JAL QF award - seats reserved for new bookings only?

[thephantonaward]

Hi there!

Hoping to pick the brains of this community.

Simply put - I have booked HND-SYD on JAL in PE as part of a OW RTW award (rest of the flights are in J / U class).
I can see there are now J class seats available on NRT-MEL, so have been requesting to change to this flight.
But QF keeps saying there is no seat availability.

After calling QF a lot of times, they have basically said:
- They cannot see seat availability when they amend my existing booking; but
- They can see J class awards if they start a new booking; therefore
- These 'available' seats have been reserved for new bookings only - I am unable to be re-booked.

Does this sound right?
I called before and they told me it was a system issue.
In any case, is it worth HUACA or just let it be and accept that it is what it is?

For reference, the trip is:

SYD-SIN-DOH-ATH-surface-FCO-LHR-surface-CDG-HEL-CPH-HEL-HND-SYD (trying to change the last bit)

Thanks so much

 

[RooFlyer]

Welcome to AFF @thephantonaward

After calling QF a lot of times, they have basically said:
- They cannot see seat availability when they amend my existing booking; but
- They can see J class awards if they start a new booking; therefore
- These 'available' seats have been reserved for new bookings only - I am unable to be re-booked.

Does this sound right?
I called before and they told me it was a system issue.
In any case, is it worth HUACA or just let it be and accept that it is what it is?

This is a problem being experienced by many here (calling @blackcat20 ). BUT as a separate issue, be aware that there are BIG problems with changing flights on award tickets. The changed arrangements often just don't get re-ticketed and sometimes segments get cancelled and its almost impossible to replace. Read this and take note ... leave your existing booking as is if you can possibly help it!

Warning: Don't Change Qantas Reward Bookings via Call Centre!

There appears to be a systematic problem where Qantas call centre staff are accidentally cancelling confirmed Classic Flight Reward bookings when

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[offshore171]

In any case, is it worth HUACA or just let it be and accept that it is what it is?

Dont. Mess. With. It.

 

[Nitro6333]

I’ve been in this situation and my advice would be to keep calling eventually you’ll get someone who’s able to help you

 

[blackcat20]

Yep we've been trying to change the domestic leg of a booking (MEL-SYD-LAX) due to a schedule change. There are 4 U seats on each of the earlier flights but the call centre insists there are only 2. We've called 7 times, spent countless hours on the phone including with a supervisor who said they should be able to change it but can't, and got nowhere.

 

[thephantonaward]

Thanks for the welcome and advice @RooFlyer @offshore171 @Nitro6333
I've been lurking for a while so it's great to see such rapid responses!

@blackcat20 Would love to hear how it goes (if you are going to keep trying) Also sounds like we have shared experiences with itinerary / e-ticket issuing problems as well!!

I went through the experience of making changes (adding more flights onto an existing booking given the award seat releases) and it took a dozen calls to get it ticketed (and just in time, before it got cancelled!) or at least I'm hoping it's ticketed (I received a text-based email with e-ticket# starting with 081 rather than standard PDF) - is there any way to check this (i.e. can't seem to find where Check My Trip shows the e-ticket #).

 

[blackcat20]

We also got the non standard e-ticket, and only after calling. I can see the numbers on check my trip though, in the app under passenger information.
I'm not sure if we will keep trying. Our trip is in six weeks, at this rate we might just try to be bumped earlier at the airport.

 

[RooFlyer]

I received a text-based email with e-ticket# starting with 081 rather than standard PDF)

@serfty - did you once opine whether these 'Amadeus' print-outs are as good as an eTicket as PDF? As in "yes, it is ticketed'?

 

[jeza]

I went through the experience of making changes (adding more flights onto an existing booking given the award seat releases) and it took a dozen calls to get it ticketed (and just in time, before it got cancelled!) or at least I'm hoping it's ticketed (I received a text-based email with e-ticket# starting with 081 rather than standard PDF) - is there any way to check this (i.e. can't seem to find where Check My Trip shows the e-ticket #).

Once you've imported your itinerary open it up so all flights are listed & click on any of the segments. That should open a new page which lists your PNR, Aircraft Type, Baggage Allowance, Name & under that should be the 081 Ticket Number, Travel Class & Seat if assigned.

