Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[hutch]

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

Cheers. Ended up chatting to an agent who tried to find an alternate .. I'd tried as well but the original booking was basically the only option we had so we were SOL. Didn't mind too much - ended up booking our own way YYC -> YUL which is direct, saves a 6 hour layover in Dallas, and has much better times.

I've had a couple of my flights have time changes (one which missed connection). They basically arranged for me to be moved to an earlier flight, even if an award seat isn't available.

 

[travelislife]

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

I thought I would just pop my head back in here and give an update and thanks to all who helped me book out 280k J award. My wife and I are currently in Hong Kong on the first leg of our honeymoon after a brilliant Cathay flight, it has to be one of the best J seats in the world, really comfortable in all positions.

Anyway just a reminder of what we are travelling, didn't end up exactly how I wanted with a long trip home but we had to make do with what availability could be found for a peak time of year.

MEL-HKG (J) CX 08:50-15:15
Stopover 1: 2 nights/2 and a half day stopover in Hong Kong
HKG-MXP (J) CX 00:45-07:00
Stopover 2: Train to Chamomix for 10 days skiing over Christmas and New Year, then back to Milan for a couple of nights.
LIN-TXL (Y) AB 09:10-10:50 single class aircraft
Stopover 3: 3 days in Berlin
TXL-MAD-GIG (J) IB 07:20-19:30
Stopover 4: 6 nights in Rio, will then head to Paraty and the beaches around there for a few nights, then down to São Paulo for 2 nights.
GIG-EZE (J) QR 18:50-20-45
Stopover 5: 3 days in Buenos Aires
Then a long trip home.
EZE-DOH (J) QR 23:20-22:45+1
DOH-PER (J) QR 01:50-17:45
Overnight in Perth
PER-MEL (J) QF 16:45-23:20

The route above is 34,698 miles in GC Map.

Total taxes are now at $1285.17 per person. Which seems quite high as there shouldn't be any APD. I haven't done any checks yet on this.

Points 'spent' is 280,000 per person plus 7,000 in change fees. Total 287,000.

Would have loved to get on QF SCL-SYD or LA SCL-AKL on the way home but nothing ever came up. Even DOH-MEL would have been good but I think I missed the window. Don't think I can change the itinerary at all now I have started flying? But happy for some to say otherwise and I will keep monitoring availability.

 

[tallboy]

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

I thought I would just pop my head back in here and give an update and thanks to all who helped me book out 280k J award. My wife and I are currently in Hong Kong on the first leg of our honeymoon after a brilliant Cathay flight, it has to be one of the best J seats in the world, really comfortable in all positions.

Anyway just a reminder of what we are travelling, didn't end up exactly how I wanted with a long trip home but we had to make do with what availability could be found for a peak time of year.

MEL-HKG (J) CX 08:50-15:15
Stopover 1: 2 nights/2 and a half day stopover in Hong Kong
HKG-MXP (J) CX 00:45-07:00
Stopover 2: Train to Chamomix for 10 days skiing over Christmas and New Year, then back to Milan for a couple of nights.
LIN-TXL (Y) AB 09:10-10:50 single class aircraft
Stopover 3: 3 days in Berlin
TXL-MAD-GIG (J) IB 07:20-19:30
Stopover 4: 6 nights in Rio, will then head to Paraty and the beaches around there for a few nights, then down to São Paulo for 2 nights.
GIG-EZE (J) QR 18:50-20-45
Stopover 5: 3 days in Buenos Aires
Then a long trip home.
EZE-DOH (J) QR 23:20-22:45+1
DOH-PER (J) QR 01:50-17:45
Overnight in Perth
PER-MEL (J) QF 16:45-23:20

The route above is 34,698 miles in GC Map.

Total taxes are now at $1285.17 per person. Which seems quite high as there shouldn't be any APD. I haven't done any checks yet on this.

Points 'spent' is 280,000 per person plus 7,000 in change fees. Total 287,000.

Would have loved to get on QF SCL-SYD or LA SCL-AKL on the way home but nothing ever came up. Even DOH-MEL would have been good but I think I missed the window. Don't think I can change the itinerary at all now I have started flying? But happy for some to say otherwise and I will keep monitoring availability.

