How And Why Qantas Is Incentivising Passengers To Change Flights In Advance

Offering compensation a week in advance defeats the purpose of overbooking. This only makes sense if the flight they are asking customers to move to has a low load factor. Otherwise there is no guarantee that those high yield, last minute tickets will be purchased after said customer changes flights.

India's IndiGo is doing the exact same thing. https://livefromalounge.boardingarea.com/2019/01/22/indigo-flight-overbooked-solution/

When I arrive at the airport early , I would like airlines to be not so butthurt about putting me on an earlier flight that has open seats

In theory it sounds great, but execution often stinks. On a nonstop short domestic trip I might take a chance.

The algorithms are actually not very complex since they take historical data and then use stochastic methods to estimate occupancy for each flight. The data on the other hand is closely guarded by each airline.

Spruce goods - OBVIOUSLY they're moving people to flights with a lower load factor. Why on Earth would you think they'd ever pay people to move to flights that are also fully booked!?

Which does make James' 15 Minnie example quite redundant. I doubt there are many flights just 15 minutes apart where one is overbooked and one has loads of space. I'd be expecting the change to be at least an hour.

Spruce goods - OBVIOUSLY they're moving people to flights with a lower load factor. Why on Earth would you think they'd ever pay people to move to flights that are also fully booked!?

Which does make James' 15 Minute example quite redundant. I doubt there are many flights just 15 minutes apart where one is overbooked and one has loads of space. I'd be expecting the change to be at least an hour.

This would make more sense if Qantas wasn't so hysterically rigid in preventing you from hopping an earlier flight at the airport. If there's a spare seat and the flight is boarding, why not give it to me and open up a seat on my flight in 90 minutes' time that could still be re-sold as full-fare Y?

@ Josh -- I've been moved to an earlier Qantas domestic flight just by asking nicely at a service desk in the past, without any QF status.

YMMV though...

Qantas do seem to have got more rigid in the last couple of years about switching flights. Except when bad weather is coming, then they are pretty good about getting people out as fast as possible.

I like the $70 idea and wonder if they might also offer other incentives like points or status credits.

@ James - Do you remember if it was an unrestricted fare? In my experience, they've always looked up the fare to determine whether I can switch. When I'm on a corporate ticket, it's fine. When I'm on a Red e-Deal, I might as well be trying to change the flight via the reservations line. No dice. But I've stopped asking, so can't say whether this has eased up.

I have been moved onto an earlier flight, was travelling with my wife to Perth a week before Christmas, and I just asked nicely and we were moved to an earlier flight.
I think QF are being pretty smart doing this and it helps get rid of all the drama over denied boarding. Having experienced this in the US on AA, when they could not get takers they just took off the last booked passengers huge dramas and a delay!

Good concept. Offer the incentive in advance to avoid having to offer at the last minute at the gate. A plus for all.

This sounds very doable and logical.
I'm surprised Delta didn't think it off first, since they are so good at finding ways to make more money.

@ Josh -- no it was definitely a cheap red e-deal! But this was several years ago...

I was proactively asked by Qantas at the airport MEL-SYD last year if I would like to switch to an earlier evening flight whilst on an E class (Red e-deal) fare. I've also once or twice over the years asked myself & then been granted a better flight &/or routing by both Qantas AND American.

Sometimes simply being polite & not presumptuous can reap rewards; some generations are better at this approach than others, however.

@ Nathan - Thanks for suggesting that the only reason anyone might have a different experience from you is because they'e young, rude and presumptuous. We're all grateful that oldies like you wouldn't make presumptions. Would you.

@Nathan & @James

If Qantas flights are very full (or certain flights very full or there have been disruptions throughout the day) then Qantas opens up flights for for flow forwarding which basically allows airport employees to make flight changes on any fare class for free. If you check-in at the kiosk or online and the flight is open for flow forwarding it will also give you flight options you can change to for free. If not opened up for flow forwarding then the system will not easily allow an employee to make a flight change on a non-flexi fare without bypassing fees and fare differences.

I got moved by Qantas to another flight operated by Emirates 6 hours later without any explanaton or incentives.