[nat000]

Hi all
We are looking at booking 2 RTW awards seat in J class for a trip in 2010. My question is, how much more difficult to secure 2 seats in J compared to Y for the 15 sectors that will make up the trip?
Some of the flights include perth-paris (via kongkong on cathay or finnair, or via singapore on Qantas or BA, zurich-seattle (BA or AA), seattle-newyork (AA), newyork-rio (AA), santiago-perth (via auckland on LAN or via Buenos Aires on Qantas).
I plan to book the seats the 1st day they are released, in some cases 3 weeks later.
If of the 15 sectors I can only get a few sectors in J class, I may be better off booking the whole trip in Y for 142k points instead of 285k points.
If anyone has any comments on the availability of booking awards seats in J that could help me it would be much appreciated.
Thanks

[lovetravellingoz]

Originally Posted by nat000

Hi all
I plan to book the seats the 1st day they are released, in some cases 3 weeks later.

I do not think that is possible for if you want a Oneworld Award I think that it all has to be booked at the one time, and seats would be released a set maximum time before each leg..and I assume that most legs are on different dates??

So you would need to book it on the day that you last flight is released????

I will be interested to read the advice of people that have booked them though.

[nat000]

hi
sorry i should have explained the booking a bit better. I plan to make a few changes to the dates that we will travel (i know it will cost points to make date changes). I will book the 1st few flights on the day they become available and the rest of the flights for the following days, all done in 1 booking. And as the dates that we require the seats for the remaining flights become available change them to the correct date. It makes sense in my head, hopefully it makes sense how i've written it.

[NM]

A few suggestions:

Don't just rely on the QFF web site for availability. It does not show a complete lift of flights. for example, the QFF web site does not show any CX award flights. Use other means, such as a CX Asia Miles membership, to find award seat availability and use the QFF call centre to make the booking.

Watch flight availability for a while before booking. Note the patterns for award seat availability. For example, I recently found F and J award seats to the places I was seeking were available every Thursday and Friday and not other days of the week, While return flights were available on Tuesdays and Wednesdays only. This pattern followed for a 2 months period. Knowing the pattern, I was able to plan my itinerary with reasonable confidence that it was going to be available when I was ready to book.

Be flexible with date and routing. Don't be concerned with back-tracking a little to find availability to your preferred destination. For example, you mention wanting to go PER-CDG. The usual routing would be PER-HKG-CDG. but also consider routing via SYD or MEL to get better availability to Asia. Then look for connections via the likes of HKG, SIN/LHR, BKK/LHR, BKK/HEL, NRT/LHR etc.

Note that with QF's OneWorld business class award, any 2-class AA domestic flights will dump you into economy and not into the front cabin.

[nat000]

thanks for the suggestions. I'll start looking at the patterns now for the next few weeks. I'm doing my homework early, as i pretty much want the dates of flying to be spot on (give or take 1 or 2 days) as we are planning on visiting a few scheduled events. Being wary to check different airlines and routes.
Qantas advised me that internal flights in American on AA would mean we would travel in 1st class as they don't have business.

[NM]

Originally Posted by nat000

Qantas advised me that internal flights in American on AA would mean we would travel in 1st class as they don't have business.

That is the case for a paid fare, but not for a QF OneWorld award. A Business Class OneWorld award from Qantas books into economy for AA 2-class domestic flights.

[nat000]

that is a shame, i really don't like AA economy on domestic flights. I'll have to have a look a how many of our AA flights this will affect.
Quick question, how you travelled on LAN and if so, did you like them ?

[NM]

Originally Posted by nat000

that is a shame, i really don't like AA economy on domestic flights. I'll have to have a look a how many of our AA flights this will affect.

I see this as a reflection of QF's stingness when it comes to FF awards. The paid ATW products like OneWorld Explorer and Global Explorer explicity permit booking into the F cabin for business class fares. And AA's own OneWorld Award also books their AAdvantage members into the F cabin when redeeming a business class award. But not so for QF FF awards.

Originally Posted by nat000

Quick question, how you travelled on LAN and if so, did you like them ?

I have not flown LAN so cannot comment.

[sydbloke]

Originally Posted by NM

Be flexible with date and routing. Don't be concerned with back-tracking a little to find availability to your preferred destination. For example, you mention wanting to go PER-CDG. The usual routing would be PER-HKG-CDG. but also consider routing via SYD or MEL to get better availability to Asia. Then look for connections via the likes of HKG, SIN/LHR, BKK/LHR, BKK/HEL, NRT/LHR etc.

Agree with NM on this one.

I am heading to London in March and could not find direct business class seats either way.

So for a couple of hundred extra in taxes I'm now doing MEL-PER-HKG-LHR-LAX-MEL

[AnonymousCoward]

Originally Posted by NM

I have not flown LAN so cannot comment.

I've flown on their A340 in J. Decent cabin - new, clean, with flat seats, but certainly no Skybed. Service is OK/good - but not great