barry willis

When booking on line I have noticed that you can not see the actual class that you have booked until you have paid for the fare.I recently booked a fare to NYC and wanted to have the points added to my AA account. The class ended up being not eligable. As I am doing the AA Platinum Challenge you could image how disappointed I am with this. I contacted QF and to upgrade to a higher sub-class would cost almost as much as buying a new ticket.It was pointed out to me though that all paid tickets earn points with QF( like who cares about the oneworld partners).
I was also told that I should have booked through an agent if I based my trip around collecting points.I can understand that but I also feel cheated that you are encouraged to do everything online but you are not sure what you are actually getting until you have paid for the ticket.
Maybe I just missed clicking a link somewhere during the process.

og

No, you have not missed some link. It is most frustrating not being able to see the booking class. Some on FT have suggested that booking QF flights through AA might mean a cheaper fare as the fuel surcharge is integral with the fare (and not an extra as QF does).

BTW, if barry willis is your real name, you might prefer to use some other identifier - only for privacy and so airlines (that do read FT) cannot track you through your comments.

serfty

OT:

og, maybe after 3� years(+), barry willis may have become used to that handle!

og

OOPpps. I posted in haste and good faith without looking at the 2002 joining date! Comment duely retracted.

barry willis

I thank you for your honesty concerning user name. It will remain a mystery if it is real or not.It could work 2 ways -it might help the airline track me down and answer my question or it might put me on the unwanted list for asking.
Back to the booking process though, AA is almost always more expensive ( in this case $1000 more but I guess that there is the guarantee of the points).

Dave Noble

I wouldn't be too concerned. In some cases , it might be beneficial if they were to know who you are from this.

In most cases I have checked, the AA fare is normally about the same as the equivalent QF fare on ex-AU tickets. Unfortunately some cheap fares that QF may offer ( typically in classes that are ineligable for AA miles ) don;t have an AA equivalent

e.g. for June, the cheapest QF fare is Q class and is $1299 plus fuel fines and taxes ( No aa miles ) , the next fare up is N class and QF offer it for $1480 plus fuel fines whilst AA offers N class for $1676 plus taxes. With fines on QF being a minimum of $93 each way , the AA fare is about the same

Dave

barry willis

Yes there are many fares around.My concern is that if you purchase a ticket on line at QF then you do not know what class you are actually purchasing until you have given your credit card details.Sometimes the cheaper looking fare is not the cheapest as there are so many surcharges now, and sometimes it is just a few more dollars to move to the next sub class.
Did you get the information that the $1299 Tkt was Q class on the QF website?

Dave Noble

No. That's what I use Expert Flyer for. There are other booking sites other than qantas.com where fares can be checked. e.g. , it is possible to view fares by type from zuji.com.au for example

Dave

NM

YQ will be 2 x $104, being $98 for fuel fine plus $6 insurance.

barry willis

So why can't qantas.com offer the same?

Dave Noble

Probably because QF realise that few people care about booking classes and don't think it is worth the effort to change

Dave

number_6

I was looking at the schedule (not wanting to buy a ticket yet) and used the reservation link from some QF web site (maybe http://www.qantasusa.com ) and was surprised/pleased to see that the fare code showed up after the flight number (so it appeared as 94S instead of 94). Maybe it was an experiment, but it definitely happened (and I've never seen any airline use that format before, appending the fare code to the flight number).

barry willis

I just checked the link and I did not see the subclass anywhere.