I recall a thread (in fact may have been started by me ) about booking an award before May 25, and then changing the dates after May 25 and whether that meant the pre-May 25 point cost remained or you would be charhed the points case at that time? If I recall there wasn't concensus on this - is that right?

Well I was checking some award availability and had a look at the T&Cs. Not sure whether these have been updated but...

http://www.qantas.com.au/fflyer/dyn/...m/terms#jump13

seems pretty clear now that:
-- award ticket is valid 12 months from the original ticketed date of travel (13.6.2)
-- changes to dates/flights of award do not require a re-issue but merely a revalidation (13.7.5)

So in my mind it seems that if I book an award now for Mar/Apr 2006 (and make sure it is ticketed before May 25), and then some time in Dec05/Jan06 I change the dates for Dec06, I would only be charged the 2500 point revalidaiton fee (per booking not per pax) and the original award point cost stands. Any holes in this reasoning?

Yeah this is a really important topic. Does anyone actually have an official word from Qantas FF Manager level or above on this.

If I follow the logic it would seem that the last possible use of a FF award under the pre-25 May rules is 10 May 2007, with the proviso that a 2500 point revalidation fee is paid. That is last date to book and ticket a FF award under old rules is 24 May, availability is 355 days in advance (330 for OW partners). Latest possible original ticketed date of travel is therfore 10 May 06. As per Alect's post can be changed up to another 12 months - hence 10 May 2007 last possible day to fly on a QF award under the old points structure. 16 Apr last possible day to fly on a OW award.

Obviously availability, release of seats etc etc pending, and of course being able to actually get through on the phone or website booking system on the 24 May (NOT!) all proviso's.

I would really like to be confident I can do this!! Gurus??

yes alect this is correct-but
I was thinking,. if one has to re route for any reason(eg cyclones in florida) then I do think that the reissue would then come under the new rules.

though.

when the first rules eg pre sept 2002 I think it was. I had a great zig zag across the world for 300k and qantas stopped going to akl in F so my ticket had to be re issued. they kept me on the same deal and just re routed lax-syd-akl-scl so I actually picked up 2 segments(didnt have to pay fr akl-syd-akl)but I had commenced travel and at the time they let you change dates on all carriers for no penalty.
I am just about to book our F rtw for 2006-7 and am concerned that if we do need to re route then we will run into the new 422.5k price!
also with the fuel surcharge going up so horendously I wonder if I should book before the hike and loose a couple of months.

also there is very little f syd-lax for late march just a smidgen here and there.

Lynn and I want to redeem an award sometime next year SYD to Broome in Biz.

IIRC there was no big change to long haul domestic awards after May ... just hope that is right?

Glen

FlyerTalk 'Oz Fest #2' in Sydney May 27/29, 2005. Click for details

Yes, it would appear that they have relaxed the 12 month validity at some point and your assumption seems correct based on the current published rules (which are different to some other airline reward rules). Perhaps this is one case of where QF is being a little more generous than some others?

And yes, it the ticket needs to be re-issued for any reason, you will be up for a new points calculation.

I think you'll find that this particular award redemption cost has gone up quite significantly. If I am reading the tables correctly pre May 25 you are looking at 45000 points each, post May 25 more like 72,000.

well that is good news - I am looking to get 3 Us LAX-MEL-LAX and would save close to 100k based on prior to May 25 award cost.

Yikes! Had not looked at it carefully - thanks for that heads up. ^

I heard a pretty well sourced rumour that JetStar may be moved onto the Broome route in coming months, which worries me if we have a Biz class booking.

Anyone else hear any whispers on that?

Glen

FlyerTalk 'Oz Fest #2' in Sydney May 27/29, 2005. Click for details

Jetstar have openly stated that Broome, along with Ayers Rock, Alice Springs and Darwin are on their expansion list. So it's just a matter of when, not if - now there's a not so pleasant thought, heading 2000+ miles in a joyous Jetstar plane!

I have not heard any such runours, but it certainly would not surprise me if that did happen. Broome is hardly a high yeild business route. It would fit the target market of leisure routes for JQ.

So what is the deal if we book and have ticketed now 2 x Biz seats at 45K each SYD-Broome for 2006.

And then they swing Death Star onto that route?

Cancel the whole deal at no penalty, or accept coach and the 15K (or whatever) "balance" as a credit to account?

There must be some policy i am sure.

Maybe they'll "re-protect" us on some carrier that flies to Asia and then on to Broome with 2 classes.

Oh well, gotta be some exotic place to burn the miles in Biz.

Does Port Moresby still run 45K ex SYD via CNS or BNE? Done that a few times and PNG is an interesting destination.

Been to the Mount Hagen show twice in the highlands and that is the tourist experience of anyone's life. ^

Glen

FlyerTalk 'Oz Fest #2' in Sydney May 27/29, 2005. Click for details

As for Death :-: experience, my brother had this shoved on him last year.

In January 2004, he booked in 3 reward seats + 1 Red e-deal on the same flights with Qantas for MEL-OOL, up on 29th Dec 2004, returning mid January 2005. This was for Him, his wife and two young sons.

We know what happened to QF MEL-OOL flights last year.

In July he was offered two choices: 1) Replacement JQ Flights, or 2) a Complete refund of all points and $$$.

He settled for the former, which ended up a real pain as they changed the flights three further times before he travelled; eventually departing 6:30am from MEL (as distinct from his original 9:30 QF booking). Really nice, as he lives in Warragul, some 2� hours drive from MEL.

I personally would have pushed for gratis re-routing on QF via Sydney.

He accepted the second option because he felt there was no choice. (He didn't ask me, I would have told him differently) What chance of rebooking 4 seats over New year on that routing with either points or red e-deal mid year? Yeah, none.

I've jumped ahead and booked an award MEL-SIN return journey for the SIN Run DO on Jan 14/15 next year. Sadly in WHY, but it will save:

1. 10,000 frequent flyer points as it was ticketed before 24th May, and
2. $62 (2 x $31 increase) in Fuel levy as it has been ticketed before 20th April.

I am going to try schedule it in as a stopover/positioning location in a DONE4 (ex CMB). If I'm unable to connect the DONE4 with this, the points booking will stand and I'll have flights to the do.

If I can get a DONE4 working in conjunction, I'll either cancel the award booking and loose 5,000 points or adjust the dates and nest it with a SIN-MEL-SIN trip.

It's a no-brainer even if I do lose 5000 points, as it would cost another 10,000 after May 24th anyway.

Having asked the same question via email, I received the following reply today:

Last night went online and quite easily got 3 Us LAX-MEL-LAX for march 2006 - I expected it to be harder.

Only weird thing is that the seat assignments (for me mrs alect and min-alect) had us split 24J 25J 25K - why wouldn't they automatically allocate the 3 middle seats to a party of 3 on the same PNR?