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I would like to get to Brisbane in Sept ’24 with QR.
The leave I have from work can’t really be moved so it’s imperative I do all I can a seat on the right date, give or take a couple of days either side. I need to seek wisdom from those that have managed it as I have been trying to find seats for a couple of weeks now (for dates I don’t want) and no joy. I only need a seat for me so not asking for the moon.
From reading other threads on this I have gathered:
QR don’t release seats at a set time.
They don’t release a set number of seats per flight.
They initially release them at 2x avios before reverting to the standard 90k each way if there’s a lack of demand.
The AA calendar (when it works) will be of zero use as it stops some way behind when the seats are being sold, ie now I can’t even see seats for August according to their calendar which only shows up to July.
I will need to randomly check the QR site A LOT to see if any normal priced seats have popped up.Other people are clearly managing to bag seats as they’re always all gone. But how?
I need a good modus operandi. I am happy to fly from somewhere else in Europe if it gets me what I want.
I am also (less) happy to fly to Sydney instead if I have to.Is there another EU departure point that people think I’d have a better chance scoring a seat from?
Basically, if you have managed this feat and flown J class to Oz on QR (at standard reward pricing) please tell me what you did to ensure you got these much coveted tickets as I am convinced I stand no chance.
Many thanks.
Hi @Amy C. Hopefully some seasoned Oz travellers will be along soon but I found that when I was booking DOH-MAN for late December the seats were released very close to 12 months in advance, earlier than BA’s seats, anyway. With that being for the Xmas period there were only double avios seats available in J (I was happy with economy for 7 hours), but September should be better.
I don’t think there are any tricks, the problem is that after Qatar started using avios the sweatspot was widely highlighted across a number of blogs and like other popular routes there are simply too many people chasing too few seats. Just keep checking daily, you can get lucky. We got EDI-BKK for standard business pricing mid December and back mid January. These were booked in spring, not a year in advance.
I got MAN-MEL for Feb. I kept checking as it led up to the tickets being released and seat availability for the days before I wanted to go varied every day, not just going down but sometimes going up. Seats that were double did not always go to standard Avios but no idea if this was due to them being taken or just the vagaries of the QR system. I had a flexible window of 4 days and no standard availabilty appeared for some of those days but I did manage to bag 2 seats for a date towards the end of my date range. It may be worth checking from the regions because although MAN was my preferred departure point I did monitor EDI as well and there was availability.
Is there any point looking for the DOH to Oz leg separately first on any search and grabbing it if seen? There are many start points to DOH but fewer from there, to Oz. .Although QR is adding more to their schedule.
businesstraveller.com.au is an excellent site and it’s within their coverage that I saw within the past two months about more flights
I got Melbourne for next Jan about a year in advance at the standard rate. I waited for the same seats to be available to book through BA following some advice on here that was preferable. BA didn’t have the same number of seats but still plenty of availability.
Is there any point looking for the DOH to Oz leg separately first on any search and grabbing it if seen? There are many start points to DOH but fewer from there, to Oz. .Although QR is adding more to their schedule.
businesstraveller.com.au is an excellent site and it’s within their coverage that I saw within the past two months about more flights
I did think that but I think you then end up using more avios overall? That would make it much less attractive.
businesstraveller.com.au is an excellent site and it’s within their coverage that I saw within the past two months about more flights
The Australian government decided that Qantas needed protecting so has stopped Qatar operating more flights into Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, sadly. It’s causing quite a fuss at the moment so hopefully they will back down.
I don’t think there are any tricks, the problem is that after Qatar started using avios the sweatspot was widely highlighted across a number of blogs and like other popular routes there are simply too many people chasing too few seats. Just keep checking daily, you can get lucky. We got EDI-BKK for standard business pricing mid December and back mid January. These were booked in spring, not a year in advance.
The blogs giveth and the blogs taketh away.
There is a good few seats show up (and still there for this month) going from EDI.
I booked economy EDI-ADE 3 weeks ago leaving next week and business coming back ADE-EDI yesterday.
There is a good few seats show up (and still there for this month) going from EDI.
I booked economy EDI-ADE 3 weeks ago leaving next week and business coming back ADE-EDI yesterday.
Every time I’ve looked from EDI there’s been nada. I wouldn’t want to leave it as late as you’ve booked but maybe it does open up more opportunity.
There is an element of married segment availability (so I was told) so you might see different results from different starting points.
Bottom line though is that Qatar could sell its flights multiple times over to Oz at the moment (hence the now-blocked plan to add more) and you’re unlikely to see much extra capacity released. The time to book was when they went into Avios and it was pretty much wide open at 180k return.
Qatar is moving to peak / off-peak pricing soon which WILL see more seats released but, of course, at a cost.
Can confirm QR do have married sector tricks in play, hence the reason I’m flying out of SHJ at the end of the month rather than DXB.
Qatar is moving to peak / off-peak pricing soon which WILL see more seats released but, of course, at a cost.
Presumably Peak pricing is better than their current 2x pricing?
Presumably Peak pricing is better than their current 2x pricing?
It’s not clear that 2x is going away. You may also end up having to pay double a peak price. All TBC though.
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