Upgradeable Fare Classes for a few dollars more.

[serfty]

The Qantas web site booking engine can be a pain in that it does not supply the actual booking class when looking for flights.

This week I was booking a HKG return flight for August and was noting the specials. For this trip I need to return on QF128 via SYD due to timings.

The best "sale" fare I could find for the three sector MEL-HKG-xSYD-MEL trip was about $1140. This 'sale' T&C indicated it would be upgradeable; i.e. of N/O/Q class. I was surprised to note a "saver" fare for the same routing would be $30 more.

I have a few QFF points ATM, so after a little consideration I went for this 'saver' fare (which booked into V class). The upgrade requests have been lodged.

Anyway, back to the fares. ...

Is it normal there would be less than 3% difference in the price between these fare classes? It certainly is greater than that for most domestic fares.

 

[JohnK]

Is it normal there would be less than 3% difference in the price between these fare classes? It certainly is greater than that for most domestic fares.

For my last trip SYD-BNE-SIN-MEL-SYD in April the sale fare was ~$1120 in N/O class and not upgradeable with points. In order to go to a V class fare (upgrdeable with points) I had to pay $75 each way, i.e $150 if wanting to upgrade both ways. In the end I just opted to pay the $75 to turn the SIN-MEL into V class which in the end I didn't try to upgrade anyway which was a waste of money paid to change classes.

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

Is it normal there would be less than 3% difference in the price between these fare classes? It certainly is greater than that for most domestic fares.

I dont know - dont follow Oz-asia fares. However on several occassions I have seen fare oddities whereby higher booking class (or even cabin) has lower fare (and not more restrictive) than lower booking class.

 

[oz_mark]

I dont know - dont follow Oz-asia fares. However on several occassions I have seen fare oddities whereby higher booking class (or even cabin) has lower fare (and not more restrictive) than lower booking class.

I have seen this happen a few times as well. I have actually seen economy priced higher than business

I have also had a couple of cases where I have booked an red-e-deal with two sectors and one of the sectors has been ticketed in a super-saver class.

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

I have seen this happen a few times as well. I have actually seen economy priced higher than business .

business cheaper than economy (at least some booking classes) is not uncommon - eg intra-europe

 

[FlyFirst]

Hi all

To the original poster - know exactly the issue you are talking about - however there is an even easier way to secure V class without paying any extra - and that is to go via a travel agent.

In Nov last year I flew to HKG - the fare difference on the QF website was about $300 to go with an upgradeable (V class) fare.

I went to Flight Centre and got a quote from them, they quoted me the same fare as QF's lowest fare - so I asked if I could upgrade to V class one way (only had status credits to updrage to Biz class one way) and they said the ticket they were issuing was already in V class.

In fact, Flight Centre's V class, with their discount, was $30 lower than QF's O class fare.

With upgrades only given 24 hours prior to departure - going through flight centre meant that if the upgrade hadn't cleared I wouldn't have been out of pocket.

(The low V class fare was widely available through all travel agents, it was just F/C offered te $30 discount and no credit card charge so i went with them).

Regards

FlyFirst

 

[DPG]

I went to Flight Centre and got a quote from them, they quoted me the same fare as QF's lowest fare - so I asked if I could upgrade to V class one way (only had status credits to updrage to Biz class one way) and they said the ticket they were issuing was already in V class.

In fact, Flight Centre's V class, with their discount, was $30 lower than QF's O class fare.

Sadly almost 90% of the time this does not occur anymore as QF have pretty much changed all fares to be 'gross' fares where they set the price and the TA gets a %.

Last year there were a lot more 'nett' fares which are a cost price from QF and often were a lot cheaper than the 'gross' minus % (if that makes sense).

Now days, the fares that QF offer are usually very similar, or identical to a Travel Agent...

