Qantas award booking Xmas2013 in Hawaii

[elogic]

Looking to book 4 award tickets dec 22 2013 returning 1 jan 2014
any help on when the seats are available / released for adl- hnl route in economy
i think jetstar handle the route but at this point nothing is showing. Rang qf but was told nothing available but they couldn't tell me if the flights were all gone or not released yet
Cheers
Elogic

 

[ChrisFlyer]

Doing some searches for you now. Currently, awards have been loaded into the system up until Dec 26 2013 (inclusive), so I'm unable to search for your return date as yet.

To start building the trip, which I imagine will have to be something like ADL-SYD-HNL-SYD-ADL (if you want to fly QF all the way), availability for ADL-SYD on Dec 22 is as follows:

4xY on QF756 ADL-SYD, dep 14:50, arr 17:15, or also the earlier flight:
4xY on QF752 ADL-SYD, dep 13:25, arr 15:50

Now searching for onwards to HNL

EDIT: On QF3 (the SYD-HNL service) on Dec 22, there is only 1 award seat available (which seems to be the same for all the QF3 flights that have award seats available in Dec 2013). Now checking for Jetstar options via MEL instead, though this may not be the best value use of points.

EDIT2: JQ have not released their schedule for SYD-HNL or MEL-HNL (for SYD-HNL, the engine states no schedule has been loaded from Dec 21, for MEL-HNL, it permits searches though no flights exist in the system to be found (different problem but same result). I'll keep my eye out and will post an update here once this information has become available (as awards cannot be booked on flights that don't yet exist).

 

[mannej]

As there are no direct flights, I would search for flights between SYD-HNL and MEL and HNL, as you may get better results.

 

[elogic]

Cheers, look forward to the update from you

 

[Annnoe]

On Jan 14 there was a seat available one way dec 29 Mel- Hnl but gone in minutes....I was too slow!

 

[ozbeachbabe]

The QF Classic Award in whY HNL/SYD is 36,000 points plus USD296.96 per person taxes but if you miss out on those you could always book a partner award on FJ for 25,000 points plus USD2.50 pp taxes on FJ821 HNL/NAN 0810/1355+1 but you would need to overnight in NAN.

The FJ website is quoting a one way fare 'Bula Saver fare' NAN/SYD of FJD356.00 plus taxes FJD210.00 568.00 pp or approx. AUD308.00 per person.

The end result is pretty much the same cash outlay but a saving of 44,000 points (11,000 x 4) plus one nights accommodation in Nadi.

 

[Newk]

The QF Classic Award in whY HNL/SYD is 36,000 points plus USD296.96 per person taxes but if you miss out on those you could always book a partner award on FJ for 25,000 points plus USD2.50 pp taxes on FJ821 HNL/NAN 0810/1355+1 but you would need to overnight in NAN.

The FJ website is quoting a one way fare 'Bula Saver fare' NAN/SYD of FJD356.00 plus taxes FJD210.00 568.00 pp or approx. AUD308.00 per person.

The end result is pretty much the same cash outlay but a saving of 44,000 points (11,000 x 4) plus one nights accommodation in Nadi.

Dear Ozbeachbabe

can you please give me any hints about how I'd get the above mentioned FJ partner award to come up on the QF web site? Or am I missing something? There is a dearth of classic awards to Hawaii at that time of the year-you see I am looking too. Have managed a couple out of Australia on Jan 5 2014. Now need to get them back later in the month. May have to switch to working the AA system (I know how to do that) but any help on how the Air Pacific classic awards can be got especially with QFF points. Thanks

Thanks in advance...and I did try on both the QF and FJ web sites

 

[elogic]

Hi Newk
How can I book via the AA system.

Elogic

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I just signed in to my ff profile & searched for award seats under Classic/Partner award (not Qantas/Jetstar any seat) & entered the availability Honolulu/Nadi 05 Jan 2014 & there appears to be seats on 05 Jan, 12 Jan & 14 Jan

I left the search default for one seat so not sure how many seats you're looking for & whether this is a contributing factor. Maybe you could grab two seats on one date & two on another & seat a flight alert in expert flyer in case any others are released as you can make changes to classic/partner awards without penalty.

Probably best to book at least one adult & one child in each pnr rather than two kids on their own just in case you do have to come home separately.

I can see J award availability on 03 Jan, 05 Jan, 07 Jan, 10 Jan, 12 Jan & 14 Jan for 50,000 points plus USD2.50 pp so if you can't get everyone in whY grab J which is refundable less a small point penalty then rebook whY if it comes up.

Note that the Tuesday flight FJ823 HNL/NAN 1200/2030+1 ops via CXI (Christmas Is in Kiribati) on a B737-700 which is 10.30 hours total. The Friday flight FJ852 HNL/NAN 0810/1605+1 ops via APW (Apia Western Samoa) which is 9.55 hours. Only the Sunday flight is the 7.45 hour non-stop.

AFAIK you can't booked a QF award via the AA site. When I did a recent redemption LAX/OGG it was definitely via the QF site as per all other QF redemptions.

