QFF redemption ripoff - Business cost for mainly economy booking

[benhadi]

Hi everyone, was hoping to pick your brains on what's going on.

I'm trying to make a J Classic award for myself, the MRS and infant.

Route i am trying to get is the shortest one possible, considering bubs will be less than a year old at time of travel.

I am looking around Aug 2012.

Having searched on QF website for award seats, i am experiencing strange scenarios.

For example BNE-LAX on 19th Aug 12 doesn't show availability on QF15 (direct flight) but shows availability via sydney on QF11.

If i were to search SYD-LAX on the same day, guess what I find? No direct SYD-LAX flight on QF11 but there is availability via BNE on QF15.

What's going on here? Would appreciate some input from the experts here, and open to any suggestions on how to best proceed. Thanks in advance.

Benhadi

 

[oz_mark]

Hi everyone, was hoping to pick your brains on what's going on.

I'm trying to make a J Classic award for myself, the MRS and infant.

Route i am trying to get is the shortest one possible, considering bubs will be less than a year old at time of travel.

I am looking around Aug 2012.

Having searched on QF website for award seats, i am experiencing strange scenarios.

For example BNE-LAX on 19th Aug 12 doesn't show availability on QF15 (direct flight) but shows availability via sydney on QF11.

If i were to search SYD-LAX on the same day, guess what I find? No direct SYD-LAX flight on QF11 but there is availability via BNE on QF15.

What's going on here? Would appreciate some input from the experts here, and open to any suggestions on how to best proceed. Thanks in advance.

If I were a betting man, I would bet if you clicked through you would discover that the trans-pac flight in both cases was in economy, and the business class bit would be flting you domestically from one city to another.

 

[benhadi]

You're absolutely right! That's sneaky, they do that and charge full J cost?

 

[NM]

If I were a betting man, I would bet if you clicked through you would discover that the trans-pac flight in both cases was in economy, and the business class bit would be flting you domestically from one city to another.

I reckon you are right on the money. Always check that ALL sectors are actually in the class you selected. QFF will offer multi-segment trips with some sectors in lesser cabins. So BNE-SYD in Business Class connecting with SYD-LAX in economy will be returned as a Business Class award oiption! And QFF will happily charge you the full business class award points :evil:.

 

[tuapekastar]

You're absolutely right! That's sneaky, they do that and charge full J cost?

They surely do.

It's been mentioned on AFF a few times before, and I can understand how people might get caught out if not paying attention. You just wouldn't expect it to happen. The reverse, yes (i.e. transpac in J, domestic in Y) but not the way it it is.

 

[grussellt]

On the dates QF has dropped flights from HKG and BKK J awards are somewhat scarce (maybe better with status). I would recommend that you take a look at awardnexus. I used it to find an award from SYD-CDG (in October 2012) via NRT/LHR which wasn't showing up on QF. It's on JL/BA and business all the way. I booked it on AA using miles purchased from them.

 

[benhadi]

Many thanks for enlightening me of why this is happening. Personally I think this is to some extent deceitful practice, although they do state after you select flights, of the class of service that is selected for each sector. Misleading at the very least.

Anyway i think it's pretty clear there is no availability from east coast OZ to west coast US around august/september on QF. Plenty of availability on CX though, but the points i'll burn would make it hardly worth it!

 

[Alanslegal]

On the other hand, there are some JASA's where J is unavailable and sadly they confirm you into the F cabin

Ps. you only earn J sc/points though ..... not F sc/points.

 

[pauly7]

On the other hand, there are some JASA's where J is unavailable and sadly they confirm you into the F cabin

Ps. you only earn J sc/points though ..... not F sc/points.

Yes I accidentally stumbled upon these too!! Whoops QF but a very nice whoops

 

[Happy Trails]

On the other hand, there are some JASA's where J is unavailable and sadly they confirm you into the F cabin

Ps. you only earn J sc/points though ..... not F sc/points.

