steve99

Has anyone done a reward booking where they've only had enough points to get one person back to the UK but needed to book another seat?
Id normally do any non reward booking through an agent as they tend to be cheaper than dealing direct with Qantas, can an agent organise both?
I dont think they can book reward seats.
So how do I avoid commiting to one or the other and potentially missing out on the other?

JackTheLad

The reward flights are much more restricted than the paid flights, so you will need to book the reward flight first. Once you start calling the airline you'll know what I mean. Certain dates/flights are blocked out during high season. With Qantas reward points (oneworld program), you can book flights on partner airlines, like BA and CX. However when you fly on partner airline flights, there are sometimes additional restrictions.

Some agents will book the reward flights for you if you have good relationship with them especially if you'll be buying another ticket through them, but some don't. You just have to ask your agent.

Mrs JTL

steve99

Thanks for the info, we can book the reward flight 353 days in advance (I assume this will be 353 days in advance of the return flight date, not the outbound leg) so as soon as that dates hit I should hopefully be able to sort the award booking, im just worried then that the cost of the other ticket will be sky high and i'll have no choice but to book it for fear of us both not getting on the same flight. And what i'll of saved by using the points will be eaten up by the other ticket being top price....
Im thinking for the same amount of points we could almost both fly across Aus and back twice, which could end up saving us more money than the one UK ticket would....
I've got about a month until I can do anything so i'll speak to my agent and see what she suggests.
Cheers

jad n rich

We did this last year , some points seats some paid.

You can search on line for availability if you have your Frequent flyer no and PIN. Generally we found if there was a seat on points the flight was not a full plane, its rare they would have free seats on a full plane, so no trouble matching up paid people on flights. We simply searched the qantas site, found seats (that bit did take hours tho ) kept going back in over a few weeks till seats came up, then simply rang our travel agent with very exact details of flight nos and times and priced up what economy seats were selling at. Held the paid seats while checking and booking the free seats were still there.

A bit of a marathon but worth it. If you book seats with qantas through an operator its another 5000 points for using the service, also be aware unless you are using brit airways, using other airlines will escalate the points required. You can now also book one way rewards, might be an idea get two one way seats and book the return airfare from the uk where the flights are much cheaper.

steve99

Thanks for the info, much appreciated.
If I book a return flight from the UK, does that not mean I might have to go back there two years in a row :scared:

Ialibu

Or do what I did a couple of years ago. I was going to Europe and had a seat load of QFF points up. On checking with Q I found that I could do Ph-Sing-Ph or Ph-Syd-Ph. So I checked the Ph-Sing-Ph legs.

I could get to Singapore on the date I wanted but couldn't return on Q for about 2 months after my return date. Cunning bastards.

So I decided to use a bit of cunning too. I found a Singapore airline seat site where you bid for your seats http://www.priceline.com.sg/eng/default.asp

They wanted a return ticket Sing-xx-Sing. I wanted to go Ph-Sing-Prague before Christmas and do the return leg in late Jan. So I thought why not go to Sing from Ph at Easter too for a short break.

So I bid for and got a good price for Sing-Prague-Sing and Sing-Ph-Sing and did the QFF Ph-Sing-Ph. Except my Sing-Ph outbound was when I actually wanted to get back to Perth, same QF too that Q didn't have any QFF seats on. My Ph-Sing return through the Singapore site was @ the beginning of Easter and my QFF Sing-Ph was after Easter.

Here's how it went

Christmas
outbound Ph-Sing (QFF ticket outbound)
return Sing-Ph (Sing ticket outbound)

Easter
outbound Ph-Sing (Sing ticket return)
return Sing-Ph (QFF ticket return)

The whole lot cost me just over $1,100 whereas the Ph-Eur-Ph tickets then were around $1,800

I was a bit concerned about picking up a ticket in Singapore and what validity it would have but I did a corporate governance on the ticketing mob, it was Hutchinson Whampoa, one of Asia's larger trading companies.

There was a little fancy footwork and I got a free trip to Singapore but it worked out very well.