The Qantas Newbie Questions Thread

[Nathant123]

Morning all,

Recently dropped to QF gold as I’ve mainly been focusing on velocity and Singapore airlines. I’ve got quite a decent amount of points accumulated with QFF and wondering if status has any bearing on award seat redemptions? Does a red member with a huge points balance see the same availability as a platinum member? Curious as I’ve started liking for next year and can’t see any business or first with QF or partners to the US or India for example. I’ve been lucky I suppose with redeeming though Singapore airlines as every date I have checked for business has been available without waitlist.

 

[Beano]

No. It’s not a QF operated flight.

You can claim points if your booking has a QF number, otherwise no.

 

[dairyfloss]

Morning all,

Recently dropped to QF gold as I’ve mainly been focusing on velocity and Singapore airlines. I’ve got quite a decent amount of points accumulated with QFF and wondering if status has any bearing on award seat redemptions? Does a red member with a huge points balance see the same availability as a platinum member? Curious as I’ve started liking for next year and can’t see any business or first with QF or partners to the US or India for example. I’ve been lucky I suppose with redeeming though Singapore airlines as every date I have checked for business has been available without waitlist.

Hi - QF Gold and above see QF Award seats from 353 days before departure, then QF Silver at 323 days, and QF Bronze (Red) at 297 days. I don't beleive partner airlines are limited in such a way. Those at Gold and above complain that it is quite difficult to snare what you want, and when you want, and so adding up to 56 days of additional wait time for you to access to seats as a Bronze and it doesn't bode well on routes with high demand.

This said, if you are willing to be flexible - i.e. willing to get creative with your carrier, routing and when you travel, then things can still happen. Travel to the U.S. in premium cabins is particularly difficult to get, and I hear more success with finding award seats closer to travel dates, rather than as they are released. Have a look at Fiji Airways for LAX & MH for India. Use the Multi-city search with flexible dates to give you a better view of possibilities between two cities.

Cheers,
Matt.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Pedantic: QFF does not use Red as a starting tier status.
They use Bronze, we use the term NB.
VFF use Red, we use NR.

 

[NM]

Pedantic: QFF does not use Red as a starting tier status.
They use Bronze, we use the term NB.
VFF use Red, we use NR.

I understood @dairyfloss to mean QFF Bronze, which is also OneWorld Ruby. And Ruby is a shade of red and has a red oval logo on the QFF Bronze card. Similarly, QFF Gold is OneWorld Sapphire (blue oval on card), QFF Platinum and Platinum-1 are OneWorld Emerald (green oval on card).

[Edit] @dairyfloss is correct below, QFF Bronze card is red in colour and has no OneWorld status,. QFF Silver has OneWorld Ruby status.

 

[dairyfloss]

I understood @dairyfloss to mean QFF Bronze, which is also OneWorld Ruby. And Ruby is a shade of red and has a red oval logo on the QFF Bronze card. Similarly, QFF Gold is OneWorld Sapphire (blue oval on card), QFF Platinum and Platinum-1 are OneWorld Emerald (green oval on card).

Yes - OP mentioned Red, so I just added "(Red)" to associate with Bronze for them. OW Ruby - however - comes with QFF Silver.
Incidentally - the QFF Bronze card is basically red in colour, so an easy one to confuse!

Cheers,
Matt

 

[NM]

Yes - OP mentioned Red, so I just added "(Red)" to associate with Bronze for them. OW Ruby - however - comes with QFF Silver.
Incidentally - the QFF Bronze card is basically red in colour, so an easy one to confuse!
View attachment 336342
Cheers,
Matt

Yes, indeed. Bronze card is red colour and no OneWorld status, Silver is OneWorld Ruby. You are correct.

 

[flyingfan]

Does a red member with a huge points balance see the same availability as a platinum member?

While your points balance will influence your value to QF in subtle ways AFAIK it doesn’t make any difference to award availability; two people with the same status but (even vastly) different points balances should see exactly the same rewards availability.

I haven’t seen significantly better availability in longhaul J/F even as a P1 compared to gold. I think these seats are quickly snapped up far in advance, and after that unless you continually monitor seats hoping for a cancellation and release back into inventory, it’s hard unless you get back to plat and can request seat releases (still not guaranteed).

