Surely if there is A inventory, it's bookable? If I tell my TA to nab me an A seat what part of the system will prevent her doing it? (I would try it right away but it would mean re-issuing my ticket first and I'm not ready to do that yet.)

If true then it is pathetic. From what I can tell off the web site nothing about the QF A380 seat makes it seem superior to CX's new F seat and CX hasn't created a new class or stopped allowing their use on RTW tickets. And it will be quite a while before QF can guarantee that you will fly an A380 on any single route. What happens if you have an R ticket and there's a substitution or you change your flight date and get a 747?

As I said: there is no A inventory. If it shows A, it is wrong. Probably a glitch because not all systems are fully adapted. QF, AA and BA all told me that QF A380 is all R and nothing but R. I would love to be wrong.

I believe all airlines will assign the first class on their A380 as R. Given the popularity of the plane, who can blame them?

Actually, the tariff for the A380 in R is higher than the same route on an 747 (about $2500) so that sort of tells you, doesnt it? Resistence is futile... :)

With an aircraft change the same happens as with SQ: nothing.

And no, its not fair.

Well I must be seeing things since there is (sometimes excellent) A inventory showing on all the GDS's I can see on KVS. This is for the SIN/SYD route; I believe there is no/very patchy availability trans pac.

When I asked on the QF forum the response was that A was bookable if shown.

My TA has now booked me into A on the A380 on the SIN/SYD route using the BA code share (since that is my preference for mileage earning purposes). I see that inventory on my flight has now reduced from A9 to A8. The booking shows on MMB on BA and I have even been able to change my seat. I now need to re-issue my AONE since this is a route change.

At what point do you think QF will intervene to prevent my flying the A380 in A class? When I re-issue? At the airport?

I take it that this is no more than a guess - or do you have information to back this up?

How about "never"?

Just the answer I was looking for! :D

There is also "A" class availability on the LHR-SIN on many other days as well according to EF on both the QF and BA codeshares ( for the A380)

When I look (KVS or ExpertFlyer) for LAX/SYD I get:
QF 12 LAX 22:30 SYD 08:10 +2 388 0 R9 F2 A0 J9 C0 D0 W9 T4 Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0

When I search using BA I don't even get the 388.

I called my TA (BA itself) and they still confirm that QF only books there 388 in R and F, not A.

So I guess it is only on that route. Bummer.

"A" class availability from LHR-SIN and SIN-SYD on the 380 is now COMPLETELY gone from EF... Seems like QF is watching......

I noticed but didn't want to say anything in case it was me wot broke it. :(

Guess you were wrong... :(

:confused: Are you saying they will prevent me from flying on my existing A booking?

Frankly I think QF is just going practise ordinary revenue management on the A380: i.e. wait and see how the R and F (there is still F) sells. If after the first flurry of curiosity the demand is weak we will see A seats return. A number of factors make me optimistic:

• the new product doesn't seem to be in a whole new class the way that the SQ (and CX, which aren't marketed as R) suites are; they have a significantly smaller footprint (it looks to be only 3/4 the size of the SQ suite)
• some people may prefer the alternative scheduling anyway
• people may not want to divvy up if they can't be guaranteed the new product
• there are other viable alternatives, especially on the routes to SE Asia, and folks might avoid QF entirely rather than pay for R

If I am wrong and QF finds that they can consistently sustain sufficient demand in R and F, then good on them and I would expect them to black out A availability despite our bleating. Time will tell.

Hopefully not you, but as I read here they now corrected their mistake so at least everyone after you.