Excellent itinerary travelislife.

Paraty is one of my favourite stopping pints on that coastline. Try Margarida Cafe for dinner with a nice local atmosphere & music. Also don't miss the great beaches around Ubatuba. Have a great trip!

tb

(PS: Agreed about the Cathay J seats also).

 

[kreuky]

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

Is this a valid booking? I've read the rules and done the work and I think it's valid, but I just want a second opinion. Mileage is 32217 including all land segments, 5 stopovers, two other non QF airlines.

QF A380 SYD-MEL-DXB stop 1
QR A320/A380 DXB-DOH-CDG stop 2
separate revenue ticket to MAD
IB A340 MAD-LIM stop 3
LA B787 LIM-JFK stop 4
CX B777 JFK-YVR stop 5
separate revenue ticket from YVR to SFO
separate revenue ticket from SFO to LAX
QF A380 LAX-SYD


edit: plugged all the flights into the QF booking engine and found all the flights and prices the points correctly, but errors out on the last step (5685 UI error). Hopefully they don't charge me to book on the phone.

Thanks

 

[hutch]

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

Is this a valid booking? I've read the rules and done the work and I think it's valid, but I just want a second opinion. Mileage is 32217 including all land segments, 5 stopovers, two other non QF airlines.

QF A380 SYD-MEL-DXB stop 1
QR A320/A380 DXB-DOH-CDG stop 2
separate revenue ticket to MAD
IB A340 MAD-LIM stop 3
LA B787 LIM-JFK stop 4
CX B777 JFK-YVR stop 5
separate revenue ticket from YVR to SFO
separate revenue ticket from SFO to LAX
QF A380 LAX-SYD


edit: plugged all the flights into the QF booking engine and found all the flights and prices the points correctly, but errors out on the last step (5685 UI error). Hopefully they don't charge me to book on the phone.

Thanks

Looks fine to me. I often had issues with QF multi city tool once I added in different arrival/departure points. I would hope QF would waive the fee if you can't book it online.

 

[por930]

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

Looks fine to me. I often had issues with QF multi city tool once I added in different arrival/departure points. I would hope QF would waive the fee if you can't book it online.

I have booked a few times with errors on the QF booking screen, and when talking to the booking people, they always do the entire booking and no charges due to the software error for a valid flight combination. On one occasion after midnight while a booking was progressing on my screen, it had some error, the QF booking people switched me though to the IT guys so they could check why the error was occurring while I did the booking. When the booking went into error, they did some thing their end, and told me to ignore it and carry on while they reset some thing. All worked in the end.

 

[Jmrocky]

Re: 280K One world around world - please explain

You would have to purchase a OW explorer fare for the kids, however note that it will have different conditions and requirements to the award fare, and may not be able to be booked without an adult in the booking, but YMMV.

I would be booking the revenue fare for yourself to get the status credits, then let the OH and a kid take the award points.

Thanks for the replies. Kids will be around 4/5 and 2/3 when we go, so in about 2 years or so. Interesting travel times anyway.

 

[kreuky]

Re: 280K One world around world - please explain

Successfully booked (over the phone with no fee) for 2 x J

SYD-MEL-DXB (QF)
DXB-DOH-FRA (QR) (DXB-DOH IN Y)
MAD-GIG (IB)
GIG-JFK (AA)
JFK-YVR (CX)
LAX-SYD (QF)

280k points plus around $995 per person in "taxes"

 

[Familyman1]

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

I need to make changes to my existing 140K Oneworld booking. It seems that these changes cannot be made on-line. Is that correct? So when I make them over the phone, will I be charged an Award Assistance Fee or Service Fee or just the 3500 pp points Change Fee?

 

[hutch]

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

I need to make changes to my existing 140K Oneworld booking. It seems that these changes cannot be made on-line. Is that correct? So when I make them over the phone, will I be charged an Award Assistance Fee or Service Fee or just the 3500 pp points Change Fee?

