SFO routes dropped?

[jrfsp]

How quickly will they formally cancel the flights for people who already have bookings ?

 

[Mattg]

How quickly will they formally cancel the flights for people who already have bookings ?

It usually takes a couple of months...

 

[AFF Editor]

This article summarises the current situation with Qantas' flights to SFO:

Qantas Delays Sydney-San Francisco Relaunch Until March 2023

Qantas has delayed the restart of its Sydney-San Francisco route yet again, with the tentative restart date for QF73 and QF74 now pushed back to 27 March

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[dandandan]

This article summarises the current situation with Qantas' flights to SFO:

Qantas Delays Sydney-San Francisco Relaunch Until March 2023

Qantas has delayed the restart of its Sydney-San Francisco route yet again, with the tentative restart date for QF73 and QF74 now pushed back to 27 March

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

They maybe up to something if they haven’t cancelled booking up to 26 March 2023 yet, maybe a new 5th freedom route.

 

[cougar_df]

We have SYD-SFO booked mid January. I am on a paid ticket but my husband has a Classic Reward booking.The bookings are a few months old and have been ticketed.

Should we be concerned?

Same here. We have QF74 booked for Jan 18 which is still showing as confirmed.

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

They maybe up to something if they haven’t cancelled booking up to 26 March 2023 yet, maybe a new 5th freedom route.

Unfortunately I suspect they're just up to what they've been up to on the SFO route for the last year: progressively pushing back the start date by a few months and zeroing out inventory to prevent new bookings, but happily holding onto affected passengers' money (many of whom have no idea this is even happening) for a few more months before finally cancelling the flight officially and offering an alternative that may or may not be suitable, thereby potentially leaving affected passengers in a far trickier (and costlier) situation organising alternatives than if QF had just informed them of the cancellations immediately.

(Or better yet: stopped accepting reservations on the route entirely until they're actually certain they can operate it.)

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

Same here. We have QF74 booked for Jan 18 which is still showing as confirmed.

If it's a paid booking, but only when they finally get around to it, QF is likely to offer you an alternative SFO-LAX-SYD routing with the first sector on Alaska or American.

If it's a points booking, I wouldn't count on being offered anything other than LAX-SYD or a refund of the points, so if I were you (and what I'm doing for myself) is start organising sooner than later a positioning flight to get you to LAX on the day you want to fly.

The only added flexibility is that it appears QF has in previous rounds of this allowed people to adjust their travel day within a few days of the original booking, if that's useful either to your plans or getting yourself to LA cost-wise.

 

[dandandan]

Unfortunately I suspect they're just up to what they've been up to on the SFO route for the last year: progressively pushing back the start date by a few months and zeroing out inventory to prevent new bookings, but happily holding onto affected passengers' money (many of whom have no idea this is even happening) for a few more months before finally cancelling the flight officially and offering an alternative that may or may not be suitable, thereby potentially leaving affected passengers in a far trickier (and costlier) situation organising alternatives than if QF had just informed them of the cancellations immediately.

(Or better yet: stopped accepting reservations on the route entirely until they're actually certain they can operate it.)

It would be good if they could start making changes now! I have 4x J seats to SFO in December, with the rest of my tripped already booked including return flights home however don't know how I am actually getting there yet until this is resolved.

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

It would be good if they could start making changes now! I have 4x J seats to SFO in December, with the rest of my tripped already booked including return flights home however don't know how I am actually getting there yet until this is resolved.

Agree - it's very frustrating, and if you call in, you're simply told the flights haven't been cancelled and therefore there is nothing they can do to assist you.

 

[AFF Editor]

Same here. We have QF74 booked for Jan 18 which is still showing as confirmed.

Yeah, this has been Qantas' modus operandi for the last couple of years. When they intend to cancel a flight/route, they first stop selling new seats but they don't actually inform people with existing bookings (or offer alternative options) until several weeks or even months later. In the meantime, existing bookings still show as "confirmed" even though Qantas has no intention of operating the flights.

