Subject to Government Approval?
 

I am looking at flights between LAX and Australia for next year, using miles. I am checking availability of award seats now, although I do not want to actually book until February, for January travel ( 330 days out). Today I saw a flight from BNE to LAX on November 3, 2014 that was flagged as " subject to government approval". What does that mean? Qantas is selling seats on that flight (QA 15) with no corresponding qualification, as far as I can tell. This is not a new route, but it is a new day ( Monday). Googling, I find that Monday flights from BNE to LAX are new as of December 2013, taking service from 6x to 7x a week.

I would think that such approval is forthcoming soon, as the time for the Monday flight has started. But if the flight is still flagged in February when I would like to book, what risk is there in booking such a flight? What happens if the approval does not come through? ,

Why not ask the airline's awards staff? No guarantee the voice on the phone will know, but the chances are better than here. It will be good if you could let us know what you find out.

Actually, I have found that there are some people here who are more knowledgeable than the average customer service rep at the airline awards desk.

In this case, the flight is on Qantas, but I would be using partner miles. It is Alaska Airlines that has the designation on their website. I don't think Qantas would be bound by anything the Alaska rep tells me.

Maybe Alaska's IT department just hadn't updated the site yet. I searched for it and couldn't find the "subject to approval" on the BNE-LAX fares.

Did you check the Qantas website? Since Qantas operates them, if their site doesn't say "subject to government approval" then it's probably safe to assume they are allowed to operate them.