You are quite right, you can't make changes over the web. The 3,500pp points fee always applies and as it is an economy booking, you will also be charged the Service Fee (6,000pts). It can get quite expensive, so try and make this your last change... also no harm in trying to get them to waive the Service Fee (as you "tried to do it online").

 

[Familyman1]

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

Thanks Hutch. Is it correct that I have an option to pay the service fee as a cash payment instead of points?

 

[vetrade]

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

Thanks Hutch. Is it correct that I have an option to pay the service fee as a cash payment instead of points?

Yes, I think it's $80.

 

[Deanwan]

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

Hi, i am looking to book a RTW trip with my QFF points in the economy (140k) class. I have read through the thread but would like to confirm a few things prior to starting my booking. I understand these have already been covered previously (apologies)

Are these statements correct:
1. Starting the RTW trip can be booked one flight at a time, and subsequent flights added onto the booking? With the total points capped at 140/280/420 upon completing the RTW booking?
2. Seats come available / are released at various times of the year? Therefore, there is a risk of not getting the desired stopovers upon completion if booking one flight at a time.
3. Seats are available 9 months out? Is there a preferred time frame for booking seats for best options?
4. Booking is done on the Qantas website, which redirects to the one world RTW trip if booking in one go? Otherwise, flight by flight on Qantas website?

Any other tips would be most welcome.

Cheers

 

[vetrade]

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

Hi, i am looking to book a RTW trip with my QFF points in the economy (140k) class. I have read through the thread but would like to confirm a few things prior to starting my booking. I understand these have already been covered previously (apologies)

Are these statements correct:
1. Starting the RTW trip can be booked one flight at a time, and subsequent flights added onto the booking? With the total points capped at 140/280/420 upon completing the RTW booking?
2. Seats come available / are released at various times of the year? Therefore, there is a risk of not getting the desired stopovers upon completion if booking one flight at a time.
3. Seats are available 9 months out? Is there a preferred time frame for booking seats for best options?
4. Booking is done on the Qantas website, which redirects to the one world RTW trip if booking in one go? Otherwise, flight by flight on Qantas website?

Any other tips would be most welcome.

Cheers

Yes, flights can be booked one at a time but you need to be aware of the costs/pitfalls to try and minimise them. Your booking starts as a classic award but as flights are added the points cost increases until 140K, after which the booking automatically becomes a RTW award and the points are capped from then on.

You can make your first booking online (can be multiple flights) but after that each time you want to add flights to, or change, your booking you can only do it through the QF call centre and there is a cost, which is 3500 points plus $80 cash per call (N.B. not for each flight) for a 140K (Y) booking. That cost can end up being substantial so it’s preferable if you can add several flights to your booking at the same time. You can’t make any alterations to your booking online.

The problem is that each OW airline releases their award seats at a different number of days in advance – anything from 330 – 365 days. For QF it’s 353 days; for AA it’s officially 330 days but sometimes that can vary i.e. they may release some award seats at 300 days etc. You need to know when awards are released so you can work out when you should be looking to add them to your booking. On routes with heavy demand and/or low availability you may have to try and book them as soon as they are released. Availability on some airlines is generally good (eg CX) but for others (notably AA domestic US flights) it can be abysmal.

Suggest you set out your proposed itinerary – where you want to go and when. Next work out the flight routes to get there and which OW airlines fly those routes. Use this thread (yes, it is time consuming, but unavoidable) to piece together likely availability of awards and develop alternatives. Some routes virtually never have availability (e.g. Oz – HNL) so don’t waste your time hoping you will get them. Maybe post your intended itinerary so ppl can comment on it.

 

[serfty]

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

1. Each time you change the booking including adding a flight there will be a fee.

2. Yes

3. Seats are available on Qantas and BA from 353 days out, AA from 331 days not certain about other oneworld airlines).

4. You may be able to commence online with the first segments, but you will need to call for further changes.

 

[hutch]

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

Hi, i am looking to book a RTW trip with my QFF points in the economy (140k) class. I have read through the thread but would like to confirm a few things prior to starting my booking. I understand these have already been covered previously (apologies)

Are these statements correct:
1. Starting the RTW trip can be booked one flight at a time, and subsequent flights added onto the booking? With the total points capped at 140/280/420 upon completing the RTW booking?
2. Seats come available / are released at various times of the year? Therefore, there is a risk of not getting the desired stopovers upon completion if booking one flight at a time.
3. Seats are available 9 months out? Is there a preferred time frame for booking seats for best options?
4. Booking is done on the Qantas website, which redirects to the one world RTW trip if booking in one go? Otherwise, flight by flight on Qantas website?

