Year 3 kid qantas classic rewards tickets

[juddles]

I am probably in a a small outer box here, but I genuinely am amazed at how low the airlines have managed to drive costs. An Australian can pretty much travel to anywhere on the globe for the equivalent of a week or two minimum wage. That is to me, amazing. coughing about seat pitch and food is only allowed by the extreme economy of air travel.

 

[Quickstatus]

Nothing wrong trying to cut corners. A few on AFF have made that an artform and some idolise them for gaming the system.

It's a shame that a 2 year old pays the same airfare or points as an adult. Sure they occupy a seat but do not use anywhere the same amount of food and beverage as an adult.

There used to be a discount for 2-12 year olds. When was that removed?

The marginal savings of 1 child is not significant.
Catering and fuel would be the main items but O can’t see any significant savings. Say 60kg weight, and catering would be “special catering so the cost per tray would be about the same”. Sure less alcohol but I think the average cost will not be affected by 1 passenger.
Airport fees are per aircraft or per head?

 

[Pushka]

If you have young kids like the OP (and I) does, I'd be very surprised he didn't know. It becomes clear as day when you try and book tickets for them, if not before.

And I still can't see where he states he isn't aware of the rules.

Maybe they don’t fly much. Points earnt more from other means.

 

[Pushka]

Absolutely! And it's something I endorse wholeheartedly but generally not at the expense of an innocent 3 year old.

Perhaps I'm not as mercenary as others but the idea of sitting back, clinking champagne flutes while the 3-year old fruit of my loins is further back, irrespective of for how long, is not a corner I'd cut. And certainly not one I'd be asking strangers for tips on how to pull off.

And I’m pretty sure that was never their intent. The child would have a ticket to board but once boarded and my interpretation because OP did say ‘when on board’ have the child come sit with them for take off and the rest of the flight.

My reading was the OP knew the 3 year old needed a seat - that’s why s/he was prepared to get 3 frequent flyer seats and not 2.

In any case if I sounded harsh I apologise.

My interpretation was they needed a ticket to board. Once on board they would share the 2 J seats.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

That is to me, amazing. coughing about seat pitch and food is only allowed by the extreme economy of air travel.

Well, 'yes' but also 'no'. People pay the asking price to fly - if an airline is charging $1000 to fly to Europe, that's what people pay. You don't voluntarily pay $2000 for the same seat.

Unfortunately most airlines have joined the race to the bottom, offering the absolute minimum seat pitch they can. They simply don't give passengers a real choice... it's not like they offer 33 inch pitch with fares $50 above those at 31' pitch.

Yes there are options like premium economy. But those fares are highly inflated. QF charging $5299 for premium economy to London is out of all proportion to the value of the product received. The US carriers offered a good compromise with their 'economy plus' products... $100 extra getsyou regular economy but with 6 inches extra legroom. Most other carriers don't. And from Australia the choices to Europe are pretty limited at an almost standard 31 inches (there are a couple carriers offering a tiny bit more).

So I guess when passengers are complaining about food (or whatever), they are complaining about it as part of a service they have paid the asking price. Not necessarily comparing it to what the price 'could' have been.

 

[juddles]

Well, 'yes' but also 'no'. People pay the asking price to fly - if an airline is charging $1000 to fly to Europe, that's what people pay. You don't voluntarily pay $2000 for the same seat.

Unfortunately most airlines have joined the race to the bottom, offering the absolute minimum seat pitch they can. They simply don't give passengers a real choice... it's not like they offer 33 inch pitch with fares $50 above those at 31' pitch.

Yes there are options like premium economy. But those fares are highly inflated. QF charging $5299 for premium economy to London is out of all proportion to the value of the product received. The US carriers offered a good compromise with their 'economy plus' products... $100 extra getsyou regular economy but with 6 inches extra legroom. Most other carriers don't. And from Australia I the choices to Europe are pretty limited at an almost standard 31 inches (there are a couple carriers offering a tiny bit more).

Airlines offer what customers will pay for. That "race to the bottom" is driven by customers, not airlines.

 

[Toad]

Wish the OP could of shared where he was thinking of going as depending on the amount of points and destination he may be able to get 3 J seats and forget PE

 

[JohnK]

On Qantas awards? Not since at least as far back as 1994 has there been a child discount.

I believe there was a discount on revenue airfares for 2-12 year olds and just this week I was discussing points awards with someone and there was mention of discount on points cost as well. Not sure when or which airline.

 

[Toad]

Well, 'yes' but also 'no'. People pay the asking price to fly - if an airline is charging $1000 to fly to Europe, that's what people pay. You don't voluntarily pay $2000 for the same seat.

Unfortunately most airlines have joined the race to the bottom, offering the absolute minimum seat pitch they can. They simply don't give passengers a real choice... it's not like they offer 33 inch pitch with fares $50 above those at 31' pitch.

Yes there are options like premium economy. But those fares are highly inflated. QF charging $5299 for premium economy to London is out of all proportion to the value of the product received. The US carriers offered a good compromise with their 'economy plus' products... $100 extra getsyou regular economy but with 6 inches extra legroom. Most other carriers don't. And from Australia I the choices to Europe are pretty limited at an almost standard 31 inches (there are a couple carriers offering a tiny bit more).

Yes the QF $5299 for PE to London is ridiculous when you can currently fly MH return J from $5399

 

[serfty]

I believe there was a discount on revenue airfares for 2-12 year olds and just this week I was discussing points awards with someone and there was mention of discount on points cost as well. Not sure when or which airline.

Well this is a Qantas thread regarding awards.

Never has been a discount for those as far as I can tell.

