Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[ellen10]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Well done nickfromeastryde!
Have a great trip

 

[DontGetMeStarted]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Hi All

Have just had to return from the 2nd leg of our J RTW Award ( Varenna/Lake Como) ) had been to London the week before and was week 2 of our 7 week holiuday. My mother has suffered a stroke and we decided to return home as the situation was not good. I have to say that Qantas were amazing and booked us on Cathay Pacific flights in J for the return and also arranged a seat in PE for our daughter (I paid on points for this one so that she could be on the same flights as us) I will send a note to Qantas but Adrian and Nicole were amazing on the premium desk as we had to return as soon as we could and they handled everything with amazing speed and efficiency. Because Mum has a pre existing medical condition we will not be covered for insurance but most hotels in the US have cancelled quite easily apart from one in Washington that we are still waiting to hear on as was booked through booking.com but we are hopeful for a good outcome, no matter it was important that we got home asap. My mum has passed the critical stage but believe there is a long road ahead of us all. Thanks Qantas for your help, I will be forever grateful for your assistance.

 

[JohnK]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Is it worth calling again for this? Or should I just print the PDF from checkmytrip.com (frankly I don't like this idea...)?

Can you see the booking on your QFF account? Try printing the itinerary from Manage Your Booking?

 

[Isochronous]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

I have a question on routing rules re: stopovers. I know you can't have 2 stopovers in the same city, however, does it prevent you having an open jaw that results in a flight departing from a city in which you have already used a stopover? For example, if I'm booked:

SIN-MEL
MEL-KUL-DOH-WAW
xCPH-HEL
HEL-KIX
xNRT-SYD

Would I be allowed to fly MEL-HKG at the end, since the stopovers would be counted as (in order) MEL, WAW, HEL, NRT, SYD? Currently I'm booked on SYD-HKG but I'd like to swap to maximise F Lounge time and chances for a spa sport (plus I'm a bit sick of the MEL-SYD connection run!)

 

[vetrade]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

I have a question on routing rules re: stopovers. I know you can't have 2 stopovers in the same city, however, does it prevent you having an open jaw that results in a flight departing from a city in which you have already used a stopover? For example, if I'm booked:

SIN-MEL
MEL-KUL-DOH-WAW
xCPH-HEL
HEL-KIX
xNRT-SYD

Would I be allowed to fly MEL-HKG at the end, since the stopovers would be counted as (in order) MEL, WAW, HEL, NRT, SYD? Currently I'm booked on SYD-HKG but I'd like to swap to maximise F Lounge time and chances for a spa sport (plus I'm a bit sick of the MEL-SYD connection run!)

Where you have an open jaw the designated stopover city is the one you fly into (in your case SYD) rather than the one you depart from (MEL). For your MEL - HKG leg you would be deemed to be transiting MEL, so there should be no problem adding that leg since the rules allow for both a transit and stopover (or 2 transits) in any one city.

 

[Youfah Mizzum]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Long time lurker, v sporadic poster.

Have finally accrued 560,000 QFF for 4 ( 2 parents & 2 kids, older teenagers) x Y RTW. yay! Has taken several years of credit card points.

I want to start thinking about an itinerary for a likely trip in 2016 (i know, a long way off but the more planning, the easier it'll be to book when it comes time, my thinking anyway).

My first question is:
If I want to splurge on the final leg back into SYD, possibly from Los Angeles or other west coast USA city, is it fairly easy to upgrade to J? Even if I pay?

 

[vetrade]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Long time lurker, v sporadic poster.

Have finally accrued 560,000 QFF for 4 ( 2 parents & 2 kids, older teenagers) x Y RTW. yay! Has taken several years of credit card points.

I want to start thinking about an itinerary for a likely trip in 2016 (i know, a long way off but the more planning, the easier it'll be to book when it comes time, my thinking anyway).

My first question is:
If I want to splurge on the final leg back into SYD, possibly from Los Angeles or other west coast USA city, is it fairly easy to upgrade to J? Even if I pay?

Don't want to disillusion you right from the start, Danster, but OW RTW fares are for practical purposes "all or nothing" - as soon as you want one leg in J the whole itinerary becomes a J award and you'd be up for 280K points per person. Secondly you can't pay to upgrade any legs on a OW award ticket from Y to J.