D P G

 

[Standby]

A number of airlines web sites actually now offer you the cheapest fare if you want and then advise how much it is to upgrade to a higher fare and any additional benefits like more FF points,able to UPG from that class in prem cabins ,rebookable to other flights free depending on class booked etc...Air Canada have it and DJ have recently upgraded their system but because their FF scheme is based on $ spent its rarely worth paying for a more flexible fare .The xtra FF points on shorthaul really arent worth it either. faster Tier recognition for business flyers is more aspirational.
The reason these things occur is the Nett fare enviroment overlapping published levels is much more convoluted than simple point to point one way fare structures as are used on the Domestic networks

 

[FlyFirst]

Sadly almost 90% of the time this does not occur anymore as QF have pretty much changed all fares to be 'gross' fares where they set the price and the TA gets a %.

Last year there were a lot more 'nett' fares which are a cost price from QF and often were a lot cheaper than the 'gross' minus % (if that makes sense).

Now days, the fares that QF offer are usually very similar, or identical to a Travel Agent...

D P G

Hi DPG

Agree that on many routes the fares can be the same (eg to the USA), however I think there was some discussion re HKG and I did a little bit of research on that today with the following findings (which shows up some anomalies...):

For routing MEL-HKG, 20Oct out, 26 Oct back on QF services only:

Zuji: $1148 incl all fees and taxes - allowed both direct services AND routings via SYD, books into V class (so upgradeable)

QF.com: $1118 (plus $12 cc booking fee so $1130), red-e>deal so allowed upgrades BUT only on direct MEL-HKG QF services (which is lousy for the return flight early in the morning), BUT

QF.com: $1271 'sale' fare allowing any routing (via SYD), and booked in either N, O or Q class so NO upgrades.

Lookslike the zuji fare would give beter flight times for the return and better award availability for upgrades with more flight options (either direct or via Syd for choices).

Interesting that the 'sale' fare was more expensive than the e-deal and the former is not upgradeable!

Regards

FlyFirst

 

[serfty]

FlyFirst, if you go to the October dates on Qantas.com you mentioned for MEL-HKG return and select red e-deal and Other flights*^ from the 1. Select a return price from a fare type area you will be offered the upgradeable V class flights via SYD.

My actual booking is for QF29, QF128 & QF423 and cost $1185 after the CC levy was imposed. (I did pay with my QANTAS ANZ Visa so I'll get a few points for the $12)

 

[FlyFirst]

My actual booking is for QF29, QF128 & QF423 and cost $1185 after the CC levy was imposed. (I did pay with my QANTAS ANZ Visa so I'll get a few points for the $12)

Serfty - Zuji.com is offering the V class fares, as per your routing, for $1148 including all taxes. This comes in about $40 cheaper than Qantas for the same V class fare

Interesting to see though that the 'sale' fares are higher and not upgradeable... guess some people must take them...

Regards

FlyFirst

 

[serfty]

Serfty - Zuji.com is offering the V class fares, as per your routing, for $1148 including all taxes. This comes in about $40 cheaper than Qantas for the same V class fare ...

...
QF.com: $1271 'sale' fare allowing any routing (via SYD), and booked in either N, O or Q class so NO upgrades.

Lookslike the zuji fare would give beter flight times for the return and better award availability for upgrades with more flight options (either direct or via Syd for choices).

Interesting that the 'sale' fare was more expensive than the e-deal and the former is not upgradeable!

Fair enough, I was just pointing out your above quote was incorrect in terms of upgradabilty (as underlined) making the difference not as great as you were implying.

 

[FlyFirst]

Fair enough, I was just pointing out your above quote was incorrect in terms of upgradabilty (as underlined) making the difference not as great as you were implying.

Hi Serfty

The 'SALE' fares - even when selecting 'other flights' are all non-upgradeable as per the booking conditions listed on the QF website.

As I pointed out, there is an anomaly whereby, for HKG (in October at least), the 'red e-deal' fares are cheaper than the 'SALE' fares, and to boot, the red e-deals are upgradeable (as per the booking terms and conditions). You can also select 'other flights' on the red e-deals and these are still sheaper than the 'SALE' fares.

Regards

FlyFirst