Waitlisting Process

[albatross710]

I'm currently putting together a family redemption for 4 J returns for January christmas holidays.

I've had a good year for redemption travel and have used up a steady bank of miles. I need to not only find the 4 seats on each leg but also wait for the points to come through from my spending on the Westpac Krisflyer card.

I had excellent telephone service from a CSO this morning. My reason for callin gin the first place was fo rthe fligth that I was trying to process online the website was not processing it as I needed a top up of a 'negative' number of miles. hmmm.

Anyway, the CSO managed to not only confirm and ticket another sector but she also confirmed the fourth person for us. I had three of us confirmed and ticketed. She was able to process a booking for me and give me until 2 days before departure to find the miles. This resolved my problem of findng enough miles. The risk with this was that someone else would have taken the available redemptions before I had the points to reserve them.

So, as of this moment, 4 months before travel everyone has at least a set of confirmed flights to/fro Europe, a 'waitlist' (expiring two days before departure) that we can all be on the same flights and most importantly I have another four months to accumulate the miles. Feels like a win-win to me.

A similar thing happened for last year's Christmas travel. When the CSO became ware that I already had 2-3 people on a sector, they were able to manipulate things to get us all confirmed on the same flights.

As always, this was CSO dependant, I've had other agents tell me this can't be done.

I can go home tonight and get people practising their German....Guten Tag and now dreaming of a white christmas.

Alby

 

[k3nnis]

what routing is this?
Are they all J savers?

 

[albatross710]

what routing is this?
Are they all J savers?

Jsavers - BNE_LHR

They could see Saver options that weren't being returned as Saver availability online.

 

[k3nnis]

Thanks. That's awesome. I can never find 3 X J savers SYD-SIN-SYD so maybe I should give them a call. Do you have status with SQ?

Also that means I should pretty much always call up to book if I wanted 3 X J savers, I can get 2 X easily but not 3.

Also do they charge you some miles to book over the phone?

Jsavers - BNE_LHR

They could see Saver options that weren't being returned as Saver availability online.

 

[Alanslegal]

I am trying to get a Y award flight on 30/9 SIN-SYD and Y seems near full, I am waitlisted on some various sectors but not liking my chances at all. I think I will end up flying Scoot on 1/10 for an OMG 2am departure.

 

[albatross710]

I am trying to get a Y award flight on 30/9 SIN-SYD and Y seems near full, I am waitlisted on some various sectors but not liking my chances at all. I think I will end up flying Scoot on 1/10 for an OMG 2am departure.

When I search i see good redemption availability.


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[TH="class: depFilterFlightTd, colspan: 9, align: center"][h=2]Departures - Sunday 30 September 2012[/h]Any time

Any time Morning flights Afternoon flights Evening flights Clear selections
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• 
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  [*=left]SQ212Singapore Airlines(Boeing 777-300)
  [*=left]DepartsSydney (SYD)08:05 (30 Sep)
  [*=left]ArrivesSingapore (SIN)14:25 (30 Sep)
  [*=left]Total travel time8hrs 20mins

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• 
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  [*=left]SQ242Singapore Airlines(Airbus A330-300)
  [*=left]DepartsSydney (SYD)17:50 (30 Sep)
  [*=left]ArrivesSingapore (SIN)00:10 (01 Oct)
  [*=left]Total travel time8hrs 20mins

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• 
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  [*=left]SQ232Singapore Airlines(Airbus Industrie A380-800)
  [*=left]DepartsSydney (SYD)11:15 (30 Sep)
  [*=left]ArrivesSingapore (SIN)17:40 (30 Sep)
  [*=left]Total travel time8hrs 25mins

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[albatross710]

Thanks. That's awesome. I can never find 3 X J savers SYD-SIN-SYD so maybe I should give them a call. Do you have status with SQ?

Also that means I should pretty much always call up to book if I wanted 3 X J savers, I can get 2 X easily but not 3.

Also do they charge you some miles to book over the phone?

My experience has been to do the initial bookings online. Then call and explain that I can't get the third or fourth requirement. That seems to work for me.

I've always get the online discount when they work from an existing online booking gone bad.

 

[k3nnis]

Ok thanks for the info. So in my case book the 2 x J savers and then call to get a 3rd.

My experience has been to do the initial bookings online. Then call and explain that I can't get the third or fourth requirement. That seems to work for me.

I've always get the online discount when they work from an existing online booking gone bad.

 

[k3nnis]

Albatross: Do you have status with SQ?

 

[Alanslegal]

When I search i see good redemption availability.

But I need to depart Singapore and heading to Sydney

 

[albatross710]

silly me...me bad.

looks like school holiday returns are playing with your plans.

even J savers are waitlisted and only a few random J Standards.

would you consider a *A redemption back via BKK with TG? But even this might be too early. Couldn't see anything useful.

 

[cove]

Alby have you looked out of Manchester and /or Amsterdam as both are an easy train ride to get to a starting point?

 

[albatross710]

Alby have you looked out of Manchester and /or Amsterdam as both are an easy train ride to get to a starting point?

I did consider them. Mrs Albatross had an average experience on the 777ER in/out of MAN last year so I decided that the A380 would be more interesting. Since my first posting, everything has really fallen into place.

I do need to pickup some internal European flights but I can leave them until closer to our travel dates.

I love it when arranging internal flights like those...where they cost less than a taxi from home to BNE.

Blue Skies

Alby

 

[cove]

Well Alby all you need to do now is watch Chevy Chase in European Vacation and you will be having a top time in Europe.

 

[albatross710]

Well Alby all you need to do now is watch Chevy Chase in European Vacation and you will be having a top time in Europe.

Chevy is my role model.

 

[Pukka]

Looking to book 4 flights BNE - HKT in January with SAL all available except the HKT to SIN back which is wait list. What exactly happens with wait list ? I've never booked that way before its only economy as I've got the kids so I'm guessing it should become available but what happens if it doesn't and there are none left to buy and I have the SIN-BNE flights already booked??

I love Chevvy Chase I saw the "mooooon river" clip the other day

 

[albatross710]

Looking to book 4 flights BNE - HKT in January with SAL all available except the HKT to SIN back which is wait list. What exactly happens with wait list ? I've never booked that way before its only economy as I've got the kids so I'm guessing it should become available but what happens if it doesn't and there are none left to buy and I have the SIN-BNE flights already booked??

I love Chevvy Chase I saw the "mooooon river" clip the other day

Are you looking to make redemption bookings? My experience is with redemptions.

I guess it might also be worth just calling up straight away to the call centre and asking if they can get you 4 pax, maybe they can just help out up front and remove the uncertainty. Not all CSO are as proficient as others, so if at first you dont succeed, call and call again on different shifts.

Generally I make the bookings in lower numbers initially, ie confirm and ticket for two, then search on the SQ site for an alternate available flight with a waitlist for the same flight as the two people confirmed. Then call up and ask.

With redemptions I always keep a BATNA up my sleeve, Best Alternative To No Agreement. For instance, one or two of us might travel a sector separately.


As a rule, I would like to work less and travel more.

Alby

 

[cove]

BATNA eh!
I try for BATTER .....Best Alternative To The Extra Room. Instead of flying in Suites you travel on lightly booked J and First Fights to allow you to use 2 seats on long hauls with SQ. One for dining and one for sleeping.
Try travelling after the start of Chinese New Year to score extra seats.