QF options for 4 x J Class?

[rurounimaikeru]

Hi there,

Starting to look into 2022/23 family trip for 4 using QF. What are better options in terms of availability and time of year? Generaly looking at Europe or SE/NE Asia.

Thanks!

 

[Lynda2475]

Finding 2 * J class on any given flight is always going to be easier than finding 4 on the same flight as limited classic reward seats are available on each flight. So one option to consider is 1 parent and 1 child on one flight and the other parent and child on different flights if needed. Or parents in J and children in PE or Y if old enough to be in separate cabin. Or 1 parent and child in J and one parent and child in PE and swap seats during the flight (although you will have to return to your assigned seat for take off and landing).

QF released a bunch of reward seats 2 weeks ago, I noticed that irrespective of which route i queried (US, UK, EU) i was almost always offered routing via HKG on CX or via Tokyo on JL. So Asian destinations seem to have good availablity, as does taking the long way to/from the US. Reward J seats on QF metal are almost alsways rarer than on One World partners.

Best availablity is always outside of school holidays and flying on days that are less popular for business travel. I notice QF to LHR has best availablity on Tuesday departures.

Your status determines how far out you can see seats. And you may need to get creative chosing non direct options to find the number of seats you need.

 

[rurounimaikeru]

Finding 2 * J class on any given flight is always going to be easier than finding 4 on the same flight as limited classic reward seats are available on each flight. So one option is considering 1 parent and 1 child on flight and the other parent and child on different flights if needed. Or parents in J and children in PE or Y if old enough to be in separate cabin.

QF released a bunch of reward seats 2 weeks ago, I noticed that irrespective of which route i queried (US, UK, EU) i was almost always offered routing via HKG on CX or via Tokyo on JL. So Asian destinations seem to have good availablity, as does taking the long way to/from the US. Reward J seats on QF metal are almost alsways rarer than on One World partners.

Best availablity is always outside of school holidays and flying on days that are less popular for business travel. I notice QF to LHR has best availablity on Tuesday departures.

Your status determines how far out you can see seats. And you may need to get creative chosing non direct options to find the number of seats you need.

Great thanks Lynda! I'll consider partner airlines too.

Singapore for Oct 2022, seems to have good availability for 4 x J to Frankfurt or Paris, and would be open to stopover in Singapore to improve options/flight connections.

 

[Lynda2475]

Yes willingness to stop over can often help with finding a connecting flight from a hub like SIN.

Searching SYD - FRA return will often surface different flights or routing than if you use the multi-city search and search SYD-SIN then SIN-FRA a day later. If you want to go via ME, can be beneficial to search SYD-DBX then DBX-FRA too.

 

[andye]

Hopefully stopovers in SIN will be OK next year but I would be a bit twitchy that there could be a local outbreak that brings them back to the current position of needing to transit through on a single ticket

 

[Matt_01]

If you are looking for x4 J rewards with QF or any other OW carrier or QF partner your best option is most likely JL/ CX on 2 seperate flights arriving in similar time frames. If looking for x4 J rewards on the same flight SQ will be the best option but you need KF miles to do this.

QF do not release OW reward availability for OW or partner, QF only displays what is made available based on the OW or partner release dates and using the multi city booking engine with flexible dates is the best way to find seats. If you search SYD-LHR you will get results based on married sectors, searching SYD-(via selected airport)-LHR may present other options.

OW and partners redemption release dates are not tied to AU school holidays or QF blackout periods, rather their own blackout periods. Also OW and partner airlines release dates are not tied to your QF status, QF flights are. Sure QF will charge a few more point for using OW or Partner airlines but this is normally offset by the reduced taxes (BA being the exception). Good luck and BTW welcome to AFF.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Finding 2 * J class on any given flight is always going to be easier than finding 4 on the same flight as limited classic reward seats are available on each flight. So one option to consider is 1 parent and 1 child on one flight and the other parent and child on different flights if needed. Or parents in J and children in PE or Y if old enough to be in separate cabin. Or 1 parent and child in J and one parent and child in PE and swap seats during the flight (although you will have to return to your assigned seat for take off and landing).

