The Qantas Newbie Questions Thread

[AIRwin]

I have received a points upgrade for my flight Syd - Perth next month and the return flight in September.

A330?

 

[SuePa]

A330?

Yes A330-200 on the way over and A330-300 on the way back. (Although this doesn't mean much to me. )

Post automatically merged: Jul 29, 2023

Domestic upgrades are confirmed at time of booking if there’s a business class award seat already available. Domestic doesn’t operate on the same lottery system as international flights. If all business awards are taken, you can still join the upgrade lottery.

It’s rare for these seats to be taken away… otherwise they’d undermine the value of the program. You can expect to fly in business class save for any last-minute schedule disruptions - like the cancellation of the flight and having to accommodate passengers on other services.

Thanks, MEL_Traveller. I'm learning new things all the time.

 

[JohnM]

Yes A330-200 on the way over and A330-300 on the way back. (Although this doesn't mean much to me. )

A332 is DOM configuration; A333 is INT (and therefore no WiFi).

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Don't believe that, till your bum is on that 332 seat.
Edit: and the plane 45% into the flight path to SYD.
QF have a habit of doing what we on here call an equipment swap, ie, they put a 737 into service, and sometimes, without notice, or with short notice.
Most days, these days, the east coast esp SYD and also MEL - PER, is mostly the 737 on a regular basis.
If you have a look at flight radar or flight aware, on the weekly schedule, over the past 2 weeks, you will see a lot of the service is 737.

 

[Lost Redditor]

I have two separate bookings via Qantas. SEA-LAX, then LAX-SYD. Two separate classic rewards bookings in J, departures on same day. Can I call Qantas to combine them to the same booking reference to get bags through-checked SEA-SYD? Is there any risk involved here wrt. them losing the bookings as I've read in the horror stories here on AAF? Are the benefits to keeping them separate?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I have two separate bookings via Qantas. SEA-LAX, then LAX-SYD. Two separate classic rewards bookings in J, departures on same day. Can I call Qantas to combine them to the same booking reference to get bags through-checked SEA-SYD? Is there any risk involved here wrt. them losing the bookings as I've read in the horror stories here on AAF? Are the benefits to keeping them separate?

There’s no point to combining the bookings. If the airline will through check the bags as two separate awards, this can be done at checkin at SEA.

On arrival at the desk desk say your final destination for that day is SYD, and give them a copy of the PNR for the Qantas flight. If the airline through checks they’ll do it at that point.

Calling qantas might get a note in the booking, but the agent won’t see it unless they go looking for it (there’s no flashing red light or indicator!). The only thing linking does is save you having to give the agent the qantas PNR. Which saves you a couple seconds, but could cost you a lot of time getting through to qantas!

 

[SYD]

I have two separate bookings via Qantas. SEA-LAX, then LAX-SYD. Two separate classic rewards bookings in J, departures on same day. Can I call Qantas to combine them to the same booking reference to get bags through-checked SEA-SYD? Is there any risk involved here wrt. them losing the bookings as I've read in the horror stories here on AAF? Are the benefits to keeping them separate?

Which airline is operating SEA-LAX? AA is notorious for not checking through on seperate PNRs but not sure how flexible AS is.

Be prepared to collect bags in LAX and recheck with the operator of the onward flight.

 

[Lost Redditor]

Which airline is operating SEA-LAX? AA is notorious for not checking through in seperate PNRs but not sure how flexible AS is.

Be prepared to collect bags in LAX and recheck with the operator of the onward flight.

It is, in fact, AA

 

[SYD]

It is, in fact, AA

Is the onward flight QF and how much time do you have between flights? You’ll probably need 2+ hours to collect bags and recheck but at least AA (T4) and QF (TBIT) are next to each other. On one PNR, your bags would be checked through and you just walk airside to TBIT.

You could try rebooking them on one ticket (for a fee) but as you mention, there is great danger in loosing the lot….

 

[Mwenenzi]

It is, in fact, AA

I have two separate bookings via Qantas. SEA-LAX, then LAX-SYD. Two separate classic rewards bookings in J, departures on same day. Can I call Qantas to combine them to the same booking reference to get bags through-checked SEA-SYD? Is there any risk involved here wrt. them losing the bookings as I've read in the horror stories here on AAF? Are the benefits to keeping them separate?

AA will not interline on seperate bookings. Even AA to AA

 

[Drakecula]

Despite flying with them a fair bit in the last twelve months for work, I think I'm a relative newbie to Qantas. And I'll soon be embarking on a J trip SYD-LAX return. Would appreciate tips for making the most of it. Will I get pyjamas? I've heard that's a thing. I think my seats are in the upstairs cabin on the plane. A plane with stairs! I've only ever been on one plane with stairs before (I feel I'm one of the least frequent of the flyers in this forum sometimes...)

 

[Lynda2475]

Will I get pyjamas?

