Booking a more complex multi-city ticket with Qantas

[dlam]

Hi all,

I'm looking to fly: LHR-BNE-HKG-LHR this year between June and August in J and have found a decently priced QF/EK (QF flight numbers for the whole PNR except for HKG-DXB) itinerary on Expedia for $5025 AU. I'd prefer to book direct with Qantas if possible rather than with Expedia but this is impossible online. I wonder if over the phone they could give me a quote for this itinerary and, if indeed, it would be competitive with the Expedia quote.

Expedia tickets are tricky as I can't see the fare class but I assume it'd be points and SC earning.

Any advice or cautionary tales would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[ButFli]

Is there a particular reason you don't want to book through expedia?

Qantas *should* be able to price this itinerary over the phone. However, in my experience, there will be a huge premium - possibly several thousand dollars. I've queried it in the past and was told, in a friendly way, that if I could get a price that much cheaper elsewhere then I should go elsewhere.

 

[dlam]

The only reason I didn't want to book with Expedia is that change fees are normally higher and I also want to be sure I'm in the right booking classes and get my SCs.

 

[Sdtravel]

Why not book through flight centre on a price match. They will beat the expedia price by $1 and you get to see a person (or do over the phone) and check its what you want before paying. The person i use generally waives credit card fees for price matches.

 

[TomVexille]

There's no harm in calling QF and asking them to put it together, if they can't I would look at a good TA who will be able to provide the same as expedia

 

[harvyk]

Why not book through flight centre on a price match. They will beat the expedia price by $1 and you get to see a person (or do over the phone) and check its what you want before paying. The person i use generally waives credit card fees for price matches.

Just be careful with a FC booking, whilst they are usually OK if you hand them a set of flights and say book them, I have been caught out with FC even on a booking which they could not have possibly screwed up. AU FC also don’t typically price match for flights not originating from AU.

The itin you have here doesn’t appear to be overly complex, 3 cities should not be overly taxing on the QF system. Have you tried dummy bookings on other dates or via additional cities?

 

[Sdtravel]

Good advise
I have usually been able to get them to generate a quote for me. Which usually has a PNR which i can go in and check the booking and add QFF No and check fare buckets ect before ticketing / paying. I believe they will hold it for a day or so.
So enough time to check its all ok before paying.

 

[dlam]

Why not book through flight centre on a price match. They will beat the expedia price by $1 and you get to see a person (or do over the phone) and check its what you want before paying. The person i use generally waives credit card fees for price matches.

Thanks all. Yes, I've used Flight Centre in a similar way in the past with a Fly360 itinerary and it went through without a hitch although the FC agent didn't understand the concept of SCs and booking classes. Eventually got confirmation of booking class though and booked through them.

 

[dlam]

The itin you have here doesn’t appear to be overly complex, 3 cities should not be overly taxing on the QF system. Have you tried dummy bookings on other dates or via additional cities?

I've tried booking different dates but find that as soon as I try to go from Asia to DXB it all screws up. I think it's because the HKG-DXB flight is a flat out EK one as QF doesn't seem to codeshare on this route

 

[dlam]

There's no harm in calling QF and asking them to put it together, if they can't I would look at a good TA who will be able to provide the same as expedia

Will try. Any suggestions for a good TA; would prefer to avoid Flight Centre for someone knowledgable, if possible.

 

[ftm]

It is super easy to put QF and EK together in the GDS. Would have had it done and priced in less time that its taken to read the first page of this thread! Happy to help if you PM me your details.

 

[ButFli]

Have you tried dummy bookings on other dates or via additional cities?

I was curious and tried it. The Qantas multi-city booking form will not accept any booking with a segment originating in Hong Kong unless it is part of an Australia-HKG-Australia itinerary (including connections through Australia to other countries). i.e. The flight out of HKG has to be to Australia, and in the same itinerary there must be a flight into HKG from Australia.


Apparently such flights are "not available from the airlines we search" even though they are available on a return or one-way booking.