QFF Platinum requesting release of extra Classic award seats?

[cove]

Amaroo our children will miss us when we are gone.
Mrscove will just buy tickets and not bother with frequent flyer points I think.
Hopefully one of my sons can take on the challenges of the frequent flyer points game. One is showing real promise.

 

[amaroo]

Ok thanks. I am waiting for the exact same routing for Dec 15 2017. So just wanted to make sure I wasnt missing out. also did you manage to get 4 X J on LAX BNE on what dates?

hmmm, you might need to be flexible on your departure date. By the looks of it QFF doesn't release premium seats on Fri, Sat, Sun for this routing...

This is the result searching for 1 seat as a WP ... I'm pretty sure the daily release is 2 x J and 1 x F on the other four days of the week.

 

[liveonimpulse]

Cool!. had a look this morning. no seats released yet.

 

[liveonimpulse]

hmmm, you might need to be flexible on your departure date. By the looks of it QFF doesn't release premium seats on Fri, Sat, Sun for this routing...

Oh no!! I cant see any seats either.

 

[amaroo]

Oh no!! I cant see any seats either.

Yep, just checked and have the same result. You could try and get the seats released - good luck with that. I'm thinking you're going to have to travel a day earlier or 3 days later.

 

[Quickstatus]

Hi all,

Does the "I" magic and classic upgrade functionality extend to QF309/310 SYD-LAX codeshare on AA metal?

 

[Danger]

Hi all,

Does the "I" magic and classic upgrade functionality extend to QF309/310 SYD-LAX codeshare on AA metal?

Unfortunately the benefit only applies to QF marketed and operated flights.

 

[Captain Halliday]

Can a WP request a seat be released from I bucket on behalf of a SG?

I'm SG and have a 280k award booking for 3 pax. The time has come to add sectors (T-353) but there's only 2 seats in the U bucket across the desired week of travel.

Im wondering whether a friend who is WP can have the third seat released if they are not using it personally?

 

[Quickstatus]

Can a WP request a seat be released from I bucket on behalf of a SG?

I'm SG and have a 280k award booking for 3 pax. The time has come to add sectors (T-353) but there's only 2 seats in the U bucket across the desired week of travel.

Im wondering whether a friend who is WP can have the third seat released if they are not using it personally?

The WP can request seats for family members and has to use his/her own points.

How are u going to transfer points to non family friend?

 

[Captain Halliday]

Thanks Quickstatus. I wasn't considering a points transfer. I just didn't understand the rules around this option. Clearly it won't work in my circumstances. Never mind.

 

[Quickstatus]

Though I'm not 100% certain about the family member restriction - if any. They do ask the person (WP) booking whether they are also travelling. I've only booked for family members with and without the WP travelling. Have not tried for non family members.
(As it's an unofficial benefit)

 

[njba]

Amazed with my luck: got 2 x J tickets released for QF30 in April. Expert flyer is showing U0 I1.

And if it wasn't for AFF I would never have known to ask!

 

[cmon0005]

I have a request in for 2x J next week mel-syd on a flight that has I6, still says requested. Does qf normally take long to process these? Do you get an sms like upgrades of it is approved? Fingers crossed!

 

[amaroo]

Amaroo our children will miss us when we are gone.
Mrscove will just buy tickets and not bother with frequent flyer points I think.
Hopefully one of my sons can take on the challenges of the frequent flyer points game. One is showing real promise.

It's all in the planning! 5 weeks later (10am today) I was quicker than a seagull on a chip and scooped up 4 x J JFK-BNE ... didn't even have to request seats

 

[cmon0005]

I have a request in for 2x J next week mel-syd on a flight that has I6, still says requested. Does qf normally take long to process these? Do you get an sms like upgrades of it is approved? Fingers crossed!

So got an email from qf this morning saying to call them about the classic award seats release. Alas it was rejected. However i asked the agent if he could call yield team to explain that we have paid J intl flight the next morning +plats on the booking and if they could reconsider, i wasnt prepared to pay ~$900 for 2 Y mel-syd flex fares which is what was only available. After 15 mins on hold was told yield approved it and now have 2x j awards on a 737

 

[opusman]

Just tried this for the first time ever.

Firstly, the girl who answered the phone seemed to know what she was doing - so maybe I just got lucky but the service felt fairly "premium" to me.

I wanted 2xJ seats SYD-HKG in May, on 3 potential dates. All came back negative Interestingly, she said there was no system for referring to yield management - not sure if that's correct or not.

I then got her to try MEL-HKG on the same dates and all 3 came back positive - yay! So worked out in the end.

The weird thing was, EF was showing the same availability on the SYD flights (all 6 of them) as on the MEL flights - all were I9. So it was as if there was some overriding blackout on flights out of SYD on those dates irrespective of I bucket availability.

 

[coyote25]

Well I didn't know this was an option either until reading this thread earlier in the month.

I wanted to book QF64 JNB-SYD in J but they only had PE seats. This was for January next year and there were very little seats at all in January released, not surprising given it's a high holiday period. So I rang up wanting to book J from Cape Town to Melbourne which means three flights and with QF64 missing the J seat.

The QF rep requested a seat release which was immediately approved and booked the entire journey at 122k pts and $432.12 in fees. There was no assisted booking charge either since I had to call. I was also happy being charged in AUD instead of South African Rand (as would happen via online booking) since this will trigger the QF spend on the new Westpac Altitude Card I just received (for 2 QC passes which I'll give to family) and I'm now on my way to earning the 100k bonus sign up points for $5K spent which will basically cover this trips flights home

 

[dmitri]

I was able to get 2 x J awards released early last year for my wife SYD-HKG return while I travelled in PE. Also got 1 PE award released for myself SYD-HKG

 

[Danger]

Well I didn't know this was an option either until reading this thread earlier in the month.

I wanted to book QF64 JNB-SYD in J but they only had PE seats. This was for January next year and there were very little seats at all in January released, not surprising given it's a high holiday period. So I rang up wanting to book J from Cape Town to Melbourne which means three flights and with QF64 missing the J seat.

The QF rep requested a seat release which was immediately approved and booked the entire journey at 122k pts and $432.12 in fees. There was no assisted booking charge either since I had to call. I was also happy being charged in AUD instead of South African Rand (as would happen via online booking) since this will trigger the QF spend on the new Westpac Altitude Card I just received (for 2 QC passes which I'll give to family) and I'm now on my way to earning the 100k bonus sign up points for $5K spent which will basically cover this trips flights home

A
very good outcome. Although I reckon the chances of having the phone fee waived by the rumoured new Manila call centre staff will be a similar number to their hourly wage.

Just to clarify though, did you get the whole trip in J, thus pointing out that adding a flight or two around the flight you actually want might get a seat released?

 

[coyote25]

A
very good outcome. Although I reckon the chances of having the phone fee waived by the rumoured new Manila call centre staff will be a similar number to their hourly wage.

Just to clarify though, did you get the whole trip in J, thus pointing out that adding a flight or two around the flight you actually want might get a seat released?

Yes the whole trip is in J. I could see CPT-JNB (on Comair) and SYD-MEL available in J but they only had PE for the long JNB-SYD flight and QF had barely opened any seats during January, or at least so far QF haven't.

Interestingly I was talking to CSR and he indicated not big change for WP with the phone centre changes if they happen.

OT
Finally does anyone have experience with lounge access at JNB? My research highlighted different answers on access but it appears there are several options for a QF J pax who holds WP status. I'd be interested to know anyone's experience and rating of these lounges at JNB.