- Joined
- Jun 7, 2006
- Posts
- 11,562
- Qantas
- LT Gold
Time to get on the move again.
Tomorrow around noon it’s on the bird PER-DRW and then on Friday morning DRW-GOV to start a 12-night journey across Arnhem Land back to Darwin and then home after another night in DRW.
Here’s the route:
Most of the TR will be after returning home as we’ll be out of suitable comms for much of the time.
Only for the avid QF trials & tribulations masochis_:
The flight bookings have been a saga. I booked the tour in early 2021 as a solo. It was not possible for PJM, who still toils, to guarantee getting leave that far ahead. I wanted to be assured of snaring a place on the tour and figured that the chances of converting to a double should she be able to get leave would be good.
Subsequently, a year on from booking the tour, PJM was able to snare the requisite leave and I changed the booking to a double without any problem. The tour had been fully booked for rooms for a considerable time but was obviously still one shy on headcount.
My original flight booking PER-DRW was one day before the start of the tour and at that time QF was flying B738s. Booking well ahead, I chose a reasonably priced whY revenue return fare, and upgraded with points. Six months later, QF subbed Alliance A320 whY-only birds on the PER-DRW route on all but about one day per week. I phoned and had my UPG points refunded.
Subsequently, I added PJM’s flights, that done as a straight points redemption. I then phoned QF, thankfully getting Hobart immediately, and had our separate bookings ‘linked’ with me as travel organiser. All seemed sweet.
A few weeks ago, as lost luggage was making for nightmares and HLO seemed just too much of a stretch for our time away and activities, we decided to pull our PER-DRW flight forward by a day. This would avoid the worry of having to move on to GOV from DRW early the next morning with the possibility of luggage having not made it from PER with us and it never catching up with us as we ventured into the bush. It also meant a late morning departure from PER, instead of at sparrow’s amidst the FIFO zoo.
I phoned and got Hobart. I knew from EF that X-bucket was still available, which was a key trigger in moving our flights ahead one day, so it was easy to move PJM’s date. Mine cost a few extra $$, but I figured it was worth it for peace of mind.
In another twist since then, QF ditched the Alliance A320 and reverted back to a QF B738, initially for our PER-DRW flight, then subsequently for DRW-PER. But there was no U-bucket availability that late, so whY it remained.
Then came the next element in the saga. Our separate bookings, despite being ‘linked’, with me as WP and PJM as NB, created some hassles. With the change of bird, we had both been relegated to row 15 automatically, rather than row 6. I was unable to move PJM forward. It seemed like I was in some way ‘following’ her, rather than the other way round.
Something seemed wrong, so I phoned – but got Fiji. Heart sank. The very nice, but clearly very inexperienced agent, was insistent that I had to move to row 15 as PJM could not be moved to row 6 – even though our bookings were ‘linked’.
I protested that it doesn’t work that way, so she goes to higher authority with the promise of a call back when they can’t be immediately accessed. After an hour she phones back and has put PJM next to me in row 6. That’s better.
I then noticed in EF that there was one U and some I-bucket seats DRW-PER. Hmmm… maybe - if I get Hobart - there might be a possibility of upgrades. I also still had an uneasy feeling that something was not quite right about the ‘linking’ of the bookings.
I phone, get offshore, they can’t help and I get shunted elsewhere, then shunted again. Hobart! Woo-hoo! Excellent agent Dave looks and says: “Hang on, there’s something strange here.” Do tell, Dave!
Dave rummages around. It turns out that after bringing my PER-DRW flight forward by a day and paying the extra $$, it had not been ticketed! All the offshore agents had missed that. PJM’s cost-free changed award redemption booking, on the other hand, had sailed through.
Dave sorts it on the spot, the ticket hits my inbox and a ping from Amex says QF has just charged the supplementary $$ as we speak. He assures me that our bookings are linked, in the process informing me that for the last five years or so, a linked booking that agents can clearly see, does not display on the primary traveller’s online account. A known deficiency - Dave’s obviously been around for a while.
Dave is good and highly obliging – but despite attempting some fancy footwork, sadly he can’t help with snaring two UPGs…
In retrospect, the learning from the ‘linking’ bookings saga is that it probably would have been better to cancel my original revenue booking once PJM was clear to go and rebook us both on the one PNR. C’est la vie.
As some consolation, T-80 came around at sparrow’s on Sunday and row 4 opened. Snared! I can now relax!
