Using FF points to book business class flights

[garybatz]

That's a piece of cake:
AwardGrabber

awardgrabber lists the Qantas calculation as 355 days, not 353. A mistake somewhere?

 

[Princess Fiona]

awardgrabber lists the Qantas calculation as 355 days, not 353. A mistake somewhere?

Noted but its easy to add two days onto the date calculated. In any case QF awards on other airlines eg CX are available further out than 353 days

 

[legroom]

Just wishing to learn from the resident gurus here.

With the 353 days rule, one could book a return trip that far ahead.

However, with the return date being 353 days ahead, it means the departure date would - by definition - have to be some weeks / months ahead (ex-AUS).

How do you - the gurus - resolve that issue of selecting the departure date while maximising the chance of an award seat still available for that (it would be less than 353 days at that stage)?

Or, should you just book a single outbound trip first (say 353 days in advance) and then followed up some weeks / months later with the return trip when it is released (say 353 days + duration of your travel)?

But it would then push up the points cost being 2x single trips.

Am I missing something there ?

 

[cjd600]

Just wishing to learn from the resident gurus here.

With the 353 days rule, one could book a return trip that far ahead.

However, with the return date being 353 days ahead, it means the departure date would - by definition - have to be some weeks / months ahead (ex-AUS).

How do you - the gurus - resolve that issue of selecting the departure date while maximising the chance of an award seat still available for that (it would be less than 353 days at that stage)?

Or, should you just book a single outbound trip first (say 353 days in advance) and then followed up some weeks / months later with the return trip when it is released (say 353 days + duration of your travel)?

But it would then push up the points cost being 2x single trips.

Am I missing something there ?

Book as 2 singles, lock in the departure, and cross your fingers (and be flexible) around the return.
Booking as 2 x one-way does not itself impact points/ASA cost

 

[drewbles]

No. Two seats one day same route and one seat the following week, all school holidays/easter though. Was on at 10am to get them.
i am lowly bronze and had the same availability as my friend who was sitting next to me booking using her husbands points who is platinum.

How far out, on what destinations, in which cabin? It's highly possible there was just enough availability. I've confirmed many times that WP has more than PS/NB (not sure about SG, I didn't know any SG people who I could compare with when I checked last).

 

[drewbles]

Are you sure ?

Seems different from what was noted earlier and elsewhere.

As seat selection is status based, I doubt if award seats are not.

Also, P1 (but not WP) could request seats to be released for awards. Again, status counts there.

WP can certainly request it (I've done it many times). It's not guaranteed, but a quick phone call and a service fee later, you usually get the seats you need =)

 

[legroom]

WP can certainly request it (I've done it many times). It's not guaranteed, but a quick phone call and a service fee later, you usually get the seats you need =)

Thanks for the info.

Just curious, could WPs request seats to be released ahead of the 353-day rule, or only within that rule (on days where seats are not generally available) ?

Would P1 (or CL) be any different there (outside the 353-day rule)?

And if beyond the 353-day rule, how far ahead was that ?

1-2 days or ??? weeks

May not be possible as QF timetable is only 353 days in advance. But truthfully, I do not know.

Thank you