kelfly said:
Hey Mal, it's a child/teenager I'd travel with so perhaps it might be better to sit apart!!!
But seriously, how do you book the freebie on Qantas?
Hi Kelfly, I hope I can help, even though it may be slightly different. I have a platinum Amex credit card that entitles me to a free domestic flight on Qantas. (not the ultimate card, but they should be similar in theory).
I've claimed a few flights before:
The first time I asked the Amex person to book my partner's flight during the same phone call that I redeemed the free domestic flight. I think it was a $35 or $65 booking fee.
The next time I thought that I'd just get on to the Qantas website and find the cheapest possible flight for my partner (MEL-SYD return) and entered all my details into their website, up until the final payment step. I then called Amex, asked them if they could put me on the same flight number. As soon as that was done, I proceeded with the online purchase for my partner.
At check in, we just went together, and they seated us together. Saved the booking fee, and was quite simple to do.
Another time work paid for me to fly interstate, and I used the free flight for my partner to travel with me. On the return trip back, we got to the airport too early (thought the Sydney traffic would be worse) - and enquired at check in if we could take the earlier flight back to Melbourne.
As the ticket work provided was fully flexible there was no charge to change flights. However the "free Amex" flight was a restricted class, and I would have to pay a change of booking fee, or it may have been a ticket where no changes were possible.
I have to compliment the Qantas staff - they allowed us to change both tickets at no charge. I would have happily paid the fee, but the guy said he'd do us a favour. I think that's pretty good customer service.