No award seats available 16 July - 7 Oct

[millarise]

I just hopped onto the Qantas website to check availability for a return award flight to London from Sydney. Outbound not a problem however there were no award seats available on 16 July for the return leg..... so I pressed the "search the next 7 days" button .... NOTHING ... so I kept pressing it until I got to 7th October .... still nothing so I gave up.

What is going on ?? Do they not release seats until closer to the date? or is there really no award seats at all ?

 

[aspro2]

As Britain and a large swathe of Europe is heading into holiday mode by mid-July, is it really surprising that availability is non-existent by now? I've never tried to find award seats on that route, so maybe others will back me up/disagree.

 

[danielh]

Well when Qantas announced their planned award changes back in November, I suspect that many people would have decided to blow all their hard earned points on the more popular flights such as the London routings.

I myself got two return MEL-LA flights.

Perhaps you can get a return from another capital city and pay the home city return flights out of your own pocket.

Regards
Daniel

 

[johnsmith]

I fly from Perth to London then onto Newcastle in the UK every year using frequent flyer points, every time i book i always get the dates and flight times i want. I do however book 12 months in advance. The qantas website only has limited routes to the UK. If you ring Qantas 131313 they have many more using the Oneworld partners such as Perth via japan then British Airways to London, Perth via HongKong using Cathay Pacific then onto London or Perth via Singapore then London or via South Africa, or USA,

 

[NM]

Award seats are released when the flight is loaded for bookings, 12 months out. The popular flights are consumed by FF members within the first few weeks or months of being released. I am not surprised that they have all been booked 6 months ahead for one of the more popular routes at the most popular time of the year.

 

[millarise]

will ringing Qantas and begging help??

 

[Platy]

seat availability

A year ago I traveled to the Uk in first and was told by the Cabin Supervisor that they never allow more than 5 award seats in Business to the UK no matter how many empty seats there are


The number of award seats is managed by the yieed department

In my own discussions with senior QF management in customer service they have said they will urge the people in yield to release more seats if the loadings allow (ie if seats haven't been sold) on international flights after I recently couldn't upgrade on a domestic leg of an international flight SYD-BNE even though there were over 50 empty business class seats.

However, it is the holiday season in the UK so the flights may well be very busy.

A call to QF couldn't help so the customtr service people get some supprot in encouraging the yield folk to releae available seats for award flights and upgrades - bear in mind that QF have a complaint line now which you can ask to speak to - however, all they do is record your current point of frustration and fob you off - you need to shout very loudly at someone very senior to even begin to get listened to....

 

[NM]

will ringing Qantas and begging help??

Only if you have Platinum FF status. I have had some business class award seats release in the past upon request, but there is no guarantee. But if not Platinum status then I do not beleive there is much point in asking.

 

[NM]

Of course another option is to call Qantas and ask for other options such as CX via HKG, or a joint BA/QF via NRT, BOM, SIN, BKK, JNB etc. Even look at BA LHR-FRA/CDG/AMS etc and the CX to HKG and then CX or QF back to Australia. Even AY via HEL and SIN/BKK and QF back to Australia. Or convert to a OneWorld award and return via USA.

 

[Anna]

I don't know what class you are looking in, but I had no trouble finding a return economy award seat to London departing Australia in July and returning 2 weeks later in August.