QF slug domestic business travellers with price hikes

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Platy

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Sometime when I took my eye off the ball over the holiday period the cost of a J class on some of my typical domestic runs (eg CNS-BNE and CNS-SYD) has jumped 4% ($43.50 on a SYD-CNS)!!!

This is on top of the increases of about 15% in the last 2-3 years.

Have I missed something (like some half-baked fuel surcharge excuse) or have QF used the quiet season to sneak in a price hike?

Given that service levels are still below those of the days of competition from Ansett, basically they are taking advantage...let's hope that 07 can get some traction in the marketplace and create some competition and eventually DJ gets its act together and realises that there is a market for appropriatrely priced business class in Australia, with good service, the right price and seats occupied by actual passengers rather than airline staff!

Personally, I resent subsidising QF staff to sit in J class, let alone somehow getting better seats, denying upgrade opportunities and even paid fair opportunities (it's happened to me despite how the system is supposed to work at QF and myslef holding a WP card)...and then to be slugged these sorts of price hikes is extremely rich...

C'mon QF stick your arrogance and short sightedness in your branded flight bag and get more creative!!!
 
keep in mind that they have also recently introduced discounted business class fares in the D class bucket. These are often only marginally above Y fares.
 
NM said:
keep in mind that they have also recently introduced discounted business class fares in the D class bucket. These are often only marginally above Y fares.

NM - is there a way to get internet quotes on these discounted business class fares? qantas.com seems to only give the full J fare whenever I check (full J fare return PER-SYD is about $2880 now!).

Also - what are the restrictions on these fares?

JOBU
 
Well it's official. Not sure why the press didn't pick up on it:

http://www.qantas.com.au/agents/dyn/qf/news/200601/0121
"Domestic Fare Increase - J, Y and HOX 12 January 2006

Effective for sales and travel on/after 19 January 2006, domestic J, Y and HOX fare levels are increasing.

The fare increases will vary across each route, but on average:

* J class fare levels will increase by 2.7 per cent (to a maximum of 4 per cent)
* Y class fare levels will increase by 2.5 per cent (to a maximum of 4 per cent)
* HOX fare levels will increase by 3.9 per cent (to a maximum of 5.5 per cent)



All existing bookings must be ticketed by 18 January 2006, otherwise increased fare levels will apply."
 
Jobu said:
NM said:
keep in mind that they have also recently introduced discounted business class fares in the D class bucket. These are often only marginally above Y fares.

NM - is there a way to get internet quotes on these discounted business class fares? qantas.com seems to only give the full J fare whenever I check (full J fare return PER-SYD is about $2880 now!).

Also - what are the restrictions on these fares?

JOBU

D Class is for certain routes. None of them go to Perth unfortunately... They are ADL<->CBR, ADL<->MEL, BNE<->CBR, BNE<->SYD, CBR<->MEL, CBR<->SYD, MEL<->SYD.

When they are available, they are able to be priced during the normal booking process. They just appear a lot cheaper than the usual J class fares but are in the Business column.
 
NM said:
keep in mind that they have also recently introduced discounted business class fares in the D class bucket. These are often only marginally above Y fares.

I had wondered about some of the Business Class fares that pop up on QF. I know in some cases I have looked at the difference between the fully flexible economy and the Business Class fare and thought why would you even choose the economy option.
 
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Jobu said:
(full J fare return PER-SYD is about $2880 now!).

That is frigging ridiculous! How do they justify that? It's like the bad old days where a return airfare to Hawaii was cheaper than SYD-PER return airfare. :(

Please DJ, introduce a business class!
 
Thanks for the feedback everyone.

Yes there are some D fares now, but these are on selected routes only.

I agree with Jobu and Yada Yada, it's getting ridiculous when it's pushing nearly $3,000 SYD-PER return, with CNS-PER now OVER $3,000 return and then to add insult to injury you only get a paltry 160 status credits for the whole trip (unless you have the smarts and time to rtoute CNS-SYD-PER for the same cost and get double the SCs).

At least that's for 5 hr flights - spare a thought for those of us in CNS who are now being asked for over $2300 return for a flight less than 3 hrs to SYD!!!

Let's put that in perspective - you can go to London on a BA special at some times of the year for $6,000-$7,000 return for 42 hrs of flying - that's effectively FOUR TIMES better value.

On many routes seats go unsold at these prices. I cannot understand why QF doesn't expand the D fare concept to mop up those empty seats - it MUST be better to get some revenue rather than let them go empty or clog up the J cabin with staff.

In Europe D class type fares are very common on the BA routes and offer fares up to 70% cheaper than the standard J fare.

I assume that many people on this forum get their airfares paid for by their various employers so at the end of the day it's a "bonus" if they get to fly business. When you pay for these things out of your own pocket (or own your own small business like I do) you do notice these things and perhaps get more frustrated!
 
These Australia Wide D fares do exist, it's just that Qantas are not offerring them for most routes other than in conjuction with international travel.

Think about this; last year I travelled in D class MEL-PER, PER-CNS & CNS-MEL as part of a DONE4.

In round figures (including T/L/Cs), to buy business class seats using the Oz Qantas web site today would cost:
MEL-PER: $1410
PER-CNS: $1550
CNS-MEL: $1230

TOTAL: $4190

My next flight for this travel is on QF, SYD-LHR; to buy online would set you back $8390 ...

To buy a DONE4 ex OZ currently costs a base fare of $9610, added T/L/C's may put this up to around $11,000. This is still well under the above costs and when you consider the costs of my other Qantas flight AKL-MEL, as well as the other 15 sectors, all in Busness class, it become sapparent that Qantas know they have a captive market here.
 
Indeed. The only time I fly within Australia in business class is if I'm on an international ticket. Prices are much more sane.

Now, if only I'd had a chance to use ozjet's 2-for-1 special ...
 
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