Lack of Availability When Spending QFF Points on Flights (Business / First)

Jamesrulez1 on 29/07/2023 - 02:50
Last edited 30/07/2023 - 01:08

I've collected a lot of points and have spent a few on airlines (Emirates, SQ, Qatar etc) but can't seem to ever find availability with Qantas leading to a large point balance even when looking 8+ months out.

I prefer not flying Qantas where possible which is why my tier status is not high but I believe that's one of the reasons I can't find availability as Plat members get access to availabilities earlier than other tiers.

Are other people experiencing the same thing?
Are there services that can help to use these points?

An example is I've been looking at flights to and from Korea (Incheon) in October for the past 5 months and haven't found any availabilities directly with Qantas (but i was able to find some on partner airlines). I'm using the multi city booking tool to get a calendar map of award availabilities and am very flexible with dates (I'm open to fly in and out with a month variance on dates).

Likewise looking at a trip to America in May next year on nearly a daily basis and have not had any luck finding any availabilities.

The only luck I've had with using my points is when I book a last minute flex flight (1 day prior) and click opt in for a point upgrade at the gate to business.

In comparison, I just did a Europe trip with 6 legs on Emirates in Business with no issues booking 5 months out.
I've also just booked a SQ trip for Feb in First with no issues.

EDIT: Thanks for the responses. I've found a service for this and they were able to help.

Travel Airfare Frequent Flyer Qantas Frequent Flyer Reward Points

Comments

  • Kenb0 on 29/07/2023 - 04:49
    +1

    Likewise looking at a trip to America in May next year on nearly a daily basis and have not had any luck finding any availabilities.

    This will likely be on the most popular routes and usually means premium cabins will be snapped up almost as soon as they're released 1 year out by Plats then Gold, then to lower tiers

    I've found qantas points much harder to redeem for premium cabins than say Krisflyer.

  • MELso on 29/07/2023 - 05:12
    +7

    Get yourself a one month sub to seats.aero for $US10 and it'll show all the premium cabin availability for long haul routes up to a year in advance (on a segment by segment basis mind you i.e. MEL-DXB and DXB-LHR, not MEL-LHR) and allow you to set alerts.

    If you're planning to go soon, it shows availability for the next two months for free…

    But be warned, in May next year, the only availability it's showing between Oceania and North America on direct flights through QF is to HNL on JQ, while there are J award seats on FJ from YVR to NAN on 17 and 24 May.

    (FWIW, no business availability through Velocity to or from North America directly either, although there are plenty of seats through SIN in premium economy on SQ…)

    • Jamesrulez1 on 29/07/2023 - 19:09

      I've got a full year sub for Seats.aero and Expertflyer and have notifications turned on.

      One thing to note - Qantas does not publish their available seats properly from what I've noticed (and have confirmed with the support teams) so using their services is not reliable at all.

      E.g. you might see award availability on the Qantas website but not on EF or Aero.

  • TheMindsetTraveller on 29/07/2023 - 08:42
    +5

    You said you prefer not to fly Qantas, yet want to fly Qantas (whether it's J or F class) on points. Doesn't make sense.

    I have played the FF points game for the last 20 years, and availability is much more scarce nowadays. I don't think it's just the Platinum or above guest that takes the seats but the 10 million other members who are also in competition with (and now have points to spend). Seems very easy to earn points these days through various means, not least the many sign-on bonuses via credit cards.

    While it is easier to get seats on EK, you forget to mention the greater-than-normal taxes and surcharges they apply. We flew to the Maldives via DXB last year in F, and wow, those taxes. We flew to London less than two weeks ago, flying First with QF, and our taxes for two seats were $930, which was much more reasonable. EK would have been at least twice this. We should have booked with AAdvantage miles as the taxes would have dropped by 80%, but that's another story.

    Now back to your situation, try multi-city with CX (and maybe JL) to get to North America. Good luck.

    • slknv on 29/07/2023 - 09:37

      "You said you prefer not to fly Qantas, yet want to fly Qantas (whether it's J or F class) on points. Doesn't make sense."

      I think OP was referring to the fact that he doesn't fly qantas very much, and that's why "my tier status is not high" rather than a preference to avoid qantas entirely.

    • Jamesrulez1 on 29/07/2023 - 19:14

      Like the above person has explained, because I prefer not flying on Qantas, I've ended up hoarding a lot of points and would like to spend them rather than let them go to waste (time value of money).

      I don't mind the taxes or surcharges as I'm happy to pay full ticket fares on EK as I think it's worth it but not for Qantas (hence my preference away from Qantas).

      Regarding multi city with CX and maybe JL, would that be done through the multi city booking tool on Qantas' website as well?
      I'm happy to do multiple legs around the world.

  • slknv on 29/07/2023 - 09:35
    +2

    "even when looking 8+ months out" yeah not early enough, seats release usually 353 days ahead, but even that is changing slightly. At least you were able to get the emirates and SQ flights which were good picks (though emirates is now charging ridiculous fees for their redemption flights).

    I'm having the same problem - millions of QF points but not a great deal of availability, unless you're flexible and lucky enough to pick something up last minute. And this is the problem - many people hoarding up points during covid and everyone wants to fly now = few seats available. Am considering switching to star alliance (hsbc card) or another loyalty program the next time I churn a card.

    • Jamesrulez1 on 29/07/2023 - 19:16

      Yea when I first signed up for cards it was with a QF card but I never ended up using those points.
      Nowadays most of my points come from my centurion which transfers to partners with a lot more redemption availabilities.

      Am honestly just trying to use up the last of these points before I move away from QF and potentially to velocity because at least they transfer to Krisflyer.

