QFF Platinum requesting release of extra Classic award seats?

I am looking to find flights to get back to Australia mid next year .
I am hoping to score business reward seats from JFK-AKL- .
I just cannot find any seats even in economy to give me an indication that the flights are open for reward bookings.
I am going to have to find a day when there are "I" class seats on sale and revenue prices available under "Business Sale".
I rang QFF yesterday and did not get thru to Hobart - the agent says they were all very busy because of faults in the booking system !
In any case , I requested release of seats 22 and 23 June 2024 where the above criteria were there , The agents refused to send thru the query because there were NO economy reward seats available on those flights!
I tried to explain that sometimes there are no reward seats in any class available on the standard QFF reward booking engine but Platinums could request Business seats as long they were in the appropriate window.
I would have thought that at 350 or so days ahead , that I would have had a chance .
I did check DFW-SYD on the net and they had economy rewards out as far as 2 July 2024.
In any case , I will try tomorrow and hopefully get Hobart.
Any similar experiences?
 
ozflier said:
I am looking to find flights to get back to Australia mid next year .
I am hoping to score business reward seats from JFK-AKL- .
I just cannot find any seats even in economy to give me an indication that the flights are open for reward bookings.
I am going to have to find a day when there are "I" class seats on sale and revenue prices available under "Business Sale".
I rang QFF yesterday and did not get thru to Hobart - the agent says they were all very busy because of faults in the booking system !
In any case , I requested release of seats 22 and 23 June 2024 where the above criteria were there , The agents refused to send thru the query because there were NO economy reward seats available on those flights!
I tried to explain that sometimes there are no reward seats in any class available on the standard QFF reward booking engine but Platinums could request Business seats as long they were in the appropriate window.
I would have thought that at 350 or so days ahead , that I would have had a chance .
I did check DFW-SYD on the net and they had economy rewards out as far as 2 July 2024.
In any case , I will try tomorrow and hopefully get Hobart.
Any similar experiences?
Click to expand...
If you are P1 (this thread), then you should be able to make your request wherever you find 'I' or 'D' fare buckets available. Whether or not they will release anything for ultra-premium routes like this is another thing...

Cheers,
Matt.
 
dairyfloss said:
If you are P1 (this thread), then you should be able to make your request wherever you find 'I' or 'D' fare buckets available. Whether or not they will release anything for ultra-premium routes like this is another thing...

Cheers,
Matt.
Click to expand...
Moved the posts to the relevant thread instead of P1 thread.
 
_TheTraveller_ said:
Peak Summer?
Click to expand...
Yes. Peak winter for them.
I called reservations, who put the request in.
Got the email saying rejected and called the VIP team, they tried many other dates and city combinations and almost all of them weren't allowing any requests to be put in.
VIP was surprised that the request was put in the first place.
 
x2 J seats released SYD-MEL-PER for the Tuesday following the September long weekend, on a specific flight pairing to allow for a leisurely lunch in the J lounge, and an A330 back to Perth.

As a newly minted WP, it was my first time calling and asking for seats to be released, and the girl on the service desk was more than helpful - though bemused why I didn't want a direct flight SYD-PER, even when I explained I would earn more SC's for the same points deduction this way...
 
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I had a classic reward MEL-PER in December (close to Xmas) retimed, and aircraft changed to 738. Saw that QF9 had been loaded into the system for that particular date (not available when I booked the original flights - but no rewards seats on QF9).

Called up, got the Hobart team. Asked them whether I could be moved onto a wide-body aircraft for the MEL-PER flight; "maybe ... perhaps QF9" (my words), agent said yes, leave it to me.

6min 59sec later, done.

Probably the most seamless phone call I've had with QF in a while. Well done.
 
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Looks good for F but not so for J.
I am finding that the A380 services out of Sydney and Melbourne are usually the best options for a successful request for release certainly of J award seats particularly if there are 'I"s and Business Sale fares available.
 
im.daniel said:
I had a classic reward MEL-PER in December (close to Xmas) retimed, and aircraft changed to 738. Saw that QF9 had been loaded into the system for that particular date (not available when I booked the original flights - but no rewards seats on QF9).

Called up, got the Hobart team. Asked them whether I could be moved onto a wide-body aircraft for the MEL-PER flight; "maybe ... perhaps QF9" (my words), agent said yes, leave it to me.

6min 59sec later, done.

Probably the most seamless phone call I've had with QF in a while. Well done.
Click to expand...
I had similar email with a change to classic reward connecting flight (MEL-PER) in Dec to QF9 being time changed and down gauged to 738. I had asked prior to this change if I could take QF9 from MEL to LHR and avoid the domestic connection. Because married sector (need to find MEL-LHR rather than just changing MEL-PER), the answers back have been 'no' and last call to VIP team was 'wasting time asking'.
Asked Hobart rather than accepting the QF initiated change to the domestic connecting flight, could I (gulp) go QF9 from MEL all the way to LHR, computer said no but agent said she would try manually and the answer back was 'yes', FF ticket reissued and (small) taxes refund processed - well done.
 
My US / Canada flights changed on a Christmas booking (Westjet) - went from 3h to 6h layover in LAX. Wish me luck to get re-routed via YVR!
 
Called Sunday night to request 2x economy seats on a Tuesday AM MEL-PER flight showing N9. Premium line initially said it wasn't possible to even request. I pushed back and said I thought as long as there was some N inventory I could request. She wondered if it was maybe a change in policy; after checking, yes, it was new (ha!). Took a bit, but came back successful.

As seems to be standard these days, they confirm the seats, but it never tickets because they don't take out the points. A follow-up call today took out the points and the ticket successfully issued.
 
I have made some successful requests for colleagues for transpacific services to the USA.
I've been able to get business seats SYD to LAX close enough to the preferred dates in April 2024.
The ones that come thru were on A380 flights Melbourne / Sydney to from the USA.
I'm guessing because they have a lot of premium seats available .
The successful return dates for 2 pax had I seats available , lowest pricing at "business sale " level and were A380s.
 
ozflier said:
I have made some successful requests for colleagues for transpacific services to the USA.
I've been able to get business seats SYD to LAX close enough to the preferred dates in April 2024.
The ones that come thru were on A380 flights Melbourne / Sydney to from the USA.
I'm guessing because they have a lot of premium seats available .
The successful return dates for 2 pax had I seats available , lowest pricing at "business sale " level and were A380s.
Click to expand...
Are you travelling together, or are you saying were you able to use your WP status to release award seats for others that you aren't travelling with? I didn't think that was possible except maybe if you are P1?
 

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