tips on getting an xmas FF ticket to london ?

[vaccav]

G'day,

I'm hoping someone can help with the following:

- am a platinum member looking to get 2 FF business class tickets to london on 18 dec, returning on 5 jan to sydney.
- have in the past been able to get these by "requesting" them .... and then they make a seat available.
- however, this year they do not have any from mid dec to mid jan that they will make available to me "on request"
- anyone got any tips or suggestions here ?
- ..... apart from the rather obvious "you should've booked earlier..."

eg i can see when looking at paid tickets that there are discounted business class for about $7,500 (all in) which is pretty cheap. This implies there are plenty seats available but they're not prepared to release them to plats making the "request".
.... so will they become available in time ?
.... also have things tightened up since the classic awards were introduced. i recall there was a fear that the "requests" system would be wound back and I'm beginning to think it has (after all, it reduces the usage of the non-classic awards system).

any help gratefully rec'd.

vaccav

 

[Mal]

Going to be pretty tough going all the way to London - too many expat Brits heading home / Aussies heading over to see relatives and vice versa.

Normally I've found pretty good availability to parts of Asia in J and F. Perhaps see if there's anything to say Hong Kong or Singapore and what the cost of a J fare from there to London is.

More award seats could be offered though in the near future - certainly I've seen them added towards Christmas.

 

[ejb]

Hi vaccav,

I would try again, I have found that asking different FF staff the same question will often result in two different answers.

Apart from that have you tried SYD-HKG then next day HKG-LHR, or even go via NRT on JAL.

I am sure with a little playing around with routes and the Premium desk you could get something suitable.

ejb

 

[dragonman]

I think you are chances are very slim. I booked 2 months ago and the latest J seat I could get was Dec 9 to BKK. My tip would be try Shanghai as the stop over. At one stage that had the most availability.

 

[Rae]

I booked MEL/LHR about 3 months ago and got exactly the dates I wanted, Dec 09 MEL/LHR and Dec 29 LHR/MEL but for what it's worth I had a similar experience as you, trying to get to Auckland of all places, on Nov 1 & 2. Absolutely no flights when I tried 2 weeks ago. It's the first time I've been rejected from getting the tickets I wanted (I'm also platinum). Maybe it is getting tighter.

 

[jamesatfish]

Best advice I can give is just keep trying.

As a WP also I've had pretty good success finding First award seats regardless of the destination, time of year and closeness to departure. Basically I just keep calling back every week or so (or every few days closer to the departure) and making requests for consideration, and eventually we've always found something that suits our requirements.

First is usually easier to get than Business, but we even picked up two Business award tickets MEL-LHR back in July about 2 weeks before the departure date (after trying for them for about 6 months prior).

It helps that we are in Canberra so I don't care whether we travel out of SYD, MEL, BNE or PER, and make sure they are checking availability on BA flights as although they can't request seats to be opened for award redemption on BA flights we tend to find more availability on BA through to LHR than QF.

It also helps if you get a hold of someone creative at the call centre - I've had staff just do a simple award search that I could have done on the internet myself, whilst others have taken the time to look at creative ways of getting to the destination (such as routing through other European cities on the way to LHR).

 

[MelUser]

What about buying a seat in Economy (S) and requesting a points upgrade to business?

That is what I would do as I love the thrill of winning the Qantas International Upgrade Lottery!

 

[dajop]

Another suggestion, be creative with routings and partners involved (you might need to fork out extra 40K each and go for a RTW oneworld award).

Possible connection points: SIN, BKK (obvious), HKG, PVG, BOM, NRT, LAX, EZE, JNB, SFO, AKL, .... check oneworld partners as well (CX from Aus/HKG, JL from SYD/BNE/NRT, RJ from BKK/HKG, AY from BKK/HKG/PVG, AA from LAX/SFO/NRT) etc.

 

[ejb]

What about buying a seat in Economy (S) and requesting a points upgrade to business?

That is what I would do as I love the thrill of winning the Qantas International Upgrade Lottery!

but losing that lottery results in sitting in whY:shock:

ejb