Smart saver - wrong fare bucket

[brett-au]

Edit: It is a super saver, not smart saver. Got my NZ and QF around the wrong way.

Howdy

Yet another instance of how Oneworld is inferior to *A.

Flying SYD-PER on QF this week. I know that Red Edeals don't earn miles on Cathay's Marco Polo, but super savers do. Only problem is that I bought a the wrong fare bucket. I need to know if there is any way to swindle a bucket change (at the airport or over the phone) with out a change fee.

Of course, its highly likely that I'm wrong, I'm using the following

http://travelctm.com/uploads/QFDomesticandNZFareGrid.pdf
Cathay Pacific - Frequent Flyers : The Marco Polo Club > Your link to oneworld

as my reference.

My goal here is I don't care about the miles, just the status. All else fails I will credit the miles to my bronze qf account and burn them on short flight somewhere.

 

[brett-au]

oh and my ow vs *a comment - it annoys me that two points earning tickets earn half as much on the other's ff program. If I fly SYD-HKG on one I will earn half as much as the other, unless I fly full Y. I acknowledge that there are fares with reduced or no earning on *a, but a standard ticket should earn at a 100% in economy across the board.

 

[serfty]

...
Yet another instance of how Oneworld is inferior to *A.
....

How do non earning fare buckets make *A superior?

Both oneworld and *A have these cross airline earning issues; it's up to the frequent flyer member to ensure what earn if any is available.

Qantas domestically do not have "Smart Savers" - as per the chart you posted, they have "Super Savers" which can book into S, V, L or M classes and "Flexi-Saver" which book into B or K classes.

If crediting Qantas economy flights to CX's Asia Miles or MPC then only Y, B, H, K, L, M, or V will earn and other than Y at 50%.

Presumably you have booked an S fare which doesn't earn.

 

[anat0l]

Re: Super saver - wrong fare bucket

One thing is that you can't buy a specific fare bucket (like V class as you would need). The Super Saver shown is the lowest of the available Super Saver buckets which is available (i.e. when this fare bucket sells out, the price displayed will change to that bucket which is the next cheapest available). I believe there is a way to check the fare bucket code at the fare selection page, however the method is a little esoteric.

Even in *A, you would be hard pressed to purchase a specific fare bucket. A number of fare buckets may be at a common level of earn across most if not all *A carriers, but in this case you wanted the cheapest bucket which you can credit to CX. If you were so convinced that you needed to guarantee this, then you would have purchased a Flexi Saver (because Flexi Savers book only into classes K and B, i.e. guaranteed earn).

In saying all this, it doesn't prove that oneworld is superior to *A or vv. because fare earn is just one aspect between the two alliances. Although a debate of ow vs *A is for another thread.

 

[markis10]

Re: Super saver - wrong fare bucket

One thing is that you can't buy a specific fare bucket (like V class as you would need).

As one recent thread indicated, you can certainly get a specific fare bucket but you need a travel agent or Qantas phone call to do it, the online facilities cannot handle that specific sort of request. In that case it turned out to be cheaper to do so for the OP as well!