  • knasty on 29/07/2023 - 10:18
    +1

    You have answered your own question. Airlines are increasingly giving preference to their own high status members for award availability, both in timing and number of seats. They are designed to encourage and reward frequent flying and brand loyalty. There are still plenty of options out there if you are prepared to be flexible. I have points across more than 4 programs to facilitate this.

    • Jamesrulez1 on 29/07/2023 - 19:17

      I'm not a high status on other airlines as I only started travelling out of Covid and have not had any issues with redemptions on other carriers. I was checking if others are having the same issue with redeeming their points on QF flights in premium cabins and it seems like that is the case.

  • capslock on 29/07/2023 - 10:33
    +1

    If it makes you feel any better I am Plat and don't see any business class seats to Seoul in October either.

    There is currently a supply and demand imbalance. Too many points were issued during covid. Qantas hasn't raised the cost of redeeming points so there is still too many points out there wanting to be used. It should go back to normal in a few years.

    • Jamesrulez1 on 29/07/2023 - 19:18

      Thanks for letting me know. I have notifications set up on EF and I check the site every day just incase some redemption seats pop up as the cabin is looking empty according to expertflyer and GDS.

    • AircraftFreight on 07/08/2023 - 10:03

      Hey mate, if you are WP you can find any commercial Sale fares, call up Hobart on 131211 and request them to be released

  • tanksinatra on 29/07/2023 - 11:53
    +1

    Post covid there hasn't been any real international premium long haul availability on Qantas. A few flights here and there but nothing like what there was back in the day. Seasoned points collectors will tell you that Qantas has never been particularly generous with rewards seats. But these days there's almost nothing, even at 353 days out. There may be a few last minute redemption opportunities, but that makes holiday reservations impossible.

    Emirates has insane fees (i.e. $4000 europe return in business) so isn't really worthwhile considering anymore. That program has been gutted and is now merely a curiousity.

    I'd warn anyone who is interested in the Qantas Frequent Flyer program to check the award availability before collecting points. Honestly they aren't worth collecting any more.

    • Jamesrulez1 on 29/07/2023 - 19:19
      +1

      I agree i'm at the point where I don't even want these points anymore just due to the headache of trying to spend them.

  • HardQuiz on 29/07/2023 - 11:54
    +4

    Helped by Qantas blocking Qatar and Turkish airlines from entering/expanding in the Aussie market.

  • cheesecactus on 29/07/2023 - 12:27
    +1

    Why not use Qantas partner airlines? Thats what i use my qantas points on. I'm qantas gold and still cant get qantas international availability.

    Flown business using qantas points though to Canada, Morocco, Japan, London & Sweden via partner airlines. But i did have to book 12 months out.

    • Jamesrulez1 on 29/07/2023 - 19:20

      Care to explain how?

      Would that be through the Qantas site as well or through some other portal?

      I currently have my korea trip booked with points in prem-econ with CL via Taipei but would ideally like to use the points on Business/First even if I had to go through another port.

      • cheesecactus on 29/07/2023 - 21:28

        Through Qantas' website. Just required being early, and a bit lucky maybe.

  • Drakesy on 29/07/2023 - 16:47

    If youre bronze its pretty much domestic business or nothing (I could book this as little as 1 month out sometimes.)

    If youre gold and platinum then you'll get a look in internationally up to 6 months out. Bronze gets the dregs which might have disappeared by then.

    If its a code share flight not operated by qantas it'll be next to impossible as well unfortunately.

    Just classic qantas locking down the usability of points.

  • bmxr on 29/07/2023 - 19:28
    +1

    Why are you restricting your spend of QFF points to QF flights? Like you said you've found availability on partner airlines? You know you can redeem QF points on any of the Oneworld alliance airlines?

    Like you said, status does help in being able to unlock seats on your preferred flights.

    You've just got to get more creative with the ways of getting to your destination. Look at less popular departure points and a connection/layover in between.

    Have you tried JAL out of Brisbane to NRT then a connection to ICN. Or MAS to KL and in to ICN that way.
    Or QR out of CBR rather than SYD/MEL to DOH when they bring this route back.

    We now prefer flying Finnair/Iberia in/out of Europe because availability is significantly higher and who doesn't mind a couple of days in Helsinki or Madrid?

    • Jamesrulez1 on 29/07/2023 - 19:36

      How do you redeem those QF points on the oneworld alliance airlines?

      I remember reading an article a while back saying the availabilities for these are much more limited e.g. you'll never find availability for Aircanada with QF points but if you go to Aircanada directly and spend Aeroplan points there is a ton of availability.

      • MELso on 29/07/2023 - 20:51
        +1

        Well, no, given that AC is not allied with QF…

        But AY and IB both show on QF though (note IB doesn't fly to Asia), and in the case of AY at least, there's pretty decent J availability out of both BKK and TYO on QF. But like any other airline, those companies don't like giving away free tickets when paying punters could fill them…

  • Jamesrulez1 on 30/07/2023 - 21:01
    +2

    As an update: I was able to secure business seats both ways on my Americas trip as availabilities just popped up today but both EF and Seats.aero did not notify me.

    I can see some Incheon business availability as well but i'm holding out for some more.

    • cheekymonkey97 on 04/08/2023 - 19:06

      Nice work. What time of day and how often were you checking?

      • Jamesrulez1 on 25/08/2023 - 10:13

        10PM every few nights or so.

  • AircraftFreight on 07/08/2023 - 10:08

    One of the reasons why is because Platinum, Platinum One and Chairmans Lounge members can request to open classic reward seating. Removing any potential inventory that would be released.
    Its very easy, calling up Hobart on 131211 and you can put in an unlimited amount of requests for any cabin on Qantas.

    Emirates out of Singapore is cheap (taxes) and with good availability to Europe and North America.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join