SYD-LHR Bus U/G with points, best method & how?

[defurax]

Did you mean IATA.org? Went there and can't find what you mentioned - a link, please?

No, I think he meant: https://matrix.itasoftware.com/

 

[RooFlyer]

No, I think he meant: https://matrix.itasoftware.com/

Thanks! I really should use that site more ...

 

[dhein]

The taxes and fees aren't usually an issue - it's the Qantas imposed fuel surcharges that are the main cost. Not all airlines pass on fuel surcharges for award bookings, but QF does.

you can go to ITA (.com) and enter in your proposed itinerary (route) and look at a fare breakdown (make sure you select business class to get the full taxes ex LHR).

You'll see 'YQ' (fuel surcharge) is hefty.

If you fly Cathay Pacific, fuel surcharges are regulated from Hong Kong, so the fuel component can be a lot less.

Thanks for the heads up. I've used this site before but didn't realise it had all that extra info!. So I found an available rewards flight July 5 2016 which comprises QF to SIN & then BA to LHR. Plugging those details into the Matrix I came up with this breakdown. The Fuel Surcharge (YQ) doesn't seem that bad to me, infact all the extras are around $250 mark. I got the feeling from comments outside this thread, that the extras could be much more e.g. $1000 or more.

Does this breakdown look right, or are their other potential fees I'm missing?

Cheers
David

Fare 1: Carrier BA D2BAAUOW SYD to LON (rules) Passenger type ADT, ONE-WAY-ONLY fare, booking code D Covers SYD-SIN (Business), SIN-LHR (Business) A$5,565.00 Singapore SG (SG) A$3.00 Singapore Passenger Security Service Charge (OO) A$3.00 BA YQ surcharge (YQ) A$166.50 Australia AU (AU) A$55.00 Australian Int'l Passenger Service Charge (WY) A$29.89 Subtotal per passenger A$5,822.39 Number of passengers x2 Subtotal For 2 adults A$11,644.78

Fare Construction (can be useful to travel agents)

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks for the heads up. I've used this site before but didn't realise it had all that extra info!. So I found an available rewards flight July 5 2016 which comprises QF to SIN & then BA to LHR. Plugging those details into the Matrix I came up with this breakdown. The Fuel Surcharge (YQ) doesn't seem that bad to me, infact all the extras are around $250 mark. I got the feeling from comments outside this thread, that the extras could be much more e.g. $1000 or more.

Does this breakdown look right, or are their other potential fees I'm missing?

Cheers
David

Fare 1: Carrier BA D2BAAUOW SYD to LON (rules) Passenger type ADT, ONE-WAY-ONLY fare, booking code D Covers SYD-SIN (Business), SIN-LHR (Business) A$5,565.00 Singapore SG (SG) A$3.00 Singapore Passenger Security Service Charge (OO) A$3.00 BA YQ surcharge (YQ) A$166.50 Australia AU (AU) A$55.00 Australian Int'l Passenger Service Charge (WY) A$29.89 Subtotal per passenger A$5,822.39 Number of passengers x2 Subtotal For 2 adults A$11,644.78

Fare Construction (can be useful to travel agents)

There's something wrong, and the YQ showing on ITA is different from what QF is charging. I just did a dummy booking on the QF site for BA SYD-SIN-LHR (economy SYD-SIN and premium economy SIN-LHR) and the taxes fees and charges levied by Qantas come to AUD422 per person - much higher than the charges listed above.

 

[dhein]

How do you do a dummy booking to check? I tried before but the last stage shows payment info after entering my details, which sounds like a confirmed booking.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

How do you do a dummy booking to check? I tried before but the last stage shows payment info after entering my details, which sounds like a confirmed booking.

On QF site, enter dates, select flights, and scroll right down to the bottom of the page... that will give you the points total and cost.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

No, I think he meant: https://matrix.itasoftware.com/

yes sorry - my bad

 

[Flyer Frank]

Great tip Frank, I just had a look at Classic Rewards options out of SIN & HKG. I also heard that you need to watch out for taxes & fees which can be quite severe. I can't seem to find them anywhere without progressing to the final booking/payment screen. Do you know if there is a way to work this out?

From memory I think HKG-LHR was about $150 taxes with Cathay as Cathay don't pass on fuel surcharge like Qantas do. Be aware though that departure tax out of Heathrow is extortionate and you can expect to pay at least $400 if you have booked a reward seat in J or F departing from LHR. But really if you're getting away with a $550 HKG-LHR return in F then you're still way ahead.