 

[Newk]

I just signed in to my ff profile & searched for award seats under Classic/Partner award (not Qantas/Jetstar any seat) & entered the availability Honolulu/Nadi 05 Jan 2014 & there appears to be seats on 05 Jan, 12 Jan & 14 Jan

I left the search default for one seat so not sure how many seats you're looking for & whether this is a contributing factor. Maybe you could grab two seats on one date & two on another & seat a flight alert in expert flyer in case any others are released as you can make changes to classic/partner awards without penalty.

Probably best to book at least one adult & one child in each pnr rather than two kids on their own just in case you do have to come home separately.

I can see J award availability on 03 Jan, 05 Jan, 07 Jan, 10 Jan, 12 Jan & 14 Jan for 50,000 points plus USD2.50 pp so if you can't get everyone in whY grab J which is refundable less a small point penalty then rebook whY if it comes up.

Note that the Tuesday flight FJ823 HNL/NAN 1200/2030+1 ops via CXI (Christmas Is in Kiribati) on a B737-700 which is 10.30 hours total. The Friday flight FJ852 HNL/NAN 0810/1605+1 ops via APW (Apia Western Samoa) which is 9.55 hours. Only the Sunday flight is the 7.45 hour non-stop.

AFAIK you can't booked a QF award via the AA site. When I did a recent redemption LAX/OGG it was definitely via the QF site as per all other QF redemptions.

Thanks!! Idiot me was expecting it to come up under Sydney/honolulu without looking at Syd/NAN. DUH! I can see what you meant in your post now. Sorry.
If needed I would do the AA bit with some AA miles I have from purchases and possibly cc transfers. At first glance there seems to be more availability of points paid Australia to Hawaii flights, often with Hawaiian, through AA

 

[Newk]

Hi Newk
How can I book via the AA system.

Elogic

Hi Elogic

see the AA forum. They currently have a points buying special on at the moment if you can get up to speed by end of Jan I think. The BEST use of the points is for higher classes of travel. But I have bought a few points to experiment and it might still work value wise for this trip in economy. I am pretty sure it works when comparing the cost of AA points to the currently available QF paid flights
Also there are credit card/hotel programs that can send points to AA.
Best of luck with planning your trip. Let's know how you go.
In the early 2000s I got 5 of us to Hawaii and back on points, largely in business. It seems harder now

All that said I think I think OBB's suggestion is better

 

[elogic]

Cheers Newk
Looked via Nadi but the dates in need 22.12.13 out and 01.01.14 back have gone
best of luck with your search

Elogic

 

[Newk]

Cheers Newk
Looked via Nadi but the dates in need 22.12.13 out and 01.01.14 back have gone
best of luck with your search

Elogic

the AA trips cost 37500 points each way. That's AA advantage points BTW. A quick back of the envelope calculation suggests that you are may be better off actually buying cheap fares with someone.
But it's an option if you cannot find cheap flights anywhere.
The business class redemptions are a bit better value at 62,500 points each way. Harder to beat that paying cash. Sorry, I know I am wandering away from your initial question. And hopefully opening up more options for you

 

[elogic]

Newk
with more than 1.5million points on qf it's fine just the dates are the problem
cheers again

Elogic

 

[Newk]

Newk
with more than 1.5million points on qf it's fine just the dates are the problem
cheers again

Elogic

ah, I see. Forgive me if you have said, but what status are you with QFF? I think if you are platinum or above ringing the help desk might help free up award seats. And for what it's worth it took weeks for me to organise the seats there and back when we did it several year ago. I used to check every day..someone will tell you the best times to check...and quickly snaffle up what was available and hope the rest would come up eventually. They did! Things may be tighter now of course.
regards again and best of luck

 

[elogic]

While I have plenty of points , status is only bronze.
will check daily as you mentioned
cheers

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Thanks!! Idiot me was expecting it to come up under Sydney/honolulu without looking at Syd/NAN. DUH! I can see what you meant in your post now. Sorry.
If needed I would do the AA bit with some AA miles I have from purchases and possibly cc transfers. At first glance there seems to be more availability of points paid Australia to Hawaii flights, often with Hawaiian, through AA

I don't think FJ flights will pop up in a QF award availability search "SYD/HNL" or "HNL/SYD" as the flights are too indirect a routing so you would have to do the search "NAN/HNL" or "HNL/NAN" then purchase a SYD/NAN or NAN/SYD ticket.

If you use the multi-city tool for award availability separately SYD/NAN then NAN/HNL it will charge sector award fare levels of 25,000 each sector. It may be worth calling QF & seeing if it's possible to book both sectors as a 'through' fare eg 36,000 points if it allows a stopover in NAN. If it doesn't you may still be able to do that routing if your stay in NAN does not exceed 24 hours ie would therefore be classed as a transit.

Do you have any Velocity ff points at all? We recently booked an VA award ticket on HA HNL/BNE for 32,500 points plus USD52.54 pp.

 

[elogic]

Oz,Newk
cheers for the info
i will wait to see when JQ finally release seats Syd -HNL return , at present only tickets till oct 5 on sale
then hopefully qf will release more award tickets

Elogic

 

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