QFF Platinum requesting release of extra Classic award seats?

[SelfFundedWP]

It was merely a curiosity question.

Just checked expert flyer
QF1 25/1/19: 9 in everything except T which had 0
26/1/19: 9 in everything except T which had 0
27/1/19: 9 in everything except T which had 3

QF62 27/2/19: 9 in everything except I which had 6
28/2/19: 9 in eveything except L which had 0
1/3/19: 9 in everything except I which had 3

 

[JohnM]

That's interesting that 1 March had three I class, but they declined to release a seat. Maybe it needs to be more than a certain number of I before they will release?

I must say I'm a bit confused by some of your listings. You can't really be travelling on QF1 on three successive days and QF62 on two successive days?

 

[SelfFundedWP]

That's interesting that 1 March had three I class, but they declined to release a seat. Maybe it needs to be more than a certain number of I before they will release?

I must say I'm a bit confused by some of your listings. You can't really be travelling on QF1 on three successive days and QF62 on two successive days?

Not sure how familiar with the process you are but you are allowed to choose 3 dates around the time you want to travel, 1st 2nd and 3rd choice.
For QF1 all of the dates came back saying yes meaning I could choose any one of them..

 

[JohnM]

OK - gotcha . Informative, thanks.

I've never used the seat release request process but I like to follow along in case I may wish to avail myself of it one day .

Recently I've been finding that good straight-up F&J availability using QF points on EK has been working very sweetly for me without the need to beg QF . It works particularly well, being in PER. I was very relieved and happy when the QF/EK agreement was recently extended .

 

[vmile]

Last week I booked a JFK-SYD J ticket for my boss (who is QF Platinum) in May 2019.
On the web site at 10.00am on day of release, nothing showing other than Y available.

What a con game it is trying to use QF points to fly QF metal in J.

So immediatly checked Expert Flyer, J9 D9 C9 I9 (still is today), immediate call to the Platinum line.
CSA cheerly stated "I can get you a ticket in Economy" as if it was a gift from above.
Politely put the request in for a ticket in J to be released.

After hearing nothing for 72hrs other than a very confusing 'booking' appearing on the 'Your bookings' page (we seemed to have an unconfirmed seat on a 747SP) we were advised "You were supposed to call back within 48hrs" and we had the seat. On a 787/A380.
Paid the fees, points have been deducted.

 

[SelfFundedWP]

Last week I booked a JFK-SYD J ticket for my boss (who is QF Platinum) in May 2019.
On the web site at 10.00am on day of release, nothing showing other than Y available.

What a con game it is trying to use QF points to fly QF metal in J.

So immediatly checked Expert Flyer, J9 D9 C9 I9 (still is today), immediate call to the Platinum line.
CSA cheerly stated "I can get you a ticket in Economy" as if it was a gift from above.
Politely put the request in for a ticket in J to be released.

After hearing nothing for 72hrs other than a very confusing 'booking' appearing on the 'Your bookings' page (we seemed to have an unconfirmed seat on a 747SP) we were advised "You were supposed to call back within 48hrs" and we had the seat. On a 787/A380.
Paid the fees, points have been deducted.

I found the easiest way to tell it's been approved without calling back is when you log onto the qantas app and look at your bookings, all your requests will be on there looking like actual bookings except for an orange tag that says 'on request'

When it has been approved the 'on request' tag will not be there so you can call back and pay.

When I put my requests through the operator said I will have to call back in the morning as there was a backlog of requests. When i checked my requests that night they all said on request but in the morning it had been removed from all of them except the one that came back denied.
I was then able to pick the dates I wanted and make payment.

 

[Kangol]

Last week I booked a JFK-SYD J ticket for my boss (who is QF Platinum) in May 2019.
On the web site at 10.00am on day of release, nothing showing other than Y available.

What a con game it is trying to use QF points to fly QF metal in J.

So immediatly checked Expert Flyer, J9 D9 C9 I9 (still is today), immediate call to the Platinum line.
CSA cheerly stated "I can get you a ticket in Economy" as if it was a gift from above.
Politely put the request in for a ticket in J to be released.

After hearing nothing for 72hrs other than a very confusing 'booking' appearing on the 'Your bookings' page (we seemed to have an unconfirmed seat on a 747SP) we were advised "You were supposed to call back within 48hrs" and we had the seat. On a 787/A380.
Paid the fees, points have been deducted.

Did you expect for them to call you back? Is that what they told you at the time?

 

[vmile]

Did you expect for them to call you back? Is that what they told you at the time?

I expect very little from QF.

We were not asked to call back. An email would have been nice with a request to pay the fees etc.

We have had phone calls back previously requesting fees payment for released seats.

The 747SP 'booking' did not have a request to call in it.

In the end we got the seat,and that is what is important, but it is not a smooth process.

 

[Kangol]

I expect very little from QF.

We were not asked to call back. An email would have been nice with a request to pay the fees etc.

We have had phone calls back previously requesting fees payment for released seats.

The 747SP 'booking' did not have a request to call in it.

In the end we got the seat,and that is what is important, but it is not a smooth process.

Interesting, that is a stark contrast to my experiences and probably others too.
I have always been asked to call back within 24-48 hours.
Never had a call to request payment for a released seat.
Then again, I'm fairly certain all my award seat releases that were approved in the end, were approved on the spot.
Good to know.

