QF Premium sales?? I'm my companion!

[Deleted member 29185]

I note the latest QF premium sale is a "companion" sale. I'd book a swag of their J BNE-CNS or VV for $399 if I didn't need a companion!

My question is why do they do this? Obviously, if I had a companion it would be ideal, but what about solo business travellers ... do they ever offer just a plain simple J sale?

Alternatively, can you purchase a J comfort seat and does a comfort seat = a companion? ("but this is not an empty seat, my imaginary friend is perfectly happy")

 

[bam71]

Its for Premium Economy, International.

 

[RichardMEL]

Its for Premium Economy, International.

The current sale is for premium cabins (F,J,W) internationally and domestic J.

and I'd wondered about a J comfort seat too as a way to take advantage of this (and have a spare seat to boot-handy on those pesky 737's - good question!)

 

[VPS]

I remember "commenting" about this some time ago and had a few people that told me that single was a choice and get a partner if I wanted to take advantage of the fares - in this day and age there are a number of people who like travelling alone (and many of them not by choice) and would like to take advantage of these fares - I think I emailed Qantas and got the vanilla response - thanks for your feedback blah blah

 

[kermatu]

It is frustrating - most of my travel is solo. And even when not the flights may be booked at different times depending on exact schedules. Irritates me just like the 'single supplement' on tours.

 

[juddles]

Come off it people!! We all love sales, but just because one doesn't target you that does not make it unfair!

Should I get upset if they had a fare sale to Perth, somewhere I don't want to go?

 

[JohnM]

Should I get upset if they had a fare sale to Perth, somewhere I don't want to go?

Oi! I saw this - as you no doubt intended .

 

[bismarck]

It's basic market segmentation. They recognise that they can get business travellers to pay the higher prices so why offer a discount and impact yield.

 

[kermatu]

Don't disagree it is what the market determines. Also don't think anyone is suggesting it is unfair - irritating and frustrating were my descriptions.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The conditions on the sale are 'per adult' not 'per ticket' (ie the sale is not 'buy two tickets'). That's probably enough to exclude comfort seats. But worth trying I would suspect.

 

[moa999]

And given the comfort seats exclude taxes it probably isn't so much of a sale.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

I got ADL - MEL J for Aud$409.
Booked few days back to fly Mar 17.
No partner. No one wants a pooch as a partner.
Not as cheap as Aud$399 but not as bad as Aud$699.

 

[doczim]

So I just finished a webchat with a QF Consultant. I wanted to book BNE : JFK and then JFK , stop over LAX BNE. I was told that the companion fares could not have a stop over. when i checked the website I could not find this anywhere. I did a dummy booking at the Business Sale fare said 1 free stop over. Which i told her that. SO then she said I woudl have to book a fare and then ring up and change the fare to add the stop over and I would be charged a change fee ($400 /pp) and any fare difference. to which i said why is there a fare difference if I just booked it. so then she said i wouldn't have to pay the change fee but would have to pay the service fee. ok fine i can cop that. Then she game me the fare , which was $2000 more than the website. I told her this and her reply was "It could be that you got the cheaper fare on your side than me." . After my response to that she came back and said she had researched more and she now had the same price that i saw on the website. SO great I thought. SO i said ok, and now how about the stop over. Ok to add the stop over it woudl cost me $2610 /pp + service fee. So obviously I didnt do it.

My questions :

1. Can anywhere see in website or fare terms where this sale does not allow a stopover?
2. Is it true you can only add a stop over after you have booked and paid for a fare?
3. I know by adding the stop over I am changing part of the booking that was originally made but the amount appears that it is no longer a "sale" fare so im back to Q1?

appreciate any advice/comments
thanks

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Come off it people!! We all love sales, but just because one doesn't target you that does not make it unfair!

Fare suck of the sav (misspelling intentional)..... I wasn't complaining about the sale, just asking questions. I actually thought the second question would have been easily answered, but no takers so far....
1. why do they do this?
2. do they ever offer just a plain simple J sale?
3. can you purchase a J comfort seat and does a comfort seat = a companion?

It's basic market segmentation. They recognise that they can get business travellers to pay the higher prices so why offer a discount and impact yield.

But aren't they doing that anyway by offering any sale? I'm a business traveller and unless I'm desperate or the seats are on sale, I don't pay the ridiculous amount asked normally, but I'd certainly pay $399 if they offered a single traveller sale. I also note I can generally get a QF upgrade on points (as a PS member), so I doubt they regularly sell out of J seats. Surely grabbing extra cash off me for a J seat is a better bet for them than me flying Y on QF, JQ or VA?

