Reward Seat Availability in Call Centre

[Beefcake]

Hello,

Am I more likely to get better reward seat availability if directly call the QFF number (13 11 31)? I forget the acronym that I'm meant to use but I am bronze status (with 420K points).

Thanks,

 

[vetrade]

Hello,

Am I more likely to get better reward seat availability if directly call the QFF number (13 11 31)? I forget the acronym that I'm meant to use but I am bronze status (with 420K points).

Thanks,

That depends, Beefcake. It would help if you could be more specific. Are you looking to book a QF flight or use your QFF points to book on another airline? When you say "with 420K points" do you mean that's how many points you have or are you intending to book a 420K OneWorld RTW itinerary in F?

 

[Beefcake]

Hey vetrade,

I'm looking for return flights to the USA. I'd be happy to go on any airline if the points needed is similar to Qantas (I would rule out going via Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific as it needs a lot more points and takes much longer).

The 420k points is my current account balance - I'm not looking at a RTW ticket.

 

[vetrade]

Well, excluding CX, your options would be AA or QF, and you should be able to see what availability there is for both online at QF. If you have particular dates in mind I suggest you start your search online first. You can always ring the QF call centre but they're not likely to have any more availability than what's online. Since you're only a Bronze member you won't be able to ask for a reward seat to be released if none are otherwise available.

 

[Nickor]

Hey vetrade,

I'm looking for return flights to the USA. I'd be happy to go on any airline if the points needed is similar to Qantas (I would rule out going via Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific as it needs a lot more points and takes much longer).

The 420k points is my current account balance - I'm not looking at a RTW ticket.

As a Sydney based FF, this has been my recent experience of reward availability to the USA:

1. You have the choice of flying to San Francisco, Dallas or LA
2. LA can be direct or via Brisbane or Melbourne (points cost is the same)
3. Reward seats are released 353 days in advance at 10am Brisbane time (currently 11am AEDST)
4. Economy seats are generally released for travel 7 days a week, premium seats for travel Mon-Thurs only

There has been some discussion recently on AFF about visibility of reward seats online based on status, so unsure what availability you might see as bronze. To maximise the value of your points you should look for business class seats, which will mean booking as close to the 353 days out as you can.

If you are booking 353 days out, you will have to book your outbound one way and wait for the dates to become available for your inbound ie 2 one way bookings for your return. If you wait for your outbound/inbound dates to become available to book a return trip, then the likelihood of getting business class both ways will be greatly reduced. Also remember that you might fly in via LA, but have to fly out via San Francisco etc. Flexibility is the key.

I generally book via Brisbane for 2 reasons (outbound and inbound):

1. Greater reward availability
2. Reduced travel time compared to via Melbourne

I booked 2 business class rewards Sydney-LA via Brisbane for Sept next year last Monday. I suggest you do some research looking for reward seats 353 days out to see what is available to you. Then you will know whether you have to use the call centre to get premium seats. Not sure if they will be much help to a bronze if you can't see online.

Happy hunting!

 

[tgh]

The award availability puzzle is quite distressing for low status supplicants.
As retiree holiday travellers, status is a passing condition, but the absence thereof is irritating.
I'm back to silver atm and Swmbo is gold.
350 day releases direct to the US have been zilch for me as a silver and readily available to swmbo as a gold.
Cathay via HK is readily available to silver and perhaps also to bronzes.
Past experience tells me that Qantas phone operators see the same basic info that we see, although they can be quite creative with routing.

Not sure how we will weight point accumulation in the future.
We build steadily on our qf/wow/p card , but unless one of us actually pays sometimes , the accumulation process is a bit pointless.

 

[eric2011]

If you are booking 353 days out, you will have to book your outbound one way and wait for the dates to become available for your inbound ie 2 one way bookings for your return. If you wait for your outbound/inbound dates to become available to book a return trip, then the likelihood of getting business class both ways will be greatly reduced. Also remember that you might fly in via LA, but have to fly out via San Francisco etc. Flexibility is the key.
!

But remember if you are booking one-way fares and for some reason you cant get the return then you will need to book a paid one way which is very expensive

 

[cjd600]

QF Award release for US at 353 days seems Premium cabins for SG and up.
Y only for NB on QF, (but as noted, CX shows J at 360 days even for NB)

But check again at 300-310 days.

As NB, I grabbed 4 J QF SYD-SFO for 27 March '17, booked 22 May '16, so about 309 days.
Not sure if this pattern is still true, but that's what was happening just after the J releases dried up for NB at 353 release date, earlier this year.
Was the same flying back 26 April , 4 x J SFO-SYD or LAX-BNE-SYD

 

[Limewood]

Coming from a Plat to a Silver over past years I do find getting 2 x J award seats on QF to - from USA very hard to find, but can go via HKG (great city) and then onto numerous USA ports with direct non stop flights to the likes of JFK, BOS, ORD etc on CX in J and with a plethora of seats always available, the fees are virtually zilch too!, other alternatives are via NAN on Fiji Airlines or AKL to LAX on AA.