Yes you will. Will they fit well? Probably not, but they are comfy enough.

If it is a refurbed A380 try for an A or a K seat (which are both a window and an aisle) and much more private than the centre seats which are designed for couples. If you sleep on your left an A seat is best as your back is to the aisle, if you sleep on your right then a K seat is better.

Mini-cabin forward of the galley and loos is better than main J cabin behind the galley and loos.

 

[RooFlyer]

A plane with stairs!

I love stairs in planes - great for stretching (although there may be a rope across it at the top - downstairs past the entry vestible is First Class!! But I'm sure you can use the stairs to exercise) At the top of the stairs, in front of you, you'll find a 'lounge'; in refurbed planes it s a bit bigger, or better configured. Will give you somewhere different to sit for a while.

You can see a good depiction of the layout here: QF Airbus A380-800 - aeroLOPA | Detailed aircraft seat plans

On the sides, note that 'seat next to window' versus 'seat next to aisle' are in alternating rows. People travelling in these seats often prefer the seat to be by the window, as being a bit further away from aisle traffic is less disturbing and a bit more private.

The forward 5 rows are also preferred by many.

 

[puchu]

Haven’t flown QF F for a while. Do they still call you the day before to schedule spa, arrival at airport etc?

 

[AIRwin]

Haven’t flown QF F for a while. Do they still call you the day before to schedule spa, arrival at airport etc?

At the end of last year, I received an email only:

 

[ADFlyMore]

our family is off to Hawaii in a few weeks and we have a 5+ layover in SYD from ADL before our flight.
We have 2 little ones so hoping to get into the lounge so will no doubt look to purchase all 4 passes online (including ones for the kids).
Am I correct in thinking any lounge pass will suffice to use in the SYD international lounge? Except ones specifically marked as domestic?

 

[RooFlyer]

our family is off to Hawaii in a few weeks and we have a 5+ layover in SYD from ADL before our flight.
We have 2 little ones so hoping to get into the lounge so will no doubt look to purchase all 4 passes online (including ones for the kids).
Am I correct in thinking any lounge pass will suffice to use in the SYD international lounge? Except ones specifically marked as domestic?

Also, post a request in the Lounge meet-up thread and someone may be able to guest you in; or maybe some

August 2023

The monthly lounge meet up threads no longer have a wiki. That means that you will need to post your own flights in the correct month. The more information you can fill in, the better. Use of a table in your post is not required, but if you could provide the information in the following...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

For QF, they don't sell their passes, you can't just front up at the QFi J lounge at SYD T1 and buy passes like that.
QF do sometimes sell/offer entry, but its usually 99.9% prior to getting to the lounge.
If you buy it from someone, there is a chance it might get declined, or you might get pinged.
If QF decides to sell them to you, or you get an offer direct from QF, thats ok, but if you buy it off ozbargains or gumtee, there is a small chance of you not getting in.
There is a dayuse hotel, I think Aerotel, in T1 at SYD, where you can pay to get in, its before immi and int security.
For 5 hours, you have to contend with the T3 to T1 bus, which can take an hour in itself from gate 15 at T3 to T1.
Linked PNR ie you show your passport at ADL QFd, so you don't have to approach checkin at T3 helps a bit.
===
Edit: looks like Aerotel wont do hourly.

 

[justinbrett]

our family is off to Hawaii in a few weeks and we have a 5+ layover in SYD from ADL before our flight.
We have 2 little ones so hoping to get into the lounge so will no doubt look to purchase all 4 passes online (including ones for the kids).
Am I correct in thinking any lounge pass will suffice to use in the SYD international lounge? Except ones specifically marked as domestic?

If you mean purchase a lounge pass from QF, they are by invitation only and are attached to your booking. There's no guarantee you will receive an invite, and if you do, you will need to pay the international rate which - in 2016 at least - costs $69 each (and I assume children need to pay as well). In fact there is so little information about this online, I'm not even sure this is still offered post-covid.

There are also complimentary passes, you cannot buy these legally - but if you were to obtain some (occasionally members give them away on this site); they are valid for both domestic and international (though one use only), and you need passes for children as well.

At $276 when at least half of you aren't drinking alcohol, I really would be questioning whether this is worth it. It would almost be worth taking out a Qantas Club membership - which would be double the cost but at least you would have 12 months of use, and one membership would permit two adults and two children.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

I've got a trip booked in October to the US. Two of the sectors are operated by Qantas but have an American Airlines flight number: SYD > DFW and LAX > SYD. Although I could add the booking to my QF account (using the QF PNR provided by AA), when I go to select seats, I can only specify whether I want a window or aisle seat (i.e. there's no seat map). Furthermore, when I try to request an upgrade on either sector, it says the flight is ineligible for upgrade (my QFF points balance is 47,000 points). The flights were ticketed into a Q booking code.

What am I doing wrong? Can any of this be rectified with a call to QF?

-RooFlyer88