I got caught up in the bunfight trying to get some flights booked last night during the double status credits offer. The computers were obviously melting down in the last few hours, as I was constantly getting error messages, or the search would hang etc. which meant I would have to start again. And then it baulked at the payment stage for some reason.
I did get a booking to stick, but I think I will miss out on the double s/c's because of the issues I was having, which meant my booking didn't generate until about 2 minutes past the deadline. Obviously the call centre was in melt down too, and flooded with calls - possibly because of the computer problems. I gave up being on hold after an hour and a half.
So, I couldn't get the booking I wanted: Syd -> Rey (Reykjavik) with a stop-over at Singapore on the return. I could book (in theory, I kept getting error messages) it if I ticked the 'lowest fare' option but not the 'flexible fare' option. I was using the Multi-City portal. I finally booked the trip just Syd -> Rey return on flex fares without the stop-over.
Can anyone enlighten me as to why the booking failed? Was it because there were BA flights involved (LHR -> REY return) that couldn't be 'flexed'? Do you always have to use the call centre if you are trying to include a stopover? - if so why offer the mulit-city option.(I have had to book through the call centre before with multi city bookings, but stupidly didn't ask at the time why the online booking had thrown up the error message, I was just happy that they waved the booking charge.)
A more broad question, is a stop-over considered a stop-over if, as in my case, you are 'interrupting' a flight i.e. QF2 - Heathrow -> Singapore -> Sydney?
If I try to add the stay in Singapore now, after the ticketing, will it be deemed a stop-over or an additional flight? Any info or tips much appreciated, and sorry this is a bit long winded :-(
You probably would have been better off booking with an online travel agent. The fare would likely have been cheaper, the booking experience better and you still would have received double status credits for the Qantas portion.
The Qantas booking engine shows errors for various reasons. It is difficult to work out exactly why. It could have been because it didn't like a specific combination of flights or airlines, timings, destinations or it just couldn't calculate the taxes.
Your ability to add a stopover now and at what cost depends on the rules of the fare that you purchased.
I got caught up in the bunfight trying to get some flights booked last night during the double status credits offer. The computers were obviously melting down in the last few hours, as I was constantly getting error messages, or the search would hang etc. which meant I would have to start again. And then it baulked at the payment stage for some reason.
I did get a booking to stick, but I think I will miss out on the double s/c's because of the issues I was having, which meant my booking didn't generate until about 2 minutes past the deadline. Obviously the call centre was in melt down too, and flooded with calls - possibly because of the computer problems. I gave up being on hold after an hour and a half.
So, I couldn't get the booking I wanted: Syd -> Rey (Reykjavik) with a stop-over at Singapore on the return. I could book (in theory, I kept getting error messages) it if I ticked the 'lowest fare' option but not the 'flexible fare' option. I was using the Multi-City portal. I finally booked the trip just Syd -> Rey return on flex fares without the stop-over.
Can anyone enlighten me as to why the booking failed? Was it because there were BA flights involved (LHR -> REY return) that couldn't be 'flexed'? Do you always have to use the call centre if you are trying to include a stopover? - if so why offer the mulit-city option.(I have had to book through the call centre before with multi city bookings, but stupidly didn't ask at the time why the online booking had thrown up the error message, I was just happy that they waved the booking charge.)
A more broad question, is a stop-over considered a stop-over if, as in my case, you are 'interrupting' a flight i.e. QF2 - Heathrow -> Singapore -> Sydney?
If I try to add the stay in Singapore now, after the ticketing, will it be deemed a stop-over or an additional flight? Any info or tips much appreciated, and sorry this is a bit long winded :-(
You may already know but you'll only get DSC for SYD-LHR-SYD. You've booked LHR-SYD, so QF will need to break the booking and re-ticket each sector, which would require available seats in your booking class on LHR-SIN and SIN-SYD and may incur a change fee and fare difference. Though if it's within 24 hours you should be able to cancel and book SYD-LHR-SIN-SYD without penalty, best to call QF.
Thanks, sanj747, I only discovered that early this arvo. Kinda wished they had decided to do that last night, as that would have saved me the anxiety - and stress eating! But happy for the double status credits.
Anonymous, because the computers were playing up last night, I was getting glimpses of what was possible only for it to crash out with an error code on the next page of my booking. So feel that what I was trying to do in this instance WAS do-able. You are probably right about using a travel agent, but I quite like to be in control of the process - translation, I would drive an agent slightly bonkers with all my questions! Hopefully my Flex ticket will make adding the stopover an easy and inexpensive addition.
Thanks for your advice nix584. And yes, I did realise the double status credits only apply to the Qantas metal flights, but thanks for the reminder.
In the end I decided not to bother adding the break at Singapore, and will spend the money I would have out laid on the hotel, by travelling to one of the fire effected areas here in NSW instead.
To the crux of my question, and for my future reference, what constitutes a 'stopover'**see below* but, more importantly, when can you insert it into your trip? My Flex ticket 'allows' stopovers, but is that not just a multi city booking? Multi city bookings seem to have more restrictions on subsequent changes that you might need to make. The main point of paying for a Flex ticket is the flexibility!
**From the Qantas site, a stopover: 'means a deliberate interruption of a journey by the Passenger for more
than 24 hours, at a point between the place of departure and the
destination, which is shown on the Passenger's Ticket'
I appreciate that inserting a stopover may incur an additional cost, but the system was buggy and so I am not sure if it was the problems on the night (Feb 25) or something that can only be added over the phone, or as per above, as a multi city booking.
Hi Guest, join in the discussion on
Dumb question about booking stop-overs...
kanga9999
kanga9999
Member since 09 Apr 2017
Total posts 63
Hi,
I got caught up in the bunfight trying to get some flights booked last night during the double status credits offer. The computers were obviously melting down in the last few hours, as I was constantly getting error messages, or the search would hang etc. which meant I would have to start again. And then it baulked at the payment stage for some reason.