Another point is that taxes and surcharges on award tickets can be quite high (depending on the airlines you fly with) and similar, if not the same, for both Y and J. This means that J award tickets give you the best bang for your buck. It's not uncommon for the taxes on a Y fare to be not much less that what you can often get for paid Y fares. With this in mind can I suggest you consider the option of booking 2 x J awards for the adults (for 560K points) and buy OW RTW fares in Y for your two teenagers. You and your wife get a bit of luxury and the kids are no worse off because they would have been flying in Y anyway. You might be surprised at how similar your overall cash outlay for this scenario might be.

 

[Danger]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Long time lurker, v sporadic poster.

Have finally accrued 560,000 QFF for 4 ( 2 parents & 2 kids, older teenagers) x Y RTW. yay! Has taken several years of credit card points.

I want to start thinking about an itinerary for a likely trip in 2016 (i know, a long way off but the more planning, the easier it'll be to book when it comes time, my thinking anyway).

My first question is:
If I want to splurge on the final leg back into SYD, possibly from Los Angeles or other west coast USA city, is it fairly easy to upgrade to J? Even if I pay?

Also note that you will almost certainly need more than 560k due to the need to incrementally add flights as they become available. Each change is 3.5k per person.

 

[Youfah Mizzum]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Also note that you will almost certainly need more than 560k due to the need to incrementally add flights as they become available. Each change is 3.5k per person.

q1. Is that charge just for phone assistance from Qantas? i.e If I do all bookings online, do I still pay 3.5k per person?
q2. Reading through this thread over the past few days/months it seems I would likely need to ring to sort the complete itinerary although it would not be too complicated so I'd rather do it all online. I'd be prepared to pay the 6k (correct?) charge for the assistance initially, but if I am "in the system" as needing a flight on a certain day and route, would it not just automatically assign me seats as each airline releases them? (Obviously not the actual seat number).

q3. And if the tix are not automatically assigned to me, would that mean I need to be ultra-vigilant in jumping on the website(s) daily to check for seat availability? Hate to miss out on a key segment.

Bottom line, is there a way to avoid the 3.5k fee? Happy to pay the initial 6k, but thereafter not so happy. And with the 6k, I'd hope that is for all 4 tickets, not happy to let 24k disappear just to make a booking. Ouch.

 

[Danger]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

1. Part of the Qantas extortion racket is to charge you 3.5k per passenger per change. This applies regardless of whether you make the change online or over the phone. The phone assistance fee is additional and is about $60-odd from memory.

2. I think you may find it difficult to do online but certainly give it a shot. I think the 6k you're thinking of is the points-equivalent of the phone assistance fee. It is separate to the 3.5k per person per change. No, in the system really means in the system for Qantas to gouge you. There is no option to plan out the flights you want and wait for them to become available. It will be up to you to be diligent and monitor the release of award seats on the flights and dates you want and then call Qantas to make the change.

3. Yes. Extra diligence.

4. A sympathetic agent who agrees that 14k per (your) booking each time you want to make a change by which there is no other option is probably the best bet. I think the 6k phone assistance fee is per booking but the 3.5k is per person per change.

 

[vetrade]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Danster - a few clarifications:
1. You can only make your initial booking online. If you want to make any subsequent additions or changes to your itinerary you can only do that by phone (not online) - which automatically incurs the 3500 point per pax change fee each time you make a change.
2. J awards are not subject to the $60 fee - you only pay this for Y awards. The 3500 point change fee applies to both Y and J awards.
3. As Danger said, you can not waitlist award flights. The award seats actually have to be available at the time you make the booking or change. That applies to both online and phone bookings.

Suggest you read more of this thread to get your head around the way the awards work. It will take you quite a bit of time but you will only be able to get the most out of the OW award system if you understand its nuances. Start putting together a general itinerary of the main places you want to go now and have a look at the oneworld.com website - under "Flight Schedules" -> "Where we fly" you can find an interactive map and flight info which I am sure you will become very familiar with if you want to get the best value out of your trip. Also read up on the T&Cs on the QF website so that you know the rules you will have to comply with.

Once you have a basic itinerary post it here - lots of people who have spent a lot of time mastering these awards will be able to critique it for you.

 

[Youfah Mizzum]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Thanks Danger & Vetrade. Understood.

As mentioned, this is one of those "once in a lifetime" trips and is a couple of years away yet. But your answers have assisted.
My first question remains unanswered...If I want to splurge for the final leg and upgrade to Business (likely from USA east coast), can it be done if I have already booked the whole trip on the 140K RTW? Would I be able to do it with cash or points?

