the "rules". Regardless of any speculative reason, there are U seats available for NB. Whether the airline tweaked their availability to certain status groups we will never know though it is arguable that NB availability has been constrained. My argument is that it is nothing new.

The best way to look at when peak travel is on any destination is to look at "flight Offers". You get a graph of the prices going forward.

For example after 27 March the prices transpacific drop by over $2300 on 8 April 2016. Current graphs do not show November, but in the past peak periods start around early December.

 

[drron]

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.

I've been checking aa.com and there is hardly a QF award seat on international segments.Totally different from a few months ago.

 

[serfty]

...
What's going on?

Nothing other than QFF using a system they had available for a long time ... Qantas have long documented they may allow greater award availability for their elites.

www.qantas.com/fflyer/dyn/program/statusPrivileges

[SUP]+[/SUP] Preferential access will be provided, when available, to selected Qantas Classic Award seats for Silver, Gold and Platinum members. On selected flights, preferential access provided to Gold and Platinum members may be above the access available to Silver and Bronze members. Qantas & Partner Classic Award seat availability is limited and some flights may not have any Classic Award seats. When seats are available, preferential access is provided at qantas.com and from Qantas Telephone Sales and Qantas offices, excluding some international locations (Award Assistance Fee applies to assisted bookings).

 

[Pushka]

I suspect its been ramped up a little. Given how easy it is to earn points these days, I am not disappointed that those who fly with the airline a lot (and you have to these days with 'simpler and fairer') to get status might actually get additional redemption benefit.