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Seeing availability is one thing, snagging a seat is another.
ie being successful in redemption/points upgrade itself.

 

[dairyfloss]

While your points balance will influence your value to QF in subtle ways AFAIK it doesn’t make any difference to award availability; two people with the same status but (even vastly) different points balances should see exactly the same rewards availability.

I haven’t seen significantly better availability in longhaul J/F even as a P1 compared to gold. I think these seats are quickly snapped up far in advance, and after that unless you continually monitor seats hoping for a cancellation and release back into inventory, it’s hard unless you get back to plat and can request seat releases (still not guaranteed).

In terms of what is published, P1 is the same as Gold, but Silver has to wait to get access to awards longer than Gold, and Bronze (as the OP is) waits longer again than Silver. A lot will get taken in that 8 week window that Bronze FFs are waiting to time out.

Cheers,
Matt.

 

[Nathant123]

Thank you for the replies. Had a look again and saw plenty of business and first redemptions available from Dubai to Mumbai. Could always burn some KrisFlyer points to Dubai which means a layover in Singapore but also means no horrific emirates tax from Sydney to the Middle East!

 

[ZMan]

I'm booking business SYD to HKG for Nov

I can't seem to use classic rewards for outbound and then pay for the inbound.

If I select the classic rewards for the first leg, the website automatically blocks out the option to pay for the inbound and says there are no flights available.

Is this correct?

 

[SYD]

I'm booking business SYD to HKG for Nov

I can't seem to use classic rewards for outbound and then pay for the inbound.

If I select the classic rewards for the first leg, the website automatically blocks out the option to pay for the inbound and says there are no flights available.

Is this correct?

Some routes allow you to book online a mix of points (classic rewards) and paid. Frustratingly some don’t - especially for J.

You could try calling…

 

[NM]

I'm booking business SYD to HKG for Nov

I can't seem to use classic rewards for outbound and then pay for the inbound.

If I select the classic rewards for the first leg, the website automatically blocks out the option to pay for the inbound and says there are no flights available.

Is this correct?

The QF web site may force you to book as two independent one-way flights, one being an award and one being a regular paid fare. The challenge then will be that the return will need to be paid in HK dollars, and often for international flights the paid one-way fare is a lot higher than half of a return fare,

Best option is likely to try calling QF reservations, or find a good TA who can combine reward and paid fares into a single itinerary.

 

[Beano]

The QF web site may force you to book as two independent one-way flights, one being an award and one being a regular paid fare. The challenge then will be that the return will need to be paid in HK dollars, and often for international flights the paid one-way fare is a lot higher than half of a return fare,

Best option is likely to try calling QF reservations, or find a good TA who can combine reward and paid fares into a single itinerary.

I'm not sure that these days return fares are cheaper than two one way fares.

 

[serfty]

I'm not sure that these days return fares are cheaper than two one way fares.

It certainly is the case for fares around Europe, International Long Haul fares on "legacy" carriers ex Oz and other regions.

 

[Lynda2475]

I'm not sure that these days return fares are cheaper than two one way fares.

For Domestic, trans-tasman and NOU no penalty for buying one way. But as soon as you head further afield i.e. USA, Asia or EU, one way can be more than a return.

 

[Beano]

For Domestic, trans-tasman and NOU no penalty for buying one way. But as soon as you head further afield i.e. USA, Asia or EU, one way can be more than a return.

Agreed, but that would depend on the airline. There may be some saving but sometimes not much. On a one-way flight I was on recently across Europe, you would save Euros 50 on a return rather than two singles, not that I was going back.

 

[NM]

I'm not sure that these days return fares are cheaper than two one way fares.

Generally not the case for domestic travel or for award flights. But it is still common for international fares where most "sale" or "deal" fares are return only.

 

[NM]

Agreed, but that would depend on the airline. There may be some saving but sometimes not much. On a one-way flight I was on recently across Europe, you would save Euros 50 on a return rather than two singles, not that I was going back.

The question that was asked, and was answered, was related to flights between Sydney and Hong Kong.