Qantas bends the rules
 

Today I had a ticket business class ff from Brisbane to Sydney. I had friends returning to syd from the gold coast so against better judgement I went into the terminal and asked politely could I travel from GC instead of BNE.To my AMAZEMENT a kindly gentleman said that although he had no B/C frequent flyer ticket he would try.YEP a boarding pass. This is a first for my experience with Qantas-maybe theyve realised that the traveller does come first.
THANKS GOLD COAST CHECKIN_ i hope I dont get U into trouble

I had a similar experience in Brisbane a few months ago. I was on a points trip with a multi-stopover itinerary.

Half-way through my trip, I needed to change my routing and go through Sydney. I had already stopped in Sydney twice on that trip and the rule is two is the limit.

But they were very helpful in Brisbane and they changed my routing on the spot and charged no extra points, letting me go through Sydney three times on one points ticket.

Well, it seems Qantas has its own set of rules. My fiancee is upgrading our domestic flights CNS to SYD with QF miles...err, points. I simply could not believe it when we were told that mileage upgrades wouldn't be confirmed until 24 hours prior to the flight.

Sheesh!!! Those of us in the CO Forum cry and cry because we can't confirm mileage upgrades until 30 days prior to the flight. Most American airlines will confirm mileage upgrades immediately upon booking.

I guess you can do pretty much what you want when you have a monopoly! Let's hope Impulse and Virgin Blue can get a foothold in the Aussie market!

Its always been 24hrs for basic members.I dont think virgin will put a dent in qantas as a few of my friend have travelled virgin and say its like a country airline and theyre only interested in selling t-shirts and caps on the flight. they said theyd only travel virgin if they couldnt change or get a cheap flight on qantas. i travelled back on that tuesday mid afternoon flight and the plane was FULL so more people are flying thanks to the competition.I heard that Impulse has a suit type clientel.

To 'semielite': when you try and book your upgrade over the phone, more often than not they will tell you that no upgrades are available. DON'T BELIEVE THEM! When you check in, just flash your upgrade cerificates and ask if you can upgrade; almost always, the answer will be yes. This happened to me a few weeks ago travelling MEL-CNS-MEL (in fact the phone operator insisted that I couldn't upgrade at the airport!); but the checkin staff were more than happy to oblige. (In fact BC was not full either way, and I had empty seats next to me).

I have never asked for an upgrade when booking, only at checkin and most non peak times I get upgraded.

Yes..it appears that the 'official' rules are strictly for suckers!

Not wanting to defend QF but,

1. upgrade seats are taken from the standard J inventory so if there is a J seat for sale they will give it to you as an upgrade. Of course some J seats on some flights are reserved for late ticket sales and the like. Also that there may have been in your instance, no shows, late intl connexions or equipment changes allowing J seats to be available on the day. I doubt that it is the implication that QF is trying to restrict upgrades.

2. For use at the airport, I think QF and AN are trying to avoid the USA situation where planes are continually late often due to people upgrading with coupons and the like at the airport and the need to clear with DM lists. Far simpler to do it by phone, and have it all setup up at checkin. Nothing worse than being in the elite line and having the person infront take for ever due to wanting to use coupons etc etc etc.

But the 24 hour rule is ridiculous! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

Mark

First of all...or as you Aussies say, "Firstly"...grin

tinkybelle...well, that may be the rule for Qantas, but not for any other airline. My fiancee, a fair dinkum Sydneysider, believes as I do, that Oz needs more airline competition! Personally, I could care less if Virgin Blue wants to sell t-shirts..."no" is a universal word...and if Impulse is full of "suits"...so what???

But, even you have made the point, Virgin Blue and Impulse have driven the price down on flights between SYD, MEL, and BNE.

Unfortunately, Virgin Blue and Impulse low prices have been restricted to those three cities!

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"An upgrade, an upgrade! My kingdom for an upgrade!"

whughes3:

QF told us that there were upgrades at this time. Sheesh...our flight is at 5:30 A.M. on Christmas day...I would think upgrades would be availaible! Point is, they outta confirm when miles (kilometers...points) are given. We prolly will get the upgrade, but I feel that when she gives the points, we outta get the upgrade confirmed...NOW!

Koru Flyer:

EVERY airline does this! But they don't hold back until 24 hours prior! Most (American) airlines will confirm immediately, IF you confirm with miles. CO will confirm 30 days prior, and they are highly criticized for holding back this long.

P.S.--Don't mean to rap Oz!!! I luv your country!!! I've never felt so comfortable in any other country prior. But, like anyplace else, including my country, there are some criticisms...and your lack of air competition is one of them!!!



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"An upgrade, an upgrade! My kingdom for an upgrade!"

SemiElite,

Do not think that you are "rapping" Australia. I think just about everyone here would agree the 24 hour rule is ridiculous and that is only for domestic upgrades. International are only when there is a "special offer".

Competition is driving down prices, but not improving FF systems.

The opportunity is there for AN to take the bull (QF) by the horns and offer something different (e.g. confirmable upgrades, no tier point system, extra REAL benefits for top tier members). All they offer is free membership (whohoo! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif ). At the moment AN just copies QF, which is the worst place to be and the worst for competition.

AN needs to be innovative, being the cheapest is not always the best place to be.

Mark

The 24-hour rule is largely to do with the fact that a high proportion of BC seats are booked quite close to flight time, and they naturally want to make every last buck they can out of them. It is hard to see AN making any significant changes here: they need the money even more than QF do.