All sorts of help for a newbie please - booking QFF reward seats, tips and tricks pls

[MissMandM]

:shock:
So many things. I'm totally overwhelmed. Hi !
I'm new to the forum, collecting points and all things frequent flyer

I need some guidance about the traps for young players in booking rewards flights. Unfortunately we're not very flexible on when we can travel. So. This is what we'd like to do

Adelaide -> Sydney -> San Fransisco and back in Premium Economy hopefully. Jan 2019 (or less desirably later in 2019). Has to be Qantas because i picked their FF program so I gotta stick with it now.

I know I need a total of 570K points. I reckon I can do that and have them by Dec 2017 to book 350 days in advance (found this gem out today )

So. Here's my questions. Sorry there's so many

- are there actually Premium Economy flights available with classic reward in January?
- are there Premium Economy reward seats all year round on this route ? or just some months? how do you know?
- is flying around NYE a good or bad idea?
- is this time of year popular or difficult to obtain these rewards? are there better times?

Thanks to anyone who can respond. Much appreciated

 

[PenguPenguin]

Re: All sorts of help for a newbie please - booking QFF reward seats, tips and tricks

" - are there actually Premium Economy flights available with classic reward in January?"

Yes but these get released to gold/plat FFs first, then if they do not sell they get released to the general public.

"- are there Premium Economy reward seats all year round on this route ? or just some months? how do you know?"

Some airlines blacklist these dates, to be honest you probably will not find any seats with QF, may need to look at CX or JL.

"- is this time of year popular or difficult to obtain these rewards? are there better times?"

Yes

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: All sorts of help for a newbie please - booking QFF reward seats, tips and tricks

Welcome to AFF.

You can do dummy bookings now for Jan '18 as a test, although that will show only what's left. Looking at that, there is no outbound availability until 15 Jan, and then its every day - so there may be a blackout. Returning is much scarcer (no seats in Jan '18). You can also see the various routings offered.

You will probably have to be flexible - look at departures ex BNE and MEL as well as SYD; look at CX and JL; look at flying into LAX or even another USA port (if using CX or JL), and then a US domestic flight, or train for instance.

January is a bad time to look for award seats, although there are still outbound seats for Jan '18 there (after the 15th), so looking 350 days out might be OK for PE, except for blackout dates. Call QF to find out about blackout dates or someone here might chime in.

Seats are always easier to get when its not school holidays (both Australia and Nth America).

Edit: Oh, when you do a dummy booking, check out the taxes and cash fees - they can be quite high; try various carrier combinations for that too.

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: All sorts of help for a newbie please - booking QFF reward seats, tips and tricks

When I was looking at a dummy booking, Qantas 'chat' popped up. So I asked them about blackout dates and the person - or a clever robot? - studiously avoided confirming that they exist. The best I could get out of them was that award seats are always 'subject to availability' (sort of like beer in that regard). Also said Award release was 353 days out (and 'subject to availability' ) and that it was 'the airport' that determined availability.

 

[drron]

Re: All sorts of help for a newbie please - booking QFF reward seats, tips and tricks

On my QFF NB account the PE flights ADL-SFO in January 18 are on CX not QF.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Re: All sorts of help for a newbie please - booking QFF reward seats, tips and tricks

When I was looking at a dummy booking, Qantas 'chat' popped up. So I asked them about blackout dates and the person - or a clever robot? - studiously avoided confirming that they exist. The best I could get out of them was that award seats are always 'subject to availability' (sort of like beer in that regard). Also said Award release was 353 days out (and 'subject to availability' ) and that it was 'the airport' that determined availability.

Lol at 'the airport' determining award availability. Maybe they think that's where Yield Mngt is. Well it sort of is but just up the road a bit.

On my QFF NB account the PE flights ADL-SFO in January 18 are on CX not QF.

I think it can be problematic looking for a class that doesn't exist on both flights eg PE ADL/SYD so instead of a PE search ADL/SFO I would just concentrate on a SYD/SFO/SYD search first then once you've know the dates that have PE on QF73/Q74 book the whole itinerary ADL/SYD/SFO/SYD/ADL using the multi city booking tool by breaking down the availability by each sector.

 

[drron]

Re: All sorts of help for a newbie please - booking QFF reward seats, tips and tricks

But coming back the PE awards are on QF with the little icon stating SYD-ADL will be in economy.
Interesting there are J awards for 2 on some days.To SFO on Emirates via DXB but coming back on QF with the SFO-SYD sector in PE.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Re: All sorts of help for a newbie please - booking QFF reward seats, tips and tricks

The issue with a lot of award travel using Qantas points is that you want to book ADL/SFO as soon as it becomes available which would mean the return flights SFO/ADL are not yet available to book. Sure you could book two one way award tickets however the bugbear with that is that the QF carrier surcharges, fees, taxes etc etc are a lot more ex USA one a one way ticket or in some cases more than the taxes if you had all flights on the same ticket.

