QF1 F/J award space totally non-existent?

[1022]

I'm looking at a trip to Europe mid 2018 and in the lead up from time to time have been looking at award availability in First as far as DXB for myself and the other half. It'll be his first time in first.

A few months ago, I was fairly surprised to see a smattering of days with 2 F award seats available on QF1. Not a lot, but enough to have planted the seed in my head that it would be a possibility. Recently however there appears to be absolutely nothing on Qantas metal between SYD-DXB. Presumably the ditching of Melbourne flights via DXB means that competition is even more fierce for scarce award seats on the route. But What I'm currently seeing seems less about scarcity and more about a complete non-release of first or business award inventory...at least for me as a SG. WPs might possibly see some? A quick look at EF also seems to suggest zero availability in award fare buckets in all but economy class. Also seemingly no seats allocated in F cabin maps virtually every day which, while not necessarily an accurate indicator, would suggest that no one has snapped up award seats, because if they had, chances are they would have picked their seats during the booking process.

So was I seeing things a month or two ago when I thought I saw days with F awards available on QF metal? Or has it just completely dried up?

The 6am EK departure has plenty of F seats, and so does the evening flight via BKK, but I'm not a fan of EK and would prefer to be on QF1. But perhaps fake walnut and gold plastic beckons....

 

[Pushka]

Maybe try out of Adelaide? Don't limit yourself to Sydney perhaps. Ah. You don't want EK. That's an issue then.

 

[VPS]

Having just flown EK F I wouldn't hesitate to choose EK over QF and I'm a long time QF fan

 

[1022]

I've flown EK F once before (MEL-SIN) and was seriously underwhelmed with the whole experience. I was the only pax in First, yet service was impersonal and chaotic. I prefer the Qantas First seat, despite not having the same degree of privacy and of course the mid afternoon departure means being able to take full advantage of the SYD F Lounge.

But those preferences are possibly all totally redundant if award space on QF metal is totally unavailable. Has anyone else noticed a steep drop off recently? There was a thread a while back where NBs seemingly had award access wiped overnight. I hope that's not going up the chain...

 

[fairbasa]

Probably part of the broader QF strategy. Flood the market with points, remove award space - only redemption options left are toasters.

 

[levelnine]

Presumably the ditching of Melbourne flights via DXB means that competition is even more fierce for scarce award seats on the route.

This is mere speculation on my part, but with so few F seats from Aus to Europe, I wouldn't be surprised if QF start restricting access to F redemptions at the initial release date to WP/WP1s. As they are likely to scoop up those seats on most days, you can say goodbye to F redemptions on QF1/2 if you are below platinum.

 

[michaele]

This is mere speculation on my part, but with so few F seats from Aus to Europe, I wouldn't be surprised if QF start restricting access to F redemptions at the initial release date to WP/WP1s. As they are likely to scoop up those seats on most days, you can say goodbye to F redemptions on QF1/2 if you are below platinum.

Which is kind of fair right? The large scale sense of rewarding your higher status customers? (easy for me to say as a WP though )

I'd like to see more F and J award seats opened up closer to travel date - surely revmanagement could do this based on expected loadings?

 

[Pushka]

I think that this was previously raised on AFF as a reality.

 

[levelnine]

Which is kind of fair right? The large scale sense of rewarding your higher status customers? (easy for me to say as a WP though )

I'm not making any comment on the fairness or unfairness of the (speculated) measure.

However, everyone is a loser with the reduction of QF F seats from Aus to Europe. Restricting early availability to WP/WP1 simply reduces the degree of damage inflicted to a certain subset of flyers.

 

[fairbasa]

The scheme relies heavily on the aspirational feeling customers have towards travel and holidays, particularly the opportunity to try the premium experiences. However, in the short term the average Qantas Point collector will not be aware that all those points they feverishly collect have ever reducing redemption opportunities and therefore value.

This forms justification to again increase redemption rates to try to balance the demand with supply. And so the cycle continues...

 

[Flying Fox]

Probably part of the broader QF strategy. Flood the market with points, remove award space - only redemption options left are toasters.

Such a shame, I'm sure that we would all prefer that QF restrict toaster redemptions and open up F/J redemptions instead

 

[amaroo]

As a QF Plat this is what I see for 2 passengers SYD-DXB .... mostly EK



OP, if EK is not your cup of tea try routing via SIN or HKG ... mostly BA

As an example this is my view for 2 passengers HKG-LHR



In regards to QF Plat and F availability - I see the ability to request award seats as the big bonus. I got F seat released for SYD-DFW for later this year,

 

[1022]

Thanks Amaroo for the screen shots. I see exactly the same availability (as SG) on the SYD-DXB calendar view. You mention 'mostly EK'. I wonder if that's actually 'all EK' for you like it is to me.

Then after 27 April there's nothing other than economy - i.e. EK releases their award space in all classes @~330 days vs QF @~355 and QF is only releasing whY seats on their own metal.

CX ex HKG is another option I'm contemplating for the trip. Though with rumours of a new EK F product later this year (if AusBT can be trusted) maybe it's worth taking a punt and booking EK in the vague hope of scoring their answer to EY apartments....

 

[fairbasa]

The problem with that calendar view is you can't see which of those dates only have indirect routing and which have the longest leg in a lower cabin category.

I'm probably asking too much for two check-boxes, 1 for non-stop flights only and 1 for all flights shown have availability in the desired award category.

 

[coyote25]

The problem with that calendar view is you can't see which of those dates only have indirect routing and which have the longest leg in a lower cabin category.

I'm probably asking too much for two check-boxes, 1 for non-stop flights only and 1 for all flights shown have availability in the desired award category.

I'd also like an option to select the airlines, at least QF, OW and partners. That way we could remove at least so of the options we don't what displayed or returned and in particular see the real QF Award availability for each route.

 

[1022]

I'd also like an option to select the airlines, at least QF, OW and partners. That way we could remove at least so of the options we don't what displayed or returned and in particular see the real QF Award availability for each route.

Couldn't agree more!! There is the "Check Availability of fares on Qantas Group only" button at the bottom of classic award searches on specific days as opposed to calendar view.



But it takes you to cash fares plus a column for classic award in economy only, so a pretty useless function. (Using a totally random SYD-SIN search here as an example...)

 

[Quickstatus]

But it takes you to cash fares plus a column for classic award in economy only, so a pretty useless function. (Using a totally random SYD-SIN search here as an example...)

There are X,Z,U,P columns as well - when the seats are available. When the seats are no longer available the relevant columns disappear.

Successful classic reward harvesting require a certain degree of flexibility. I find I more productive searching in calendar view
However it is nice when looking at specific day cash fares to see the odd classic reward seat pop up and give another option to the fare consideration.

 

[boomy]

I don’t think QF release more awards to WP/P1. Was looking for 2x seats on QF1 11 months out and got absolutely nothing online. Could call QF to ask release seats but EK417 had wide open availability in F and since it departs at about the same time as QF1 (perfect timing for connections to SYD and maximising lounge time) it was no brainer to book this flight.

To the OP, I understand that you don’t like EK but I wouldn’t judge them, or any major airline for that matter, based on just one flight experience. I had mediocre flights on EK as well as on QF and I think most will agree EK offer better overall product.

 

[Quickstatus]

I too think the award offerings have been reduced

 

[ShrinkWrapped]

it's been impossible as a SG to see any awards in U/P for QF 1/2/9/10. been religiously searching daily at time of release and nothing

I'm thinking that QF have just elected not to release any premium cabin space to LHR.....almost another "enhancement". also it's near impossible to get D/I inventory on these flights over most of the 2nd half of 2018