The Qantas Newbie Questions Thread

[Lost Redditor]

I paid a couple hundred dollars in taxes in a HEL-SEA flight in J with Finnair for two seats + lap infant. It was the first U seat I ever booked and so I had no expectation.

I was browsing for better return routes and came across BA availability in J and F for LHR-DFW. Went to grab the F seats and found that the taxes would be $2,200 (£1200). The same for the J seats.



Is Finnair just much cheaper in taxes or is BA particularly tax heavy?

 

[jpp42]

Is Finnair just much cheaper in taxes or is BA particularly tax heavy?

Flights originating from LHR have that Air Passenger Duty, £191 in your case which is pretty hefty. You save that by originating in HEL, regardless of the airline or fare type.

But the other big problem with BA is the "carrier charges" which are discretionary by the airlines. This a fee, not a tax - it's just a cash grab. Certain airlines add very high carrier charges (Emirates is also known for this), making them much less preferable to choose as part of a classic reward itinerary. For my OWA coming up in J, we couldn't avoid BA unfortunately, but the taxes and fees for the transatlantic leg amount to half the total taxes and fees of our entire 7-segment itinerary!

 

[Lost Redditor]

Flights originating from LHR have that Air Passenger Duty, £191 in your case which is pretty hefty. You save that by originating in HEL, regardless of the airline or fare type.

But the other big problem with BA is the "carrier charges" which are discretionary by the airlines. This a fee, not a tax - it's just a cash grab.

Yep that sounds like BA alright! I posted earlier in Travel Mistakes thread how i lost $1400 to BA by cancelling 3 economy seats several months out. I've flown BA (economy only) in the past and I've just never had a good experience compared to Emirates, Thai, Qantas, JAL, Etihad, etc.

 

[serfty]

Just to clarify. It actually didn't go back to 1995. I remembered I had a copy of some old paper FF statements that I managed to use to get the really old flights. I think QF were able to provide back to 2002 for me.

I believe Qantas do not have usable online records of travel prior to September 1998 when "Tier Credits" were introduced. My lifetime SC tally only includes TC/SC flights taken since then - none of the 245 flights I took with Qantas prior to that are included.

 

[SYD]

I believe Qantas do not have online records of travel prior to September 1998 when "Tier Credits" were introduced. My lifetime SC tally only includes TC/SC flights taken since then - none of the 245 flights I took with Qantas prior to that are included.

Didn’t we get some prorata conversion? Or was that just for the current membership year (correct me if I’m wrong but the concept of LT status did start until a little later)?

I have a spreadsheet of private and Gov funded travel from mid 90s to ~2000 in case someone asked if I used non personal points. But the statute of limitations is long past…
Quite a few years ago, I threw out a huge pile of QF and AN FF paper statements…. But I have electronic dumps from mid 2000 onwards.

 

[Roger888]

Flights originating from LHR have that Air Passenger Duty, £191 in your case which is pretty hefty. You save that by originating in HEL, regardless of the airline or fare type.

But the other big problem with BA is the "carrier charges" which are discretionary by the airlines. This a fee, not a tax - it's just a cash grab. Certain airlines add very high carrier charges (Emirates is also known for this), making them much less preferable to choose as part of a classic reward itinerary. For my OWA coming up in J, we couldn't avoid BA unfortunately, but the taxes and fees for the transatlantic leg amount to half the total taxes and fees of our entire 7-segment itinerary!

What are some other carriers and airports that have low taxes/fees for reward bookings?

 

[SYD]

What are some other carriers and airports that have low taxes/fees for reward bookings?

AA are generally super cheap. Pretty much any domestic or most international flight to/from USA. But getting them has become harder.

 

[encryptededdy]

What are some other carriers and airports that have low taxes/fees for reward bookings?

Japan Airlines domestic have 0 carrier charges or taxes.

 

[RooFlyer]

AA are generally super cheap

Japan Airlines domestic have 0 carrier charges or taxes.

So reward tickets aside, if you get your OneWorld RTW ticketed on AA or JAL paper, rather than the default (here) of Qantas, you'll be ahead (as you no doubt know).

 

[Seat0B]

What is the status of your request @Seat0B ?
Apologies if you have posted further in this thread - am days behind on reading my AFF threads !

No worries, happens to me too!

I have heard nothing at all. And I've been too busy at work to call them, so it's just sitting in abeyance at the moment. I will follow them up after Easter when my life settles down a bit if (I think I mean when) they don't respond.

 

[A321]

Hi team,

I have a question regarding QFF Points and Status earn on QF and QF flight numbered TL (Airnorth) flights. I do not hold QFF status and these are Discount Economy fares.

Trip was booked under one ticket as ADL-PER, PER-BME, BME-KNX.

Dummy booking on Qantas.com yields earn total of 1600 pts and 30 SCs. Checking the points calculator shows 800 pts and 15 SCs each for the two QF flights but na for the Airnorth portion, and this is how it's been credited. A Dummy booking JUST for BME-KNX yields 800 pts/10 SC earn.

https://www.qantas.com/au/en/qantas-experience/network-and-partner-airlines/airnorth.html says as long as it's a QF coded flight (it was) points and SCs are earnt.

So what am I missing?