I recently flew on a Classic award BNE/xSYD/LAX/xSYD/BNE and IIRC the taxes were approx AUD490.00 ish however when I was initially looking at all the options I noticed that a one way eg SFO/xSYD/BNE the taxes were USD350.00 ish.

The main challenge is if you do book a one way ADL/SFO with QF then re-issue the ticket as a return once the SFO/ADL legs are bookable is that the outbound flights have to be booked again from scratch and may no longer be available. Not sure why they can't hang out to the outbound seats then re-issue the new ticket using the exact same seats.

You could maybe book a one way ticket ADL/xSYD/SFO then another one way ticket eg SFO/xHKG/ADL on CX. The taxes on CX flights using your QF points are often less than those you would incur if you were flying on QF metal eg QF74 SFO/SYD.

You can do a practice run for flights 353 days out from today just to get comfortable with the booking process so you're all over it by the time you're ready to do your real booking. You will need to have the points required in your frequent flyer account in order to display the points and taxes payable however you could do the basic award fllight availability even if you had a zero points balance.

 

[Bilton]

Re: All sorts of help for a newbie please - booking QFF reward seats, tips and tricks

:shock:
Adelaide -> Sydney -> San Fransisco and back in Premium Economy hopefully. Jan 2019 (or less desirably later in 2019).

I don't want to rain on your parade, but January is probably one of the worst times to be trying for Classic Award seats.

People here want to get their families out of the country during the Summer School Holiday break, while individuals/couples from the cold parts of the US will be wanting to fly to somewhere where it is summertime.... so there will be a lot of competition for the initially available award seats, and little chance of any opening up later.

You might have more chance of success if you can travel later in the year.

 

[MissMandM]

Re: All sorts of help for a newbie please - booking QFF reward seats, tips and tricks

thank you so much for the replies. i will be looking up the thread with the abbreviations hehe but i get the idea basically. we have realised we might not have all the points actually arrive at our account in time to book jan and the general consensus seems to be that jan is probs not the best time anyway, we might try end of term 1 (avoiding easter in school holidays ) as that might work better and give us more opportunities and time to get the points !

rookie question. how do i use qantas FF point to book on this mysterious CX or JL ?? off to find out what that means now and I thank you for your patient replies xx

 

[drron]

Re: All sorts of help for a newbie please - booking QFF reward seats, tips and tricks

CX-Cathay Pacific-will usually show up on the QFF search so you can book online.
JL-Japan Airlines-will not so you have to ring.You can join JAL Mileage Bank-free-so you can look up JL award availability.This is what I do.

 

[Scr77]

Re: All sorts of help for a newbie please - booking QFF reward seats, tips and tricks

Consider using you points for Business class between hong kong and San fran on cathay. Could then pay for Adelaide to hong kong return in economy or premium economy. Cathay taxes are very low compared to qantas. Doing this may cost no more, but allow you to get over half of the airtime in business. You can book on Cathay at the same time as everyone else, unlike qantas.

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: All sorts of help for a newbie please - booking QFF reward seats, tips and tricks

CX-Cathay Pacific-will usually show up on the QFF search so you can book online.
JL-Japan Airlines-will not so you have to ring.You can join JAL Mileage Bank-free-so you can look up JL award availability.This is what I do.

... and then phone up QF and book the Japan Airlines flight if its one you want

Basically and theoretically MissMandM you can book any OneWorld flight with your Qantas points, but there are lots of exceptions, and finding out the flights isn't as easy as it should be. For instance, the Qantas web site doesn't show up Japan Airlines flights, as drron pointed out.

Keep asking questions here and you'll get the hang of it.

 

[MissMandM]

Re: All sorts of help for a newbie please - booking QFF reward seats, tips and tricks

it's so complicated - i feel a bit overwhelmed but determined to get the hang of it and take the children on their dream holiday. thanks again
i feel like i don't have a chance to get ANY seats against all the people who know what they are doing but hopefully we will get somewhere

 

[MissMandM]

Re: All sorts of help for a newbie please - booking QFF reward seats, tips and tricks

wow looking at april and may 2018 there are still PE seats available. i can see this is a MUCH better time for us to fly than Jan right ???

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Re: All sorts of help for a newbie please - booking QFF reward seats, tips and tricks

Consider using you points for Business class between hong kong and San fran on cathay. Could then pay for Adelaide to hong kong return in economy or premium economy. Cathay taxes are very low compared to qantas. Doing this may cost no more, but allow you to get over half of the airtime in business. You can book on Cathay at the same time as everyone else, unlike qantas.