Airlines Playing a Cruel Cancellation Game

Throughout the pandemic, airlines have had to cancel a lot of flights. This is already inconvenient enough for customers who had booked tickets on flights

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[dajop]

Maybe some QF execs have visited San Francisco recently, and realised what a sad sorry state the city is in. When I was there in June, until some convention folk started arriving on the night before I was leaving, downtown felt like Melbourne did in the middle of the lockdowns. Although I was there over the weekend and to be fair, outside downtown/Union Square it was much busier and more pleasant.

 

[lulu123]

Anyone else booked on QF74 San to Sydney (14 Nov) and not heard anything yet?
My flights are still showing confirmed but we all know it’s cancelled due yo zeroing out and recent accoutrements.
Reading all the thread above - it seems that calling them is futile as I’m bronze…
But just wanted to see if anyone else is on or close to that flight date and have heard anything?

Thanks!!
Lucy

 

[Rhea]

Anyone else booked on QF74 San to Sydney (14 Nov) and not heard anything yet?
My flights are still showing confirmed but we all know it’s cancelled due yo zeroing out and recent accoutrements.
Reading all the thread above - it seems that calling them is futile as I’m bronze…
But just wanted to see if anyone else is on or close to that flight date and have heard anything?

Thanks!!
Lucy

Hi! We are booked on the SFO-Syd flight on 18 December. I have called qantas and they assure me it is going ahead. However a friend who works for jetstar logged in to staff site and they couldn’t see the flight. I then called Qantas again and they reassured me that the flight is not cancelled! I’m in a dilemma because so close to Christmas I don’t know if we will get back home!

 

[Scr77]

Anyone else booked on QF74 San to Sydney (14 Nov) and not heard anything yet?
My flights are still showing confirmed but we all know it’s cancelled due yo zeroing out and recent accoutrements.
Reading all the thread above - it seems that calling them is futile as I’m bronze…
But just wanted to see if anyone else is on or close to that flight date and have heard anything?

Thanks!!
Lucy

Hi Lucy. If I was in your situation, I’d be trying to book a positioning reward flight to LAX On the day of (or day before) your current flight. At some point you‘re likely to be offered LAX to SYD, but thats it.

Edit: I presumed you had a reward flight and could be incorrect. You may have better options if you’re on paid fares.

 

[lulu123]

Hi Lucy. If I was in your situation, I’d be trying to book a positioning reward flight to LAX On the day of (or day before) your current flight. At some point you‘re likely to be offered LAX to SYD, but thats it.

Edit: I presumed you had a reward flight and could be incorrect. You may have better options if you’re on paid fares.

Thanks for the advice and, yes, you’re right we are on a points booking.

I guess we’ll just have to for the cancellation to come through. Our travel has already commenced so dreading calling Qantas overseas .

 

[DC3]

Hi! We are booked on the SFO-Syd flight on 18 December. I have called qantas and they assure me it is going ahead. However a friend who works for jetstar logged in to staff site and they couldn’t see the flight. I then called Qantas again and they reassured me that the flight is not cancelled!

Cape Town or Fiji?

 

[DC3]

I’ve been through similar cancellations for international QF flights in 2020 and 2021. HBA said at the time that cancellations and re-booking are done in the order of the earlier flight dates first, then working towards the flight dates that are further out, and done in ‘batches’ of a month at a time. For what it’s worth?

 

[jrfsp]

I tried to proactively get a rebooking for my Dec SFO flight. As part of the same booking the return sector had been cancelled (HND-MEL, route commencement also pushed) connecting from JL JFK-HND.

Spoke to very helpful HBA agent who got supervisor authority to manually request revenue dept to authorize SFO reroute, knowing it will be cancelled. Request came back today, denied.

Will just have to wait and hope still seats available when they do cancel it. In the meantime i cant do much with the connection i booked.

 

[Mattg]

Spoke to very helpful HBA agent who got supervisor authority to manually request revenue dept to authorize SFO reroute, knowing it will be cancelled. Request came back today, denied.

That's ridiculous. How can they possibly deny this request? They're just kicking the can down the road...

 

[kreuky]

you want to save QF time and hassle later when the inevitable flood of calls comes, be proactive and they still shut you down. Great business processes QF.