Jan 14, 2015, 5:58 pm
Last edit by: Prospero
AA miles awards: using / redeeming AA miles on Qantas (QF)
The basics:
QF releases their awards from 353 days out to QF FF's and some ffp's (Amadeus CRS). So at the 331 days (~Sabre CRS) AA for award release there are scant seats left. They tend to add more much closer to the day of flight, if there are seats available.
2017.07.08 edit by FlyerTalkUserName: For US flights it has been my recent, but limited experience that QF releases award availability around 10-11 months from departure. Consider searching for one seat in F and one in J as well.
Consider alternate cities. E.g. Flights to BNE might be easier to book with AA miles than SYD or MEL, so adding a segment from BNE might give you a trip denied by connecting in SYD. You might have to remind AA reservationists, because they might not consider BNE.
Consider alternate airlines, such as HA from HNL, TN via PPT, FJ via NAN, etc.
N.B. Travel via Honolulu, or Asia (e.g. HKG or NRT), will require two awards.
aa.com occasionally may report "phantom availability" of premium awards on Qantas.
2017.07.08 edit by FlyerTalkUserName: Conversely, aa.com occasionally may not show available Qantas awards. Use BA's search tool, QF's search tool, or service like ExpertFlyer to see availability. Call in to ticket.
The aa.com oneworld and Other Airline Award Chart may be seen here, for required miles and restrictions on connections.
Note: Reservation speculating, or tying up award space to "flip" in (or out of) Coupon Connection will not be tolerated. If you have an "extra" reservation, simply cancel or refund it. This will not be allowed in this forum either.
Qantas Routes
To be updated
SYD to LAX, DFW, HNL and YVR. SYD SFO restart delayed
BNE to LAX
MEL to LAX and DFW
SYD AKL JFK from 14 June 2023
Notes
Routes can change, so please check the schedule.
During low seasons some routes may not have flights every day.
Not all flights/routes have first class. Only the QF A380 aircraft have has first class.
QF have retired all B747's and sent them to the Mojave desert (July 2020)
+++++++++++++++++
/Moderator
Older posts have been archived to ARCHIVE: AA miles awards: using / redeeming AA miles on Qantas (QF)
Note: Older posts have been archived off to this thread
Updates & edits
20 May 2016 - JDiver
23 Sept 2019 - Mwenenzi QF routes added
11 Mar 2020 - Mwenenzi QF route changes
31 Jul 2020 - Mwenenzi QF B747 retired. More Covid-19 announcements from QF
07 Aug 2020 - Mwenenzi QF B787 to storage
12 Nov 2021 - Mwenenzi QF announcements 3 off
05 Mar 2022 - Mwenenzi QF announcements
12 Jun 2022 - Mwenenzi QF announcements removed (except 2) as AU fully open & QF flying AU<--->USA
24 Dec 2022 - Mwenenzi QF post CV19 announcements removed. MELDFW route added
THIS WIKI IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ADD VALUE.
The basics:
QF releases their awards from 353 days out to QF FF's and some ffp's (Amadeus CRS). So at the 331 days (~Sabre CRS) AA for award release there are scant seats left. They tend to add more much closer to the day of flight, if there are seats available.
2017.07.08 edit by FlyerTalkUserName: For US flights it has been my recent, but limited experience that QF releases award availability around 10-11 months from departure. Consider searching for one seat in F and one in J as well.
Consider alternate cities. E.g. Flights to BNE might be easier to book with AA miles than SYD or MEL, so adding a segment from BNE might give you a trip denied by connecting in SYD. You might have to remind AA reservationists, because they might not consider BNE.
Consider alternate airlines, such as HA from HNL, TN via PPT, FJ via NAN, etc.
N.B. Travel via Honolulu, or Asia (e.g. HKG or NRT), will require two awards.
aa.com occasionally may report "phantom availability" of premium awards on Qantas.
2017.07.08 edit by FlyerTalkUserName: Conversely, aa.com occasionally may not show available Qantas awards. Use BA's search tool, QF's search tool, or service like ExpertFlyer to see availability. Call in to ticket.
BA only shows 3 cabins in output. When searching for award seats, make sure to select 1st class as cabin and it will show premium economy, business and 1st rather than economy, premium economy and business
It only displays flights where there is a seat in at least one cabin. If there is no availability on the flight in any cabin, then the flight will not be displayed.
It only displays flights where there is a seat in at least one cabin. If there is no availability on the flight in any cabin, then the flight will not be displayed.
Note: Reservation speculating, or tying up award space to "flip" in (or out of) Coupon Connection will not be tolerated. If you have an "extra" reservation, simply cancel or refund it. This will not be allowed in this forum either.
Qantas Routes
To be updated
SYD to LAX, DFW, HNL and YVR. SYD SFO restart delayed
BNE to LAX
MEL to LAX and DFW
SYD AKL JFK from 14 June 2023
Notes
Routes can change, so please check the schedule.
