Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[vetrade]

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

I reckon I know that QF agent, ozflier. Sounds like the one who gave me a similar run-around with wrong info and a lack-of-customer service attitude. :evil:

I learned that as soon as it's obvious you have struck a dud agent you just say "Thanks, I'll think about it"............and then ring straight back so you can speak to someone else who knows what they're doing.

They're the occasions when you wish there was a customer survey at the end of your call so you could record a zero for that agent.

 

[vetrade]

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

I would have applied the HUACA method in this case...

Ha, just looked up what HUACA means............

 

[esseeeayeenn]

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

I apologise for not having the time to read through over 100 pages of posts on this thread ...

I was hoping to use points to book two one world explorer tickets next year, but not around the world. Just from Australia to Europe, with some flights within Europe, then home.
From the One World website it looks like there is such a product, but I am not sure how to plan or book it.
I would be happy to pay the $29 gratuity to someone who is well informed and willing to discuss it.

 

[Cynicor]

You can't book a Oneworld explorer on points.
You can book a Oneworld award on Qantas points. They are very different, but likely suited to what you want. I suggest reading the first 20 pages and the last 5-10

 

[Skyring]

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

Two airports in the same city are normally considered "co-terminals", e.g. Tokyo Haneda and Tokyo Narita or London Gatwick and London Heathrow. In fact, I at one stage had a flight arriving in London City connecting to another from LHR. This was considered a transfer, as if I had changed flights in the same airport. The land segment between Jorge Newberry and Ministro Pistarini should not count towards your 16 segments

My last award flight we had two of these. LCY and LHR (though they couldn't shift our baggage between the two) and NRT and HND. Not a problem.

 

[Danger]

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

I apologise for not having the time to read through over 100 pages of posts on this thread ...

I was hoping to use points to book two one world explorer tickets next year, but not around the world. Just from Australia to Europe, with some flights within Europe, then home.
From the One World website it looks like there is such a product, but I am not sure how to plan or book it.
I would be happy to pay the $29 gratuity to someone who is well informed and willing to discuss it.

In addition to what Cynicor said, if you let us know the cities you want to visit (noting that there can be no more than five whre you actually stopover (ie. stay for more than 24 hours)) then we can assist with suggested routings.

 

[pongie]

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

After lurking here for many years, I finally accumulated enough points to try and book a oneworld award for me and my wife. Tried to do it myself on saturday morning (via BA, AA and Qantas websites) but it became a nightmare trying to find connecting flights. We wanted to visit Korea, Japan, US (New York and Las Vegas) and Europe (London Paris and Rome) in July next year but finding seats in Business was tough. In the end I called the Qantas help line in the evening and after two hours (mostly silence while she looked for flights) we finally got this itinerary.

1 Jul SYD-HKG-FCO
<---5 Jul FCO-LHR---> dropped off
11 Jul LHR-EWR
14 Jul JFK-LAX
19 Jul SAN-NRT
24 Jul NRT-ICN
27 Jul ICN-HKG-MEL-SYD

All business except for JFK-LAX (which is economy). There was nothing else available for economy or business during those dates, only first class (she mentioned it was because it's their summer break, hence peak season). Plus, it didn't help that we didn't think to plan this sooner (like 6 months ago). Not ideal, missing Paris (but we have almost a week in London so finding flights to Paris for a few days shouldn't be too bad) and no connections to Las Vegas with the only flight out of US from San Diego. Might have to hire a car and drive instead (looked at flights but it was 8x the cost). It's going to be one hectic trip.

Edit: e-ticket just got issued and the Rome to London flight is missing. Called up and it turns out it was dropped off because of the 5 stopover limit. Which means I'll have to also find my own way from Rome to Paris to London.

 

[ellen10]

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

Well done pongi.
Sounds like you had a very good operator.

 

[aussiejohn]

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

I have finally got to my target of 210,000 points which I believe I need for the Oneworld award flight in Premium Economy.

