What's the point of Flexi?

[kezsco]

Three weeks ago I had purchased a Flexi fare to return to Sydney from a business trip to Melbourne. I did this because I knew it was going to be a long day and I didn't want to hang around in the lounge waiting for my flight back if I could be back on an earlier flight. I don't buy flexi fares often (usually Red e-deals), so this was really an exceptional situation.

I arrived at the airport a couple hours earlier than the boarding time and there were probably 5 flights before mine (in the Mel-Syd peak time). I went to the QP desk and when I got the front, she clicked on my ticket and said that there was nothing available. I asked if I could come back in half an hour and she said "You won't be able to get on anything until your flight, sir".

I was miffed because there were two platinums in front of me who were able to get earlier flights to Sydney. Perhaps they had fully flexible tickets as well, I'm not sure.

ANYWAY, yesterday I had a red e-deal ticket and was travelling back Mel-SYD again. This time I had a client, who was Oneworld Emerald (JAL Diamond) and had a flexi ticket. He said that we should change to an earlier flight. I told him I couldn't, but he said that we should try anyway because he was an emerald. So we asked the QP desk and they put us on the next flight out.

So, my question to you is, "What's the point of buying a flexi ticket for double the price (or more) if you can sometimes change your red e-deal ticket when your status is high enough and you can't change a flexi ticket when your status isn't very good at all?"

 

[anat0l]

EDIT: Read the reason - it was "nothing available"


Sometimes they try to be more accommodating for Platinums, but if they are full they won't be budging for them either, unless they force an op-up. Also, not all Platinums can bluff their way through getting a change of flight that was booked on a Red e-Deal (especially if it is outside peak times where flow-forwarding is not used).

Were the two WPs in front perhaps flying in J?


Does anyone know precisely how Flexi Savers and Fully Flexible tickets work? Are you supposed to only be able to change a Flexi Saver into a flight which also has spare capacity in that fare class/bucket, or can you change to any available seat (even if it is in a higher class, e.g. from your booked K ticket to a seat sold as Y)? Does fare difference come into play here (especially for Fully Flexible tickets)?

 

[serfty]

In the normal course of events, it should depend on the booking class for your original flight.

Flexi Fares book into the Y H B & K "fare Buckets" and there needs to be availability in that booking class/"Fare Bucket" on the target flight.

Of course, on any given day, none of that prevents an agent from doing so anyway or, indeed denying such change.

 

[Simsy85]

I normally travel on a fully flex fare and have never actually had cause to change it.

However my last flight was on a flexi fare cos I wanted to keep the cost down (as I was going via BNE for personal reasons and wanted to make sure the total cost of my flexi fare would be less than my fully flex DRW-SYD-DRW return). When I was in SYD flying back to DRW via BNE (the next day) and wanted to leave earlier as my conference had finished earlier, it was peak time. I walked up to the QP desk (I wasn't travelling with the boss, so no CL) and i'm only a Gold so no J lounge.

I walked up, asked for an earlier flight, they put me on one, no worries.

Interesting to note, i've been on a Fully Flex fare, in CL and asked for an upgrade to J. Was told no seats available, yet I could still see them for sale online. When we got on board, sure enough, they were empty.

 

[ButFli]

Interesting to note, i've been on a Fully Flex fare, in CL and asked for an upgrade to J. Was told no seats available, yet I could still see them for sale online. When we got on board, sure enough, they were empty.

No seats available for free upgrades, maybe? No offence but the request was a little bit unreasonable.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Three weeks ago I had purchased a Flexi fare to return to Sydney from a business trip to Melbourne. I did this because I knew it was going to be a long day and I didn't want to hang around in the lounge waiting for my flight back if I could be back on an earlier flight. I don't buy flexi fares often (usually Red e-deals), so this was really an exceptional situation.

I arrived at the airport a couple hours earlier than the boarding time and there were probably 5 flights before mine (in the Mel-Syd peak time). I went to the QP desk and when I got the front, she clicked on my ticket and said that there was nothing available. I asked if I could come back in half an hour and she said "You won't be able to get on anything until your flight, sir".

I was miffed because there were two platinums in front of me who were able to get earlier flights to Sydney. Perhaps they had fully flexible tickets as well, I'm not sure.

ANYWAY, yesterday I had a red e-deal ticket and was travelling back Mel-SYD again. This time I had a client, who was Oneworld Emerald (JAL Diamond) and had a flexi ticket. He said that we should change to an earlier flight. I told him I couldn't, but he said that we should try anyway because he was an emerald. So we asked the QP desk and they put us on the next flight out.

So, my question to you is, "What's the point of buying a flexi ticket for double the price (or more) if you can sometimes change your red e-deal ticket when your status is high enough and you can't change a flexi ticket when your status isn't very good at all?"

It maybe that the only seats available on earlier flights were in Y fare bucket so the WPs in front of you may have been booked in Y & thus were able to change their flights. You may have been booked on a flexible fare in H, B or K class which whilst changeable, there still must be availability in those classes for you to change.

If there's some kind of disruption forcast for later like thunderstorms they may have a 'flow forward' for those later flights which means anyone regardless of fare type can be moved to an earlier flight at no cost however the catering may not be assured.

It may be worth noting that occasionally if you have bought a red-e-deal or other sale type fare, it may still be cheaper to buy another of these fares & you would still have paid less for those 2 fares than one of the higher flexi fares.

If your company is happy to pay for flexi fares I guess go with that as while it may not be possible to change you flexi ticket if no availability, you will have more chance of doing so than on a red-e-deal.

If the fare comes out of your pocket & I was in your situation I would buy the cheaper red-e-deal with a view that possibly I may be able to change it depending on operational reasons of the airline but I would fully expect to not be allowed to change it then if I could it's a bonus.

In the normal course of events, it should depend on the booking class for your original flight.

Flexi Fares book into the Y H B & K "fare Buckets" and there needs to be availability in that booking class/"Fare Bucket" on the target flight.

Of course, on any given day, none of that prevents an agent from doing so anyway or, indeed denying such change.

It depends on what authority the agent has. At bigger ports some checkin agents will only be able to change flights if it's a flexible fare. Any overrides for flight changes operational or other reasons would need to be performed by a supervisor, Sales Desk, City Flyer, QP or CL. Ditto for seat blocking, some seat changes etc.

 

[djfuzz]

No seats available for free upgrades, maybe? No offence but the request was a little bit unreasonable.

In CL? No such thing as an unreasonable request (well, not in the normal sense). Might have been because the OP wasn't in CL themselves, but I also thought CL privileges such as automatic space available upgrades applied to guests too.

 

[Simsy85]

No seats available for free upgrades, maybe? No offence but the request was a little bit unreasonable.

How do you figure it was an unreasonable request? I'm a gold ff, you are entitled to request an on departure upgrade. Don't assume because I said I was in CL that I'm some wanker who demanded it free of charge. I knew it would cost me points, but a 5 hours flight back to DRW on a 737 in Y? No thanks.

On departure upgrade is very simple - if there is a spare seat, and you pay the points, it's yours.

 

[oz_mark]

On departure upgrade is very simple - if there is a spare seat, and you pay the points, it's yours.

I don't think Qantas have ever said that if there is a spare seat, then it is available to upgrade to. There are many, many posts about being knocked back for an upgrade, even though there are empty seats in business. I don't know how they decide how many seats are available for on departure upgrades - but there more to it than just the seat being empty (for example, it may include catering considerations)

 

[mannej]

On departure upgrade is very simple - if there is a spare seat, and you pay the points, it's yours.

Not quite the case. The available seats need to be in the appropriate fare bucket. Seats for sale on the QF website may not have been.


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