Trying to Use Frequent Flyer point QF - Melb to La in Jan

[MarkyMark]

Hi
I am a gold qantas frequent flyer and am trying to book tickets from MEL to LA in early to mid Jan but know seats are available of course as it is our school holiday time period in Australia. Is there really no way but to check every day.

Also do the web should all the possible alternatives or should I call the call centre every day also?

Marky Mark

 

[danielh]

Just check the web each day but in your case the only way you will be able to get a flight is if Qantas decide to release more award seats or if someone cancels their existing Qantas FF award booking.

Even if you manage to get a flight to LEAVE to the USA you will have to try to get a return flight which may not be possible depending on you time constraints.

If you are looking for more then one seat on the same flight then I'd say it will be almost impossible to get one.

If you have a plat family member you might be able to get them to find an available flight but it would be hard.

Regards
Daniel

 

[MarkyMark]

Thanks

 

[NM]

Isn't this a perfect job for FrequentFlierFriend? That is exactly what it designed to do - to check QF FF award availability for you without you actually paging through all the dates. Download and try. You get 7 days free.

By the way, I am in no way affiliated with this program or its developers. But I have tried it and found it works.

 

[QF WP]

IMHO, NM, you are indeed 100% correct as usual. MarkyMark, why invest all that time (every day) to continually check for availability. How much is your time worth?? At $65 per annum, Frequent Flyer Friend will check automatically every day and advise you if seats become available.

 

[Mal]

I believe it's $65 per license, not per annum!

So works out even better pricewise!

" No Monthly/Yearly Costs! There is no need to pay for such a service on a regular basis... You can get all this for a one off payment!"

http://www.frequentflyerfriend.com/features.html

 

[MarkyMark]

Thanks everyone

I will try the software and see how it works. I'll let you know seems like you have all had success using it.

 

[QF WP]

Mal, my mistake.

From the FAQ's:

you will need to buy license. This is a once-off fee of US$ 49.95 per edition....The license fee includes free upgrades for at least 12 months from date of purchase.

.

 

[danielh]

Looks like there are heaps of LAX-MEL flights on Jan 16th (but then again it could be only 1 Award seat but with multiple routings.

One on 22 Jan 2006 Direct.
One on 24 Jan 2006 Direct. (etc).

You do know that as a Silver or higher you can book your ticket and change the DATE of that award flight for no cost (just in case a better timed one pops up).

The only bad thing is that if you chooe the direct LAX-MEL flight you will find it harder to find another date with that routing. More popular one is LAX-SYD-MEL and if you change to that it will cost you 2,500 points as it is a routing change.

Regards
Daniel

 

[NM]

I still don't think his chances are good to get 2 or more RETURN tickets to LAX in that time period.

Regards
Daniel

Its likely to depend on what FF status he has. One of the benefits of Gold and Platinum FF status is the greater availability of economy class award seats. And closer to the travel date (like the last 2 or 3 weeks) things can open up. But not many of us can wait until that close to flight date if planning a trip. Good for unplanned travel requirements, though.

But as you say, little chance of much being available now for January, especially if not Gold or Platinum FF status.

 

[QF WP]

Its likely to depend on what FF status he has.

The OP answers in the first line of his first post:

I am a gold qantas frequent flyer

NM's answer may be very close to the mark (no pun intended :roll: ):

But not many of us can wait until that close to flight date if planning a trip.