Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[hutch]

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

Thanks. Very helpful!

 

[Isochronous]

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

Hence the acronym "HUACA" (Hang up and call again) which seems to have been spawned on AFF in response to the very problem you describe i.e. some QF operators dispense wrong info regarding award bookings because they are apparently clueless about their own system and booking rules. Even more annoying is the fact that the more clueless they are the more dogmatic and insistent they seem to be that they are right.

Can't be as annoying as the US Airways rep who told me that they don't do award bookings to Doha from HKG despite me pointing out both CX and QR are oneworld members!!!

 

[Limewood]

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

Using USDM one told me no DOH to PER next operator said fine found 2 x J so booked.

 

[Bindibuys]

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

To follow up on earlier discussion of availability of QR J award seats, it seems there is a reasonable inventory of QR J seats, but they don't show up on the Qantas booking engine. The BA site appears to be showing them accurately.

I was resigned to doing a 5 hour QR leg in economy, but I've booked two J seats through a very helpful member of the Qantas phone team.

No praise for another team member I had previously spoken with who told me to ignore the BA site and that the QR J seats I could see there were not available if booking a one world award through Qantas.

Hi Fastferret, I am also looking for 2 J award seats IST/DOH/DXB. and so far only seeing the Y or F (with first long leg in Y). So you found seats via BA site, then called QF call centre?

 

[ComeFlyWithMe]

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

Hi Fastferret, I am also looking for 2 J award seats IST/DOH/DXB. and so far only seeing the Y or F (with first long leg in Y). So you found seats via BA site, then called QF call centre?

iIRC, I think you'll find they only run 2 class Y/F on the DOH-DXB route which might be bringing your plans unstuck...

 

[Bindibuys]

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

iIRC, I think you'll find they only run 2 class Y/F on the DOH-DXB route which might be bringing your plans unstuck...

Bingo!! I never looked past the IST to DOH flight which has business class.
Would be happy to do the EK direct flight from IST to DXB, (already have several hours of layover at AMM to contend with) Will play with breaking up the booking.

 

[fastferret]

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

Hi Fastferret, I am also looking for 2 J award seats IST/DOH/DXB. and so far only seeing the Y or F (with first long leg in Y). So you found seats via BA site, then called QF call centre?

Actually, I'd seen (and can still see) a good availability of J seats on the BA site for the DOH-ATH leg I wanted. I made a planning call to the QF centre to query why I couldn't see them on the QF site and was told the reward flights on the BA site were not available to QFF members.

A few weeks later I was ready to book the first part of my 280k. I rang the QF centre when I got errors trying to book online. I was expecting to do DOH-ATH in economy, but the call centre rep could see J seats got two for me.

Good luck with your booking!

 

[flychrisfly]

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

Hi all

This is a heads up to any others in the same boat...

I am in the process of booking a oneworld 420K trip. My first leg was locked in on QF and I then had a couple of QR sectors to book. After calling Qantas I had the 2 new sectors added, points deducted and an itinerary sent through. The agent told me that it could take a couple of days for the eticket to be issued as it sometimes takes longer with points booking across different carriers. About a week later, the taxes had still not been charged to my credit card (even though the points had been deducted) and the two QR sectors disappeared from my online booking.

I called Qantas and had it all fixed, but I was worried that availability of the award seats I wanted might've dried up in the mean time. The agent I spoke to second time around informed me that there was a technical problem where if it occurs bookings end up on a reject/exception queue and are not apparently obvious. Her advice was to check to see if an eticket has been issued within 24 hours and to call if it's not. I didn't ask when the problem might be fixed.

YMMV. Good luck!

 

[LizM]

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

I'm looking to book a 280K Oneworld Business award in Sept, for travel Sept 16, travelling solo. In the past I've used Emirates in the mix of travel (they're great within Africa)- so not Oneworld Award bookings, and have just booked the first flight online when availability opened and then called Qantas to add each section as they became available. I've done quite a lot of reading here on this site, but my internet speed here in the Outback is pretty appalling, so please excuse me if I ask a question that has been answered many times before.

Basically, I'll be hiking the Camino from St Jean Pied De Port, France to somewhere along the route towards Santiago in Spain - though because of my time frame I won't do the whole 900 odd km to Finnistere (will have to return and finish it the following year). I MAY also decide to visit friends in Dakar, Senegal - but this isn't a certainty as yet so I don't want to book that section till later. If I do go to Senegal I'll pop over there before the hike, so I can drop things off to them. Once i'm hiking i'll be carrying everything on my back. And I'm looking for a route with the least amount of taxes ( they vary hugely don't they, depending on where you transit through).