The other way is to go to a OW partner airline like AY or QR & check there, you can get a PDF ticket emailed to you from those sites.

 

[Nitro6333]

I went through the experience of making changes (adding more flights onto an existing booking given the award seat releases) and it took a dozen calls to get it ticketed (and just in time, before it got cancelled!) or at least I'm hoping it's ticketed (I received a text-based email with e-ticket# starting with 081 rather than standard PDF) - is there any way to check this (i.e. can't seem to find where Check My Trip shows the e-ticket #).

go to mmb and click on resend tax invoice in the left hand side menu and this will include your most current e-ticket

 

[aus_flyer]

The Qantas website is showing a lot of phantom award availability on JL at the moment. Very annoying.

 

[thephantonaward]

Thanks all!! I was able to get a tax invoice from OW partner airlines (AY, JAL), but interestingly - when I went into MMB on QF's website, I only received the tax invoice for the original flight (i.e. before I made changes - SYD-SIN-DOH-ATH only)

@aus_flyer It is really annoying!

In any case, thanks all - doesn't sound like there is much to be done and doesn't sound like it is worth the pain of calling QF with a 90% chance of getting offshore folk.

 

[serfty]

@serfty - did you once opine whether these 'Amadeus' print-outs are as good as an eTicket as PDF? As in "yes, it is ticketed'?

Generally they are, as long as the current e-ticket number is shown.

In keeping with the Qantas "Mushroom" principle, requesting "E-tickets" using Qantas manage my booking normally only returns the original, often no longer valid e-ticket information.

 

[drron]

The Qantas website is showing a lot of phantom award availability on JL at the moment. Very annoying.

Is it though. I have been looking at JL flights as going late next year. You are right even if a JL award comes up on QFF you can't book it but generally they offer QF to OOL then JQ to Japan. Have my JMB account open at the same time and definitely 2 awards at their low price with seat map wide open. Could it be QF doesn't want you to fly JAL.

 

[eminere]

In keeping with the Qantas "Mushroom" principle, requesting "E-tickets" using Qantas manage my booking normally only returns the original, often no longer valid e-ticket information.

Can confirm this deficiency has been the case for years now.

 

[thephantonaward]

That all makes sense - looks like I have multiple e-ticket #s under the same PNR as well!! Thanks all

 

[MJHoops]

Is it though. I have been looking at JL flights as going late next year. You are right even if a JL award comes up on QFF you can't book it but generally they offer QF to OOL then JQ to Japan. Have my JMB account open at the same time and definitely 2 awards at their low price with seat map wide open. Could it be QF doesn't want you to fly JAL.

I recently booked MEL-HND-LHR on QF/JL flights, 4 economy classic rewards online for June 2023
I searched multi city it showed different flights to searching one way that were no good
I then searched one way
It showed nothing for the relevant date!

But then I selected “rewards only” filter and they came up and I booked them
Had to call to get it ticketed

It’s so screwy
Trial and error is in keeping with Qantas method

 

[gorodemon]

I am sort of in a similar situation as well with @thephantonaward and @blackcat20. I have Economy Reward bookings from MEL -NRT on 30 Sept (JL774) and then NRT - YVR on 3 October 2022 (JL18). With the recent development in Japan, I have little faith they will be opened for tourist when I'm there so I asked QF call centre to change my NRT- YVR to 30 Sept 2022 (JL18) instead of doing 3 days transit in Tokyo.

The CS wasn't able to see any availability on 30 September and couldn't help me. That's very strange because I could see the seats are available on that day and the following day.

On another note, one of my return flight from JFK - HND (JL5) on 28 Oct 2022 was amended and the CS asked me if I wanted to accept or not. I advised that I wanted to change the date to 31 Oct 2022. After 10 minutes on hold, he confirmed that it's been changed as per my request. I checked both Qantas Booking and Check My Flights and could see the amended flight has been attached to my booking.

This implies that if your JAL flights have been changed/cancelled, Qantas CS would be able to assist you to make the changes to suit your schedule. However, if it's a change request initiated by customer, then it seems difficult to amend your Reward bookings.

What options do I have here? Should I keep calling until I manage to get someone who could help? I was thinking to create a new booking to book the flight on 30 September and cancel that leg only but this sounds like a lot of trouble.