Tomorrow around noon it’s on the bird PER-DRW and then on Friday morning DRW-GOV to start a 12-night journey across Arnhem Land back to Darwin and then home after another night in DRW.
Here’s the route:
Most of the TR will be after returning home as we’ll be out of suitable comms for much of the time.
Only for the avid QF trials & tribulations masochis_:
The flight bookings have been a saga. I booked the tour in early 2021 as a solo. It was not possible for PJM, who still toils, to guarantee getting leave that far ahead. I wanted to be assured of snaring a place on the tour and figured that the chances of converting to a double should she be able to get leave would be good.
Subsequently, a year on from booking the tour, PJM was able to snare the requisite leave and I changed the booking to a double without any problem. The tour had been fully booked for rooms for a considerable time but was obviously still one shy on headcount.
My original flight booking PER-DRW was one day before the start of the tour and at that time QF was flying B738s. Booking well ahead, I chose a reasonably priced whY revenue return fare, and upgraded with points. Six months later, QF subbed Alliance A320 whY-only birds on the PER-DRW route on all but about one day per week. I phoned and had my UPG points refunded.
Subsequently, I added PJM’s flights, that done as a straight points redemption. I then phoned QF, thankfully getting Hobart immediately, and had our separate bookings ‘linked’ with me as travel organiser. All seemed sweet.
A few weeks ago, as lost luggage was making for nightmares and HLO seemed just too much of a stretch for our time away and activities, we decided to pull our PER-DRW flight forward by a day. This would avoid the worry of having to move on to GOV from DRW early the next morning with the possibility of luggage having not made it from PER with us and it never catching up with us as we ventured into the bush. It also meant a late morning departure from PER, instead of at sparrow’s amidst the FIFO zoo.
I phoned and got Hobart. I knew from EF that X-bucket was still available, which was a key trigger in moving our flights ahead one day, so it was easy to move PJM’s date. Mine cost a few extra $$, but I figured it was worth it for peace of mind.
In another twist since then, QF ditched the Alliance A320 and reverted back to a QF B738, initially for our PER-DRW flight, then subsequently for DRW-PER. But there was no U-bucket availability that late, so whY it remained.
Then came the next element in the saga. Our separate bookings, despite being ‘linked’, with me as WP and PJM as NB, created some hassles. With the change of bird, we had both been relegated to row 15 automatically, rather than row 6. I was unable to move PJM forward. It seemed like I was in some way ‘following’ her, rather than the other way round.
Something seemed wrong, so I phoned – but got Fiji. Heart sank. The very nice, but clearly very inexperienced agent, was insistent that I had to move to row 15 as PJM could not be moved to row 6 – even though our bookings were ‘linked’.
I protested that it doesn’t work that way, so she goes to higher authority with the promise of a call back when they can’t be immediately accessed. After an hour she phones back and has put PJM next to me in row 6. That’s better.
I then noticed in EF that there was one U and some I-bucket seats DRW-PER. Hmmm… maybe - if I get Hobart - there might be a possibility of upgrades. I also still had an uneasy feeling that something was not quite right about the ‘linking’ of the bookings.
I phone, get offshore, they can’t help and I get shunted elsewhere, then shunted again. Hobart! Woo-hoo! Excellent agent Dave looks and says: “Hang on, there’s something strange here.” Do tell, Dave!
Dave rummages around. It turns out that after bringing my PER-DRW flight forward by a day and paying the extra $$, it had not been ticketed! All the offshore agents had missed that. PJM’s cost-free changed award redemption booking, on the other hand, had sailed through.
Dave sorts it on the spot, the ticket hits my inbox and a ping from Amex says QF has just charged the supplementary $$ as we speak. He assures me that our bookings are linked, in the process informing me that for the last five years or so, a linked booking that agents can clearly see, does not display on the primary traveller’s online account. A known deficiency - Dave’s obviously been around for a while.
Dave is good and highly obliging – but despite attempting some fancy footwork, sadly he can’t help with snaring two UPGs…
In retrospect, the learning from the ‘linking’ bookings saga is that it probably would have been better to cancel my original revenue booking once PJM was clear to go and rebook us both on the one PNR. C’est la vie.
As some consolation, T-80 came around at sparrow’s on Sunday and row 4 opened. Snared! I can now relax!
. Check with the lounge agent and sure enough, EF is spot-on. Apparently some incoming flights are delayed.
.