Doubt very much that I can get to the 280,000 points for Business, though I guess I should try to use that Aspire deal for 20,000 points!

Rather than digging around, does anyone know off the top of their head which OW airlines have PE? I suspect not many and none in the US.

I am a solo traveller, so how would I go trying to find availability for award bookings? How difficult are these things to get?

I am not planning to travel in the near future, so urgency is not an issue, other than doing the trip and using the points before Qantas bites the dust.

 

[Cynicor]

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

I think PE will be much harder to find than J, and you'll end up in Y for a bulk of flights unless you work very hard at it.

I'd work on strategies to get you over the extra points hurdle- it will be well worth it.

Actually, I didn't realise there was even a PE level. Are you sure of this?

 

[sergeyvzn]

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

I have finally got to my target of 210,000 points which I believe I need for the Oneworld award flight in Premium Economy.

Doubt very much that I can get to the 280,000 points for Business, though I guess I should try to use that Aspire deal for 20,000 points!

Rather than digging around, does anyone know off the top of their head which OW airlines have PE? I suspect not many and none in the US.

I am a solo traveller, so how would I go trying to find availability for award bookings? How difficult are these things to get?

I am not planning to travel in the near future, so urgency is not an issue, other than doing the trip and using the points before Qantas bites the dust.

Qantas, British Airways, Cathay and JAL. LAN has Premium Economy instead of Business in their short haul flights so it wouldnt be bookable under the 210K award

 

[sergeyvzn]

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

After lurking here for many years, I finally accumulated enough points to try and book a oneworld award for me and my wife. Tried to do it myself on saturday morning (via BA, AA and Qantas websites) but it became a nightmare trying to find connecting flights. We wanted to visit Korea, Japan, US (New York and Las Vegas) and Europe (London Paris and Rome) in July next year but finding seats in Business was tough. In the end I called the Qantas help line in the evening and after two hours (mostly silence while she looked for flights) we finally got this itinerary.

1 Jul SYD-HKG-FCO
<---5 Jul FCO-LHR---> dropped off
11 Jul LHR-EWR
14 Jul JFK-LAX
19 Jul SAN-NRT
24 Jul NRT-ICN
27 Jul ICN-HKG-MEL-SYD

All business except for JFK-LAX (which is economy). There was nothing else available for economy or business during those dates, only first class (she mentioned it was because it's their summer break, hence peak season). Plus, it didn't help that we didn't think to plan this sooner (like 6 months ago). Not ideal, missing Paris (but we have almost a week in London so finding flights to Paris for a few days shouldn't be too bad) and no connections to Las Vegas with the only flight out of US from San Diego. Might have to hire a car and drive instead (looked at flights but it was 8x the cost). It's going to be one hectic trip.

Edit: e-ticket just got issued and the Rome to London flight is missing. Called up and it turns out it was dropped off because of the 5 stopover limit. Which means I'll have to also find my own way from Rome to Paris to London.

You can later change JFK to LAX from Y to J when seats on AA open up. They do - that;s what partner and I did for our 280K trip (between SFO and JFK). First one seat opened up, then another one and we ended up on a direct transcontinental AA service in J on a brand new A321. You will have to monitor these seats (can be done on the QF site or you can set up an alert on ExpertFlyer if you've got a paid membership) and the change will cost you 3.5K in QF FF points.

