Melb - LHR Business as Hard as Ever!

[dando]

Hi Travellers,

Just booked 2 QF reward flts on business return Melb to LHR. With the so called downturn in business travel and empty seats I thought I might of cracked it for a direct flt to London on QF 9 or 21 not so. The only seats I could get using the QF call centre was Melb, Brisb, HK then (BA) LHR and the reverse coming back only via Sydney. What's going on here with massive empty seats in business to LHR why arn't QF freeing up seats for its FF program? Happy Trails

 

[Globetrotter]

Hi totally agree with you. I am trying to book a J or F class seat from SYD to SFO or LAX and there is nothing available around the dates (June) I need...give or take a few days.

What sh*ts me even more, I had to transfer the points from Amex MR to QF FF which took three days to complete and when i went to book the flight I wanted had gone.

So I'm stuck with over 200k points in QF FF account and ZERO availability. You would think QF would release more redemption seats in premium cabins at time demand was down but oh no, not QF...too scared they might miss out on revenue so will likely hold off until the last minute!

I could and should have flown V Australia.

I'm SO glad I didn't switch to a direct earn credit card - go to hell QF!!!!!

 

[opusman]

I suspect they would rather oversell Y and then bump some people up to J rather than giving away J seats to non-rev pax

The flip-side to this is that if you pay for Y you have a better chance than ever of getting a points upgrade to J.

 

[v8Statesman]

I'm SO glad I didn't switch to a direct earn credit card - go to hell QF!!!!!

Do you have status with Qantas? If so call them and ask them to release a seat for you. If not you are in the same boat with about 5million other (non) Frequent Flyers.

 

[v8Statesman]

I suspect they would rather oversell Y and then bump some people up to J rather than giving away J seats to non-rev pax

I would hardly call a points made award flight non revenue, given how much (I am sure) they charge AMEX, NAB etc for the points.

 

[NM]

I still find CX is best for premium cabin availability for awards. As an example, I found CX F class availability for 2 seats in a cabin with only 6 seats in total. So they allocated 33% of the cabin to awards!

But for QF FF redemptions you do need to call the service centre to book CX award seats. You can check for availability on-line by joining Asia Miles (no cost) and using that account to search for CX awards.

 

[og]

I am trying to book a J or F class seat from SYD to SFO or LAX and there is nothing available around the dates (June) I need...

Of course availability will be limited (or non existant) < 1 month before travel. This is exactly the period when most business fares are sold. If you are tying for award seats from 11 months prior, then you are almost guaranteed to get what you want. Either that or you could try a few days prior when more seats are released.

 

[anat0l]

Of course availability will be limited (or non existant) < 1 month before travel. This is exactly the period when most business fares are sold. If you are tying for award seats from 11 months prior, then you are almost guaranteed to get what you want. Either that or you could try a few days prior when more seats are released.

Even with astute planning, getting premium seats on routes like MEL-LHR are a mugs game especially if you don't have status. I'm trying to keep an eye out for J seats on QF32 (op. a/c 388) in about 7 months time. Not a good combination. At least with WP I can try for last shot-in-the-dark award availability over the phone if the website shows no award availability, but it is really a last ditch attempt.

I can vouch that the availability is there, but it is released sporadically (read erratically and unpredictably); not having status can almost make the effort worth nought. Moreover, with only a fraction of seats in J compared to Y (this is both on raw capacity and award seats counts), with the same number of people trying to get the said seats, I don't think it should surprise anyone how difficult it would or should be to get such seats (let alone a quantity greater than 1).

 

[pauly7]

Couple of things, do remember they are cutting their capacity so this is driving up the numbers of pax per aircraft, and also some routes are dong better than others e.g. UK flights, anyway.

They may also be holding back seats for planned future promo sales e.g. another companion fare deal which have been very successful by QF's account.

 

[winfred]

Hi Dando

I don't think there is a direct flight MEL-LHR and I found it useful to book each leg of my trip separately as I can't change my trip once I have started my first leg I can't change the rest of my trip if I book the whole lourney as 1 return trip.

