The Qantas Newbie Questions Thread

[exceladdict]

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

Not sure if you can upgrade flights under an AA flight number, but regardless, booking code Q is an economy sale fare which can't be upgraded

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Not sure if you can upgrade flights under an AA flight number, but regardless, booking code Q is an economy sale fare which can't be upgraded

Would this preclude me from receiving upgrade offers at check-in as well?

 

[defurax]

You can't upgrade AA*QF flights.

 

[justinbrett]

You need to be on the QF marketed flight to upgrade.

 

[jpp42]

Would this preclude me from receiving upgrade offers at check-in as well?

That's quite rare on Qantas anyway, especially on US flights. Most of the time all seats are filled with QFF upgrades.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Rydges Sydney Airport, dayuse test date 20/09, $189.
Yes, very expensive, but if you divide that by say, 4 hours, by 2 adults, its the best one to get the kids ready for the long flight ahead.
As I checked, Aerotel does not do hourly rates, on the dates I checked.
The Rydges one, while most expensive option, its just across the walkway from T1.
If you get offered QF passes via credit card provider, or by friends/by offers to usher from on here, then its not that bad.
PS: on here, you can't ask, but there is a branch where you could look for offers.
People who ask on here, have had their post deleted.
Just so you know.
===
Having used both the QFi J and F lounges, and the MEL ones too, its not all that flash, if you are thinking of a quiet place, no, it can get quite busy, depending on date/and time.
F lounge at SYD is must better, but you need to be flying F, or have high enough status, or have usher/friend on here with high enough status flying out same time, same day.
===
Sorry for the waffly.
---
If you do want a paid lounge inside int security at T1, there is the unlinked The House lounge.

 

[justinbrett]

Rydges Sydney Airport, dayuse test date 20/09, $189.
Yes, very expensive, but if you divide that by say, 4 hours, by 2 adults, its the best one to get the kids ready for the long flight ahead.
As I checked, Aerotel does not do hourly rates, on the dates I checked.
The Rydges one, while most expensive option, its just across the walkway from T1.
If you get offered QF passes via credit card provider, or by friends/by offers to usher from on here, then its not that bad.
PS: on here, you can't ask, but there is a branch where you could look for offers.
People who ask on here, have had their post deleted.
Just so you know.

I would not be using a hotel for a 5 hour layover. Nowhere near enough time.

 

[RichardMEL]

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.

Actually, QF do offer pax to buy lounge access. They do email pax with offers to purchase lounge access for certain flights. Heck, I've had the emails on occasion, which is hilarious given my status, but it's a thing.

Help and Support | Qantas

help.qantas.com

You're right that purchasing the comp lounge passes is against the T&C and buyer on those kinds of sites should definitely beware, but QF do offer the ability to purchase access "on selected flights"

 

[ADFlyMore]

Thanks everyone for the information. Dont worry...I wasn't planning on asking anyone here for a complimentary one on here I know the rules and I know there is a section that users offer them up so was going to try my luck if I was quick enough if one did appear over the coming weeks.
Was going to try my luck online (yes I know its not "legal" - but would give it a shot).

 

[jrfsp]

As above, unable to upgrade, however i have had success with AA on twitter reserving me seats.

 

[SYD]

As above, unable to upgrade, however i have had success with AA on twitter reserving me seats.

There’s another thread on the same problem with seat selection for whY bookings. As above, calling AA was the solution from
Memory.

You could try RJ.com with the QF PNR….?

 

[RichardMEL]

I would not be using a hotel for a 5 hour layover. Nowhere near enough time.

Agree totally. This is an unrealistic suggestion imo for several reasons:

1. Even assuming ADL-SYD is on time, one would need to then get to international - either via QF transfer @ gate 15, or even the train or Tbus, you're still looking at 20-30 minutes from disembarkation to getting to the mode of transport, waiting, doing the transfer, and getting to T1.
2. Assuming one was to then look to a hotel for use for a few hours, you need to then factor in that 1. Boarding for a flight to HNL would be 40-50 minutes prior to STD, plus going through passport control and security - for a family with little kids and all the bits and bobs that may include - you'd want to factor 30-60 minutes depending on time of day (since the pax are flying in Economy, they would have no access to the priority line). SYD T1 can take awhile to get through. I've had it be an hour - even 30 minutes with priority line for an afternoon transfer.

So, recapping some approximate/conservative times, that's whittled down your 5 hour window to, at the very MOST 3 hours factoring in walking over to Rydges, checking in/out and getting to/from a room.

While that might be a reasonable time for a nap for kids (who probably would be hyped up with excitement so... possible?) would it be cost effective? Not to mention unknowns of how long outbound processing @ T1 would take, let alone getting over to gates (remember, with kids), probably want to get a snack, deal with loos and all that fun stuff.... it's all time. Possibly also might want to get a pre board if kids are young enough and desire to try and get settled - so that would be even earlier before flight.

So what would be the realistic time to make use of a room? 2.5 hours? And what would be the goal? shower? nap?

I wouldn't do it (but I'm not a dad with little kids to be fair ). I'd look potentially for a paid lounge option @ T1 depending on what the desire was for lounge use - again showers? food? drink? None of them probably would provide for really quiet spaces unfortunately.

Maybe kids could get use out of play areas in T1 to tire them out a bit before flight?