 

[RichardMEL]

you're missing nothing tbh.

the calculation in the dummy summary is wrong. it doesnt (often) handle connections well.

if the TL flight is a QF flight number then it will earn SC and points. go with your calculation, not what the dummy booking says imo.

 

[bussyboy]

No worries, happens to me too!

I have heard nothing at all. And I've been too busy at work to call them, so it's just sitting in abeyance at the moment. I will follow them up after Easter when my life settles down a bit if (I think I mean when) they don't respond.

I called today, they didn't even want to look up the email request but was happy to arrange the correct status credits over the phone:


Took 17 minutes over the phone

 

[Seat0B]

I called today, they didn't even want to look up the email request but was happy to arrange the correct status credits over the phone:


Took 17 minutes over the phone

Thanks @bussyboy - I must get onto it.

 

[Seat0B]

For Mods: I know this is maybe a bit off thread. It started because I asked the Newbie question of how to apply for ORC in this thread, and I have had a couple of people kindly follow me up to hear of progress, so I hope it's OK to close the loop here for them. Besides, I think it's probably still instructive for Newbies to see how this plays out.....


@bussyboy , @Flyfrequently - so bizarrely, right after I posted above, I got an email from Qantas in relation to the claim I put in for ORC (I asked for status credits for the J fare I originally paid for, applicable DSC, and the points difference between discount Y and J and refund of any difference in price between SYD/CBR compared to the MEL/CBR that I paid for).

After 4 weeks of silence, they now want a copy of the boarding pass - despite the fact that the flights and the class I flew have already appeared on my FF account - so they KNOW what flights I took on the day. I had already supplied the original itinerary and the involuntarily downgraded one that I actually flew. So now I'm off to see if I still have the boarding pass somewhere. Arghhhh.

 

[Seat0B]

Further to above, here is my response back to QF. I cannot believe that they actually require a boarding pass to sort this out. They already have processed the flights to my FF account, so they know exactly what flights I took and when. All it is about is getting the ORC for the downgraded leg - which they should be able to see from my itineraries that I already sent them.

Pretty sure it's a stalling tactic on their part. Given how hard it is to actually get a paper boarding pass, it's a bit rich to ask for that. As it happens, I do still have it (thanks AFF for alerting me to the need), but I might legitimately have lost it/thrown it out/never had a paper pass in the first place. And I am NOT good at remembering to screen shot electronic boarding passes or take photos of paper ones. Will have to improve on that front.

It all just makes me angry.

 

[DejaBrew]

Further to above, here is my response back to QF. I cannot believe that they actually require a boarding pass to sort this out. They already have processed the flights to my FF account, so they know exactly what flights I took and when. All it is about is getting the ORC for the downgraded leg - which they should be able to see from my itineraries that I already sent them.

Pretty sure it's a stalling tactic on their part. Given how hard it is to actually get a paper boarding pass, it's a bit rich to ask for that. As it happens, I do still have it (thanks AFF for alerting me to the need), but I might legitimately have lost it/thrown it out/never had a paper pass in the first place. And I am NOT good at remembering to screen shot electronic boarding passes or take photos of paper ones. Will have to improve on that front.

It all just makes me angry.

View attachment 322188

That’s pretty ridiculous/pathetic from Qantas. Hope they resolve this quick smart and curious to hear their rationale for asking for this detail (given your response).

 

[Flyfrequently]

Further to above, here is my response back to QF. I cannot believe that they actually require a boarding pass to sort this out. They already have processed the flights to my FF account, so they know exactly what flights I took and when. All it is about is getting the ORC for the downgraded leg - which they should be able to see from my itineraries that I already sent them.

Pretty sure it's a stalling tactic on their part. Given how hard it is to actually get a paper boarding pass, it's a bit rich to ask for that. As it happens, I do still have it (thanks AFF for alerting me to the need), but I might legitimately have lost it/thrown it out/never had a paper pass in the first place. And I am NOT good at remembering to screen shot electronic boarding passes or take photos of paper ones. Will have to improve on that front.

It all just makes me angry.

View attachment 322188

Frustrating for sure @Seat0B.
I have always screenshot mine and Mr Flysfrequently's boarding passes and taken photo if a paper pass.
Got into the habit in 2017 after involuntary re route and needed to get ORC to retain SG.

 

[Seat0B]

Frustrating for sure @Seat0B.
I have always screenshot mine and Mr Flysfrequently's boarding passes and taken photo if a paper pass.
Got into the habit in 2017 after involuntary re route and needed to get ORC to retain SG.

Yes I need to get better at remembering to do this. I do sometimes, but not always. And I mean really, it’s just ridiculous. Is Qantas seriously suggesting they don’t know what flights I took? In this instance, it’s all over my FF activity statement, so of course they do. Maybe if the flight/points/SC were completely missing, but this is just an argument about how many points/SC I should receive.

 

[bussyboy]

Yes I need to get better at remembering to do this. I do sometimes, but not always. And I mean really, it’s just ridiculous. Is Qantas seriously suggesting they don’t know what flights I took? In this instance, it’s all over my FF activity statement, so of course they do. Maybe if the flight/points/SC were completely missing, but this is just an argument about how many points/SC I should receive.

Exactly what they did on the phone - asked me for the booking reference and QFF number only - from there she reviewed the statement worked out the correct sectors and deleted/added from QFF accordingly. Didn't even seem to be much checking on whether or not it was a voluntary change.