Why are QR Awards so difficult via VA?

[MrJetset]

Mainly a OW flyer, but have started flying VA J domestically and been helping friends search for QR awards for the last few months. This week I started looking for my own QR via VFF and on every occasion:

• You'll find the seat/s on VA's search which first shows Y;
• You can see J is available as it's got the Purple Banner (not greyed out) and you click the right Red button to scroll;
• The seat appears with the full points or points and cash cost;
• In some cases this has also worked for F on routes like SYD-CAI and CAI-SYD.
• By scrolling through the options, not even selecting the fare, the seats immediately disappear if you don't book them immediately.
• There is no rhyme or reason for their return. It's not a booking system hold for a seat 5, 20, mins or even an hour.

The only option is to keep frantically checking over a series of days until it re appears and instantly book it. In the end, we were able to secure 6 QR F tickets over 2 separate days by calling the WP line as soon as they appeared. They confirmed they can only book what we can see on the web.

It even happened last night when I found ARN-BNE on a date, I scroll to a week earlier and the original date disappeared.

Why does this happen and is there any workaround?

 

[Phoenix-1]

I'm curious, does this happen if you're not logged in?

 

[MattA]

It even happened last night when I found ARN-BNE on a date, I scroll to a week earlier and the original date disappeared.

Why does this happen and is there any workaround?

I have no idea but just to say I've been monitoring specific dates for availability and I've also seen this happen where QR J awards pop up and then vanish if you for example click to the previous day in the 7 day view at the top of the search results and then back again. One time I saw an entire day's worth of flights available and then disappear. I assumed it was phantom availability so interesting to hear you were actually able to book some of them.

I'm usually searching not logged in. I have the queries for the dates I'm interested in saved as bookmarks so I can quickly check a bunch of specific dates by opening them all in new tabs.

 

[MrJetset]

Thanks for the replies.

I have not managed to book because I can't find the availability again, but a good friend and I were checking feverishly for 4 days every 15 minutes in Dec. When he found them, he called the Plat line and had them hold the seats while he transferred the points from his AMEX. He booked 3 F seats on 2 separate days, splitting their family so it absolutely was not phantom.

I have the saved searches in the app, but wondering whether I should not log in and use incognito mode?

I am fairly convinced this is an issue given I found the route I want on several dates but the issue keeps replicating.