During low seasons some routes may not have flights every day.
Not all flights/routes have first class. Only the QF A380 aircraft have has first class.
QF have retired all B747's and sent them to the Mojave desert (July 2020)
+++++++++++++++++
/Moderator
Older posts have been archived to ARCHIVE: AA miles awards: using / redeeming AA miles on Qantas (QF)
Note: Older posts have been archived off to this thread
Updates & edits
20 May 2016 - JDiver
23 Sept 2019 - Mwenenzi QF routes added
11 Mar 2020 - Mwenenzi QF route changes
31 Jul 2020 - Mwenenzi QF B747 retired. More Covid-19 announcements from QF
07 Aug 2020 - Mwenenzi QF B787 to storage
12 Nov 2021 - Mwenenzi QF announcements 3 off
05 Mar 2022 - Mwenenzi QF announcements
12 Jun 2022 - Mwenenzi QF announcements removed (except 2) as AU fully open & QF flying AU<--->USA
24 Dec 2022 - Mwenenzi QF post CV19 announcements removed. MELDFW route added
THIS WIKI IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ADD VALUE.
AA miles awards: using / redeeming AA miles on Qantas (QF) & related (consolidated)
Jul 11, 2017, 5:15 am
#751
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: DCA/IAD/WAS
Programs: MAR AMB, WOH Explorist, AA EXP, UA 2P
Posts: 2,138
It would be about as quick to just check for yourself as to a write a condescending note assuming that others are inept.
Takes under a minute. First route I tried was SYD-DFW in May.
Look at 15th.
QF shows all 4 classes available.
ba.com shows Y only.
aa.com shows nothing, of course.
Takes under a minute. First route I tried was SYD-DFW in May.
Look at 15th.
QF shows all 4 classes available.
ba.com shows Y only.
aa.com shows nothing, of course.
Either way, a check of EF shows that only Y is available for an award on that flight, so the QF site is not showing correctly.
Jul 11, 2017, 5:37 am
#752
Join Date: Feb 2001
Programs: IHG Diamond, HH Diamond, BW Diamond Select, Accor Silver, Marriott Gold
Posts: 4,228
That in itself raises the question about what "correct" means. I'm not going to go as far as actually making the booking, but I went most of the way without error. If these seats can be booked on the QF site, that makes things really ugly for partners.
Jul 11, 2017, 7:09 am
#753
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 624
It would be about as quick to just check for yourself as to a write a condescending note assuming that others are inept.
Takes under a minute. First route I tried was SYD-DFW in May.
Look at 15th.
QF shows all 4 classes available.
ba.com shows Y only.
aa.com shows nothing, of course.
Takes under a minute. First route I tried was SYD-DFW in May.
Look at 15th.
QF shows all 4 classes available.
ba.com shows Y only.
aa.com shows nothing, of course.
This is FlyerTalk, everything is questioned. Simply clarifying. I was on mobile so no way I was using BA or QF's search tools without additional details.
Also you can see upthread where I had similar exchanges regarding the idea that QF dumped all of their award seats at T-360 and posters were incorrectly using QF's award tool to count partner award availability as QF award availability.
Jul 12, 2017, 5:25 pm
#755
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 29
Just to confirm you both clicked on the individual flights and confirmed it was QF metal? QF shows a lot of partner availability that AA doesn't show. Not sure if there are any partners QF shows but BA doesn't.
There's some mention of Phantom space in the AS/QF thread so it probably does happen from time to time.
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alaska-airlines-mileage-plan/1812149-consolidated-qantas-qf-awards-availability-booking-routing-thread.html
There's some mention of Phantom space in the AS/QF thread so it probably does happen from time to time.
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alaska-airlines-mileage-plan/1812149-consolidated-qantas-qf-awards-availability-booking-routing-thread.html
Last edited by eb12; Jul 12, 2017 at 5:30 pm Reason: added more deets
Jul 12, 2017, 6:39 pm
#756
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 624
Odd that in the case you outlined QF availability matches BA and EF (not even going to try AA's tool) for the QF nonstop, but not the connections. A quick test appeared to show that the QF128 (HKG-SYD), QF461 (SYD-MEL) combination has U class availability on the SYD-MEL leg, but not HKG-SYD. Maybe QF's search tool is taking a page out of AA's playbook and returning business availability when at least one leg is availability?
Either way, that wouldn't answer what's going on with the availability on SYD-DFW.
Jul 12, 2017, 7:40 pm
#757
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 29
Jul 12, 2017, 8:29 pm
#758
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 624
Yeah I think I completely whiffed on that. Was using ExpertFlyer and got confused.
Jul 12, 2017, 11:28 pm
#759
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
Have you tried finding availability segment by segment?