 

[pangwen]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

I believe vetrade answered that in their first reply.

Short answer - it's not possible.

Long answer, it's possible, but you'd be effectively upgrading the entire award to business class (ie you would need to pay an additional 140k points plus change fee to "upgrade" your final flight), assuming that there is availability and assuming you make the change before your first flight. It's not really worth it, as for the same number of points, you would have been travelling in business for the rest of the trip.

 

[ketsuzei]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

My first question remains unanswered...If I want to splurge for the final leg and upgrade to Business (likely from USA east coast), can it be done if I have already booked the whole trip on the 140K RTW? Would I be able to do it with cash or points?

See below.

Secondly you can't pay to upgrade any legs on a OW award ticket from Y to J.

 

[vetrade]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

My first question remains unanswered...If I want to splurge for the final leg and upgrade to Business (likely from USA east coast), can it be done if I have already booked the whole trip on the 140K RTW? Would I be able to do it with cash or points?

This was answered in detail in my first reply. The answer is still "No". You can only upgrade one leg to J by upgrading the whole itinerary to J and paying 280K points pp. You cannot upgrade a segment with a cash payment.

 

[Cynicor]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Long time lurker, v sporadic poster.

Have finally accrued 560,000 QFF for 4 ( 2 parents & 2 kids, older teenagers) x Y RTW. yay! Has taken several years of credit card points.

I want to start thinking about an itinerary for a likely trip in 2016 (i know, a long way off but the more planning, the easier it'll be to book when it comes time, my thinking anyway).

My first question is:
If I want to splurge on the final leg back into SYD, possibly from Los Angeles or other west coast USA city, is it fairly easy to upgrade to J? Even if I pay?

Pretty much a bad idea overall in terms of cost and $ savings. Much better idea to pay for 2 LONEXs and use your points for 2xJ awards. Go the whole way in business, for almost the same fees as the itinerary would be in Y. Then pay a little bit more out of pocket for the LONEs but have the flexibility of not needing 4 Y award seats too.

I just don't think it is practical any other way.

 

[Youfah Mizzum]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

My first question remains unanswered...If I want to splurge for the final leg and upgrade to Business (likely from USA east coast), can it be done if I have already booked the whole trip on the 140K RTW? Would I be able to do it with cash or points?

This was answered in detail in my first reply. The answer is still "No". You can only upgrade one leg to J by upgrading the whole itinerary to J and paying 280K points pp. You cannot upgrade a segment with a cash payment.

Completely missed vetrades first reply, sorry folks. All questions answered for now.

One more query...if better bang to get 2 x J on points and pay for 2 x Y, then it'd be essential (at least to SWMBO) that the seats are in basically sequential rows, i.e the last J row and the first Y row, so we could turn around and chat, swap seats etc. I guess a map of the aircraft would possibly answer, but for each leg, each metal would be different. I haven't even told her about my J idea, I think the assumption is Y all the way. If I suddenly say "how about we travel in business and lob the kids in cattle", then it'd be couch for me for a week!

 

[Buzzard]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

...

Completely missed vetrades first reply, sorry folks. All questions answered for now.

One more query...if better bang to get 2 x J on points and pay for 2 x Y, then it'd be essential (at least to SWMBO) that the seats are in basically sequential rows, i.e the last J row and the first Y row, so we could turn around and chat, swap seats etc. I guess a map of the aircraft would possibly answer, but for each leg, each metal would be different. I haven't even told her about my J idea, I think the assumption is Y all the way. If I suddenly say "how about we travel in business and lob the kids in cattle", then it'd be couch for me for a week!

Unfortunately it's not going to happen. If it is going to give you grief then you should all settle for Y or Y+ if possible IMHO.

 

[Cynicor]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Not possible your way. I would price up LONEx fares x4, inc taxes, and compare it to the use of 560k points+ taxes. I imagine your valuation will be very poor, somewhere close to 1c/point and you won't be EARNING points nor status either.

I'd be prepared to pay you the 1c per point and you could go out and pay cash for the fares at that rate...

 

[vetrade]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

If I suddenly say "how about we travel in business and lob the kids in cattle", then it'd be couch for me for a week!

Gee, you've got a tough gig! Even as young teenagers my kids were ecstatic if they didn't have to sit near us.