QF crazy flight pairing

[Sdtravel]

So i am looking at some routing and i came across something odd.

So I was looking at 25 Mar SYD to SFO, 2 Apr SFO to LAX & 6 Apr LAX to SYD

In Y & J the flight offerings are QF73 to SFO, mostly AA direct flight's to LAX & QF12 to SYD
But i search this in Y+ and i get QF73, to SFO, mostly AA direct flight's to LAX & then AA flight back to SFO & then QF74 to SYD.
If i want to go on QF12 from LAX to SYD i need to pay another $800. or for $11 i can go LAX to BNE and BNE to SYD.

I know this is a query like asking why is water wet but the mind boggles at why its $800 more for LAX to SYD in Y+ but in Y & J they are just standard pairings.
In Y & J you arent even offered the option to go back via SFO. (By you arent offered i mean the search is broken and never comes up with options and QF web chat tell me there are no other flights). It wouldnt be an issue other than i want to go Y+.
In Y+ im also not offered any other options to go to SFO other than direct so while it could be a pairing issue its madness that Y & J dont have this.

Does anyone have any possible reason for why QF might be like this? i mean i know they want to get people on their direct flight but why only in Y+???

 

[justinbrett]

So i am looking at some routing and i came across something odd.

So I was looking at 25 Mar SYD to SFO, 2 Apr SFO to LAX & 6 Apr LAX to SYD

In Y & J the flight offerings are QF73 to SFO, mostly AA direct flight's to LAX & QF12 to SYD
But i search this in Y+ and i get QF73, to SFO, mostly AA direct flight's to LAX & then AA flight back to SFO & then QF74 to SYD.
If i want to go on QF12 from LAX to SYD i need to pay another $800. or for $11 i can go LAX to BNE and BNE to SYD.

I know this is a query like asking why is water wet but the mind boggles at why its $800 more for LAX to SYD in Y+ but in Y & J they are just standard pairings.
In Y & J you arent even offered the option to go back via SFO. (By you arent offered i mean the search is broken and never comes up with options and QF web chat tell me there are no other flights). It wouldnt be an issue other than i want to go Y+.
In Y+ im also not offered any other options to go to SFO other than direct so while it could be a pairing issue its madness that Y & J dont have this.

Does anyone have any possible reason for why QF might be like this? i mean i know they want to get people on their direct flight but why only in Y+???

I think it's to do with the denial of the JV deal. They said they were cancelling a whole bunch of codeshares to "prove a point". It's really bad - I hope they get the JV approved so we get the codeshares back.

 

[mviy]

It could be that they've already sold a lot of tickets in the other cabins.

 

[Sdtravel]

I did a search in like June next year and found the same thing.
If it is due to the JV thats so odd to say Y+ pax have to go this way and cant fly direct.
Looked closer and if i want to go LAX - MEL - SYD its $803 extra for both my original dates and some random dates in June i tried with. Its like there is an A380 tax for Y+.

 

[justinbrett]

It looks like the codeshare they will give you in Y and J is American Eagle (op by Compass Airlines) which is an E-135 service. It's probably just a technical reason that they haven't allocated any QF codeshare seats to the Y+ fare bucket. And as the JV issue won't let you book AA flights on a QF fare, they're not showing up either.

If you book on the LAX-BNE flight I believe there are more valid codeshares.

 

[Sdtravel]

QF12 which is an actual QF plane is what im after. Im a little confused with why AA would be stopping me from booking this in Y+

 

[mviy]

Have the seats in Y+ on QF12 sold out on that date?

 

[Sdtravel]

No, i can select it for $800 more and i just searched SYD - LAX - SYD and it says i can get QF11 and QF12 returning on my required date still.

 

[justinbrett]

QF12 which is an actual QF plane is what im after. Im a little confused with why AA would be stopping me from booking this in Y+

That's my point. The AA codeshare from SFO-LAX is incompatible in Y+ with QF LAX-SYD, for some reason.