I did get a booking to stick, but I think I will miss out on the double s/c's because of the issues I was having, which meant my booking didn't generate until about 2 minutes past the deadline. Obviously the call centre was in melt down too, and flooded with calls - possibly because of the computer problems. I gave up being on hold after an hour and a half.
So, I couldn't get the booking I wanted: Syd -> Rey (Reykjavik) with a stop-over at Singapore on the return. I could book (in theory, I kept getting error messages) it if I ticked the 'lowest fare' option but not the 'flexible fare' option. I was using the Multi-City portal. I finally booked the trip just Syd -> Rey return on flex fares without the stop-over.
Can anyone enlighten me as to why the booking failed? Was it because there were BA flights involved (LHR -> REY return) that couldn't be 'flexed'? Do you always have to use the call centre if you are trying to include a stopover? - if so why offer the mulit-city option.(I have had to book through the call centre before with multi city bookings, but stupidly didn't ask at the time why the online booking had thrown up the error message, I was just happy that they waved the booking charge.)
A more broad question, is a stop-over considered a stop-over if, as in my case, you are 'interrupting' a flight i.e. QF2 - Heathrow -> Singapore -> Sydney?
If I try to add the stay in Singapore now, after the ticketing, will it be deemed a stop-over or an additional flight? Any info or tips much appreciated, and sorry this is a bit long winded :-(
anonymous
anonymous
Member since 24 Dec 2013
Total posts 159
You probably would have been better off booking with an online travel agent. The fare would likely have been cheaper, the booking experience better and you still would have received double status credits for the Qantas portion.
The Qantas booking engine shows errors for various reasons. It is difficult to work out exactly why. It could have been because it didn't like a specific combination of flights or airlines, timings, destinations or it just couldn't calculate the taxes.
Your ability to add a stopover now and at what cost depends on the rules of the fare that you purchased.
sanj747
sanj747
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 01 Nov 2016
Total posts 146
You should be ok as the DSC just got extended till tomorrow.
nix584
nix584
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
Member since 10 Jan 2012
Total posts 108
Originally Posted by kanga9999
Hi,
I got caught up in the bunfight trying to get some flights booked last night during the double status credits offer. The computers were obviously melting down in the last few hours, as I was constantly getting error messages, or the search would hang etc. which meant I would have to start again. And then it baulked at the payment stage for some reason.
I did get a booking to stick, but I think I will miss out on the double s/c's because of the issues I was having, which meant my booking didn't generate until about 2 minutes past the deadline. Obviously the call centre was in melt down too, and flooded with calls - possibly because of the computer problems. I gave up being on hold after an hour and a half.
So, I couldn't get the booking I wanted: Syd -> Rey (Reykjavik) with a stop-over at Singapore on the return. I could book (in theory, I kept getting error messages) it if I ticked the 'lowest fare' option but not the 'flexible fare' option. I was using the Multi-City portal. I finally booked the trip just Syd -> Rey return on flex fares without the stop-over.
Can anyone enlighten me as to why the booking failed? Was it because there were BA flights involved (LHR -> REY return) that couldn't be 'flexed'? Do you always have to use the call centre if you are trying to include a stopover? - if so why offer the mulit-city option.(I have had to book through the call centre before with multi city bookings, but stupidly didn't ask at the time why the online booking had thrown up the error message, I was just happy that they waved the booking charge.)
A more broad question, is a stop-over considered a stop-over if, as in my case, you are 'interrupting' a flight i.e. QF2 - Heathrow -> Singapore -> Sydney?
If I try to add the stay in Singapore now, after the ticketing, will it be deemed a stop-over or an additional flight? Any info or tips much appreciated, and sorry this is a bit long winded :-(
kanga9999
kanga9999
Member since 09 Apr 2017
Total posts 63
Thanks, sanj747, I only discovered that early this arvo. Kinda wished they had decided to do that last night, as that would have saved me the anxiety - and stress eating! But happy for the double status credits.
Anonymous, because the computers were playing up last night, I was getting glimpses of what was possible only for it to crash out with an error code on the next page of my booking. So feel that what I was trying to do in this instance WAS do-able. You are probably right about using a travel agent, but I quite like to be in control of the process - translation, I would drive an agent slightly bonkers with all my questions! Hopefully my Flex ticket will make adding the stopover an easy and inexpensive addition.
efindlay
efindlay
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 12 Dec 2013
Total posts 25
I couldn't book mine as my connections were jetstar that had planned maintenance during the valid booking period.
Lack or foresight there!
or carefully planned....
kanga9999
kanga9999
Member since 09 Apr 2017
Total posts 63
Thanks for your advice nix584. And yes, I did realise the double status credits only apply to the Qantas metal flights, but thanks for the reminder.
In the end I decided not to bother adding the break at Singapore, and will spend the money I would have out laid on the hotel, by travelling to one of the fire effected areas here in NSW instead.
To the crux of my question, and for my future reference, what constitutes a 'stopover'**see below* but, more importantly, when can you insert it into your trip? My Flex ticket 'allows' stopovers, but is that not just a multi city booking? Multi city bookings seem to have more restrictions on subsequent changes that you might need to make. The main point of paying for a Flex ticket is the flexibility!
**From the Qantas site, a stopover: 'means a deliberate interruption of a journey by the Passenger for more than 24 hours, at a point between the place of departure and the destination, which is shown on the Passenger's Ticket'
I appreciate that inserting a stopover may incur an additional cost, but the system was buggy and so I am not sure if it was the problems on the night (Feb 25) or something that can only be added over the phone, or as per above, as a multi city booking.