Searching for Award Seats

[cssaus]

I was looking to supplement my QFF miles with some credit card points in order to get my wife a return trip from SYD-LHR. I've calculated that I can come up with enough points for a business class seat for her.

Using the search facility on the QFF web site for either economy or business no availability came up. I'm not that familiar with the nuances of the web site and I was wanting to know if the search engine include partner airlines such as BA and CX and how do you go about seeing if a BA WT+ seat is available.

My wife is quite flexible with departure date and wants to be away for about 3 weeks.

 

[serfty]

I was looking to supplement my QFF miles with some credit card points in order to get my wife a return trip from SYD-LHR. I've calculated that I can come up with enough points for a business class seat for her.

Using the search facility on the QFF web site for either economy or business no availability came up. I'm not that familiar with the nuances of the web site and I was wanting to know if the search engine include partner airlines such as BA and CX and how do you go about seeing if a BA WT+ seat is available.

My wife is quite flexible with departure date and wants to be away for about 3 weeks.

For WT+, you have to call (& Pay the 2½K point assisted booking fee),

Best way is to use the booking engine is with the "Multi-Trip Option" and select intermediate segments and look for availabilty there (e.g. MEL-SIN); if you find a J segment, then look for a segment to complete you journey. (e.g. SIN-LHR). The web engine is smart enough to know that any outbound flight from the intermediate point that departs less than 24 hours after the arrival of the inbound is not classed as a stopover and it will price as the one 'trip'. Note that it may cost an extra 'YQ' (fuel fine + ins.) far any additional segment ($104).

 

[cssaus]

Serfty, thanks for the tips, I'll see how things play out.

 

[Yada Yada]

The website will show BA and CX flights if available, and will also provide indirect routings if available, e.g. SYD-MEL-SIN-LHR or SYD-ADL-SIN-LHR, etc

 

[jasonja3]

I am sure I will be corrected if I am wrong..... :twisted: but you can also use expertflyer.com and search up to three airlines at once, and I think if you get the premium service you can search within a three day range. Each airline will have different (I think) award seat code (eg: QF is U class for J seats).

IMHO is this a great tool, even for the occasional international flyer. If you want to PM some date ranges, I will see what is available.

 

[NM]

I am sure I will be corrected if I am wrong..... :twisted: but you can also use expertflyer.com and search up to three airlines at once, and I think if you get the premium service you can search within a three day range. Each airline will have different (I think) award seat code (eg: QF is U class for J seats).

IMHO is this a great tool, even for the occasional international flyer. If you want to PM some date ranges, I will see what is available.

ExpertFlyer is not the best at finding creative routings. It only returns the connection options people are likely to consider appropriate for a paid flight.

The best option for finding QF's creative routings for FF award seats is still FrequentFlyerFriend that is available through this site. It uses the QF engine to do the searching and can be set to regularly check for a number of seats on multiple routes and email you the results.

ExpertFlyer is good it you are looking for a particular flight on a particular date, in which case you can use the Flight Alert function.