So - these are my thoughts at this stage, but I'm hoping for advice and suggestions here.

• Dubbo (DBO) - Sydney (SYD)
• Sydney (SYD) - Hong Kong (HKG)
• Hong Kong (HKG) - Paris (CDG)
• Paris (GDC) - Madrid(MAD)-stop

My original thought was to stop at Paris and catch an Easy Jet flight to BIQ, so that I could begin the hike, but now i'm thinking i should continue onto Madrid as that would be a good jump point to Dakar if I decide later to tack that return on. But - it's more difficult to get to St Jean Pied de Port from Madrid, (BIQ is the nearest airport).

Anyway, after the hike i'll make my way to Madrid for the return flights to DBO.

So, my questions

1. Does the 280K award have to be all in Business? DBO - SYD is only economy but I want to have this first segment on the same itinerary for protection.
2. Should I add the MAD- DKR- MAD (or wherever the return could land me) onto the same PNR at a later date or start a new booking?
3. Can I even transit through an airport more than once on a 280K?

Love to hear your thoughts, suggestions and advice please. Cheers now.

 

[vetrade]

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

So, my questions

1. Does the 280K award have to be all in Business? DBO - SYD is only economy but I want to have this first segment on the same itinerary for protection.
2. Should I add the MAD- DKR- MAD (or wherever the return could land me) onto the same PNR at a later date or start a new booking?
3. Can I even transit through an airport more than once on a 280K?

1. No - in fact it's often hard to get J award seats for all sectors. Obviously you would want to organise your itinerary to get all your long haul flights in J if you can.
You can book into Y on any number of sectors, which you may need to do if a particular sector is integral to your plans but there's no J available. As you have found
already some sectors just don't have J anyway. Even if you only had one sector in J you would still have to pay the full 280K points though i.e. no discount for Y
sectors.
2. Definitely you must have everything on the same booking (PNR). You cannot combine 2 itineraries to make up the one 280K award so if you book them separately you
will be up for a lot more points..
3. The rules are that you can have up to 2 transits through any individual city. As well as those 2 transits you can also have 1 stopover in the same city if you want.

 

[marki]

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

Hence the acronym "HUACA" (Hang up and call again) which seems to have been spawned on AFF in response to the very problem you describe i.e. some QF operators dispense wrong info regarding award bookings because they are apparently clueless about their own system and booking rules. Even more annoying is the fact that the more clueless they are the more dogmatic and insistent they seem to be that they are right.

This needs to be added to the "Golden rule wall" and also needs to be re-quoted for its poetry in motion. Perfect

 

[LizM]

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

Thanks vetrade. It's now become obvious, in hindsight, that I've made some blunders with past J bookings!! Anyway- onward and upward now I've discovered this forum.

Sooooo, could you give some advice on how I can work to improve my latest stuff-up. This is what I have booked for Nov-Dec this year ( and can you believe it, on 2 PNR's - dammit)

1st PNR: 15 Nov DBO- SYD-MEL -DOH (29 hours stop).
17 Nov DOH - KTM (stop).
29 Nov KAT - HKG (stop)
.
2ND PNR; 02 Dec HKG - SYD - DBO

I've now been thinking that as i'm planning to book my next trip for early Sept 16 I could possibly add it onto the 2nd PNR above, as it would be less than 12 months from the first flight, 02 Dec 15, making it into a 280K award.Only problem being this itinerary begins in HKG, does that mean I need to end in HKG too?

What I want to book for Sept/Oct 2016 is DBO - SYD - DKR stop.
DKR - somewhere where I can fly Easyjet/Ryanair or similar to BIQ stop.
MAD - SYD- DBO stop.

I'd appreciate thoughts from anyone with experience here. As I mentioned earlier I may not go to DKR Senegal, but I presume I can just swap that leg out at a later date if need be?Cheers

 

[vetrade]

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

LizM, I am confused.

Are your first and second PNRs (i.e. DBO - DOH - KTM - HKG and HKG - DBO) award bookings or paid fares? (Also I presume "KAT" is a typo and you meant KTM?).

I get that your second trip in Sep - Oct 2016 is a 280K award and that if you're planning to add it to your 2nd PNR then that (the 2nd PNR) is almost certainly an award booking too. Or you under the mistaken belief that you can turn a paid booking into a 280K award???

