shootaaa

Thank you Mwenenzi, this is very helpful! I also read posts saying that people calling partner airlines for booking but only got unconfirmed ticket. I guess QF's system cannot handle such demand.

beachfan

Did they release any awards for January 2024?

Mwenenzi

Agree will be speculative one way bookings and when people are not able to get a return will cancel the one away.
Getting 4xJ (same flight?) a good achievement but getting a return to USA will be harder.
USA to AU in January a peak time. AU schools & universities start the new academic year late Jan/early Feb. So those from AU who have gone to USA-Canada for the holiday season will be looking for flights to AU. Many people take 2-3-4 weeks annual leave in January (summer).

skunker

Yes, all 4 J seats were the same flight on QF74. Looking through dates on EF everything else was 0 seats except that one flight. I was looking to leave from LAX, but only SFO had any availability.
I was able to get 4 seats in PE on QF11 for a return a couple weeks later. Night flight in J and day flight in PE shouldn't be too bad.

fremontflyer

have called AA to add on a segment from MEL to PER about 5-6 times already. already have LAX to MEL booked and ticketed. tried through chat as well. every single time they told me that the space from MEL to PER and MEL to SYD was coming back as "unconfirmed" and was unable to book. not really sure why...?

alfrie

I have had the same issue with AA. Based on a discussion in JAL board, QF is restricting married segments in award inventory, i.e., QF will sell you LAX-MEL and MEL-PER separately, or with a layover in MEL longer than 24 hours, but it will not sell LAX-MEL-PER as a simple thru fare. Now you can either buy MEL-PER separately or build a stopover in MEL on the same ticket. When it gets closer to travel date, QF may remove the married segment restriction, then it is possible to add PER flight after a short layover.

iluvdoco

When is the next tranche of award seats being released?

fremontflyer

it’s really weird tbh; the entire itinerary shows up on the BA website (though I didn’t try to book it) so I’m not really sure why it doesn’t work if I booked it separately

beachfan

was that a “yes” to whether the release was beyond December 2023? I already snagged LAX-Syd in December.

beachfan

they aren’t showing on line. Have to call- even quicker is to use the chat feature on the app- they can now issue tickets.

skunker

Does it show up in EF as a single award availability?

nbeazy

Was able to grab 2 seats in J LAX -> BNE and back for October by calling AA, hold time was only ~10min or so. Couldn't get a positioning flight from ORD though so will have to pay separately. FWIW, between when I was first looking and tonight availability has severely dried up it seems. Perhaps we'll get some more over the next few months.

FlyingJoy

I persisted with the QF website for 90 minutes on Friday. After a busy week, it had completely slipped my mind to try searching a few hours prior to the official release time. After dozens of error messages, including one at the payment stage, I secured 1x MEL-LAX, A380 J on December 21st. I'm a very happy camper as it's now the second year in a row that I've gotten lucky with Christmas reward seats. In December just past, I scored an EK F seat MEL-DXB-MUC departing on December 22nd.

QF released pretty good availability on Friday for MEL-LAX between December 19th and 24th, but obviously it all got snapped up very quickly.

I'll need to find a way to get home to Australia in January 2024, but I'm quite flexible with my plans since I can stay with my relatives for however long I need to, so I'll just keep an eye out for reward seats and good cash fare deals over the next 10 months.

fremontflyer

anyone try to add on segments through AA yesterday or today? or has anyone been able to tag on a connecting domestic flight while booking?

debating whether i should just book the separate QF flights using 10k AA miles; but I'm struggling deciding between a 1 hr 40 min connection versus an 8 hour one from MEL to CNS. anyone with experience connecting on separate QF tickets at MEL international--> domestic? maybe I'll book both and cancel one on the day of departure depending on if i can make the earlier flight or not

i also have VA flight credits. but the VA flight to CNS departs at 8:50am or 4pm-ish and i do not like my chances of making a 50 min int to domestic connection at MEL, even with egate access because I have a checked bag.

murphsmurf

I tried today to add on a domestic Australian segment through AA - no luck. It shows available through the BA website, but does not show available through ExpertFlyer. In years of booking travel awards on QF using AA miles, this is the first time I've ever encountered it. A new, unpublished devaluation of AAdvantage Loyalty Points.

Not to mention the devaluation of being unable to find domestic award space on AA to get you to/from your gateway city for the QF flight.