 

[vmile]

Interesting, that is a stark contrast to my experiences and probably others too.
I have always been asked to call back within 24-48 hours.
Never had a call to request payment for a released seat.
Then again, I'm fairly certain all my award seat releases that were approved in the end, were approved on the spot.
Good to know.

I will comment that the CSA on the day really did not seem to be on top of her game, and the weird 747SP 'Booking' might have been due to the IT enhancements.
Thinking back, phone calls from QF sorting payment might have been from 'same day' approvals?
The request was made on a Thursday, I followed up on Tuesday.
In future, I will follow up every 24hrs, and not expect anything from QF.

 

[calmelb]

I will comment that the CSA on the day really did not seem to be on top of her game, and the weird 747SP 'Booking' might have been due to the IT enhancements.
Thinking back, phone calls from QF sorting payment might have been from 'same day' approvals?
The request was made on a Thursday, I followed up on Tuesday.
In future, I will follow up every 24hrs, and not expect anything from QF.

The 747SP is a holding segment and presumably is used internally to tell the system its a waitlisted flight. I'm guessing in the details of that flight its what sends a request through to have a seat released. It's been the same for the past couple years that I have done it

 

[madrooster]

The 747SP is a holding segment and presumably is used internally to tell the system its a waitlisted flight. I'm guessing in the details of that flight its what sends a request through to have a seat released. It's been the same for the past couple years that I have done it

It's used to hold the frequent flyer number in the PNR.

Amadeus requires an active confirmed segment in the PNR in order to put in the frequent flyer number and keep it there. If you put in a frequent flyer number and there's no confirmed segments, it deletes the frequent flyer number. The frequent flyer number is required in order to tell yield or the automated robot (referred to as the 'droid' by the QF call centre staff) what status you are.

QF9094 QZW-QZY is used as it doesn't block up inventory on a real flight, but in theory one could use some SYD-MEL flight that's 11 months away. It's just bad practice to block up inventory on a real flight, in case someone forgets to remove it.

It must be removed before ticketing or the ticketing automated robot will reject the PNR. So if you see that flight still in your booking, after you've provided payment details, then you need to call back and get it removed.

If your PNR goes to manual ticketing, sometimes they blindly will ticket it without removing the flight.

 

[calmelb]

It's used to hold the frequent flyer number in the PNR.

Amadeus requires an active confirmed segment in the PNR in order to put in the frequent flyer number and keep it there. If you put in a frequent flyer number and there's no confirmed segments, it deletes the frequent flyer number. The frequent flyer number is required in order to tell yield or the automated robot (referred to as the 'droid' by the QF call centre staff) what status you are.

QF9094 QZW-QZY is used as it doesn't block up inventory on a real flight, but in theory one could use some SYD-MEL flight that's 11 months away. It's just bad practice to block up inventory on a real flight, in case someone forgets to remove it.

It must be removed before ticketing or the ticketing automated robot will reject the PNR. So if you see that flight still in your booking, after you've provided payment details, then you need to call back and get it removed.

If your PNR goes to manual ticketing, sometimes they blindly will ticket it without removing the flight.

Ah thank you for clarifying. It’s been one of those things that I wasn’t sure the purpose of but knew it was needed for the request.

What happens if they do blindly process it without removing the segment? Is the e-ticket just never issued or could it affect your request on the flight?

 

[vmile]

I managed to fly on a 747SP twice. It was a bit special, so just a little bit of a nostalgia hit...

 

[madrooster]

What happens if they do blindly process it without removing the segment? Is the e-ticket just never issued or could it affect your request on the flight?

If it's manually ticketed, the presence of the QF9094 segment won't inhibit ticketing. It could stay there forever and not cause any grief to be honest.

The automated ticketing robot checks that the contents of the ticket = contents of the PNR. This is why it rejects the PNR if the PNR contains a flight that's not in the ticketing mask (think template/stencil).

 

[calmelb]

I managed to fly on a 747SP twice. It was a bit special, so just a little bit of a nostalgia hit...

I can say I am so young that the 747sp ended service with Qantas before I could understand the difference between types of planes

If it's manually ticketed, the presence of the QF9094 segment won't inhibit ticketing. It could stay there forever and not cause any grief to be honest.

The automated ticketing robot checks that the contents of the ticket = contents of the PNR. This is why it rejects the PNR if the PNR contains a flight that's not in the ticketing mask (think template/stencil).

Ah okay, that makes sense. So how does someone like SQ do waitlist facilities online? Do they use the hidden segment?

 

[madrooster]

Ah okay, that makes sense. So how does someone like SQ do waitlist facilities online? Do they use the hidden segment?

QF uses a segment called a GN segment which is a passive information segment for release purposes. The yield droid removes the GN segment and replaces it with a HK (holding confirmed) segment if approved.

Other airlines use the proper waitlist segment method, which is a HL segment, which is holding waitlist.

There's more than one way to skin the cat essentially.

 

[amaroo]

Had three dates knocked back for return F flights to LHR.... no drama, we're travelling with JL and CX now.

 

[Kangol]

Had three dates knocked back for return F flights to LHR.... no drama, we're travelling with JL and CX now.

How far out? Which days of the week?

 

[amaroo]

How far out? Which days of the week?

Late April 2019. Two seats for a Tue, Weds, Thur.... once the outbound flight was a no, I didn't bother with the return. I just went a booked award seats with JL and CX in F for the long hops and J for the rest.