Qantas FF Award website show non existant flights

[Pollie]

Yesterday I tried to book Qantas award bookings to Hong Kong in late December. Availability looked good but despite getting to final payment page, a message showed up saying it couldnt complete.
I rang to book by phone and was advised that none of the Cathay flights existed. ( and only Cathay flights were listed) and that it was a computer glitch - that had been going on for 3 weeks. Is it just me or is it unacceptable that they dont put a message on the site saying that they Cathay flights couldnt be booked. It seems that they leave it up so it looks like availability is good but in reality there is nothing. Its false advertising. Is there anyway of getting Qantas to honour what they are advertising as available?

 

[samh004]

Welcome to AFF!

I think Cathay award availability has come and gone over the years, never staying for very long. However this is the first I’ve heard lately of Cathay flights showing up, let alone ones that don’t exist.

If you’re looking to book a Cathay award, the best idea is to sign up for an Asia Miles account (free I believe) and check availability on their site, then you can phone Qantas and have them book the flight, with of course a small point surcharge as they’re doing it for you.

You could argue with them over the fee because you can’t book it online, but they probably wont waive it.

 

[trooper]

OK.. I'll bite....

HOW do they honour a request for a seat on a non-existent flight? :shock:

 

[JohnK]

The QF website has had problems showing CX availability over the last couple of years.
I cannot understand how the QF award booking engine could be showing availability for non existent CX flights.

Personally I think it is unacceptable although I was also told by a QF customer care consultant that CX flights shoud not appear as they are on different systems and not compatible with one another. Surely they could build an interface between the 2 systems if they wanted to fix the current issue?

 

[Pollie]

OK.. I'll bite....

HOW do they honour a request for a seat on a non-existent flight? :shock:

Well the flight exists but the seat availability doesnt. Excuse my mistake! They could honour a seat on a flight?

 

[JohnK]

Well the flight exists but the seat availability doesnt. Excuse my mistake! They could honour a seat on a flight?

It is debatable whether award availability actually exists on the flight as Qantas have been having a lot of issues with CX availability. Should they honour a mistake on their website? That is debatable as well but not for me to answer.

By the way I think trooper's comments were a little tongue in cheek considering he used a early on....

 

[samh004]

Well the flight exists but the seat availability doesnt. Excuse my mistake! They could honour a seat on a flight?

I believe if you phone them they can award a seat on a CX flight for some of your points (if there’s availability), plus a little extra fee

 

[MatF]

Hmmmm, now I'm a bit nervous ....

I've got award flights booked for late this year for the Mrs and I from Melbourne to London on QF, then back to Hong Kong on CX254 (all on the one award booking from the QF website)

Hope it's a real aircraft!

 

[Smackbum]

I too have succumbed to paranoia and rang Qantas this morning. I have a UK Christmas trip 75% booked (3 Awards done .... my ticket still to be purchased) and the only leg outstanding was a side-trip to Vietnam on the way home (in January).

I had the devil's own time booking the 3 FF Awards (understandably) but the Asia Miles site was showing heaps of availibility HKG<>SGN for 4 seats so I was calmly waiting for the points to accumulate in my account (4 x (28000 + 2500) = 132000).

Fortunately Todd laid my fears to rest as he said that there was indeed heaps of availability on the Qantas system as well, even though all I get when searching online is the message "We could not find a fare for the requested itinerary. (# 66002)"

So my advice is that you can't trust the QFF website, you can probably trust the Asia Miles website, but if you want to be sure about Cathay award availability using QFF points then ring them up.

 

[trooper]

Sorry if I didn't make it clear I was in fact very tongue-in-cheek! No offence meant!!

I used old/expiring QF points for an inter Asia award flight on CX... It was a surprisingly easy process.... but of course I CALLED!

Is that still the key?

 

[Pollie]

Thanks for the advice re looking on the Asia Miles website.I will check it out. I did call Qantas and the seats dont exist for those flightsthat are listed. Apparently Cathay and Qantas websites do not communicate properly and Qantas say they are unable to fix it. Unfortunately there are no Qantas or Cathay seats available for the time period. I will double check Asia Miles.

 

[casp]

You think the QFF website only have problem with CX availability? NO! They can't even display their own flights correctly!
One of my friend is looking for a seat on 17JUN QF127 SYDHKG. Website showing seats available in Premium Economy and First. However, when he tried to book the seats, the website failed at the payment page. I checked the expertflyer for him, expert flyer indicates 17JUN QF127 doesn't even have PE and F booking class exist. i.e. QF probably using a 744 configured only with Y and C operate 17JUN QF127.

If they can't even correctly display their own flights, how can we expect CX seats?

 

[markis10]

If they can't even correctly display their own flights, how can we expect CX seats?

Or the last seat in those cabins sold during the time the attempt was made to book it, which would explain why the site now wont sell you a PE or f fare, given the closeness of the intended flight thats a possibility.

 

[casp]

Or the last seat in those cabins sold during the time the attempt was made to book it, which would explain why the site now wont sell you a PE or f fare, given the closeness of the intended flight thats a possibility.

No, the website still showing PE and F seats available at the moment. Those seats are displaying on the QF website for more than a week now. As I mentioned, there is no PE or F class offerred on 17JUN QF127. For other flights you can see the booking class with zero availability. But on this flight you can't even find the booking class for PE and F award.

 

[acrylic]

how come you can see seat classes on their site? I dont think I see those

 

[markis10]

No, the website still showing PE and F seats available at the moment. Those seats are displaying on the QF website for more than a week now. As I mentioned, there is no PE or F class offerred on 17JUN QF127. For other flights you can see the booking class with zero availability. But on this flight you can't even find the booking class for PE and F award.

I dont know what you are looking at but its not the Qantas site, a the time i posted that message it said no PF or F flights for sale and still does right now. As a result its not showing any ASA or classic awards either despite having better availability as a SG.

 

[casp]

how come you can see seat classes on their site? I dont think I see those

You can see the booking classes through ExpertFlyer

 

[casp]

I dont know what you are looking at but its not the Qantas site, a the time i posted that message it said no PF or F flights for sale and still does right now. As a result its not showing any ASA or classic awards either despite having better availability as a SG.

Check one way Sydney to HKG on 17 JUN, you will get the following response. I printed this screen 2 minutes ago.

 

[Diesellife]

Check one way Sydney to HKG on 17 JUN, you will get the following response. I printed this screen 2 minutes ago.

View attachment 792

There is no more or very limited 3 classes metal to HKG... It was announced quite some time ago. Damn QFF

PS: Now the "First" class is effectively the "Business" class... Coz I tried to book a F class flight MEL-HKG and they qouted me 7xx_x points one way for (Any Seat) "First" class....

 

[markis10]

Check one way Sydney to HKG on 17 JUN, you will get the following response. I printed this screen 2 minutes ago.

View attachment 792

Still dont know how you are getting that, when I check classic availability I get: "Trip from Sydney to Hong Kong is not available on the 17 Jun. Alternative dates can be selected below." using an SG account. I wonder if your looking at cached content, and not what others see?