QFF Platinum requesting release of extra Classic award seats?

[sudoer]

Son will remain a lowly SG and only make 1,000SCs this member year

LTG would be a pretty sweet 18th birthday present!

 

[dairyfloss]

LTG would be a pretty sweet 18th birthday present!

He'll certainly be well on his way!

 

[ChrisMars]

He'll certainly be well on his way!

Starting so early the lifetime race, would that make sense to aim for Lifetime Emerald by crediting to BA instead of QF?

 

[dairyfloss]

Starting so early the lifetime race, would that make sense to aim for Lifetime Emerald by crediting to BA instead of QF?

Yes - something I should probably consider! He'd never get the BA squiggles, but I guess the TPs likely still rack up...

 

[Seat0B]

This was for my 7YO son… My wife will hit WP for the first time after this trip. Son will remain a lowly SG and only make 1,000SCs this member year

And that’s how you make LTP, folks!

 

[JessicaTam]

Yes - something I should probably consider! He'd never get the BA squiggles, but I guess the TPs likely still rack up...

Especially as he will be travelling with you for the next decade or so, so won't need the status for anything.

... but we digress.

 

[eminere]

Does anyone know what fare class in business has to be available in order to make a request? I'm looking at QF25 SYD-HND on 7 Dec and the agent advised a request wasn't possible because the requisite fare class was booked out already.

 

[HarryTheFlyer]

Does anyone know what fare class in business has to be available in order to make a request? I'm looking at QF25 SYD-HND on 7 Dec and the agent advised a request wasn't possible because the requisite fare class was booked out already.

I fare bucket if you’re WP. I think P1 can request from D as well.

 

[DC3]

Does anyone know what fare class in business has to be available in order to make a request? I'm looking at QF25 SYD-HND on 7 Dec …

‘I’ class from memory. Are you able to fly on 4th or 5th?

 

[eminere]

I fare bucket if you’re WP. I think P1 can request from D as well.

Thank you!

Post automatically merged: Nov 26, 2023

‘I’ class from memory. Are you able to fly on 4th or 5th?

Thank you and sadly no, I did see the business seat available on the QF59 on 7 Dec but my departure time is inflexible. Premium economy on the QF25 it is then!

 

[Point Ventures]

After a week of trolling ExpertFlyer, on the 15th October I requested the release of 1x U on 33 different date/flight combinations return to USA/Canada West Coast for the week prior to Christmas. All of these 33 combinations were showing “I” fare class availabilty. Out of all of the combinations, which took 4 hours on the phone to Chris from the HBA Call Centre, I managed to secure SYD-SFO-SYD. The following week, after calling daily to see if I could get SYD-YVR, I managed to get my return flight changed to YVR-SYD. This was one of the combinations that was unsuccessful the week prior. Still calling daily to see if I can secure a seat on SYD-YVR.

There is currently no “I” class availability on any of the direct SYD-YVR flights, but if I add my home regional airport as the starting location, it adds “I” fare class availability on the SYD-YVR leg and makes it eligible for a request.

Has anyone had success requesting a seat with no “I” fare class, until you add a connecting flight?

 

[RichardMEL]

That you even got what you have gotten barely two months in advance of one of the most peak demand periods is actually pretty impressive (as frustrating as it clearly was for all the combinations and time).

As I understand it, only P1 can request (and again, request) when inventory only has D. So in respect to that part of the question, yeah I have been able to request a flight with no I but D, but again that was as P1.

ps; It's HBA for Hobart, not HBT- which is a domestic airport in Saudi Arabia )

 

[Point Ventures]

That you even got what you have gotten barely two months in advance of one of the most peak demand periods is actually pretty impressive (as frustrating as it clearly was for all the combinations and time).

As I understand it, only P1 can request (and again, request) when inventory only has D. So in respect to that part of the question, yeah I have been able to request a flight with no I but D, but again that was as P1.

ps; It's HBA for Hobart, not HBT- which is a domestic airport in Saudi Arabia )

It is pretty incredible and this is certainly not a complaint by any means. It just shows that if you’re prepared to put the effort in, it pays off eventually. Thanks for the abbreviation advice, I have amended in my post.

As you can see from the attachments, no “I” fare class available on QF75, but add the DBO to SYD leg and it opens 4x “I” class fares to QF75.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Hopefully not a silly question but thought I'd ask - is there any way to call into QFF to see if seats could be released for an upcoming flight when you don't have the points available? The thinking here being is that if those seats are available you could then purchase those points cheaply for some expensive wine at Qantas, thereby preventing you from putting the cart before the horse (i.e. buying points only to later find out they can't release what you need)

-RooFlyer88

 

[encryptededdy]

Hopefully not a silly question but thought I'd ask - is there any way to call into QFF to see if seats could be released for an upcoming flight when you don't have the points available? The thinking here being is that if those seats are available you could then purchase those points cheaply for some expensive wine at Qantas, thereby preventing you from putting the cart before the horse (i.e. buying points only to later find out they can't release what you need)

-RooFlyer88

I've been offered by then to hold a flight for me after requesting release before, so probably yes.