 

[justinbrett]

Why don't you just book SYD-SFO & LAX-SYD with QF, and book SFO-LAX separately with AA. Tickets on that route are A$96.50.

 

[mviy]

If it's on a separate booking you would have to buy another fare if you miss the connection.

 

[justinbrett]

If it's on a separate booking you would have to buy another fare if you miss the connection.

OP is flying SFO-LAX 4 days prior to LAX-SYD.

 

[Sdtravel]

That's my point. The AA codeshare from SFO-LAX is incompatible in Y+ with QF LAX-SYD, for some reason.

So the SFO - LAX flights are being offered to me in Y and it notes they will not be in my requested class. In these instances arent they just selling you a full Y fare. Before QF73/74 resumed i went through LAX to SFO on QF in Y+. The AA metal QF coded flight was in Y and my fare class was Full Y.

So if i get you a SFO to LAX QF coded AA flight that is in a different segment a week before would be impacting getting a direct flight home in Y+ because AA dont have Y+. Im not sure i still understand why though.
The reason for not purchasing separate flights is to get QF codes and maximise earn.

 

[justinbrett]

So the SFO - LAX flights are being offered to me in Y and it notes they will not be in my requested class. In these instances arent they just selling you a full Y fare. Before QF73/74 resumed i went through LAX to SFO on QF in Y+. The AA metal QF coded flight was in Y and my fare class was Full Y.

So if i get you a SFO to LAX QF coded AA flight that is in a different segment a week before would be impacting getting a direct flight home in Y+ because AA dont have Y+. Im not sure i still understand why though.
The reason for not purchasing separate flights is to get QF codes and maximise earn.

I don't fully understand it either. The fact it's giving you LAX-BNE for $800 cheaper kind of proves it's something to do with the JV issue.

 

[Sdtravel]

So because the JV fell apart you cant fly Y+ LAX to SYD if you came in on Y+ SYD to SFO. But Y & J are fine to do like that.
Pure madness.

 

[justinbrett]

So because the JV fell apart you cant fly Y+ LAX to SYD if you came in on Y+ SYD to SFO. But Y & J are fine to do like that.
Pure madness.

Equal parts madness, technical glitch and spite

 

[docjames]

Does the Y+ force the SFO-LAX flight into a higher fare bucket (ie. a limitation of the booking engine)?

FWIW i'd say it's nothing to do with the JV and more to do with system limitations.

 

[Himeno]

I saw one the other day while looking at HND prices.

CBR-MEL-BNE-SYD-HND.
For some reason, it didn't offer any of the afternoon/early evening CBR-SYD flights and wanted me to spend all day flying domestic first.

 

[docjames]

I saw one the other day while looking at HND prices.

CBR-MEL-BNE-SYD-HND.
For some reason, it didn't offer any of the afternoon/early evening CBR-SYD flights and wanted me to spend all day flying domestic first.

Ahaha, great status run.

How did it price compared to SYD-HND direct?

 

[justinbrett]

OK, I'm really curious now so I'm trying to get to the bottom of it.

Just booking SYD-SFO & LAX-SYD on your dates (forgetting about the SFO-LAX flight), it still wants to charge you $800 extra to go via LAX. $11 extra to go LAX-BNE-SYD.
So we can forget about the SFO-LAX leg, that's not the cause.

$3611 to go SYD-SFO-LAX-SFO-SYD.

Return fare, SYD-SFO is $3611. SYD-LAX is $5211 and BNE-LAX $3607. There are no Y+ sale seats on the SYD-LAX flight on your dates. There's your answer.

Note, AA Y+ SYD-SFO & LAX-SYD, for the same dates is $3644 (or $3651 to include SFO-LAX). But you'd be on AA codes, and LAX-SYD would be AA metal.

So no, not directly JV issues in this case, LAX-SYD is just to popular. Of course if the JV is approved there will be more seats available to QF customers and you'd have a better chance on getting the same price LAX-SYD as you do LAX-BNE or SFO-SYD. It's just that LAX-SYD is underserved by QF with just one flight - which was reduced based on the JV deal.