Swapping for the entire flight is possible... so for a MEL-SIN-Europe you could have one set of passengers in the business cabin and one in premium economy for MEL-SIN, then swap around for the SIN-Europe sector. Swapping during the flight is at the discretion of the crew and not guaranteed, especially during covid times where airlines may want to restrict passenger movement. On someone like Singapore Airlines the request would almost certainly be [very politely] refused.

 

[Lynda2475]

Whilst OW partners seat releases are not tied to Aussie school holidays, competition for seats departing Australia during school holidays be it on OW partner or QF is always greater around the start of school holidays as that is when families find it easiest to travel if they have school age children and dont want them missing school.

Business Travellers also generally want to be at their destination ready to work on a Monday, which is why it can often be easier to find reward departures to the EU leaving on a Tuesday or Wednesday than those leaving on Saturday.

Swapping for the entire flight is possible

Would need to be done before depature to have names changed on the ticket as you must sit in your allocated seat on take-off and landing.

Swapping during the flight is at the discretion of the crew and not guaranteed

True, and there is much uncertainty in covid times, but as this question is in the QFF section, assuming the OP will be wanting to fly OW not Star Alliance.

 

[Matt_01]

Not all school holidays in AU start on the same date. Some States start a week or so behind or in front of others depending on where you are based. I have been booking travel around school holidays for a number of years and am confident in doing so. If I cannot find awards seats my fall back option is QF seat release.

Also name changes on tickets is not permitted on international flights across a number of carriers (QF included) so you need to cancel and rebook, this may have associated fees and if on rewards there is no guarantee that the seats will be available.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Would need to be done before depature to have names changed on the ticket as you must sit in your allocated seat on take-off and landing.



True, and there is much uncertainty in covid times, but as this question is in the QFF section, assuming the OP will be wanting to fly OW not Star Alliance.

While you can't change the names on the ticket, 'sitting in your assigned seat' is more of a concept. Pre-covid at least it simply means that you can't move about the cabin and snag a different seat to that on your boarding pass, at least prior to take-off. If two pax want to completely swap however they can advise the crew that's what they'd like to do as they board the aircraft... all seats with boarding passes are accounted for. This has never been an issue on Qantas. I mentioned Singapore airlines as the OP has posted in other threads that they also have KF points and are looking at SQ options as well.

 

[Lynda2475]

If I cannot find awards seats my fall back option is QF seat release.

Only available if you are Platinum, fantastic for you but not an option for most.

I generally avoid travel at the start or end of school holidays (that includes the week before to account for interstate and private schools who get longer breaks) especially on any route popular with those with kids (both from a departure pov and destination) and this has served me well in finding rewards when Ive not had status. Departing near the end of holidays is always easier.

But yes school holidays are entirely possible if you get in early enough or have elite status. We however, do not know the OPs'status.

 

[Lynda2475]

While you can't change the names on the ticket, 'sitting in your assigned seat' is more of a concept. Pre-covid at least it simply means that you can't move about the cabin and snag a different seat to that on your boarding pass.

Flights to/from the USA (and on US based airlines) are very particular about this since 911.

I was permitted by flight attendant to move seats after take-off as the IFE was broken from SFO to SYD for the duration of the flight but was made to go back to my orginal seat with the broken IFE for landing. This was despite the faulty IFE being identified before take-off. YMMV of course. Depends on how much of a dragon the crew member is.

 

[andye]

I have previously redeemed 5xJ on CX HKG-JFK and there used to be a number of routes like that. That level of availability dropped about 4 years ago and I've not seen it since.
BA is often generous with award space but not to/from Australia and of course the taxes are shocking

 

[sudoer]

SYD-HND on JL is wide open right now, booked 6xJ last week.

Your options open significantly ex TYO.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Flights to/from the USA (and on US based airlines) are very particular about this since 911.

I was permitted by flight attendant to move seats after take-off as the IFE was broken from SFO to SYD for the duration of the flight but was made to go back to my orginal seat with the broken IFE for landing. This was despite the faulty IFE being identified before take-off. YMMV of course. Depends on how much of a dragon the crew member is.

Ah - I see what you mean! Two different scenarios though The situation you describe is changing your seat, which can have operational implications, and generally not permitted until after take-off.