Hi all - a bit of a long question about the new codeshare arrangement between Qantas and Air NZ.
I tried to book a multi-city flight for an upcoming trip to New Zealand ex Sydney for some meetings in Auckland, then Wellington then back to Sydney. So 3 flights (SYD-AKL/AKL-WLG/WLG-SYD) on 3 separate dates (ie - no connecting flights). The QF website gave an error something like "cannot find a fare for your selected itinerary". So I called the frequent flyer centre who said that they could book if for me. Now I notice that the AKL-WLG flight is showing an NZ flight number (not a QF codeshare flight number "operated by Air New Zealand".
I checked out the Air NZ website for a similar itinerary a NZer might take to Australia (Auckland - Melbourne - Sydney - Auckland) and it shows plenty of Qantas flights on the Melbourne to Sydney leg with NZ flight numbers.
I rang the frequent flyer centre and the very helpful person put me on hold to consult with the fares department. I was told that the fare I've selected doesn't allow for a 'stopover' so the domestic NZ flight has to be on the NZ flight number.
So my question - assuming that the deal is reciprocal, why can an Air New Zealand customer book a domestic Qantas flight as part of a multi-city fare on their website with an NZ flight number (and therefore get ff points/SCs) and Qantas customers can't?
I'm guessing that the deal technically (at least for Qantas anyway) was meant for connections onward to Air NZ services instead of a seperate flight as would be the case on a multi-city booking. For that, Qantas likely wants you to take Jetstar. However, I think the Air New Zealand website is more lenient in that regard whilst Qantas either has incapable technology to allow this to happen or simply encourages customers to fly JQ within New Zealand.
I'm guessing the arrangement for QF coded NZ flights was for onward connections as the previous poster suggested. I believe this is also the case for QF coded JQ NZ flights.
I believe QF intentionally make their multicity booking system restrictive on codeshare and interlines when separate flights are involved. For instance you can book SYD-(LAX)-JFK/MSY-(DFW)-SYD on the same ticket but not SYD->(LAX)->JFK/JFK->MSY/MSY->(DFW)->SYD.
I’ve had a similar issue with Qantas and EK flights earlier this year, though in my case like the OP they appeared but during the payment process it would bomb out with the error they received.
In my case I contact qantas through the online chat system and they were able to offer a fare that was cheaper than the website was showing using the exact same flights.
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Qantas / Air New Zealand codeshare
syd_dan
syd_dan
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 13 May 2016
Total posts 25
Hi all - a bit of a long question about the new codeshare arrangement between Qantas and Air NZ.
djtech
djtech
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 02 Sep 2018
Total posts 375
I'm guessing that the deal technically (at least for Qantas anyway) was meant for connections onward to Air NZ services instead of a seperate flight as would be the case on a multi-city booking. For that, Qantas likely wants you to take Jetstar. However, I think the Air New Zealand website is more lenient in that regard whilst Qantas either has incapable technology to allow this to happen or simply encourages customers to fly JQ within New Zealand.
getluv
getluv
Member since 11 Feb 2015
Total posts 2
I'm guessing the arrangement for QF coded NZ flights was for onward connections as the previous poster suggested. I believe this is also the case for QF coded JQ NZ flights.
I believe QF intentionally make their multicity booking system restrictive on codeshare and interlines when separate flights are involved. For instance you can book SYD-(LAX)-JFK/MSY-(DFW)-SYD on the same ticket but not SYD->(LAX)->JFK/JFK->MSY/MSY->(DFW)->SYD.
AJW
AJW
Member since 16 Nov 2011
Total posts 55
Yup confer with the above.