Jul 13, 2017, 3:58 pm
#760
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 29
Jul 29, 2017, 12:04 pm
#761
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Canada
Programs: Aeroplan E50/MM, HH gold, Nat Exec Elite, Kimpton Karma
Posts: 2,354
Looking to do a redemption on Qantas within AU using AA points. No AA, Oneworld, or Qantas status. *A gold status.
First AA redemption. Not very familiar with the AA program. Read the wiki and related posts but most info seems to relate to long haul redemptions.
Am I correct in understanding that there are within-AU awards via AA @20K in business and double for a return flight (partner award)? Reward chart is confusing. The area of the chart I'm looking at has green checkmarks with no real info. When I do a "dummy booking" I get 20K each way.
As I read the booking page, this seems to be a mile saver amount (colour coded this way). Seems like a lot of points but a revenue tx is $2000 AU$ return.
Interestingly, when I pull up the Qantas revenue tx booking page, it indicates no award space. Does this suggest the AA availability is phantom?
Any info or suggestions most appreciated.
First AA redemption. Not very familiar with the AA program. Read the wiki and related posts but most info seems to relate to long haul redemptions.
Am I correct in understanding that there are within-AU awards via AA @20K in business and double for a return flight (partner award)? Reward chart is confusing. The area of the chart I'm looking at has green checkmarks with no real info. When I do a "dummy booking" I get 20K each way.
As I read the booking page, this seems to be a mile saver amount (colour coded this way). Seems like a lot of points but a revenue tx is $2000 AU$ return.
Interestingly, when I pull up the Qantas revenue tx booking page, it indicates no award space. Does this suggest the AA availability is phantom?
Any info or suggestions most appreciated.
Jul 29, 2017, 1:12 pm
#762
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,620
Looking to do a redemption on Qantas within AU using AA points. No AA, Oneworld, or Qantas status. *A gold status.
First AA redemption. Not very familiar with the AA program. Read the wiki and related posts but most info seems to relate to long haul redemptions.
Am I correct in understanding that there are within-AU awards via AA @20K in business and double for a return flight (partner award)? Reward chart is confusing. The area of the chart I'm looking at has green checkmarks with no real info. When I do a "dummy booking" I get 20K each way.
As I read the booking page, this seems to be a mile saver amount (colour coded this way). Seems like a lot of points but a revenue tx is $2000 AU$ return.
Interestingly, when I pull up the Qantas revenue tx booking page, it indicates no award space. Does this suggest the AA availability is phantom?
Any info or suggestions most appreciated.
First AA redemption. Not very familiar with the AA program. Read the wiki and related posts but most info seems to relate to long haul redemptions.
Am I correct in understanding that there are within-AU awards via AA @20K in business and double for a return flight (partner award)? Reward chart is confusing. The area of the chart I'm looking at has green checkmarks with no real info. When I do a "dummy booking" I get 20K each way.
As I read the booking page, this seems to be a mile saver amount (colour coded this way). Seems like a lot of points but a revenue tx is $2000 AU$ return.
Interestingly, when I pull up the Qantas revenue tx booking page, it indicates no award space. Does this suggest the AA availability is phantom?
Any info or suggestions most appreciated.
What revenue tx booking page? are you going to qantas.com.au and checking fares for the route?
Jul 29, 2017, 1:15 pm
#763
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Canada
Programs: Aeroplan E50/MM, HH gold, Nat Exec Elite, Kimpton Karma
Posts: 2,354
Yes (business class). It was cheaper in economy. Air Canada, my primary airline, offers several kinds of business class fares but on the Qantas site I could only pull up one J fare.
Jul 29, 2017, 2:04 pm
#764
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,620
The fares per flight in each column will vary based on lowest booking class - for business class all fares are flexible with no fees and refundable with no penalty - so there will be only 1 business class column but fares can vary. There are the 2 extra columns showing award availability
If the flight which you are looking at says " No seats" in the Business Classic Reward section but AA says it is available, there may be false availability being reqorted by AA ; the only thing can do is try and make booking and see if it fails
Jul 29, 2017, 2:30 pm
#765
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Canada
Programs: Aeroplan E50/MM, HH gold, Nat Exec Elite, Kimpton Karma
Posts: 2,354
For domestic travel, when searching for flights there is 2 economy columns and 1 business
The fares per flight in each column will vary based on lowest booking class - for business class all fares are flexible with no fees and refundable with no penalty - so there will be only 1 business class column but fares can vary. There are the 2 extra columns showing award availability
If the flight which you are looking at says " No seats" in the Business Classic Reward section but AA says it is available, there may be false availability being reqorted by AA ; the only thing can do is try and make booking and see if it fails
The fares per flight in each column will vary based on lowest booking class - for business class all fares are flexible with no fees and refundable with no penalty - so there will be only 1 business class column but fares can vary. There are the 2 extra columns showing award availability
If the flight which you are looking at says " No seats" in the Business Classic Reward section but AA says it is available, there may be false availability being reqorted by AA ; the only thing can do is try and make booking and see if it fails