The conditions on the sale are 'per adult' not 'per ticket' (ie the sale is not 'buy two tickets').

The offer I received says "Great savings when you book two or more seats together" and "Prices are per person whenbooking 2 or more seats together on the same itinerary in the same cabin."

It clearly says two or more seats although when discussing prices it does say per person and per adult. Clear as mud I'd say.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

So I just finished a webchat with a QF Consultant. I wanted to book BNE : JFK and then JFK , stop over LAX BNE. I was told that the companion fares could not have a stop over. when i checked the website I could not find this anywhere. I did a dummy booking at the Business Sale fare said 1 free stop over. Which i told her that. SO then she said I woudl have to book a fare and then ring up and change the fare to add the stop over and I would be charged a change fee ($400 /pp) and any fare difference. to which i said why is there a fare difference if I just booked it. so then she said i wouldn't have to pay the change fee but would have to pay the service fee. ok fine i can cop that. Then she game me the fare , which was $2000 more than the website. I told her this and her reply was "It could be that you got the cheaper fare on your side than me." . After my response to that she came back and said she had researched more and she now had the same price that i saw on the website. SO great I thought. SO i said ok, and now how about the stop over. Ok to add the stop over it woudl cost me $2610 /pp + service fee. So obviously I didnt do it.

My questions :

1. Can anywhere see in website or fare terms where this sale does not allow a stopover?
2. Is it true you can only add a stop over after you have booked and paid for a fare?
3. I know by adding the stop over I am changing part of the booking that was originally made but the amount appears that it is no longer a "sale" fare so im back to Q1?

appreciate any advice/comments
thanks

Ummm - this might be a silly question - but if you can see the fare and flights you want on the website - why not book them yourself and save the hassle of dealing with the call centre?

If you use the multicity booking that will allow you to play around with adding a stopover and you'll see the difference (if any) with the applicable fare.

Stopovers should be included at the time you make your booking, otherwise the airline may want to charge you all sorts of change fees (and maybe even an increase in fare).

 

[doczim]

Ummm - this might be a silly question - but if you can see the fare and flights you want on the website - why not book them yourself and save the hassle of dealing with the call centre?

If you use the multicity booking that will allow you to play around with adding a stopover and you'll see the difference (if any) with the applicable fare.

Stopovers should be included at the time you make your booking, otherwise the airline may want to charge you all sorts of change fees (and maybe even an increase in fare).

Not a silly question, I probably wasnt clear. The price I can see online is without the stop over. but via the same airports ie BNE : LAX : JFK. When I use the multi city booking the prince jumps $2600, which as I said then appears to not be a companion sale fare at all.

I also just did a price on webjet as a multi city with the stop over and I got the cheaper price. I called Qantas and they still ant price it at this cheaper price, so either Webjet has a glitch or Qantas do. QF are calling me back

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Not a silly question, I probably wasnt clear. The price I can see online is without the stop over. but via the same airports ie BNE : LAX : JFK. When I use the multi city booking the prince jumps $2600, which as I said then appears to not be a companion sale fare at all.

I also just did a price on webjet as a multi city with the stop over and I got the cheaper price. I called Qantas and they still ant price it at this cheaper price, so either Webjet has a glitch or Qantas do. QF are calling me back

QF has a same day mistake policy. If you can, hold off booking until tomorrow so if there's anything to be sorted out you have a whole day to fix it!

 

[doczim]

QF has a same day mistake policy. If you can, hold off booking until tomorrow so if there's anything to be sorted out you have a whole day to fix it!

They called me back. They said that there is a glitch with the QF website where the fares are not available when the stop over is added. She has been able to get it priced now for the cheaper price with the stop over, even cheaper than Webjet ($300) . She isn't charging me the service fee , so that's a bonus too

 

[JohnK]

swanning_it if it makes you feel better I saw the email this morning and thought great. I'd escort my wife and daughter back to CNX via HKG in February and back again in March in premium economy. How much? $1,499 per person. What? This was the sale fare per person a few months back and you didn't need to 2 people to travel. And didn't check what it'd cost for my daughter.

Get stuffed Qantas with your childish gimmicks. Grow up.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

swanning_it if it makes you feel better I saw the email this morning and thought great. I'd escort my wife and daughter back to CNX via HKG in February and back again in March in premium economy. How much? $1,499 per person. What? This was the sale fare per person a few months back and you didn't need to 2 people to travel. And didn't check what it'd cost for my daughter.

Get stuffed Qantas with your childish gimmicks. Grow up.

I'm pretty sure I've seen PEY for $1399 ex MEL.