Scarce access to QANTAS Intl First and Business awards

[GoldenWinger]

good point dajop prior to the automated system, the old manual way where you would prob wait overnight had a much higher success rate...now it's not so good...

 

[coyote25]

LAX SIN and LHR are the biggest problem, however it is bascially every long haul QF destination where this policy of not releasing seats in P and U applies.
The most disturbing thing is that on lot of flights you will see the P and J cabin filled up with staff travel/non rev pax.
As expected still no reply from QF on this one as really how can they justify it? it will be some marketing spin to cover up this deceptive practice.

I won't be relying on an investigation by the ACCC on the 'deceptive' practice. They have more than enough examples of availability (if booking 350 days+ out) and terms and conditions to pass any legal test.

Having said that it appears the P1 stuff is weird at best but more likely unacceptable. Not releasing even one seat in a nearly empty cabin to your ultra best flyers???

If this is the case you are doing us all a favor bringing it up as why the hell would you aim for that level? Complain and keep giving examples if nothing changes drop travel back and than give QF an example of what is costing them money

Now as a SG I managed J around the world award seats starting from Sept (booked last week) the flight to SIN was on BA not QF and the only INT QF flights were SIN to FRA and DFW to BNE. Not first but I was very happy and only needed a little flexibility so for me a good experience ie difficult but not impossible.

If you are traveling at shorter notice to major points than F & J appear to be at less than 10% chance. You'd hope P1 on empty flights would have a better chance

 

[straitman]

As expected still no reply from QF on this one as really how can they justify it? it will be some marketing spin to cover up this deceptive practice.

Have you actually sent a PM to Red Roo about this?

Maybe his crystal ball is broken and he has not seen the thread yet.

I read nearly every thread on AFF and have only just come across this one myself. (it is still only 45 hours since the original posts)

 

[GoldenWinger]

Thanks Straitman - yes he/she has seen this thread...but no reply.

 

[straitman]

Thanks Straitman - yes he/she has seen this thread...but no reply.

Just though I would ask.

Remember also that DJ are relatively quick to reply to threads but QF are more inclined to research an answer before going public with it.

 

[GoldenWinger]

I'd love to see how they answer taking their FF's for a ride...

 

[JohnPhelan]

I think you'll find it all depends on the class of seats still available, as to whether the Plat One SST can do an immediate award ticket, or whether they have to send off a request to an analyst.

Let's take Business class as an example. Within Business, the ticket classes are J and C (full fare), D and I (discount) and U (award/upgrade).

Obviously, you would only be making a request of the SST for an award seat if there were no U seats available. So that leaves J, C, D, and I. If none of these classes are available, it means the Business cabin is full, so the SST can waitlist you, but they can't velcro an extra seat into the cabin somewhere to fit you in.

My understanding is that if D or I classes are available, SST can immediately grab these and convert them into an award seat for Plat One members. If D or I are not available, but there is still availability in J or C, then the SST sends a request to an analyst for one of the J or C seats to be released to them. In effect, this means they are asking for a J/C seat to be changed to D/I, which then means the SST can convert it into a U.

I believe that such requests are sometimes granted by the analysts, sometimes not. It all depends on whether the analyst believes (from historical sales data) that those J and C seats - full commercial rate tickets - will be sold as J or C. If the data indicates they will be sold, then they won't be released as award seats for Plat Ones.

So all of that is a detailed way of saying that, for Business, Plat Ones will always be able to snag D, I or U class seats as awards. For J and C seats, the SST has to send this off to a yield analyst for approval.

 

[GoldenWinger]

The point is not so much whether SST find the seat - looking at my examples of First Class - the one to LAX was requested the afternoon before travel for the QF107 which had 14 seats available for sale - F and A inventory wide open. It was rejected by the "biz analyst" said no - so what QF are say is that in less than 18 hours they would sell 14 commercial seats...the whole point on this thread is not whether SST find the seats or not but the overall lack of decent access to P and U inventory in general as it gets closer to the date - basically QF don't release any. They've even blocked that small window of opportunity which I described inthe original post to SIN/HKG/BKK and from LAX...
As for the blurb in P1 having access to great award seats - unfortunately that has not been my experience - even for a business award to HKG it was denied when requested 2 days prior to travel - at that time J/C/D/I inventory showed 9 or more seats in Amadeus...

 

[Austashes]

I have just completed booking a One World around the world tickets for 2 adults in Sep this year. This involved 8 different flights, all booked Business Class. I knew that booking just 6 months out I would be lucky to get what I wanted, but only had problems with one leg Paris to Shanghi, where I had to push the flight back 2 days. I booked entirely online, but I did go through the process of reviewing each leg individually, recording options for each leg prior to doing the whole trip.

My eTicket has arrived - all good.

I understand that my booking wasn't at short notice, but overall a good experience.

 

[coyote25]

Worked for me as well which is why there will never be Government action on deceptive practice.

Still the OP has a point when QF won't realize a seat for a P1 and the cabin is basically empty.

Congrats on the booking best use of pts RTW J award at 280k. Really looking forward to my flights in J int

 

[DC3]

I have just completed booking a One World around the world tickets for 2 adults in Sep this year. This involved 8 different flights, all booked Business Class. I knew that booking just 6 months out I would be lucky to get what I wanted, but only had problems with one leg Paris to Shanghi, where I had to push the flight back 2 days. I booked entirely online, but I did go through the process of reviewing each leg individually, recording options for each leg prior to doing the whole trip.