I just did a MEL-HKG-CDG-HKG-MEL in a mixed J & F on QFF points flying CX. the MEL-HKG in business was only 20% full. The same happens to HKG-CDG. However, both J & F were almost full HKG-CDG and return. I thought I was lucky to get a seat but was later told that most were upgrades.

I suspect airlines release a larger no of seats to other OW members' FF programs but less to their own FF as I find it difficult to book CX flights with Asia Miles but easier with QFF.

I suggest that people try to book by calling QFF as you can have access to other airlines.

 

[drron]

It never ceases to amaze me how complex award travel can be.At the end of the year we are going back to Asia on the trip we missed out on last November thanks to the yellow shirts and mrsdrron's knee.I have quite a few QFF points I would like to burn.I was trying for J awards BNE-NRT and BKK-SYD.
BNE-NRT-the only choices the QFF website had was via CNS with JQ or via PER.Yeh right.Rang QFF to see if that way I could get a seat on the JL762 service but no availability.So ring AA(Brissy) and the response which day do you want there is availability each day that week.
BKK-SYD.In the week I desired there was availability on 1 day on BA9.At AA I am told availability is tight that week and offered the day BA9 was available on QF.I said so that is on BA9,no QF2.
So once again using my Aadvantage miles.
Now next year mrsdrron will be WP.If I try and get her an award using my QF miles will it be easier because of her status or no different at all because I will still be that rusty bronze colour?

 

[Voyages]

My observation over the past week: QF9 (especially SIN-LHR leg) and QF10 were absolutely full in all classes (regardless the talks about 40% reduction in premium traffic that other carriers such as CX, SQ, and JAL are suffering).

There might have been a few reasons, amongst others:
1. Summer time in Europe;
2. The effectiveness of the airfare promotions;
3. The days of the week; and
4. Maybe, marginally, the loyalty shown by QF FFs.

Any other thoughts?

 

[JohnK]

Now next year mrsdrron will be WP.If I try and get her an award using my QF miles will it be easier because of her status or no different at all because I will still be that rusty bronze colour?

There is no advantage being Platinum for premium award seats.

QF Gold and Platinum have access to an additional bucket for WHY award seats.

 

[anat0l]

There is no advantage being Platinum for premium award seats.

QF Gold and Platinum have access to an additional bucket for WHY award seats.

Not quite true. Platinums can attempt for seats that cannot be seen online by calling Qantas. May not work (and if it does work, will incur the telephone assistance fee), but gives a last ditch attempt at getting a premium seat. (This is how I got my First Classic Award in November, because by the time I hit WP plus had enough points, there were no F awards on the dates I wanted online.)

 

[JohnK]

Not quite true. Platinums can attempt for seats that cannot be seen online by calling Qantas. May not work (and if it does work, will incur the telephone assistance fee), but gives a last ditch attempt at getting a premium seat.

Point taken but it is a long shot as you are at the mercy of Qantas yield management.

 

[Evan]

My observation over the past week: QF9 (especially SIN-LHR leg) and QF10 were absolutely full in all classes (regardless the talks about 40% reduction in premium traffic that other carriers such as CX, SQ, and JAL are suffering).

There might have been a few reasons, amongst others:
1. Summer time in Europe;
2. The effectiveness of the airfare promotions;
3. The days of the week; and
4. Maybe, marginally, the loyalty shown by QF FFs.

Any other thoughts?

I think i have mentioned a few times before that QF9 / QF10 every time i have flown it this year has been full ! No matter if it is a weekend or a tuesday or wednesday, always very full. I think this is one route that has help up really well, last year it was difficult to book QF9/10 and as such i always ended up routing via PER or SYD to get to MEL.

It has always made me wonder why MEL cannot support another SIN flight each day, i guess it must be busy but not enough for more flights than current, that or as we all know QF has this SYD centric thing happening and likes to ignore the other cities as best as they can i think

You can rule out summer time in Europe, it always seemed busy in winter as well.