My first instinct would be to suggest cancelling the 2nd PNR (and accept the cancellation fee) because working around that to tack it on to your second trip seems too confusing to me.
If your 1st PNR is an award booking I'd suggest you cancel the 2nd PNR and add those flights to the first PNR to tidy things up.

Also I can't see why you have booked to get to KTM via DOH (it looks like you are only in DOH for 1 day at most). Wouldn't it be easier to fly OZ - HKG - KTM - HKG - OZ ?

Happy to help out but need more clarity.

 

[Nizar]

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

Hi all

This is a heads up to any others in the same boat...

I am in the process of booking a oneworld 420K trip. My first leg was locked in on QF and I then had a couple of QR sectors to book. After calling Qantas I had the 2 new sectors added, points deducted and an itinerary sent through. The agent told me that it could take a couple of days for the eticket to be issued as it sometimes takes longer with points booking across different carriers. About a week later, the taxes had still not been charged to my credit card (even though the points had been deducted) and the two QR sectors disappeared from my online booking.

I called Qantas and had it all fixed, but I was worried that availability of the award seats I wanted might've dried up in the mean time. The agent I spoke to second time around informed me that there was a technical problem where if it occurs bookings end up on a reject/exception queue and are not apparently obvious. Her advice was to check to see if an eticket has been issued within 24 hours and to call if it's not. I didn't ask when the problem might be fixed.

YMMV. Good luck!

Can I ask what your routing is ?
I'm keen to see what others have booked as their 420k itineraries to get a few ideas.
Especially keen to maximise F segments obviously especially QR F, BA F, QF F and CX F.

What I have in mind is something like MEL-SYD-DFW (stop)...LAX-LHR (stop)...CDG-DOH-JNB (stop)...JNB-DOH (stop)...DOH-BKK (stop)...HND-HKG-MEL
34,431 miles, 5 stops, 12 sectors, and four carriers.

With the first and last legs and the JNB flights in J. And the other 5 flights in F. (HND I believe is the only intra Asia guaranteed F destination on CX though happy to be corrected).

Thoughts on this ?
Can the itinerary be improved ?

Not looking to go anywhere in particular but rather experience the best flights and lounges.

 

[sergeyvzn]

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

Can I ask what your routing is ?
I'm keen to see what others have booked as their 420k itineraries to get a few ideas.
Especially keen to maximise F segments obviously especially QR F, BA F, QF F and CX F.

What I have in mind is something like MEL-SYD-DFW (stop)...LAX-LHR (stop)...CDG-DOH-JNB (stop)...JNB-DOH (stop)...DOH-BKK (stop)...HND-HKG-MEL
34,431 miles, 5 stops, 12 sectors, and four carriers.

With the first and last legs and the JNB flights in J. And the other 5 flights in F. (HND I believe is the only intra Asia guaranteed F destination on CX though happy to be corrected).

Thoughts on this ?
Can the itinerary be improved ?

Not looking to go anywhere in particular but rather experience the best flights and lounges.

There's a strong rumour that CX will be bringing F to at least Sydney very soon as there's a market for it now that all their flights out of Sydney are full (they have already substituted on A330 for B773)

 

[LizM]

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

LizM, I am confused.

Are your first and second PNRs (i.e. DBO - DOH - KTM - HKG and HKG - DBO) award bookings or paid fares? (Also I presume "KAT" is a typo and you meant KTM?).

I get that your second trip in Sep - Oct 2016 is a 280K award and that if you're planning to add it to your 2nd PNR then that (the 2nd PNR) is almost certainly an award booking too. Or you under the mistaken belief that you can turn a paid booking into a 280K award???

My first instinct would be to suggest cancelling the 2nd PNR (and accept the cancellation fee) because working around that to tack it on to your second trip seems too confusing to me.
If your 1st PNR is an award booking I'd suggest you cancel the 2nd PNR and add those flights to the first PNR to tidy things up.

Also I can't see why you have booked to get to KTM via DOH (it looks like you are only in DOH for 1 day at most). Wouldn't it be easier to fly OZ - HKG - KTM - HKG - OZ ?

Happy to help out but need more clarity.

Sorry vetrade - yes, both PNR's are QFF award bookings, in J (other than the DBO-SYD) And yes, KTM not KAY, my apologies.