 

[HarryTheFlyer]

Hopefully not a silly question but thought I'd ask - is there any way to call into QFF to see if seats could be released for an upcoming flight when you don't have the points available? The thinking here being is that if those seats are available you could then purchase those points cheaply for some expensive wine at Qantas, thereby preventing you from putting the cart before the horse (i.e. buying points only to later find out they can't release what you need)

-RooFlyer88

I’m fairly sure you could. Each request is assigned a PNR so you can leave that ‘confirmed’ booking there until you call up again to process the taxes and have the points deducted from your account.

A little case study…
I’ve got a paid Y booking LAX > SYD coming up and Mr Harry is happening to join me in LA for a couple of days. So I called up and asked to have 2 x F or J seats released. Both denied. Then tried 1x F or J seat to be released. One F seat got released. I left that request there and speak to Mr Harry to figure out our strategy.
Ended up booking the released F seat and now we’re taking the gamble with the Y>J classic upgrade.
Called up the following day and processed the booking.

 

[RichardMEL]

As you can see from the attachments, no “I” fare class available on QF75, but add the DBO to SYD leg and it opens 4x “I” class fares to QF75.

I understand. This is all about what QF is willing to sell imo, but again the I availability doesn't preclude the release of seats - specially with I4 in a high peak period. Heavens I've been denied (yes, as P1) with that kind of inventory showing.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

I’m fairly sure you could. Each request is assigned a PNR so you can leave that ‘confirmed’ booking there until you call up again to process the taxes and have the points deducted from your account.

A little case study…
I’ve got a paid Y booking LAX > SYD coming up and Mr Harry is happening to join me in LA for a couple of days. So I called up and asked to have 2 x F or J seats released. Both denied. Then tried 1x F or J seat to be released. One F seat got released. I left that request there and speak to Mr Harry to figure out our strategy.
Ended up booking the released F seat and now we’re taking the gamble with the Y>J classic upgrade.
Called up the following day and processed the booking.

How much time does QF give on the hold? The reason I ask is that if I were to place a large wine order with QF Wines it may be sometime between me pressing the order button and the plonk in question leaving their warehouse for my warehouse.

As you can see from the attachments, no “I” fare class available on QF75, but add the DBO to SYD leg and it opens 4x “I” class fares to QF75.

From my observations on this thread and my experience now requesting seats as a newly minted World Platinum, there does not seem to be any hard and fast rule about whether Qantas will release classic award seats to anyone. Certainly having higher status like Platinum One or Chairman's Club would help, but even then, we still see rejections. What people on this thread have found useful is when there is availability in certain fare codes, but even then you can still get rejected (even if it is showing all 9s on ExpertFlyer). Ultimately this computer which makes the decision for the agent is considering one or more rules to make its decision. What those rules are is up for debate. Perhaps it sees one flight that is show I1 but it knows historically there will be extra "slack" on that flight and hence clears the request. In other instances, it may be I9 but it knows darn well all seats will be sold by revenue paying passengers with upgrade waitlists out the wazoo.

Now I know what you are saying, well this is useless. If this whole thing is a black box what is the point of chasing any of these high end Platinum status? I would argue that your opinion will change once you start getting "wins". So far I've booked classic awards now on two dates where there quite frankly wasn't any classic award availability when I was looking (MEL > SYD on Dec 23, evening departure and MEL > PER on Jan 9). Now I know, some will find this as a very pedestrian exercise - a domestic classic economy award. Big whoop! But look at the cash fares, and compare that to the points required and you'll quickly realize that this is one of the ways to make your points stretch extra far. Is it as good at the YASA and JASA days? Probably not. But in the current regime it's as good as you're gonna get.

One more thought and something to consider is to add some more flexibility in your travel plans. For instance, if you need to travel on that specific date, fine, but be a bit more flexible on the routing. So maybe you don't do DBO > SYD > YVR, maybe you book something like DBO > SYD > LAX > YVR. My guess (and I could be wrong here) is that you might have a better chance of getting a J request to clear out of LAX on account of there being more flights there and on top of that high capacity flights like the A380. Plus you get to enjoy the Flounge at LAX to boot (the lounges at YVR is a joke, I say that as a Canadian who has had the "honour" of visiting the international side one too many times).

ps; It's HBA for Hobart, not HBT- which is a domestic airport in Saudi Arabia )

I think there are many Tasmanians who would be proud to hear that their beloved HBA airport has a QF lounge whereas their arch rival HBT has none!

 

[TheRealTMA]

There’s no such thing as “world” platinum. It’s just misleading the children to use such a phrase.

 

[HarryTheFlyer]

How much time does QF give on the hold? The reason I ask is that if I were to place a large wine order with QF Wines it may be sometime between me pressing the order button and the plonk in question leaving their warehouse for my warehouse.

Anecdotally I think you could safely leave it there for a few days to a week.
Last year I put a request in, and the droid didn’t give an answer straight away (or the phone operator didn’t put the request in properly), and I was told to wait for the email 48 hours down the track. The booking showed in my app as ‘on request’ as it usually would but I couldn’t do anything with the booking. Never received the follow up email and forgot about the request. Logged back in a few weeks later to find that I could select a seat and noticed it was listed as ‘confirmed’, but no ticket had been issued. Quick phone call to deduct points and taxes, then I had a ticket in my hand.

That’s not to say it’s a hard and fast rule as this was the time when the covid recovery excuses were still being touted and the overseas agents weren’t appropriately trained for these sorts of requests.
So YMMV, but I’d give it a shot, the worst that’s gonna happen is that the request will disappear, and you then get to drink some delicious wine to drown the frustration.