Finding Qantas Classic Reward seats in premium economy

8 replies

Kitch

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 10 Jun 2015

Total posts 72

Hi

I'm trying to book a flight from MEL to LAX, about October or November in premium economy. I couldn't find one direct flight on the a380 of the 747 on a Wednesday through out those periods. The only available options was to go through hong Kong on CX. Is there an error? Surely they would have some seats available.

markpk

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 29 Nov 2013

Total posts 456

What status do you have with Qantas Kitch? 


My thoughts...(1) trying redemption mid-week is never a good idea - you'll find a load of biz travellers heading up to the US on mid-week flights; (2) First week of October is Vic school holidays - bad!; (3) Oct/Nov is the last of the US conference period - i.e. Dreamforce is in early November (something like 2k+ Aussies travel to this; Try creating a journey from either Sydney or Brisbane - if you find availability then look to add on a domestic redemption flight

Kitch

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 10 Jun 2015

Total posts 72

I'm silver. So would you say the seats are all gone? Could you ring qantas too see what they can do.

ajstubbs

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 15 Mar 2016

Total posts 117

MEL -> LAX is one of the quickest routes to sell out of reward seats. PE isn't that big a cabin so your window for snapping one up is minimal and without Platinum status, you cannot request they open one for you. It wouldn't surprise me at all if they had sold out already - I tried getting J or F reward seats about a week after availability opened on that route and struggled!

gazza48

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 10 Jun 2016

Total posts 9

having worked in Qantas Res, believe me they release very few in the premium cabins...plenty in economy.  I use my points on other Oneworld/EK/Partner carriers as they are easier to get.  Nice to hear EK are going to have a PY cabin.

RocketRog

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 09 Dec 2016

Total posts 6

Almost impossible - this is probably one of the hardest to redeem routes in any class other than Y due to high passenger numbers, and because it's 14+ hours everyone is desperate to get out of economy. So, with such a small number of PE seats, they are easy to fill with paying customers without having to give them away. 

I flew this route (return) in October and all PE seats were full both ways. Consider booking Y and paying the seat selection supplement to get more legroom. Alternatively, go CX via HKG and you'll pay much less in fees, taxes, miscellaneous charges and all the other QF FF rip-offs. However, I think QF PE is a bit better than the CX PE offer in terms of space and catering.

Matt_01

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 23 Feb 2016

Total posts 63

Kitch, I would suggest lack of availability is due to your status.

Whenever I see a question like this I also check based on my status, I will eventually move back down the status ladder so I am planning to redeem as points as possible while I have the opportunity.
I would suggest that if you have any eligible family that can be associated to you via the qantas definitions and are higher up the status ladder get them to have a look and possibly book for you.
When I checked I can see available reward seats MEL-LAX in both PE and BUS every day throughout Oct and Nov.


Last editedby Matt_01 at Dec 09, 2016, 06:05 PM.

Kitch

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 10 Jun 2015

Total posts 72

Kitch, I would suggest lack of availability is due to your status......
When I checked I can see available reward seats MEL-LAX in both PE and BUS every day throughout October and November.


Last edited by Matt_01 at Dec 09, 2016, 06.05 PM.
What status level are you? And we're the flights direct in November and December.

Matt_01

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 23 Feb 2016

Total posts 63

To answer your question I have broken my response into sections

What status level are you? 

I am P1 so that is the most likely the major difference in seeing flight availability. I will retain my status until 2018 then i will most likely start to fall back down the status food chain.

And we're the flights direct

In relation to direct, if you have not seen this article ausbt non-stop and direct it may ensure we are on the same page. 

In November and December.

I did not check every single day for PE on QF metal however I was able to see availability in PE and BUS every day. To answer to your post I have looked at random dates in Oct and Nov, what I could see was that on some days QF metal (QF93) it was a mix of PE and BUS or either PE or BUS. All other options were with OW partners predominately CX, (Gazza48 alluded to points usage with OW partners in this post), it is also too early to look at AA flight options. From what I saw QF metal is available 4-5 days each week either in PE or BUS or both available. For what it is worth, if you want to redeem flights on QF metal (and if you have the points) go for business before PE, there is normally more availability and for the points difference business is the way to go.

I only looked in Oct and Nov as that was the original ask, Dec is not yet available to book.

Last editedby Matt_01 at Dec 10, 2016, 09:42 AM.

Hi Guest, join in the discussion on Finding Qantas Classic Reward seats in premium economy

Attach Files