I've had a few of these which booked into 'P' and did get F points and SCs.

Seems to be limited to QF1/QF2 IME.

 

[Alanslegal]

I've had a few of these which booked into 'P' and did get F points and SCs.

I haven't flown these yet, however during my JASA award searches,the fare conditions indicates its J scs and points. So if one earns F scs and points, that's a cool bonus.

 

[Mal]

I haven't flown these yet, however during my JASA award searches,the fare conditions indicates its J scs and points. So if one earns F scs and points, that's a cool bonus.

You should as the flights book into p so f sc etc. My first one is in Jan. Looking forward to it.


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[Austashes]

Would this be the same for OneWorld award booking on other than QF legs?

 

[Alanslegal]

You should as the flights book into p so f sc etc. My first one is in Jan. Looking forward to it.

Thanks, makes it very worthwhile now. Back to the Qantas website to burn some points.

 

[mannej]

Has anyone mentioned this to Consumer Protection to see the legality of this?
I have just tried to changed a Classic award from HKG to go via SYD to be on the 380.
Lo and behold, Your flight from Hong Kong to Sydney will be in Economy.
I can see how easy it is for someone to miss it.
It is in my opinion (contrary to any T&C's) that mixed class bookings should be charged accordingly.

 

[Hvr]

Well I have spent a couple of fruitless hours searching tonight and have come across many of these deceitful practices where the flight(s) are shown as J or F but only when you click through do you find out the longest leg is in Y.

Do they really think it is appropriate to let people believe they have found the fare they wanted only to be deceived on the next click?

Surely it is not beyond the skills of a competent programmer to show the class of flight in the search results?

C'mon Red Roo if you can finally trial priority boarding for WPs surely you can ask the correct people to address this flaw?

 

[MH_fan]

QFF redemption rip-offs

I know that the majority of redemption awards on the QFF programme are rip-offs but this is too much! I've never attempted a long-haul business class redemption using my QFF points before. I was looking at a redemption ticket to Toronto. I look for availability in J 6 months ahead and pick the dates that J seats are available. Imagine my surprise when I'm being charged the the full number of points in J for SYD-LAX-YYZ only to find out at the last step (before paying taxes) that the SYD-LAX sector is in Y and only the LAX-YYZ sector is in J! The same thing happened when looking at flights from SYD to SFO. Because QF don't fly to SFO anymore, the flights have to go through LAX, so SYD-LAX in Y (on QF for 14 hours) and LAX-SFO in J (on AA for an hour) and I'm being asked to pay the full J redemption points? That is completely dodgy and a total rip-off! You'd think that when a J seat is stated as available for the whole sector, it should be and not just a small portion of it. Not happy!

 

[medhead]

Re: QFF redemption rip-offs

This has been happening for a while now and has been mentioned a few times. Try looking for awards on the long leg first then search for the full journey. Also look at flying into DFW.

 

[MH_fan]

Re: QFF redemption rip-offs

This has been happening for a while now and has been mentioned a few times. Try looking for awards on the long leg first then search for the full journey. Also look at flying into DFW.

The same thing was happening with flights going through DFW. I'd even done the search for the long sector alone. J seats for SYD-LAX available for 5 days out of the whole month of August but then SYD-YYZ (via LAX or DFW) shows J availability for about 22 or 23 days out of the whole month of August. It is so misleading...and deliberately so! Obviously, the dates for when the J seats between SYD and LAX are available is not even close to when I want to travel... My business will simply go elsewhere.

 

[pshepvic]

Like Medhead said, look for the SYD-LAX or SYD-DFW leg on its own.

Once you find availability there, then look for the full trip. You could book each part separately as well if you can't find J connections (there may only be a couple of connecting flights, but if you can wait a few extra hours or even overnight in LA or Dallas, you might find more options), or even pay for the shorter leg within the US and just use points for the long trip.


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