Exactly. With VA recently commencing services to HKG there's been a price war seeing return fares as low as AUD469.00 from BNE, SYD & MEL. Why not purchase an the cheapest economy fare on CX which is not so bad when it's a day flight, although probably an overnight coming back. That would leave you with more points to splurge on J HKG/SFO/HKG or maybe PE one way and J coming back plus you have the added advantage of being able to explore HKG on the way to/from the USA.

it's so complicated - i feel a bit overwhelmed but determined to get the hang of it and take the children on their dream holiday. thanks again i feel like i don't have a chance to get ANY seats against all the people who know what they are doing but hopefully we will get somewhere

The first booking will always seem complicated but it gets easier. How many seats are you looking for altogether? Are you planning on going to any ther US cities. You could always fly into SFO and out of YVR or JFK for example. There's plenty of time between now and when you need to book to get up to speed with what you need to do.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Re: All sorts of help for a newbie please - booking QFF reward seats, tips and tricks

Knowing the pains of transitting in SYD from dom to int terminals, having flown QF AU - NZ 10 times in 4 or 5 years via SYD sometimes, I would go via HKG if I was in your shoes, OP as mentioned above go via HKG.
You leave ADL very early in the morning on CX and get to HKG early afternoon.
Transitting MEL is not that bad.
Even with the SYD free QF shuttle from T3 to T1 and vv, you are bettr off going via HKG.

 

[RichardMEL]

Re: All sorts of help for a newbie please - booking QFF reward seats, tips and tricks

it's so complicated - i feel a bit overwhelmed but determined to get the hang of it and take the children on their dream holiday. thanks again
i feel like i don't have a chance to get ANY seats against all the people who know what they are doing but hopefully we will get somewhere

Like Sean Connery never say never... sometimes it's the luck of timing to find something open up that works as much as being an "expert" or whatever. As you play around more with the system you'll find it easier and easier to navigate and be prepared when the time comes I feel.

the real issue will be finding more than a couple of seats for everyone specially at peak times(ie: school hols) as so many more will be wanting to do this. Consider if you can, for example, having flexibility to move a week either end (I know many who keep their kids out say the last week of term or something when nothing much usually happens anyway).. these can all aid in finding what you want.


I also believe QF is working to make JAL (JL) seats bookable online as of September or October, so progress hopefully to again make it easier.

good luck!

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Re: All sorts of help for a newbie please - booking QFF reward seats, tips and tricks

MissMandM, I have now a bit more time to add some thoughts.
ADL - SYD flights are always dom ones with QF, no more flights where QF flies a plane from ADL - SYD int terminal on a "normal" flight route.
T3 at SYD is close to T1, but not walkable, so you have to get the free QF shuttle bus from T3 to T1, which can take 45mins to an hour to get across.
Sometimes the bus can wait at gate 15 mins for the bus to fill up with other pax, and your time of dep of flight is getting close.
This was one of my case, I missed on some lounge time because the bus waited at least 20 mins to fill up.
If your ideal dep from SYD to the US is evening, the first flight from ADL at 6am would give you a few hours to get across from T3 to T1 without having a "heart murmur or scary fit".
If your flight SYD - US is about 12noon, and the first flight you get from ADL is at 6am, gets to SYD at 8.30am, the transfer time, really is getting short.
Not sure what time flights leave SYD for the US though, ideally, if you have to go via SYD, at least do an overnight at the SYD Rydges international hotel the night prior to the US flight, assuming the US flight leaves about/a bit before noon.
The US authorities are very strict about double checking documents at the departure gate, I was on my way to the NZ once, and they practically pulled those privacy boards on wheels to gate 60 at SYD int, where a Delta or one of them other American airlines was to depart.
I was on the next gate across, ... not sure what double security or other checks were done.
Best of luck in your odyssey.

 

[Vic]

Re: All sorts of help for a newbie please - booking QFF reward seats, tips and tricks

How many people do you have travelling? The 570000 points has got me a bit confused. In premoum Economy 570k point would be the cost for about 4 people. It is going to be extremely hard to get 4 seats in January.
I did assume you only wanted 2 seats - 570000 point shuold be able to get 2x business return.

My big suggestion is to do lots of dummy bookings, play with the settings, note down the pricing - see what is possible in terms of other airlines. this gives you options that might work.

Also someone mention the multi city booking. If you use this remember that if there is less than 24 hours in Sydney when connecting to QF73/from QF74 then the price will be as per Adelaide to San Fran. For premium economy in this case the price is the same for both Sydney to San Fran and Adelaide to San Fran, provided you spend less than 24 hours in Sydney. Basically timing of flights is very important. You can also use this to not get the first flight from Adelaide, but to get up later and have an overnight in Sydney before getting the flight to the US. That way the transfer is nothing to worry about.