QFF Platinum requesting release of extra Classic Reward seats?

[Princess Fiona]

QF25 late Sep 1x U requested and released by bot
I2

 

[ozflier]

April 2025 business class x2 request- I did this after I class became greater than zero and biz sale fares became available - was hopeful
5 april LAX-BNE direct I8 Biz sale yes Rejected
6 April LAX-BNE direct I2 Biz sale yes Rejected

 

[BriarFlyer]

April 2025 business class x2 request- I did this after I class became greater than zero and biz sale fares became available - was hopeful
5 april LAX-BNE direct I8 Biz sale yes Rejected
6 April LAX-BNE direct I2 Biz sale yes Rejected

Saturday and Sunday, if I'm seeing my calendar correctly. I wonder* if midweek would yield a different result?
*Just pondering; I understand that may not suit your plans.

 

[RichardMEL]

Remember that sale fares beung available just reflect the I class (in this case) availability. What I mean is that i class is usually used for Sale J fares by QF, however those sale fares need to be filed in a market. One does not need any sale fares to be filed to show I class abail though, but you DO need I class for any filed fares to be available for sale. Ie tge two are related, but not dependent in the sense that sale fares can be filed, but not available if inventory us not available - a common situation.

The point I'm making is that sale fares showing as available on a route only says yep, a current sale is on on the route and availability is showing due to the inventory being there. There can still be I available but no sale fares showing if no sale is filed for that market.

(This gets more complicated too when considering connecting flights and fares filed for defined O&D markets such that certain sales classes may show available in thise markets, but not on individual component flights. As hypothetical example, you might have a sale from CBR to LAX, but not SYD to LAX, so CBR-SYD-LAX may show I, but SYD-LAX show I0. RM can also use this to direct pax to certain routes eg CBR-SYD-LAX may show I0, but SYD-LAX may show I4 and CBR-SYD may show I3, however CBR-BNE-LAX may go I9 - ie makong the CBR pax go via BNE for the sale fares, while that CBR-SYD I3 could be for a filed domestuc sale.)

This is my general understanding of some of the imventory controls used by airlines.

 

[ShrinkWrapped]

well call me surprised yet again

after my QF 4 release for October school holidays in U I phoned up to get a release for a December holiday

managed to get 2 x U on CX for HKG-AKL so needed an outbound to Asia, preferably Japan

first stab today and success
13th Dec
BNE-NRT
I7 on EF. 2U approved and ticketed....

actually surprised I managed on a Friday in December as school has ended. QF certainly surprises me sometime

 

[ozflier]

It looks like WPs need to access classic business reward seats by request in future.,
Just to give my experience or from what I have learnt on this thread , there seem to be many considerations -

1. Reduced access because of "Classic Plus"use
2. I class availability,
3. presence of Business Sale fares,
4. school holidays here in Australia,
5. how many reward seats have already been allocated on an individual flight ,
6. did the agent put the request in correctly
7. recognition other than just status - ? expensive flight history on QF
8. vagaries of the "bot"

Is there a consensus re which days of the week are most likely to be successful travel days eg I get the slight impression that requests for actual travel on weekends are not likely to be successful to/from USA . To clarify , I am not talking about the day of the week to ring QFF to put in the request , but then again, who knows?

Even as with weekends "bad", do the "most successful" days apply to both directions ?
What are others experiences ?
eg

to/from North America

to/from Europe

 

[ShrinkWrapped]

I mean at the end of the day, the bot’s decision to release X/Z/U/P is likely based on a series of complex algorithm’s and predictions based on a route’s historical sales data. Hence why some months it may be easier than other months to get classic rewards released.

I believe there are also undisclosed blackout periods for certain routes, but no one has ever had any clear confirmation about it.

I think it is just too difficult to come up with a set of rules to figure out how it all works. I’ve just come to accept that it’s a perk of being WP (which technically is published but worded as increased access to classic rewards or something).

I’m not sure about PCV or perceived customer value in the algorithm. Hard to know if it’s fact or rumour at this stage

 

[MrJetset]

It looks like WPs need to access classic business reward seats by request in future.,
Just to give my experience or from what I have learnt on this thread , there seem to be many considerations -

1. Reduced access because of "Classic Plus"use
2. I class availability,
3. presence of Business Sale fares,
4. school holidays here in Australia,
5. how many reward seats have already been allocated on an individual flight ,
6. did the agent put the request in correctly
7. recognition other than just status - ? expensive flight history on QF
8. vagaries of the "bot"

Is there a consensus re which days of the week are most likely to be successful travel days eg I get the slight impression that requests for actual travel on weekends are not likely to be successful to/from USA . To clarify , I am not talking about the day of the week to ring QFF to put in the request , but then again, who knows?