There certainly were discounts on revenue fares but mainly only with full fare buckets.

In 1998 SWMBO and I travelled in business class over three weeks on 37500 point awards MEL-PER-BME-AYQ-ASP-CNS-BNE-MEL.

6 YO mini serfty flew the same flights in the J fare bucket at 50% of the adult fare

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Never has been a discount for those as far as I can tell.

Agree. Can't ever recall a discount on awards, on any airline actually.

 

[Vic]

Also there’d be a problem as the adult with the economy seat hasn’t paid the business class fare, so they wouldn’t be allowed to come up. The two adults could swap seats for the sector though.

Actually 3 adult seats would be purchased in that case. 2 in business and 1 in economy.

Perhaps I'm not as mercenary as others but the idea of sitting back, clinking champagne flutes while the 3-year old fruit of my loins is further back, irrespective of for how long, is not a corner I'd cut. And certainly not one I'd be asking strangers for tips on how to pull off.

Not sure how you get that inference. Where does the OP say that's the plan

The marginal savings of 1 child is not significant.
Catering and fuel would be the main items but O can’t see any significant savings. Say 60kg weight, and catering would be “special catering so the cost per tray would be about the same”. Sure less alcohol but I think the average cost will not be affected by 1 passenger.
Airport fees are per aircraft or per head?

How much is 60 kg of frieght worth?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Actually 3 adult seats would be purchased in that case. 2 in business and 1 in economy.

The three year old can't be ticketed in economy by themselves. That means they have to be ticketed, along with one adult, in business class. The remaining adult would be ticketed in economy. As they are ticketed in economy they cannot come up to business class to sit as they haven't paid the correct fare (and that's not considering any other issues such as two pax not being able to sit in the one seat because there aren't sufficient seat belts etc).

 

[Vic]

The three year old can't be ticketed in economy by themselves. That means they have to be ticketed, along with one adult, in business class. The remaining adult would be ticketed in economy. As they are ticketed in economy they cannot come up to business class to sit as they haven't paid the correct fare (and that's not considering any other issues such as two pax not being able to sit in the one seat because there aren't sufficient seat belts etc).

Exactly as you said, 1 adult in economy and 2 adults in business. The Child is paying an ADULT fare. Certainly qantas do allow people in economy to come up to business, been there, done that.

2 pax might be able to sit in 1 seat, but may not do so when the seat belt sign is on. But the safe requirement is addressed by the physical adult having a seat in economy when needed.

 

[Quickstatus]

Exactly as you said, 1 adult in economy and 2 adults in business. The Child is paying an ADULT fare. Certainly qantas do allow people in economy to come up to business, been there, done that.

2 pax might be able to sit in 1 seat, but may not do so when the seat belt sign is on. But the safe requirement is addressed by the physical adult having a seat in economy when needed.

60kg saving in self loading freight does not necessarily mean 60kg non self loading freight is there to be added - this is partially because the space for self loading freight is different to non self loading freight and despatch don’t necessarily say “we got a kid” so can load another 60kg.

So the price cannot be tied to an apparent weight saving or an assumption that they can uplift revenue freight

.....

I must be missing something sorry. Is it even relevant if an adult ticket is purchased for a child?.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Exactly as you said, 1 adult in economy and 2 adults in business. The Child is paying an ADULT fare. Certainly qantas do allow people in economy to come up to business, been there, done that.

2 pax might be able to sit in 1 seat, but may not do so when the seat belt sign is on. But the safe requirement is addressed by the physical adult having a seat in economy when needed.

But you are proposing 3 adults can sit in business class when only 2 adult business class fares have been paid. 3 can only sit there if three fares have been paid. Plus there won't be catering for them.

Although you may have come up from economy to business class, this is not a common occurrence.

 

[Quickstatus]

The other assumption is there is enough space for 1 adult and 1 child in a J seat irrespective of the seatbelt issue. Actually the J seat is not that wide. Child will have to sit on lap. I can't imagine holding a 3 year old on my lap for any period of time on a flight. Been there done it for a 1.5 year old.

 

[JohnK]

The other assumption is there is enough space for 1 adult and 1 child in a J seat irrespective of the seatbelt issue. Actually the J seat is not that wide. Child will have to sit on lap. I can't imagine holding a 3 year old on my lap for any period of time on a flight. Been there done it for a 1.5 year old.

Wouldn't that depend on how much the child weighs? Not a huge difference between 2 years old and 3 years old.

 

[Quickstatus]

Wouldn't that depend on how much the child weighs? Not a huge difference between 2 years old and 3 years old.

Unfortunately no because the airline uses an age basis at the first hurdle. This means that when you buy a ticket they look at a kids age (via DOB) to determine whether the child can be a lap child or need its own seat. But yes some 3 year olds are smaller than a 2 year old and some 2 years olds are larger than a 3 year old.

And inflight, the cabin crew will know the kid is a 3 year old.

 

[Shark bait]

Can give you our experience traveling international with a 3 yo in J (hopefully help the OP).
A few stats first - he is 4 in July, weighs 14kgs.
On every Qantas flight we have been on, the FAs have offered a lap belt for us to use if we wanted the little man to sit with us on take off or landing. Some FAs have mistakingly wanted us to use a lap belt until we have shown he has his own seat .
We have never had to use the lap belt though since he was 2yo since he is very comfortable travelling in his own seat since he turned 3.
But the point I was making, the Qantas FAs have always offered at lap belt as an option for take off and landing. Never disputed. This is in J international and Y domestic. Interesting, they have never checked his boarding pass if he even had his own seat on boarding. It’s not till the CSM comes to say hello personally to him due to his QFF status.
Hope that helps the OP.