Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[Ultan Lankford]

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

My wife and I are ready to book our honeymoon business-class trip in September 2017
We're thinking of doing the following flights with these airlines:

SYD-SCL-EZE LATAM or QF+LATAM
EZE-GIG LATAM
GIG-GRU-JNB-CPT LATAM + BA(Comair)
JNB-DOH-SEZ QR
SEZ-DOH-SYD QR or QR+QF

Now if I search for classic rewards QR flights on Qantas.com.au, say JNB-SEZ, the booking engine only shows EK flights.
If try Multi-City and specifically search JNB-DOH-SEZ, I do get the first QR flight, but then it forces me to go DOH-DXB-SEZ with EK.

What do you guys think I should do?

Thanks!

Did you get availability for GRU-JNB? Well done if you did as they are rare.
Also, watch the miles. Make sure it does not break 35,000. Yours will be close enough Id say.

 

[SOPOOR]

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

Similar, yes, but don't forget you're adding in taxes on top of the points. Depending on the airlines you fly with this could be in excess of $1k.



You also need to be under 35k miles.

thank you my friend for your answers

is there a way to estimate taxes? does doing all these stop overs make the points value less?

I know that if you leave heathrow the taxes are high

last year Idid melb to france return with a astop over in malaysia and the taxes were like $1100 which was pretty bad,

if I did the suggested itinerary how much tax coudl I expect.

Iassume there is no way to avoid this ridiciulous tax.

 

[zdb97]

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

thank you my friend for your answers

is there a way to estimate taxes? does doing all these stop overs make the points value less?

I know that if you leave heathrow the taxes are high

last year Idid melb to france return with a astop over in malaysia and the taxes were like $1100 which was pretty bad,

if I did the suggested itinerary how much tax coudl I expect.

Iassume there is no way to avoid this ridiciulous tax.

generally speaking QF/BA/QR/IB have very high fuel surcharges, whereas CX/JL/AA/LA are on the opposite side.

You also have to keep in mind there are cheap and expensive airports on departure tax and etc.

To get an idea of taxes, you can just pretend to buy a J ticket on the airline website, normally there's a tax component given at some stage of the purchasing journey.

FYI my 280k J booking end up with less than $800 in tax, and the x2 QF segments (syd-sin, sin-bne) claims most of it I guess.

 

[madrooster]

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

generally speaking QF/BA/QR/IB have very high fuel surcharges, whereas CX/JL/AA/LA are on the opposite side.

You also have to keep in mind there are cheap and expensive airports on departure tax and etc.

To get an idea of taxes, you can just pretend to buy a J ticket on the airline website, normally there's a tax component given at some stage of the purchasing journey.

FYI my 280k J booking end up with less than $800 in tax, and the x2 QF segments (syd-sin, sin-bne) claims most of it I guess.

Taxes can be reasonable on QF/BA/QR as well:

I've got:

SYD-BNE QF
BNE-HKG CX
HKG-SIN CX
SIN-DOH QR
DOH-LHR QR
LHR-STR BA
FCO-LHR BA
LHR-YYZ BA
YYZ-LGA AA
JFK-LAX QF
LAX-PHX AA
LAX-HKG CX
HKG-SYD CX

The final taxes were $889 on a 280k award.

 

[Ultan Lankford]

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

To confirm the rules as I understand it. I cannot transit from my original port of departure again, however, I can transit through another port up to two times, including a stopover port?

 

[yoyo]

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

Not sure how this happened but I managed to stuff up my beautiful OW ticket. First I had Qatar take back my MEL-BCN flight, I got over that even though we now miss out on flying on Qatar. Our last leg is YVR-MEL and I saw that Qantas was flying YVR-SYD In July 2017 so I was watching for seats to be released. Now I realise that that route finishes on 22 July 2017 and I missed out on the availability. We couldn't find anything in J to get home from YVR. Arggh! As a desperate measure, I took CX from LAX-HKG-MEL which will mean buying a ticket from YVR to LAX and a night in a hotel. Late July next year seems totally booked out. Of course, I will keep checking but so angry with myself for not being more careful.
Does anyone here have any other ideas that would work better around 24 July? I only need one seat.