My eTicket has arrived - all good.

I understand that my booking wasn't at short notice, but overall a good experience.

Just wondering ...

Were all flights booked as award flights? Did you have a particular strategy as to how you intended to go about the booking of these flights? Apart from examining optons for each individual leg, did it pretty much fall into place or were there any major problems? Also, were the flights all booked at the same time and as one continuos series of legs or was it booked as a series of separate individual trips, in isolation?

I have tried looking at 2 x J seasts on award bookings, with 5 stops, such as SYD/MEL/BNE-LAX/DFW-BOS-LHR-FCO- HKG-SYD/MEL/MEL about 9-12 months out, but availability/release of seats causes some issues where it all fizzles out.

I have the 280K points per seat.

 

[mikew]

I have just completed booking a One World around the world tickets for 2 adults in Sep this year. This involved 8 different flights, all booked Business Class. I knew that booking just 6 months out I would be lucky to get what I wanted, but only had problems with one leg Paris to Shanghi, where I had to push the flight back 2 days. I booked entirely online, but I did go through the process of reviewing each leg individually, recording options for each leg prior to doing the whole trip.

My eTicket has arrived - all good.

I understand that my booking wasn't at short notice, but overall a good experience.

How many of these flights were on Qantas? Were any on a 747/A380?

 

[Sprucegoose]

Last week I searched for availability from Perth to New York and Perth to London over Christmas and new year. To my surprise there was a fair amount of availability in all classes, but premium classes were restricted to Cathay and British Airways.



Wow. Another reason to purchase AA miles in the current promo. I hope my AA Platinum would be similarly handy as your AA Executive Platinum when it comes to redeeming and the cancellation policy.

Hey nothing wrong with Cathay! Certainly be one of my first choices.

 

[Austashes]

Hi.

My strategy was to be a little bit flexible. As I said I checked each leg individuality but at one point rang QANTAS when I couldn't find a 'J' link. They looked up flights for me and suggested the date & flight when one was available. BTW I did explain that I was booking online and teh operator did offer to do the booking but I was still playing with options. I used the provided info to complete my dates without any further problems.

My flights are:
Bne on Cathay Pacific - SFO American Airlines - YVR (Vancouver) - JFK British Airways - Paris British Airways - PVG (Shanghi) QANTAS - BNE

Also I wanted to try different airlines Cathay & BA so I wasn'yt trying to just book QANTAS. Absolutely nothing against QANTAS just looking for a different experience.

Good Luck with your booking.

 

[pagingjoan]

Just tripped over - and booked - a FASA at Classic rate, SYD-LHR, on the A380 for October. Delighted. Still available, if anyone is interested.

 

[mikew]

Hi.

My strategy was to be a little bit flexible. As I said I checked each leg individuality but at one point rang QANTAS when I couldn't find a 'J' link. They looked up flights for me and suggested the date & flight when one was available. BTW I did explain that I was booking online and teh operator did offer to do the booking but I was still playing with options. I used the provided info to complete my dates without any further problems.

My flights are:
Bne on Cathay Pacific - SFO American Airlines - YVR (Vancouver) - JFK British Airways - Paris British Airways - PVG (Shanghi) QANTAS - BNE

Also I wanted to try different airlines Cathay & BA so I wasn'yt trying to just book QANTAS. Absolutely nothing against QANTAS just looking for a different experience.

Good Luck with your booking.

This was what expected when reading your original post plenty of availability on other one world airlines in premium cabins but nothing from Qantas apart from the routes they fly mk1 skybeds on. If I was booking an around world trip on points i would try for Cathay anyway as the service is miles ahead of Qantas since the amount of points required don't change on a cash ticket it is a little harder to justify as you don't get the status bonus.

 

[coyote25]

Just tripped over - and booked - a FASA at Classic rate, SYD-LHR, on the A380 for October. Delighted. Still available, if anyone is interested.

Damn good job. One day that's that exact way I want to travel my first int F on points and earning status.

 

[pagingjoan]

Damn good job. One day that's that exact way I want to travel my first int F on points and earning status.

It's up there with the best, I agree.

In fact, I wonder if there is a thread already that asks for preferences for one flight anywhere:
Airline, Class (Well, that's probably obvious), route, payment method (short list there, perhaps).

If it exists already as a thread, could someone point in the right direction? Haven't found anything as yet.

 

[gberry]

Hi Guys
This is my first post. I'm in sales. I think Qantas miss the ball in filling all premium+ seats irrespective of seat class. After take off an empty seat is an empty seat!!!. They have missed the chance to fill it & get FF points liability off their ledger whether by upgrades or FF Awards. Lastly, op ups are also a form of advertising of the product to the lucky recipient who will rave about it to all & sundry. It also means more seats become available in economy which can be utilised on promotions for those that don't have the points or funds for premium+ etc.
Thanks for the opportunity to voice an opion.

 

[TheInsider]

Hi Guys
Lastly, op ups are also a form of advertising of the product to the lucky recipient who will rave about it to all & sundry.

No they are not, 'regrades' are done due to operaional requirements. Such as oversales, u/s seats, split seating, etc etc.