(there's some info here about play areas in T1: Travelling with children)


If it was an 8 hour layover I'd consider it.. but 5 hours is not enough imo given the transfer between domestic and international terminals, need to reclear security and do passport control and so on, it's just not enough time imo.

and of course if there's any delay out of ADL that gives even less time.


Yes, a poochie style waffle of thoughts on this - apologies.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Probably the House it is then.
As I mentioned, I would not buy it off ozbargains/gumtree.
If you get an offer from QF or a colleague on here, great.
To each their own tho.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

That's quite rare on Qantas anyway, especially on US flights. Most of the time all seats are filled with QFF upgrades.

I would be curious whether I could at least get a paid upgrade to Premium Economy, though, especially for such ultra long haul "domestic" flights.

however i have had success with AA on twitter reserving me seats.

There’s another thread on the same problem with seat selection for whY bookings. As above, calling AA was the solution from
Memory.

Will I be able to select the seats normally available to me as a Gold? Also how does T-80 work in this instance? Do I call AA at T-80 to select the best available seat?

Speaking of what is the best available seat for these flights in Y (I understand I can use SeatGuru but would actually like some BIS feedback from people who have flown these routes)?

• QF7 (Boeing 789)
• QF 18 (Boeing 789)

You could try RJ.com with the QF PNR….?

I'll give that one a go. I'm guessing that's just for setting QFF to the AA ticket, or can you actually do seat selection from the RJ site?

 

[SYD]

I'll give that one a go. I'm guessing that's just for setting QFF to the AA ticket, or can you actually do seat selection from the RJ site?

RJ has be known to give access to seat selection when others haven’t. It can’t hurt to try.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Another newbie question, am I calculating the correct status credit accrual on these flights?

• AA 7261 (SYD > DFW) Q fare - 50 SCs
• AA 1761 (DFW > PIT) Q fare - 15 SCs
• AA 1756 (MSP > PHX) V fare - 15 SCs
• AA 2398 (PHX > SFO) G fare - 10 SCs
• AS 1308 (SFO > LAX) X fare - 10 SCs
• AA 7296 (LAX > SYD) Q fare - 45 SCs

Total Accrual: 145 SCs

To calculate this I looked at the table which shows how partner fare codes square up to the various earn categories (i.e. Discount Economy, Economy, Flexible Economy) then proceeded to use the QF status calculator to plug in the route, airline and earn category.

RJ has be known to give access to seat selection when others haven’t. It can’t hurt to try.

Gave the RJ site a try using both the AA booking code and the QF partner booking code provided and both error'd out. Will have to give AA a call.

-RooFlyer88

 

[SYD]

Gave the RJ site a try using both the AA booking code and the QF partner booking code provided and both error'd out. Will have to give AA a call.

Yeah, I wouldn’t expect AA PNR to work there (or anywhere other than AA.com).

Does the booking appear in your QF MMB? Or have you tried to open it using QF MMB (again, not with an AA PNR).

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Yeah, I wouldn’t expect AA PNR to work there (or anywhere other than AA.com).

Does the booking appear in your QF MMB? Or have you tried to open it using QF MMB (again, not with an AA PNR).

If I enter the QF booking code provided by AA, I have no issues accessing QF MMB and even adding the trip to my QF account (but again, can't select seats). However, entering either the AA code or the QF PNR code provided by AA results in it erroring out on the RJ site. I will note that this trip was booked by a TA, namely CMT.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

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?

Let's take a step back for just a second. First thing you need to think of is what class of travel you are flying with QF and what frequent flyer status you hold. This will dictate what rules apply to you when it comes to entry into the QF lounge. For each passenger holding Qantas Gold (OneWorld Sapphire) or better status, a Qantas club membership or travelling in business class can bring themselves and one guest in (Source). So for instance if both you and your wife hold Qantas Gold status, there should be no problem guesting the kiddos in. If for some reason you find yourself short here, the next thing would be looking at whether you hold any Qantas lounge Guest passes. There's a couple of ways to earn them such as with some Qantas credit cards (AmEx Qantas Ultimate comes to mind). In addition, last year, as part of Qantas' apology for having Alan Joyce as CEO, they gave Gold QFF members two lounge visit passes as an offering. Unsure if you chose those but if you did, those in theory could be used here I think.

Now let's take a further step back. There is an implicit assumption that you will want to use the Qantas international business lounge. Having been there, it's an okay lounge, don't get me wrong but I would be negligent to not point out the other lounges at the international terminal that may be accessible to you, namely:

• AmEx Centurion card (accessible with an AmEx Platinum card and some AmEx credit cards which have centurion lounge access as a benefit such as AmEx Qantas Ultimate)
• The House lounge (accessible with Priority Pass which is a benefit offered by some credit cards including the AmEx Platinum). I'm not sure what the buy-in cost is, but might be worth a consideration, especially if one books in advance. Overall, I didn't find it as crowded as the Business lounge although I will concede the Qantas buffet was better
• The Plaza Premium lounge (accessible with some credit cards). It's also possible to buy into the lounge. TBH I haven't been here but something to consider if the price is right.

Hope that helps.

-RooFlyer88

 

[serfty]

they are valid for both domestic and international (though one use only)

To be clear, there are several types of passes. Two of the more common types are:

"Domestic" - Valid for Qantas Clubs within Australia

"General" - Valid for International Business Lounges and Qantas Clubs within Australia.