Did you think of slightly tweaking your itinerary to include the missing segments? You could add Paris to your second segment and make it CDG-LHR-EWR. Internal J BA flights are almost always available and you would save quite a bit of money by making LHR a transit point and not paying an ADP
Also, you can add LAS to JFK-LAX as a Y flight on AA - it;s only a short flight, less than an hour and I'm sure you could cope with it

this would probably require changing your accommodation plans but it may be worth it

 

[pongie]

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

Did you think of slightly tweaking your itinerary to include the missing segments? You could add Paris to your second segment and make it CDG-LHR-EWR. Internal J BA flights are almost always available and you would save quite a bit of money by making LHR a transit point and not paying an ADP
Also, you can add LAS to JFK-LAX as a Y flight on AA - it;s only a short flight, less than an hour and I'm sure you could cope with it

this would probably require changing your accommodation plans but it may be worth it

We haven't book any accommodations yet so can definitely chop and change the flights. If I do change my second segment to CDG-LHR-EWR, does that mean I won't be able to stop over in London since it's a transit? We have relatives living in London so it makes sense to stopover there and then fly out to Paris if need be.

As for the flight to LAS, there's currently no award seats in economy too, only first. Basically, hardly any seats anywhere in the US during that time. May have to keep any eye on it though and hope something turns up.

 

[sergeyvzn]

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

Fly from Rome to London, spend time with your relatives there, then catch a Eurostar to Paris, spend a few days there as well and then fly out of CDG to LHR on to EWR. Or you might even be able to book a direct US Airways or American Airlines service to New York thus eliminating the need to go via Heathrow at all

Have you checked all possibilities from LAX to LAS? It doesn't have to be a direct flight, you can be a bit creative and go for example via Phoenix with US Airways etc

 

[pongie]

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

Very good suggestions, might have to think about it more now.

Operator did check most of the US airports, SFO, PHX etc. nothing is available on those dates. Only towards the end of the month. Unless I drop Seoul from the itineray and spend more time in Europe to push the dates back a little. Only then would the flights in the US be available. However, finding new flights to/from US will be tricky. Have to see whats available with the new dates.

Would flying the other way make a difference? ie to Asia first, then US then Europe? Or it's pretty much the same?

 

[sergeyvzn]

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

Very good suggestions, might have to think about it more now.

Operator did check most of the US airports, SFO, PHX etc. nothing is available on those dates. Only towards the end of the month. Unless I drop Seoul from the itineray and spend more time in Europe to push the dates back a little. Only then would the flights in the US be available. However, finding new flights to/from US will be tricky. Have to see whats available with the new dates.

Would flying the other way make a difference? ie to Asia first, then US then Europe? Or it's pretty much the same?

Yes it would make a huge difference in terms of avoiding jet lag, you'd have much less of it. Going from East to West is always better

 

[vetrade]

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

Fly from Rome to London, spend time with your relatives there, then catch a Eurostar to Paris, spend a few days there as well and then fly out of CDG to LHR on to EWR. Or you might even be able to book a direct US Airways or American Airlines service to New York thus eliminating the need to go via Heathrow at all

Agree with Sergeyvzn re FCO - LHR to avoid the LHR airport departure tax and instead going to NY from Paris. But AA award flights (both Y and International J) have been very scarce since AA and US combined earlier this year and it's been rare to be able to get 2 J seats on the same flight since April. My experience has been that they aren't releasing more award seats later, either. Might I suggest that you consider flying ORY - MAD - JFK with IB, pongie? IB usually have good J availability flying this combo and their taxes and fuel surcharges are low compared to both AA and BA. Plus their J product is very good IME.

 

[pongie]

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

The initial reason for flying from west to east was because most of the shopping will be done in US and Japan so it made sense to avoid carrying the heavy luggage around till the last part of the journey. Europe will be mostly sightseeing. If I were to change it to travel the other way, I'll have to make a stopover at London to drop everything off (with the relatives) and travel light while sightseeing, then come back to pick up the heavy luggage somehow. Which means I may not be able to avoid the higher taxes.

Edit: Also there seem to be more availability in the US towards the end of July than early July.