 

[Danger]

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

To confirm the rules as I understand it. I cannot transit from my original port of departure again, however, I can transit through another port up to two times, including a stopover port?

I'm not sure there is actually a restriction on the number of times you can transit a city.

Not sure how this happened but I managed to stuff up my beautiful OW ticket. First I had Qatar take back my MEL-BCN flight, I got over that even though we now miss out on flying on Qatar. Our last leg is YVR-MEL and I saw that Qantas was flying YVR-SYD In July 2017 so I was watching for seats to be released. Now I realise that that route finishes on 22 July 2017 and I missed out on the availability. We couldn't find anything in J to get home from YVR. Arggh! As a desperate measure, I took CX from LAX-HKG-MEL which will mean buying a ticket from YVR to LAX and a night in a hotel. Late July next year seems totally booked out. Of course, I will keep checking but so angry with myself for not being more careful.
Does anyone here have any other ideas that would work better around 24 July? I only need one seat.

Are you just looking for a way to get from YVR to MEL?

If so, CX flies YVR-HKG. Or AA YVR-LAX-AKL (although there's probably no availability).

 

[fairbasa]

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

Not sure how this happened but I managed to stuff up my beautiful OW ticket. First I had Qatar take back my MEL-BCN flight, I got over that even though we now miss out on flying on Qatar. Our last leg is YVR-MEL and I saw that Qantas was flying YVR-SYD In July 2017 so I was watching for seats to be released. Now I realise that that route finishes on 22 July 2017 and I missed out on the availability. We couldn't find anything in J to get home from YVR. Arggh! As a desperate measure, I took CX from LAX-HKG-MEL which will mean buying a ticket from YVR to LAX and a night in a hotel. Late July next year seems totally booked out. Of course, I will keep checking but so angry with myself for not being more careful.
Does anyone here have any other ideas that would work better around 24 July? I only need one seat.

Have you tried JL via NRT? Only shows up on the BA site, not QF.

 

[yoyo]

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

Yes just wanting to get home. There is no availability in J for about a month

 

[Boca68]

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

Not sure how this happened but I managed to stuff up my beautiful OW ticket. First I had Qatar take back my MEL-BCN flight, I got over that even though we now miss out on flying on Qatar. Our last leg is YVR-MEL and I saw that Qantas was flying YVR-SYD In July 2017 so I was watching for seats to be released. Now I realise that that route finishes on 22 July 2017 and I missed out on the availability. We couldn't find anything in J to get home from YVR. Arggh! As a desperate measure, I took CX from LAX-HKG-MEL which will mean buying a ticket from YVR to LAX and a night in a hotel. Late July next year seems totally booked out. Of course, I will keep checking but so angry with myself for not being more careful.
Does anyone here have any other ideas that would work better around 24 July? I only need one seat.

A long shot but, maybe try YVR-MIA-SCL-SYD? AA usually has good availability from MIA. Or even via DFW? The problem might be SCL-SYD on either LAN or QF. Have a look, never know.

As I said, long shot and may put you over the 35k mile limit.

YVR-LAX is only about 168 to 200 USD one way, with plenty of flights. So, even if you have to, you might be able to avoid the hotel night.

 

[vetrade]

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

To confirm the rules as I understand it. I cannot transit from my original port of departure again, however, I can transit through another port up to two times, including a stopover port?

Yes, you're essentially correct but the rules also state you can only have one departure from the original city or country of origin. So if you originally departed from say, MEL, you wouldn't be able to transit through say, SYD, if that flight involved a second departure from Oz.

You can have up to 2 transits plus one stopover in any individual city

 

[yoyo]

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

A long shot but, maybe try YVR-MIA-SCL-SYD? AA usually has good availability from MIA. Or even via DFW? The problem might be SCL-SYD on either LAN or QF. Have a look, never know.

As I said, long shot and may put you over the 35k mile limit.

