Getting earlier flight on day

[Himeno]

As a result of the coughtasic Qantas website, I'm stuck with an near impossible 85 minute D > I connection in SYD during international evening departure peak. Qantas refuses to fix their websites error without more $$

The flight is next Friday night (15th).

The domestic flight in question has a history of being late. It was over 1 hour late tonight and an hour late last Friday. It was cancelled yesterday. It's average delay is 45 minutes with a 2.4/5 star on time performance rating listed on flightstats.

What are the chances of getting a "flow forward"?

 

[serfty]

The earlier at the airport the better, but you know that.

ATPIT, that's likely your best option.

 

[Himeno]

The earlier at the airport the better, but you know that.

ATPIT, that's likely your best option.

The flight I normally get for this connection give a 3h scheduled connection. There are 5 flights between when I normally get to the airport and the flight I was dumped with.

 

[JohnK]

Is this something you booked accidentally or have there been flight cancellations since?

If you booked that option without much choice I call them immediately and change to the flight I want free of charge.

 

[justinbrett]

I’m confused how you booked the wrong flight because of their website, and even if you did, why you didn’t call after booking where you can change for free until midnight of the day you booked.

 

[serfty]

I’m confused how you booked the wrong flight because of their website, and even if you did, why you didn’t call after booking where you can change for free until midnight of the day you booked.

I believe the reason may be similar to that indicated here: Two QF flights Scheduled LAX-BNE the same night?

 

[offshore171]

What is the domestic flight in question?

 

[Himeno]

What is the domestic flight in question?

The website forced selection of QF1494, the last CBR-SYD flight of the day.
Every other option I attempted refused to price and errored out.
I normally use 1520 when I take these trips.

Get off work at 1430, home by 1500, at airport by 1600. The remaining flights after I normally get to the airport are:
QF1486 (1630), QF1428 (1645), QF1520 (1715), QF1484 (1755), QF1522 (1825), QF1494 (1915)

 

[TomVexille]

That's when I call and ask. They have always waived the phone booking fee as it wasn't possible online.

 

[JohnK]

@Himeno you booked this on the day of travel? If not you should have called them and changed free of charge.

 

[justinbrett]

Having now understood what the problem is - there is a really easy way to get around it.

You can force different connections by using the multi-city tool; ie Flight 1 CBR-SYD, Flight 2 SYD-HND, Flight 3 HND-SYD, Flight 4 SYD-CBR.

This allows you to select each leg separately and allows any flight that day to be selected. It will still calculate the international fare so you are not charged a domestic fare plus the international fare.

For next time...

 

[Himeno]

Having now understood what the problem is - there is a really easy way to get around it.

You can force different connections by using the multi-city tool; ie Flight 1 CBR-SYD, Flight 2 SYD-HND, Flight 3 HND-SYD, Flight 4 SYD-CBR.

This allows you to select each leg separately and allows any flight that day to be selected. It will still calculate the international fare so you are not charged a domestic fare plus the international fare.

For next time...

That's what I did. Open Jaw CBR-NGO/HND-CBR. Multi city booking. Used a number of sector configurations. The only sector selection configuration that didn't error only offered 1494/25 or connections to SYD via MEL for $300 more.

When I'm booking any short trip with Qantas, I always use the multi city tool, even for single in/out returns, because the normal booking mode only offers stupid connections.

 

[justinbrett]

That's what I did. Open Jaw CBR-NGO/HND-CBR. Multi city booking. Used a number of sector configurations. The only sector selection configuration that didn't error only offered 1494/25 or connections to SYD via MEL for $300 more.

When I'm booking any short trip with Qantas, I always use the multi city tool, even for single in/out returns, because the normal booking mode only offers stupid connections.

Perhaps the fare class was sold out? CBR flights on a Friday afternoon are known to do that.

 

[Himeno]

Perhaps the fare class was sold out? CBR flights on a Friday afternoon are known to do that.

Nope. The flights showed up with other sector combinations. Fare classes were showing available, though low, on expertflyer. QF offered 1520 "with no fare difference", if I paid them the extra "service fee".

I'm not paying extra when the only reason I didn't already book that flight is because their website is broken.

 

[serfty]

@Himeno ... in future, there are TA members of this site who would be happy to aßist.

 

[albatross710]

please consider that it's there job to make sure you have the best crack at making the connection. I've had similar connections from BNE - SYD - Asia with the website combination pushing me to the flight with the least wiggle room. The sitting in the last possible row in the domestic leg.

Then when I get to Int security they are looking for QF19 pax and put us on priority.

I have also been at the airport and asked for a flow forward and still no go.

Then Another time as soon as I hit Dom they were looking for me too.

Good luck.

Alby

 

[JohnK]

Having now understood what the problem is - there is a really easy way to get around it.

You can force different connections by using the multi-city tool; ie Flight 1 CBR-SYD, Flight 2 SYD-HND, Flight 3 HND-SYD, Flight 4 SYD-CBR.

This allows you to select each leg separately and allows any flight that day to be selected. It will still calculate the international fare so you are not charged a domestic fare plus the international fare.

For next time...

I do this when booking trips to Thailand but quite iften not all flights are available to be selected and some connections can be quite expensive.

The quirkiest of the lot is doing a return search for 3 people BNE-BKK and offered only connections via SYD or QF to SIN the 3K to BKK for ~$2900 but multi-city with EK to SIN and 3K to BKK is more than $200 cheaper.

 

[Himeno]

just missed out on 1428 by a few minutes.
1520 sold out in my fare class
got moved to 1484. given an extra hour to play with for the connection.

It took 47 mins to get from arriving aircraft door to international airside. If I didn't have an express pass, it would have taken at least an hour. And that's before getting through the maze of duty free.

60 minutes is really too short for D-I MCT at SYD.