Reward flights unavailable dates ?

[Stef]

I actually bumped down to Bronze due an extended period of points flights, and I struggled to find flights to LAX in Business and I was checking just beyond a year to the date next year.

Rang QANTAS and she said they don't release my fares in classic rewards. Logged in as my mum (Gold) and they were all there. So she rang and booked my flights via her account on points. It kept crashing the system when we tried to do it on her account online (You can change the passengers when you check out) and it would't initially let the phone operator do it. However i pushed the issue and she did it via her manager and it got through eventually.

Worth noting is I didn't receive my e-Ticket like you would traditionally, but I got a huge text wall like the old days of travel agents from QANTAS Mascot NSW.

 

[rock86]

I actually bumped down to Bronze due an extended period of points flights, and I struggled to find flights to LAX in Business and I was checking just beyond a year to the date next year.

Rang QANTAS and she said they don't release my fares in classic rewards. Logged in as my mum (Gold) and they were all there. So she rang and booked my flights via her account on points. It kept crashing the system when we tried to do it on her account online (You can change the passengers when you check out) and it would't initially let the phone operator do it. However i pushed the issue and she did it via her manager and it got through eventually.

Worth noting is I didn't receive my e-Ticket like you would traditionally, but I got a huge text wall like the old days of travel agents from QANTAS Mascot NSW.

This has been around for a while now.

Platinum & Gold get first crack at the cherry on select QF routes (which includes those to the US), then at around 330 days out any remaining reward inventory on those routes generally opens up for all QFF members to book.

 

[sudoer]

330 days out any remaining reward inventory on those routes generally opens up for all QFF members to book.

308 days, actually.

 

[rock86]

Platinum & Gold get first crack at the cherry on select QF routes (which includes those to the US), then at around 330 days out any remaining reward inventory on those routes generally opens up for all QFF members to book.

308 days, actually.

That's around 330 days isn't it

 

[Familyman1]

After reading Matt's Black Hole article in today's Gazette, I'm starting to wonder if there is any chance that my wife and I will be able to finish off our half-booked 280K one-world trip with business class flights back to Australia (from Europe/Asia). We are only Qantas Bronze. Looking today, it seems that SIN to BNE direct flights in J are never available, HKG to BNE and NRT to BNE are rarely available off peak and never available at peak time. As Matt mentioned, direct Qantas LHR to Perth flights are out, and Qatar has stopped releasing business class award seats to Australia. Can anyone suggest other options back to BNE in J. We will be close to the 35,000 miles limit so it will be difficult to fly home via Sydney or Melbourne.

 

[sudoer]

(from Europe/Asia).

It would help to know where you have booked to, and how many miles you have left to play with.

 

[Familyman1]

We are doing 2 trips to Europe (paying for SIN-BNE-SIN flights to break up the 2 trips). So far we have booked the following for June July next year:
BNE-HKG(S)-LHR(S, surface)-BGO-HEL-SIN(S)-

For the second trip, we will do: SIN-Europe-BNE. For example:
-DOH-ATH(S, surface)-FCO(Rome)-HEL-SIN-BNE
or
-HEL-DBV(S, surface)-VIE-HEL(S)-HKG-BNE

I just noticed that Malaysian airlines fly from KUL to BNE. How is J award availability on that route too?

 

[Familyman1]

Matt's Black Hole article in today's Gazette highlights how few Business class award seats are available on long haul flights into and out of Australia. As we all know, there are also problems finding Economy award seats on flights to/from Australia at peak times during school holidays. I recall not being able to find any Economy award seats into Australia from Asia on any One World airline during the entire month of January 2017 when I was trying to find them 12 months earlier. In the end, we had to book award seats to Bali, pay for a flight to Darwin, and then get an award seat on a Qantas flight from Darwin to Brisbane.

Matt's article states, "Ultimately, Qantas controls the supply of award seats. Sometimes the airline chooses to switch off the tap and not release any award seats at all – especially on popular routes and during busy periods like school holidays. If it can, it would rather sell the seats to customers willing to pay for full-price tickets."

I suggest that Qantas needs to rethink this policy given the increasing importance of their frequent flyer program to their profit bottom line. By having little or no award availability during school holidays, Qantas points have become almost worthless to a major proportion of Australia's population: families.

Qantas need to value frequent flyer families so that they value their points. So Matt, Thanks for highlighting the Qantas Black Hole. Hopefully this web site has enough power to get some improvements in Qantas Frequent Flyer for everyone's benefit.

 

[Lynda2475]

I think Qantas need to give Silver FF an advantage over Bronze is terms of releasing seats too.

You can be Bronze and have never flown on Qantas (or partner metal), just have credit card (or other gifted) points. But to be Silver you actually have to fly.

Most of my travel is domestic Syd-Mel, work policy means we travel in Y (discount outbound, flexible return), so its hard to rack up heaps of SCs. However given I actually fly, I feel I should have some advantage over Bronze other than free seat selection - maybe a month lead time on reward seats. Seems wrong I only get same reward access as those who possibly don't fly at all.

In my current membership year I'm on track to complete 28 flights on Qantas metal, plus 4 on partner metal all in Y (mix of discount and flexible for domestic work trips, discount economy for personal travel) and with the loyalty bonus (and a couple of flights being DSC) I will hopefully just qualify for gold 2 weeks before my anniversary. Possibly earlier if there is another DSC offer early next year and i have confirmed need for work flights.

I've not struggled to get domestic or international economy awards as a Silver, although sometimes meant flying partner i.e. i got SYD-SIN-LHR_PER-SYD in Y on points departing 2nd July 2018 (first day of school holidays) but first two legs were BA, last 2 QF.

I held off using point for my SYD-SIN-LHR-JFK-SYD trip next June, there was ample award Y availability on OF on the dates I wanted fly, but it was poor value. So Im hoping once I get to Gold I will be able to get a classic rewards a Business trip in either Europe or RTW.