Using BA Miles for QF Flights from LAX to SYD?
Dec 26, 2008, 2:29 am
#16
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Sydney
Posts: 5,772
Let's examine the "well in advance" timeframe of August 2009 as an example. There are exactly zero dates with 2 seats in F class from SYD to LAX the entire month. Seems like a low number to me. There are zero dates with 2 seats in J class in either direction on any of the SYD-LAX nonstops. There is one date with 2 J seats from LAX-MEL. That's obviously not zero but still a very small number.
Flame with data folks and not (incorrect) speculation.
Flame with data folks and not (incorrect) speculation.
there are also Mel bne and out of SFO
do you know you have to ticket the little J and F boxes in the QFF website?
looking for 1 seat
in August 09 as at now there are
2,9,10,11,16,18.19.20 22,23,24,25,27,29,30 J class and
11,25,31 in F
what I do is book one seat then MOST of the time another becomes available
Last edited by tinkybelle; Dec 26, 2008 at 2:36 am
Dec 26, 2008, 3:59 am
#17
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: London, UK
Programs: BA Gold(OWE), QF LTG, MR Plat, IHG Spire, Hertz PC
Posts: 8,156
All the OW airlines have the same inventory you just have to contact the Airline with whom you have the
points. that is why people are saying THEY called AA they didnt say for you to call.
and BA has the same 355 day advance booking as QF AA is 330 days in advance so you avhe a much better chance to secure F awards or J awards than someone with AA
and as you can see a lot of AA people are securing seats.
I am certainly not a QF lover I think many of their res agents are lazy and smart arse but I asswure you you will be able to egt J and F sets if you look hared enough are patient and flexible,
points. that is why people are saying THEY called AA they didnt say for you to call.
and BA has the same 355 day advance booking as QF AA is 330 days in advance so you avhe a much better chance to secure F awards or J awards than someone with AA
and as you can see a lot of AA people are securing seats.
I am certainly not a QF lover I think many of their res agents are lazy and smart arse but I asswure you you will be able to egt J and F sets if you look hared enough are patient and flexible,
Also I have to agree with others, that overall award availability is rubbish on transpac services in premium classes (a seat here and a seat there each month is pretty poor contrary to what some have posted in this thread). Yes, there are some seats available, but generally they are few and far between!
Booking at the last moment however does help when trying to obtain premium seats as both BA and QF both tend to release seats into the award buckets when they have failed to sell seats for cash.
With both Virgin Blue (V Australia) and Delta entering the transpac market, I suspect we will start to see more availability of premium awards on both QF, NZ and UA.
Dec 26, 2008, 4:34 am
#18
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Cardiff, UK
Programs: BA GGL, Concorde Room card, KLM Silver, PC Platinum Ambassador, Marriott Platinum, UA Premier Silver
Posts: 5,278
I remember doing it back in 1995 with Qantas on a 744 which back then was a relatively new direct route. Especially considering the type was only launched 6 years earlier.
Haven't done it since however would be interested in doing it again particularly with the excellent F lounge at Kingsford Smith.
Dec 26, 2008, 12:10 pm
#19
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: PSP
Programs: UA Lifetime Platinum with 2.5MM. Current AA EXP
Posts: 135
Thanks for clarifying. In general, I'm a Star Alliance flyer and, unlike OW, I don't believe all SA airlines share the same award availability. For example, I've triend to use miles from both my UA and US accounts for award travel on a particular LH/LX flight. United and US Airways do not always show the same availability on a particular Lufthansa or Swiss flight. Go figure--perhaps the oddity of the different alliances.
Anyway, I now understand better how OW availability works and that BA and AA "should" show the same availability on a QF flight. Hopefully, persistence in my BA searches for QF biz/first will pay off. Thanks.
Anyway, I now understand better how OW availability works and that BA and AA "should" show the same availability on a QF flight. Hopefully, persistence in my BA searches for QF biz/first will pay off. Thanks.
Dec 26, 2008, 4:11 pm
#20
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Sydney
Posts: 5,772
[QUOTE=Traveloguy;10965237]I think you will find that 355 days is for booking on your 'home carrier' and 330 is booking on another OW carrier. With this in mind, BA can only see 330 days worth of QF award availability.
QUOTE]
No you are incorrect
BA can actually see 355 days ahead on Qantas and book online.
last flight bookable in Y is
22:30 14 Dec
08:10 16 Dec
Los Angeles
Sydney
QF0012
Qantas Airways Ltd
Economy
currently BA is showing to 16th dec 355 days out
and there are 2 F tix on 8th dec .
the things you learn on FT!!
QUOTE]
No you are incorrect
BA can actually see 355 days ahead on Qantas and book online.
last flight bookable in Y is
22:30 14 Dec
08:10 16 Dec
Los Angeles
Sydney
QF0012
Qantas Airways Ltd
Economy
currently BA is showing to 16th dec 355 days out
and there are 2 F tix on 8th dec .
the things you learn on FT!!
Dec 26, 2008, 4:44 pm
#21
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Portland OR Double Emerald (QF and AA), DL PM/MM, Starwood Plat
Posts: 19,589
There has been an order of magnitude increase in F/J transpac QF award availability in the past 6 months. Combination of people canceling trips with awards booked up to 12 months earlier, and paid F/J bookings dropping substantially (rumor is 20% drop in December). The economy crashing has helped award availability a lot. Most of the comments about "impossible to get award" were correct for the past several years, but this started to change circa Sept 2008 and now there is reasonable availability (much better than on CX, for example, whereas QF used to be much harder to get than CX or other trans-pacific options).