The reason why I'm now going to KTM via DOH is that I had to change this first award booking, taking out DBO-SYD-DXB-DKR-DXB-DOH (qantaslink, QF and Emirates). The lady I spoke to swapped those flights out and added DBO-SYD-MEL-DOH to link up with the rest of the booking as that was the only availability in J according to her. At the time I asked her about cancelling the 2nd PNR and rolling it all into one but she advised there wasn't any availability in J for the HKG-SYD.

I think it's probably easiest to just start a new 280K award booking for my Sept 16 trip. So, any suggestions for the following:
DBO - SYD - DKR stop.
DKR - somewhere where I can fly Easyjet/Ryanair or similar to BIQ stop.
MAD - SYD- DBO stop.

This will make a 280K J award but only 3 stops, so I'm happy to add in a couple more stops to break the long journey to/from DBO, and prefer a route with the least amount of taxes etc. Hope this is clearer, cheers.

 

[Nizar]

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

There's a strong rumour that CX will be bringing F to at least Sydney very soon as there's a market for it now that all their flights out of Sydney are full (they have already substituted on A330 for B773)

To be honest I think if they were going to offer F they would have done so when they got rid of one of their 333s and subbed it for a 77H.

But yeah I hope you're right.

 

[Kangol]

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

Not sure if this has been asked before, but how do the stopover and transfer rules apply to surface segments?

14.5 Classic Flight Rewards - oneworld Classic Flight Reward booking conditions
14.5.1 A oneworld Classic Flight Reward is a Classic Flight Reward Itinerary that includes travel on at least two oneworld Alliance Airlines other than Qantas and does not include any travel on any airline that is not a oneworld Alliance Airline.
14.5.2 Classic Flight Rewards using the oneworld Classic Flight Reward table must be no more than a distance of 56,315 kilometres (35,000 miles). Longer journeys must be broken into separate Itineraries.
14.5.3 A one way oneworld Classic Flight Reward Itinerary will be charged as a return Itinerary. oneworld Classic Flight Reward Itineraries finishing in a port other than the port of origin must include the distance to return directly to the port of origin when calculating the number of Points required to redeem the Flight Reward and the maximum distance for the Itinerary.
14.5.4 The following Stopover conditions apply to oneworld Classic Flight Rewards:
(a) up to five free Stopovers are permitted;
(b) additional Stopovers are not permitted;
(c) only one Stopover is permitted in any one city in the Itinerary; and
(d) only two Transfers may be taken at any one city in the Itinerary.
14.5.5 Surface Segments are permitted as part of oneworld Classic Flight Reward Itineraries, but the distance between the disembarkation point and the next embarkation point will be included in the Reward Point zone calculation for that Itinerary.
14.5.6 Where mixed-class travel is booked in a oneworld Classic Flight Reward, the whole Itinerary will be calculated using the Points level for the highest class booked.

eg. I want to go:
DEN-xLAX-SYD [stop] (AA F, QF F)
SYD-xDFW-xPHX-SAN [stop] (QF F, US F)
SAN-xLAX-MEL [stop] (AA Y, QF F)

Now here is my query. I want to go to SYD straight after arriving into MEL (yes I will need to buy a separate ticket because I can't stop in SYD twice), then a few months later take another F flight to LAX. (QF 11 or 93 doesn't matter).
Is it possible to have a surface segment MEL-SYD, then book:
SYD-LAX [stop]
LAX-DEN?
Or will the fact that I'm departing a surface segment from SYD mean that the stop is not in MEL, but in SYD (breaking the one stopover rule per port)? Can't see anything in the T&Cs about this.

I have two transfers and one stop in LAX which to me sounds legal (going through a port is either a transfer or a stopover and not both).
Total is 34,967 miles too. That way I can make the most of 4x transpac F flights which are normally 144k each (168k for DFW).

Interested if anyone has done something similar regarding surface segments.

 

[vetrade]

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

Sorry vetrade - yes, both PNR's are QFF award bookings, in J (other than the DBO-SYD) And yes, KTM not KAY, my apologies.

The reason why I'm now going to KTM via DOH is that I had to change this first award booking, taking out DBO-SYD-DXB-DKR-DXB-DOH (qantaslink, QF and Emirates). The lady I spoke to swapped those flights out and added DBO-SYD-MEL-DOH to link up with the rest of the booking as that was the only availability in J according to her. At the time I asked her about cancelling the 2nd PNR and rolling it all into one but she advised there wasn't any availability in J for the HKG-SYD.

I think it's probably easiest to just start a new 280K award booking for my Sept 16 trip. So, any suggestions for the following:
DBO - SYD - DKR stop.
DKR - somewhere where I can fly Easyjet/Ryanair or similar to BIQ stop.
MAD - SYD- DBO stop.