Edit#2: Spent all evening and the new itinerary now look like this

1 Jul SYD-HKG-FCO
13 Jul VCE-LHR-CDG
22 Jul LHR-JFK
25 Jul JFK-LAX
30 Jul SAN-NRT
3 Aug NRT-MNL-SYD


A lot more time in Rome (to perhaps visit Florence and Venice), and a lot more time in Paris and London. JFK to LAX is now booked in business too, and the return flight is less hectic without Seoul. Only regret is missing out on the final segment on the 5 Aug (more time in Tokyo). There were 2 seats when I checked it, but by the time I called up and gone through the changes (10 mins later) it was down to 1 seat. The operator offered to split the itinerary so one of us can stay in business but then the second also disappeared. It was either cut the trip shorter (took out a day in LAX-LAS-SAN, and another in NRT) or settle for premium economy.

I did try to look for flights going in the other direction, but couldn't find much departing out of Sydney and figured it was best to keep the flights to Rome. Europe had plenty of options but anything into the US was severely limited (other options were 18 Jul LHR-IAD or BOS, but no flights out of there to LAX). Same with flights back to Syd. In hindsight, I've learned a lot actually and if I were to do this again (another decade of accumulating points via credit card spend) I would definitely ensure I plan much much earlier. Kind of wasted 2x 3500 points (change fee) by accepting what the operator found over the weekend (I kind of felt guilty if I did not accept the flights she found since she did spend close to two hours looking for them). Chalk it up to a learning experience.

Now comes the expensive part, finding accommodations...

 

[sergeyvzn]

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

The initial reason for flying from west to east was because most of the shopping will be done in US and Japan so it made sense to avoid carrying the heavy luggage around till the last part of the journey. Europe will be mostly sightseeing. If I were to change it to travel the other way, I'll have to make a stopover at London to drop everything off (with the relatives) and travel light while sightseeing, then come back to pick up the heavy luggage somehow. Which means I may not be able to avoid the higher taxes.

Edit: Also there seem to be more availability in the US towards the end of July than early July.

Edit#2: Spent all evening and the new itinerary now look like this

1 Jul SYD-HKG-FCO
13 Jul VCE-LHR-CDG
22 Jul LHR-JFK
25 Jul JFK-LAX
30 Jul SAN-NRT
3 Aug NRT-MNL-SYD


A lot more time in Rome (to perhaps visit Florence and Venice), and a lot more time in Paris and London. JFK to LAX is now booked in business too, and the return flight is less hectic without Seoul. Only regret is missing out on the final segment on the 5 Aug (more time in Tokyo). There were 2 seats when I checked it, but by the time I called up and gone through the changes (10 mins later) it was down to 1 seat. The operator offered to split the itinerary so one of us can stay in business but then the second also disappeared. It was either cut the trip shorter (took out a day in LAX-LAS-SAN, and another in NRT) or settle for premium economy.

I did try to look for flights going in the other direction, but couldn't find much departing out of Sydney and figured it was best to keep the flights to Rome. Europe had plenty of options but anything into the US was severely limited (other options were 18 Jul LHR-IAD or BOS, but no flights out of there to LAX). Same with flights back to Syd. In hindsight, I've learned a lot actually and if I were to do this again (another decade of accumulating points via credit card spend) I would definitely ensure I plan much much earlier. Kind of wasted 2x 3500 points (change fee) by accepting what the operator found over the weekend (I kind of felt guilty if I did not accept the flights she found since she did spend close to two hours looking for them). Chalk it up to a learning experience.

Now comes the expensive part, finding accommodations...

Well done

It's a steep learning curve isn't it?

Was there nothing out of LHR to the US on Iberia via Madrid? They normally have plenty of J seats and the product is better than BA (I assume that's what you are flying out of LHR)

 

[pongie]

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

I didn't check Iberia via Madrid. We are visiting relatives in London so that's why we are flying out of LHR. Was trying to look for flights into Las Vegas, but like I said before, there's limited seats to Washington, Boston and New York (also checked Dallas, Houston, Miami, basically any airport in the US). Best way was what I've found, New York then LA and I'll have to make my own way to Las Vegas and back to San Diego.