tinkybelle

I have been checking for an upgradeable or award business seat to/from HNL.
I have checked for 3 months till late sept and there is not one seat.
in the past there have been sparce availability but usually 1 seat every 2 mths.
Lots of J. but even checking availability of say tomorrow for a week.
still J and NOTHING U
like someone is just going to jump on a plane to HNL at a day or 2s notice.

There is NOTHING so I went to check availability of a SYD-ADL U for the next week.
NOTHING.
so all those people with points accumulating who continually complain-I think you have something to complain about.

QF WP

tinkybelle, no they're not complaining any more - they beat you to it and have U seats on SYD/ADL and SYD/HNL...

Seriously, do you check the ITN website (or similar) as well as QF Res for the U availability??

Globaliser

Or NYC, or TYO, or LON, or SYD. That's exactly what business people do, and these days with less notice than ever before.

tinkybelle

WP
I have worn out the ITN website~!
For the last 2 mths.
I have my one seat . booked it last year!
Im looking for companions.
I have never seen so few U class-but then again with all the flights that Qantas are cancelling and transferring pax I guess they cant afford to fill up the b/c -after all they need the seats for all those cancelled flights.
And they still cant get the share price over 3.40!
I wonder where all the profitis going!

QF WP

That's right, tinkybelle, with the global downturn in flying and SARS, QF (along wih most other airlines) cut routes and frequency, so the flights remaining have less availability. Your companions might just have to trump up with the $ to get a seat.

Globaliser is right, in looking back at my flying (within Australia in the past 12 months), I'm finding the my trips have been organised with less than 1 week before departure, so have always been in K, H or B class (I wouldn't even deign to think that U would be available). If business pax want to save $ (or on company-funded travel FF points), then they'll take Award flights (even if it means unusual routings at times).
The joy of finding Award seats....like you're trying to find diamonds (or in your case, Krug in QF F )

[This message has been edited by QF WP (edited 07-14-2003).]

whughes3

I've certainly noticed the lack of 'U'..on routes where a few months ago it was relatively easy to find 'U' availability if you were prepared to be a little flexible in dates, there now seems to be an endless stream of 'U0'..

og

Stacks of U if you really want to fly HKG-SYD. Even Z is available. This is based on my statistically "reliable" random 2 dates before Xmas method.

tinkybelle

OG.
I want HNL-SYD as in Honlulu. No Z there-
its a 2 class aircraft and a small one at that (767).

Wongo

I think you are right about U to HKG, it seems like there are atleast 1-2 spare upgrade most of the time. Going to the USA and UK on U is impossible.

whughes3

Routes to HKG are probably still suffering from the aftermath of SARS...

lokijuh

Does anyone know if this alleged lack of U is caused by no U being made available at all, or is it simply that there are so many people on the waitlists, that as soon as they release any U seats they are allocated to those on the waitlist?

QF WP

There are always a limited number of U seats available in the "bucket" - more on a 747, less on a 767. You then have the allocation process (my understanding is first in, with status, gets them). So once U=0, then the waitlist is put in place. Waitlist also works on status (Chairmans Lounge, QF Plat, OW Emer, QF Gold, OW Sapphire, etc...).

My understanding is that QF yield management (load managers are their title) decide (usually 24-72 hours from flight departure)that if there are unsold J that they believe they won't sell, they tip them into the U bucket. Automatically, they are allocated to the waitlist (in order of preference).

They also decide that if Y is oversold (say -30 which means 30 oversold), then they can op up certain paxs - again, status in order.

If I'm wrong, I'll be happily corrected...

(Edited to add last paragraph and correct spelling)

[This message has been edited by QF WP (edited 07-14-2003).]

744

" (load managers are their title) "
That sounds more like a load controller to me than someone that works in Yield Management

DaveSF

Was I the only one who opened this thread expecting to see a discussion of whether FT members have lately been spelling "Qantas" correctly?

tinkybelle

Actually I called and asked about the next U class to HNL.
The girl came back with one seat on 6th jan and 2 on 27th jan.
So no upgrade or award seat AT ALL for 6 months.
NOT a good look.