Has anyone had success with the call-up "Marginal" xASA's?

[hossein_au]

I couldn't agree with you more! I think I'll end up going BAEC for flights and SQ for point dumps.

Haven't looked into SQ, but I think they also have carrier-imposed fees similar to QF? I was thinking of sending points to EK, but I noticed they charge carrier-imposed fees of over $1100 for a J return to Europe!! At least to their credit they spell it out for what it is instead of hiding it among other taxes and fees. I am not sure if they have "enhanced" their offerings out of AU in order to make QF happy or they have spread the love universally.

 

[medhead]

Has anyone noticed there is no Flex Economy, Flex Pre Eco, Flex Bus, or Flex First in the table?? How come the new fairer and simpler calculator has entries that do not appear in the earn table at all??!! Has anyone at Qantas heard about database design (normalisation, etc)?

Did you scroll to the very bottom. The only one missing is flexible first.

 

[Mr_Orange]

Haven't looked into SQ, but I think they also have carrier-imposed fees similar to QF? I was thinking of sending points to EK, but I noticed they charge carrier-imposed fees of over $1100 for a J return to Europe!! At least to their credit they spell it out for what it is instead of hiding it among other taxes and fees. I am not sure if they have "enhanced" their offerings out of AU in order to make QF happy or they have spread the love universally.

They have aligned with QF.

 

[hossein_au]

They have aligned with QF.

So, their flights from, say, NZ or SIN, will attract less-punishing carrier-imposed fees?

 

[hossein_au]

Have a look here - it lists X, Z, U and P fares booked as an ASA as earning.

Frequent Flyer - About the Program - Terms & Conditions

Did you scroll to the very bottom. The only one missing is flexible first.

Bottom of the web page lists the same earn rates the calculator uses. The table, at the address given above, lists fare buckets in each of the categories. Fare buckets are the industry-standard of distinguishing, well, fare buckets. Therefore this is the table one should use to see which earning category one is in. Hope this makes sense?

Edit: Just saw the very last table with the fare buckets... Fairer? Don't know. Simpler, my back side...

 

[Gold Member]

That's not exactly correct, assuming you're referring to Australian Domestic not US domestic. Post 30 June ASA booked in C and J will earn flexible business. ASA booked in D, I and U (only if booked before 1 July) will earn as Business.

So marginal ASA will still earn at business levels. The changing of the distance requirement for Australia domestic flights means that the SC earning can be upto 33% lower. For example ADL-SYD booked prior to the announcement (end of March sometime) earns 60 SC. Booked post the march cutoff date it earns 40SC. Edit in fact Flexi Business only earns 45 SC on the route.

Any route between 601 miles and 750 miles, and 1201 miles and 1500 miles, and >2400 miles will earn less

I'd strongly suggest people check the actual earning before they cancel and re-book. There is a risk they'll earn less.

My comments were indeed made in reference to Australian Domestic. I have spoken with several Premium desk agents who have gone as far making a full booking in U class (the only class for domestic business booked as an ASA), forward dated to beyond July 1, and then calculated the status credit earn using their booking system. On all occasions and for all routes that I setup, domestic JASAs flown before July 1 earned the same status credits we have today. All JASAs flown July 1 onwards earned in the 'Flexible Business' category. I even confirmed this with two Supervisors on two separate occasions.

I can understand the confusion though since its not documented anywhere and none of the agents knew the answer to my question until they made a shell booking and went through the motions. But please confirm this with your agent before you cancel and rebook all your JASAs and blame me!

 

[amaroo]

Haven't looked into SQ, but I think they also have carrier-imposed fees similar to QF?

Undertaking due diligence as I post

SYD-LHR-SYD in suites/first appears to be 265,000 points ....... don't know about co-pay, yet.

 

[medhead]

My comments were indeed made in reference to Australian Domestic. I have spoken with several Premium desk agents who have gone as far making a full booking in U class (the only class for domestic business booked as an ASA), forward dated to beyond July 1, and then calculated the status credit earn using their booking system. On all occasions and for all routes that I setup, domestic JASAs flown before July 1 earned the same status credits we have today. All JASAs flown July 1 onwards earned in the 'Flexible Business' category. I even confirmed this with two Supervisors on two separate occasions.