This will make a 280K J award but only 3 stops, so I'm happy to add in a couple more stops to break the long journey to/from DBO, and prefer a route with the least amount of taxes etc. Hope this is clearer, cheers.

LizM, I agree with you that it might be best not to tamper with your first 2 PNRs. At this relatively late stage trying to juggle sectors and find J award seats will probably be too hard a task. Best to focus on getting trip no. 2 sorted as a stand-alone booking.

For future reference, if you did cancel your 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] PNR (HKG – SYD) that award seat would be returned to inventory and therefore be available to book. The problem is that this return to inventory is not immediate (two LAX – MEL J seats I cancelled last year took about 4-5 hrs to show up as available on the QF website) so you can’t cancel and then add the same award seat to your 1[SUP]st[/SUP] itinerary straight away. The risk is that someone else may swoop on that seat and snatch it off you.

Now for your second trip:
DBO – SYD – DKR : do you realise the only OW option to DKR is via MAD so you’d need to plot a course from SYD to Europe first and then fly south from MAD to DKR? (Have you used the oneworld.com interactive planning tool to check for routes between cities/destinations ?)

Then you’d have to fly IB again from DKR back to MAD from where your only OW option would be to get an Air Nostrum flight from MAD to San Sebastian (EAS). It would then be a short land leg to BIQ.

Your obvious problem then would be that you would have 3 transits through MAD (including your return to OZ) which isn’t allowed under the rules unless you turned one of them into a stopover which you could easily do. You could get around this if you flew DKR – MAD and had a “stopover” there i.e. instead of trying to include the Air Nostrum in your OW itinerary you would need to buy a separate paid return fare from MAD – EAS (or BIQ). If you went OW on Air Nostrum your stopover city would be designated as San Sebastian.

 

[LizM]

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

LizM, I agree with you that it might be best not to tamper with your first 2 PNRs. At this relatively late stage trying to juggle sectors and find J award seats will probably be too hard a task. Best to focus on getting trip no. 2 sorted as a stand-alone booking.

For future reference, if you did cancel your 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] PNR (HKG – SYD) that award seat would be returned to inventory and therefore be available to book. The problem is that this return to inventory is not immediate (two LAX – MEL J seats I cancelled last year took about 4-5 hrs to show up as available on the QF website) so you can’t cancel and then add the same award seat to your 1[SUP]st[/SUP] itinerary straight away. The risk is that someone else may swoop on that seat and snatch it off you.

Now for your second trip:
DBO – SYD – DKR : do you realise the only OW option to DKR is via MAD so you’d need to plot a course from SYD to Europe first and then fly south from MAD to DKR? (Have you used the oneworld.com interactive planning tool to check for routes between cities/destinations ?)

Then you’d have to fly IB again from DKR back to MAD from where your only OW option would be to get an Air Nostrum flight from MAD to San Sebastian (EAS). It would then be a short land leg to BIQ.

Your obvious problem then would be that you would have 3 transits through MAD (including your return to OZ) which isn’t allowed under the rules unless you turned one of them into a stopover which you could easily do. You could get around this if you flew DKR – MAD and had a “stopover” there i.e. instead of trying to include the Air Nostrum in your OW itinerary you would need to buy a separate paid return fare from MAD – EAS (or BIQ). If you went OW on Air Nostrum your stopover city would be designated as San Sebastian.

I used to head to DKR through DXB vetrade, with Emirates on QF points, but now I want to do a ONeworld Award in J that's not an option anymore. I have also been given incorrect advice in the past from a QF assistant, that all travel had to be in the one class, so am learning a lot here on this forum.

I've played around a bit and can see I can do

DBO-SYD (QantasLink) - HGK- CDG ( CX)- stop.
ORLY- MAD-DKR (Ib)- stop.
DKR - MAD(Ib)- stop.
San sebastian (EAS) isn't searchable on the Qantas website so could I just call QF in regards to this segment after searching on the IB website? Also, if I went DKR-MAD-EAS with the stopover in EAS, that would then mean I'd have 2 transfers through MAD and one stopover (the land section they'd add on from EAS -MAD). Am I on the right track??
Then heading home could be MAD - LHR - HGK - SYD (CX) - DBO (QANTASLINK). Think I should have one stopover left so that could be HGK if need be.

Really grateful for your help evtrade, I never would have found Air Nostrum!!