Travel Pointers Podcast Discussion

[AFF Editor]

It's not available on Google YouTube Music (formerly Google Podcast)?

This should be available on there now

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music.youtube.com

 

[Chicken]

This should be available on there now

Your browser is deprecated, please upgrade.

music.youtube.com

Yes, started privacy mode, went to web site of YouTube Music, did a search, very first result.

 

[RooFlyer]

just listened to the first podcast on the flight over to JNB. Good stuff.

I too love the Stans. But you need to get out of your comfort zone and go beyond Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Turkmenistan or bust!

 

[Atleastonce]

Just listened the podcast 1. Fantastic to have it back.

 

[Point Hacks]

Episode 2 is now live!

Travel Pointers Episode 2 - Airplane Seat Selection Strategies & Status Matches

In episode 2 of the Travel Pointers podcast, Matt Graham and Chris Chamberlin discuss strategies to get the best seat on the plane, and avoid choosing a windowless window seat (as they once did by accident). Plus, current airline status match opportunities and the latest news.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[Sturat]

I just listened to podcast 2, fantastic.

With regard to seat selection, as Matt and Chris mentioned there is usually a hack to get around and select a seat, e.g if you book a reward seat with Qantas for China Airlines, crazy as it seems, you can go to Czech airlines and select the seat(s), I've done it for flights from Melbourne to Sapporo in January 2025. I think Matt said you couldn't select ANA seats booked through Virgin with points, it is possible, for a domestic flight anyway, as I have done it for a flight in January 2025. On your Virgin E-Ticket it gives you the ANA booking ref that you can use on the ANA japan site.

 

[AFF Editor]

I just listened to podcast 2, fantastic.

With regard to seat selection, as Matt and Chris mentioned there is usually a hack to get around and select a seat, e.g if you book a reward seat with Qantas for China Airlines, crazy as it seems, you can go to Czech airlines and select the seat(s), I've done it for flights from Melbourne to Sapporo in January 2025. I think Matt said you couldn't select ANA seats booked through Virgin with points, it is possible, for a domestic flight anyway, as I have done it for a flight in January 2025. On your Virgin E-Ticket it gives you the ANA booking ref that you can use on the ANA japan site.

Yes, there are a few handy tricks like these where you can use the website of an unrelated alliance partner to select seats. Unfortunately Czech Airlines will cease to exist from late October, so I imagine they will close down their website too - but I find the Saudia website also sometimes works for SkyTeam bookings.

With Oneworld, the Royal Jordanian website sometimes lets you do things you can't do on the operating airline's website.

The issue with selecting ANA seats is with VA codeshare flights (i.e. booked under a Virgin Australia flight number).

 

[Sturat]

Yes, there are a few handy tricks like these where you can use the website of an unrelated alliance partner to select seats. Unfortunately Czech Airlines will cease to exist from late October, so I imagine they will close down their website too - but I find the Saudia website also sometimes works for SkyTeam bookings.

With Oneworld, the Royal Jordanian website sometimes lets you do things you can't do on the operating airline's website.

The issue with selecting ANA seats is with VA codeshare flights (i.e. booked under a Virgin Australia flight number).

Sorry, my misunderstanding about the ANA seats, I thought it would work for both reward and paid tickets made with Virgin Australia.

Thanks for the tips with the other airlines, I love finding new hacks.

 

[Albert Hoffman]

Ep2 was great, good chemistry and banter between the two hosts, enjoyed the discussion about aisle and window seats as it gave me something to think about. These seemingly obvious matters are beneficial for a podcast.

The only suggestion I have is to throw in some global news amongst the aussie stuff, such as Airasia starts flying to Nairobi, when Iberia flies the first 321XLR, Cubana restarts flights to Damascus etc.