I can understand the confusion though since its not documented anywhere and none of the agents knew the answer to my question until they made a shell booking and went through the motions. But please confirm this with your agent before you cancel and rebook all your JASAs and blame me!

I feel you have been misinformed. Here is the very last table I mentioned. It shows U as business not flexible business. This is direct from the QFF T&Cs

View attachment 30563

There is also that the SC earn has been reduced on some routes by increasing the distance. You must be lucky to not be caught.

On a technical note any fare class can be purchased as an Any Seat Award. This thread is about ASA using U (the marginal ASA). But you did mention JASA, which technically can use any of DCIJ or U.

 

[Mr_Orange]

My comments were indeed made in reference to Australian Domestic. I have spoken with several Premium desk agents who have gone as far making a full booking in U class (the only class for domestic business booked as an ASA), forward dated to beyond July 1, and then calculated the status credit earn using their booking system. On all occasions and for all routes that I setup, domestic JASAs flown before July 1 earned the same status credits we have today. All JASAs flown July 1 onwards earned in the 'Flexible Business' category. I even confirmed this with two Supervisors on two separate occasions.

I can understand the confusion though since its not documented anywhere and none of the agents knew the answer to my question until they made a shell booking and went through the motions. But please confirm this with your agent before you cancel and rebook all your JASAs and blame me!

Interesting, thanks for the update. I have 2 domestic JASAs booked for post 1st July with plans to book another before they disappear on 30th June.

 

[Gold Member]

I feel you have been misinformed. Here is the very last table I mentioned. It shows U as business not flexible business. This is direct from the QFF T&Cs

There is also that the SC earn has been reduced on some routes by increasing the distance. You must be lucky to not be caught.

On a technical note any fare class can be purchased as an Any Seat Award. This thread is about ASA using U (the marginal ASA). But you did mention JASA, which technically can use any of DCIJ or U.

I can't refute the published evidence you've offered, however I swear that the table did not include 'U' class 2-3 weeks ago when I pursued this with several knowledgeable agents. None of us (with 5-6 agents) could find anything on the entire QF website that identified how 'U' would be treated post July 1st.

Just 10 minutes ago I booked another JASA (MEL-SYD-ASP-SYD-ASP) for travel in June 2015 with 'Andrea' who seemed like she'd been doing MASAs all her life. Within 4 minutes the booking was completed and to avoid any confusion, she reconfirmed that this booking in 'U' class would earn at Business Flexible rates.

I guess we'll soon find out in a few days... shame we're getting contradictory information yet again though.

Anyone else able to confirm/deny new earn rates for domestic 'U' post July 1st?

 

[ketsuzei]

I can't refute the published evidence you've offered, however I swear that the table did not include 'U' class 2-3 weeks ago when I pursued this with several knowledgeable agents. None of us (with 5-6 agents) could find anything on the entire QF website that identified how 'U' would be treated post July 1st.

It's been there all along:

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....out-program-changes-58914-24.html#post1017181

 

[Mr_Orange]

I feel you have been misinformed. Here is the very last table I mentioned. It shows U as business not flexible business. This is direct from the QFF T&Cs

View attachment 30563

There is also that the SC earn has been reduced on some routes by increasing the distance. You must be lucky to not be caught.

On a technical note any fare class can be purchased as an Any Seat Award. This thread is about ASA using U (the marginal ASA). But you did mention JASA, which technically can use any of DCIJ or U.

Damn it .

 

[medhead]

I can't refute the published evidence you've offered, however I swear that the table did not include 'U' class 2-3 weeks ago when I pursued this with several knowledgeable agents. None of us (with 5-6 agents) could find anything on the entire QF website that identified how 'U' would be treated post July 1st.

Just 10 minutes ago I booked another JASA (MEL-SYD-ASP-SYD-ASP) for travel in June 2015 with 'Andrea' who seemed like she'd been doing MASAs all her life. Within 4 minutes the booking was completed and to avoid any confusion, she reconfirmed that this booking in 'U' class would earn at Business Flexible rates.