Personally I prefer Cathay first to BA as Cathay first suites are much wider than BA and generally make for a more comfortable sleep.

 

[Mattg]

Keep in mind that Qantas no longer levies a fuel surcharge on revenue tickets, but continue to do so on award bookings.

 

[oelare]

Slightly off topic, how can I book award seats with partner airlines? Do I just go through Qantas.com?

So we are living in the USA, I want to book some flights around the Americas using my husband's WP status and QFF points. But when I use Qantas.com, using JFK (or others) as departure I can only select an Australian city destination. How do I tap into the AA network/partner airline using QFF?

 

[Mattg]

Slightly off topic, how can I book award seats with partner airlines? Do I just go through Qantas.com?

So we are living in the USA, I want to book some flights around the Americas using my husband's WP status and QFF points. But when I use Qantas.com, using JFK (or others) as departure I can only select an Australian city destination. How do I tap into the AA network/partner airline using QFF?

You should be able to find AA award flights using Qantas.com. Make sure you tick the "show classic flight reward cities" box.

 

[Fearlessfly]

What a shocking reply ! Chock full of acronyms and abbreviations, absolutely unintelligible to a normal reader.

 

[grussellt]

Welcome to AFF, Fearlessfly. Perhaps you should reply with a quote of the original post so that we can see which abbreviations give you a problem. If all else fails try HUACA!

 

[mjgriffo]

Welcome to AFF, Fearlessfly. Perhaps you should reply with a quote of the original post so that we can see which abbreviations give you a problem. If all else fails try HUACA!

This HUACA?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huaca

 

[Pierre_a]

Its not all doom and gloom at the bottom of the pile. I successfully upgraded to J from flex economy MEL-LHR on Aug 12th as a bronze FF. There appeared to be plenty of availability on the way back a week later since the aircraft was half empty on both sectors -I hadn't purchased an upgradeable fare so couldn't take advantage.

 

[Teuchter]

With QF, I don't think you won't earn any SC on upgraded class.
You only get SC for the whY/Y/PE fare paid.
So, to get the max SC for J, and some on here disagree with it, P+P where you pay to sit in J, but reduce the fare by paying by the points balance in your QF FF account.
I fly to NZ a lot, and want to retain SG, so will be going F with P+P.
To succeed at the QF FF upgrade game, you need to be quite high up in the status game.
Australian QF dom fares/seats, you can know as soon as you put in a request, using QF FF points, if successful or not, apart from the upgrade me system.
Au to LHR, is a high demand route.
Sometimes you might even get that your seat in part of the journey is in Y.

The original poster stated he is a newbie.

Your post is riddled with jargon and abbreviations.

No doubt you know what you mean to say but the art of communication is ensuring your intended audience also understands it.

So please give a thought to those you are trying to communicate with.

This comment is not only aimed at you, there are many others on this forum who should take heed.

Here endeth my sermon for today!

 

[JB expat]

I haven't read all the responses, so I may be repeating. I've had decent luck with long haul upgrades to/from LAX albeit a number of years ago at this point (I'm Gold status). A couple things that I do when I have flexibility which you will need to give yourself the best chance...

- fly midweek for long hauls - most business fliers will not fly on a Tues or Wed - it's a complete waste of their work week to lose at least 2 days in transit thus there probably are "more" business class seats available

- I search the flights that I'm thinking about booking (in upgradable economy) in business class as if I want to purchase. If you see that the cheapest business seats are already sold out, chances are business is filling up and there will be less of a chance of a free seat

- tick that you want business but are willing to "settle" for premium economy - still more comfortable and it increases your chances

I lost out once - it is not nice knowing you paid extra for the upgradable economy fare and still get stuck in economy but if you do get the upgrade, it is worth it.

 

[defurax]

it is not nice knowing you paid extra for the upgradable economy fare and still get stuck in economy but if you do get the upgrade, it is worth it.

For me the only positive thing which came out of the "Fairer & Simpler(TM)" system is that at least now I get more SC from Saver and Flexi fares even if my upgrade request is declined.

 

[Fearlessfly]

Welcome to AFF, Fearlessfly. Perhaps you should reply with a quote of the original post so that we can see which abbreviations give you a problem. If all else fails try HUACA!

Ah, naively I assumed that "Reply" within a post would place the reply attached to the post I was replying to. I see this software is not that sophisticated.

 

[Mattg]

Ah, naively I assumed that "Reply" within a post would place the reply attached to the post I was replying to. I see this software is not that sophisticated.

Clicking on "reply with quote" does the trick.