Any other tips would be most welcome.

Cheers

Vetrade has covered it all pretty well. I would just add that this is a "Oneworld Award", not a RTW ticket (more on that later)... and:

1. As you are doing an economy ticket, I would suggest trying to book the trip online using the QF multi-city tool (which doesn't work all the time - especially for complex bookings- but worth giving a go). If you can't book it online, I'd support vetrade's suggestion of working out your rough travel plans... perhaps booking the first flight online as a one way classic award and then calling QF and adding all your remaining flights at once... which will minimise fees/charges.
2. The one flight at a time is generally done with premium cabins because they get snapped up quickly and QF waives the service fee for premium cabins. Booking one flight at a time for economy bookings would end up being very costly. Also generally economy tickets hang around longer than premium cabins.
3. As mentioned, each OW airline is different. Qatar seems to be pretty close to 365 days out.
4. This is where the terminology of RTW & OW Award confuses many. If you choose the RTW option on the QF site, you are trying to book a Oneworld RTW ticket... there are conditions on these tickets (like you need to fly around the world) and you can't book these using points. You are trying to book a OW Award, which is a ticket that allows up to 35,000 miles of travel, but does not need to go around the world. You can try and do dummy bookings on the QF site, using the multi-city tool... but as mentioned it suffers from many IT issues.

Also gcmap may be a good tool for you.

Vetrade is like the knowledge god on these bookings... so perhaps work out a rough plan and post it here for review/tips/suggestions?

 

[Aus ATC]

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

Yesterday I checked our existing booking to be confronted with a surprise schedule change. This was a second change to the itinerary (the first was a 5 minute change that said "no need to acknowledge", so I didn't) - but we received no notification of this latest change, so I don't know when it was applied to the booking.

Seems that Cathay have recently rescheduled their HKG-BNE-HKG services to 2-3 hours later than originally scheduled (certainly from May onwards). All very well, except this meant our first leg of our 280k OWA (BNE-HKG) arrived in HKG an hour or so after our connecting flight to JFK would be departing.

Some research (before calling Qantas) revealed no U class availability through to JFK on either Cathay or Qantas. I was a bit concerned, but figured the airline (Cathay) had made an unrealistic schedule change and would need to accommodate us. A call to the QFF Premium line this morning (the very helpful Glenys) saw the situation quickly resolved. I had all my options to hand, but we discussed the best approach, which was for her to call Cathay with our #1 alternative - which they confirmed. Net result - an earlier arrival in NYC with a better connection in HKG, so happy with the result. All fixed within about 30 minutes.

I will be providing some feedback to Qantas about the lack of notification of the schedule change. I would assume this is an automated process that applies anytime an itinerary is tampered with.

 

[hutch]

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

...I will be providing some feedback to Qantas about the lack of notification of the schedule change. I would assume this is an automated process that applies anytime an itinerary is tampered with.

I use checkmytrip app which provides pretty quick notification of changes... not that you should have to, but it's a good back-up.

My schedule change was not as quickly resolved as yours, but that includes Qatar, not Cathay. I've had a 2nd change from Qatar and it's still pending resolution... been a few weeks now.

 

[madrooster]

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

I've had a 2nd change from Qatar and it's still pending resolution... been a few weeks now.

Which route? I'm currently up to round #5 on QR changes on my itinerary...

 

[hutch]

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

Which route? I'm currently up to round #5 on QR changes on my itinerary...

Fra>Doh>Jnb. The Doh>Jnb flight has a later arrival and now doesn't arrive with enough time for my next flight on BA Jnb>Liv (separate ticket).