I guess we'll soon find out in a few days... shame we're getting contradictory information yet again though.

Anyone else able to confirm/deny new earn rates for domestic 'U' post July 1st?

I'm completely unsurprised that you, and 5 others, couldn't find it. I knew it existed and where it was, yet did about 5 laps around the Qantas website during the HKG lounge crawl trying to find that table.

I really hope that things work out as per what you've been told.

 

[ketsuzei]

Gold Member has a very good case for being credited with Flexible Business SCs given what he's repeatedly been told.

The rest of us, not so much.

 

[BD1959]

This afternoon booked what is likely to be my last MASA: MEL-WLG-MEL for April next year. Excellent CSE - wish I got her name - had fully expected this to be MEL-WLG-SYD-MEL as there were no direct WLG-MEL. She offered to see if she could get some U opened for me - I was doubtful and didn't really want to risk losing the one seat direct outbound waiting, but promised she'd get immediate notification, which she did.

She then had to "restart the workflow" and when I asked if this was fully flexible she had to go look it up "as I haven't done one of these for a while" and then stated there was a cash penalty of $100 for cancellation (at least that's what I think she said!!) All up, 72000K points and $426.85 co-pay (including cc fee) for 160SCs.

Looking at the invoice, ticketed in U - but I can't seem to be able to find the cancellation details or even fare basis - there is a worrying "Qantas Award (Partial Payment by CUSTOMER)" statement in the Tax Information box ... is this my "proof" this is a MASA??

Regards,

BD

 

[Deleted User]

This afternoon booked what is likely to be my last MASA: MEL-WLG-MEL for April next year. Excellent CSE - wish I got her name - had fully expected this to be MEL-WLG-SYD-MEL as there were no direct WLG-MEL. She offered to see if she could get some U opened for me - I was doubtful and didn't really want to risk losing the one seat direct outbound waiting, but promised she'd get immediate notification, which she did.

She then had to "restart the workflow" and when I asked if this was fully flexible she had to go look it up "as I haven't done one of these for a while" and then stated there was a cash penalty of $100 for cancellation (at least that's what I think she said!!) All up, 72000K points and $426.85 co-pay (including cc fee) for 160SCs.

Looking at the invoice, ticketed in U - but I can't seem to be able to find the cancellation details or even fare basis - there is a worrying "Qantas Award (Partial Payment by CUSTOMER)" statement in the Tax Information box ... is this my "proof" this is a MASA??

Regards,

BD

My last MASA (Confirmed as it posted both SC's and points) also had this, if this is what you are talking about....
View attachment 30574

Better you look up the actual fare class to be sure. It should be "UBPASROW" Fare Basis to be a true MASA...
View attachment 30575

 

[yo yo ma]

Re: Successful ASA Bookings booked at classic rates Reference Guide

I just tried booking a BNE-SYD-BNE flight for May 2015... the CSA quoted me 32,000 points plus $430. Has the co-payment gone up or should I keep trying?

 

[Deleted User]

Re: Successful ASA Bookings booked at classic rates Reference Guide

I just tried booking a BNE-SYD-BNE flight for May 2015... the CSA quoted me 32,000 points plus $430. Has the co-payment gone up or should I keep trying?

Co-pay should be half that I believe...

 

[BD1959]

My last MASA (Confirmed as it posted both SC's and points) also had this, if this is what you are talking about....
View attachment 30574

Better you look up the actual fare class to be sure. It should be "UBPASROW" Fare Basis to be a true MASA...
View attachment 30575

Hi shintaro10x,

Your ticket is obviously Domestic, my Tax Information (being an International Ticket) states:
Qantas AWARD| Partial payment by
CUSTOMER
GST does not apply to international travel.
No tax invoice will be issued.

Where do you find the Fare Class details??

Regards,

BD

 

[ketsuzei]

"Qantas Award (Partial Payment by CUSTOMER)" statement in the Tax Information box ...

BD

That's generally a good sign... what does it say under your Activity Statement when you log in to your account?