Even as with weekends "bad", do the "most successful" days apply to both directions ?
What are others experiences ?
eg

to/from North America

to/from Europe

It's called Revenue Management for a reason...

People seem to forget that this is un unpublished benefit.

 

[ozflier]

It's called Revenue Management for a reason...

People seem to forget that this is un unpublished benefit.

I accept that it is an "unpublished benefit" but , should if it ceased to exist , there would be little reason for me to try and achieve platinum each year.
Apart from being able to request QF seat releases , what other benefits are there nowadays?
First Class lounge access in SYD and MEL is a benefit but most of my travel starts in BNE so no benefit there for me most trips.
Sure more points are earned with the Platinum multiplier but, ignoring the "unpublished benefit" above, access to business reward seats on non QF carriers is the hardest I have ever experienced ( think of AA, Qatar etc). So what chance have I got to use the extra points without the "unpublised benefit"?
I guess many of us have had a good run with QFF and now could be the time to look elsewhere . In my case , that is Virgin Velocity- they seem to have good Qatar business reward availability and past experiences with Qatar tells me they offer a service, both soft and hard, of far better quality vs QF. Plus, they offer a range of services covering much of the world.

 

[levelnine]

What are others experiences ?

This thread has 120 pages of others' experiences. That is going to be your best source of knowledge for the answer to your questions.

But to answer your question directly, Tuesdays & Wednesdays are generally going to be the best days to ask for the release of award seats as travel is usually lower on those days — in all directions.

 

[serfty]

1. Reduced access because of "Classic Plus"use

To avoid those results coming up, I now search using the multi segment tool.

(Just wish there was a way to filter out Jetstar as well)

 

[ozflier]

To avoid those results coming up, I now search using the multi segment tool.

(Just wish there was a way to filter out Jetstar as well)

I do also but
I am suggesting that maybe the "Classic Plus" rewards actually chew up seats that would have been released to Plats in the past .

 

[serfty]

...
I am suggesting that maybe the "Classic Plus" rewards actually chew up seats that would have been released to Plats in the past .

Anything is possible. TBH, I rarely use the subject of this thread as generally I have no issue travelling flight under 9 hours in economy.

 

[BriarFlyer]

Requested release of 1xU MEL-HKG 15/12 I9, 16/12 I4 or 17/12 I5. 16/12 successful
Requested release of 1xU HKG-MEL 22/12 I2, 23/12 I9, 24/12 I9. Unsuccessful.

Found a Biz Saver for 23/12 on SIA using KF miles so that works.

 

[RichardMEL]

well call me surprised yet again

after my QF 4 release for October school holidays in U I phoned up to get a release for a December holiday

managed to get 2 x U on CX for HKG-AKL so needed an outbound to Asia, preferably Japan

first stab today and success
13th Dec
BNE-NRT
I7 on EF. 2U approved and ticketed....

actually surprised I managed on a Friday in December as school has ended. QF certainly surprises me sometime

Great you got these, but this wouldn't have been a seat release situation imo. QFF have no control over CX inventory. Oerhaps the seats didn't show online for some reason, but they probably were there to be had by anyone tbh.

Regardless, a great outcome!

 

[hutch]

Great you got these, but this wouldn't have been a seat release situation imo. QFF have no control over CX inventory. Oerhaps the seats didn't show online for some reason, but they probably were there to be had by anyone tbh.

Regardless, a great outcome!

So I read that slightly differently.

Because the OP managed to get HKG-AKL flights, they needed to get flights from Australia to Asia. They requested these (BNE-NRT) and they were made available.

 

[RichardMEL]

So I read that slightly differently.

Because the OP managed to get HKG-AKL flights, they needed to get flights from Australia to Asia. They requested these (BNE-NRT) and they were made available.

You're right.

I read "managed to get 2xU CX" and tied that to the release. Missed that the release was for BNE-NRT.

Apologies

 

[ozflier]

Latest requests to "bot"for March 2025

SYD-LHR friday I2, biz sale yes, refused
SYD-LHR saturday I9, biz sale yes, refused
SYD-LHR sunday I9, biz sale yes, refused

PER-LHR "no Biz sale seats" for sale for above 3 dates - agent would not request ( also noted I0 all 3 days)

 

[ryanlphoto]

QF26 18/5/25 showing I1, 1x U requested - approved

Then tried some dates for QF127/128 in November, all showing I5+ and all rejected....

 

[ozflier]

QF26 18/5/25 showing I1, 1x U requested - approved

Then tried some dates for QF127/128 in November, all showing I5+ and all rejected....

Good news re QF 26 - Can you remember if there were Biz Sale seats available for purchase for that flight?