QF now using married segments

[madrooster]

As per Latest Qantas News

QF is now using married segment logic. The main effect this will have is, if you want to change one flight in a connecting sequence of flights, eg. JFK-LAX-BNE, you now have to rebook from availability for the entire JFK/BNE journey.

Up until now it's been possible to change just the one flight in a connecting sequence, but now you have to get rid of all of the flights in the sequence and search JFK/BNE, not JFK-LAX and LAX-BNE.

This now means that changes to your ticket in certain situations may be more expensive than in the past given identical situations.

 

[RooFlyer]

Once I figure out the significance of that, I'm sure I won't be happy.

 

[serfty]

Once I figure out ....

Say I class is needed for a discount business fare and is available on each flight for booking JFK-LAX and LAX-BNE as individual segments.

However when you try to book these flights together JFK-xLAX-BNE the GDS returns I0 for one or both and the discount fare can't be booked.

 

[RooFlyer]

Thanks serfty. Obvious question: why might that be? Seats in the fare bucket available all the way?

i assume booking as individual segments would be more expensive and bring up other issues?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks serfty. Obvious question: why might that be? Seats in the fare bucket available all the way?

i assume booking as individual segments would be more expensive and bring up other issues?

Yeah - they want to force more expensive fares based on city pairs.

I note the link in the first post says this is 'favourable' for passengers. It might be for some, but married segments rarely benefit the passenger wanting cheaper fares between key hub cities. They favour connecting passengers the airline wants to attract to fly via hubs.

Married city rules can also apply to award tickets - drying up availability if you want to use connecting rather than single flights.

 

[cmon0005]

CX have used this for quite some time and worked in my favour for booking connecting flights (ie.MEL-HKG-KUL, MEL-HKG-KTM.etc) to give me good availability and price, but when trying to book a single flight directly out of HKG it was very expensive and the fare buckets were very restricted.

 

[madrooster]

CX have used this for quite some time and worked in my favour for booking connecting flights (ie.MEL-HKG-KUL, MEL-HKG-KTM.etc) to give me good availability and price, but when trying to book a single flight directly out of HKG it was very expensive and the fare buckets were very restricted.

This is likely to be PoS availability restrictions in use, rather than married segments. CX is a big user of PoS availability restrictions too. For this, a HK PoS may show Y9 B9 H9 K0 M0 L0 V0, but an AU PoS may show Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 L9 V9. The only way to thoroughly see this is to either spend a fair amount of time on the airline's website, or have access to the GDS in two different PoS locations.

Married segments in your case may mean that MEL-HKG-KUL might be available in M class (Y>B>H>K>M>L>V on CX), but MEL-HKG (stopover) HKG-KUL is available in V class. It can also go the other way around.

CX also uses this on award availability, where JFK-HKG-MEL is not available, but JFK-HKG and HKG-MEL are available separately. In cases like this, a HKG stopover is required if you want those flights. It can go the other way around too, where JFK-HKG-MEL is available, but not JFK-HKG and HKG-MEL with a HKG stopover.

QF has stated in their agent info sheet that this won't apply to QF award space... yet.

 

[eastwest101]

Would I be correct in guessing that use of married segment pricing on QF may make 'throwaway ticketing' more common or attractive? Provided people travel one-way and HLO of course?

 

[madrooster]

Would I be correct in guessing that use of married segment pricing on QF may make 'throwaway ticketing' more common or attractive? Provided people travel one-way and HLO of course?

It's an unknown at this point due to it being early days. An example that I've seen a number of times, is there'll be more availability for those transiting from NZ through AU and onwards, than if you originated in AU. So far I've found this to be independent of the PoS used (be it AU or NZ). In this example, it was advantageous price wise to basically have a dirt cheap weekend in NZ.

 

[Kangol]

QF has stated in their agent info sheet that this won't apply to QF award space... yet.

I thought it already has? And that married segments is common for all carriers?
I've seen many of these examples, in particular the LHR-xDXB-MEL/SYD routes for awards..

 

[madrooster]

I thought it already has? And that married segments is common for all carriers?
I've seen many of these examples, in particular the LHR-xDXB-MEL/SYD routes for awards..

I don't doubt you on this, as I have personally seen this as well, even in cases like JFK-LAX-SYD-ADL being available but JFK-LAX-SYD isn't. I'm just stating what the QF documents say...