YVR-LAX is only about 168 to 200 USD one way, with plenty of flights. So, even if you have to, you might be able to avoid the hotel night.

going via SCL is certainly a creative solution but I can't see any J availability in July at all. As far as NRT goes, I asked the agent to check and she said all options would come up but I don't really believe her. I can't seem to get into the BA site, it says the system is down. Is this true? It never seems to work for me

 

[fairbasa]

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

going via SCL is certainly a creative solution but I can't see any J availability in July at all. As far as NRT goes, I asked the agent to check and she said all options would come up but I don't really believe her. I can't seem to get into the BA site, it says the system is down. Is this true? It never seems to work for me

I came up with:

JL17 on July 25th YVR-NRT (arrives 16:30 26/7)
JL771 on July 26th NRT-SYD (departs 19:25, arrives 06:10 in SYD)

then just tack on a Y or J SYD-MEL leg.

 

[Boca68]

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

going via SCL is certainly a creative solution but I can't see any J availability in July at all. As far as NRT goes, I asked the agent to check and she said all options would come up but I don't really believe her. I can't seem to get into the BA site, it says the system is down. Is this true? It never seems to work for me

Doing some searching, I can only find Y+ for YVR-HKG-MEL on CX for the 23/7, 24/7 & 25/7. I know its Y+, but worth a thought if your desperate. Nothing in J,sorry


Edit: fairbasa has a good option!

 

[yoyo]

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

I had a look at the JAL website and found this: JL017 YVR-NRT, JL 771 NRT-SYD, can Qantas get this one?

 

[madrooster]

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

Not sure how this happened but I managed to stuff up my beautiful OW ticket. First I had Qatar take back my MEL-BCN flight, I got over that even though we now miss out on flying on Qatar. Our last leg is YVR-MEL and I saw that Qantas was flying YVR-SYD In July 2017 so I was watching for seats to be released. Now I realise that that route finishes on 22 July 2017 and I missed out on the availability. We couldn't find anything in J to get home from YVR. Arggh! As a desperate measure, I took CX from LAX-HKG-MEL which will mean buying a ticket from YVR to LAX and a night in a hotel. Late July next year seems totally booked out. Of course, I will keep checking but so angry with myself for not being more careful.
Does anyone here have any other ideas that would work better around 24 July? I only need one seat.

Was it ticketed? If so, why didn't it get reinstated? I have a 100% success rate for getting QR seats reinstated unless it wasn't originally ticketed.

 

[Danger]

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

going via SCL is certainly a creative solution but I can't see any J availability in July at all. As far as NRT goes, I asked the agent to check and she said all options would come up but I don't really believe her. I can't seem to get into the BA site, it says the system is down. Is this true? It never seems to work for me

I don't know how many miles you have up your sleeve but what about YVR-MIA/ORD/JFK/DFW/BOS/PHL-DOH-MEL?

 

[yoyo]

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

My QR flight did not get reinstated. We discussed this a few pages back. I don't have much room for extra miles. I'm interested in trying for the JAL flight. How can I get the agent to see it if they say they can't see it?

 

[fairbasa]

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

I had a look at the JAL website and found this: JL017 YVR-NRT, JL 771 NRT-SYD, can Qantas get this one?

My understanding is, yes...they can. I just checked on the BA site and it's there.



Shows 2x J seats on 17 and 1x J on 771

 

[vetrade]

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

Not sure how this happened but I managed to stuff up my beautiful OW ticket. First I had Qatar take back my MEL-BCN flight, I got over that even though we now miss out on flying on Qatar. Our last leg is YVR-MEL and I saw that Qantas was flying YVR-SYD In July 2017 so I was watching for seats to be released. Now I realise that that route finishes on 22 July 2017 and I missed out on the availability. We couldn't find anything in J to get home from YVR. Arggh! As a desperate measure, I took CX from LAX-HKG-MEL which will mean buying a ticket from YVR to LAX and a night in a hotel. Late July next year seems totally booked out. Of course, I will keep checking but so angry with myself for not being more careful.
Does anyone here have any other ideas that would work better around 24 July? I only need one seat.

Yoyo, buying the YVR - LAX ticket is probably quite a reasonable and comparatively inexpensive compromise. CX has a YVR - HKG flight but you would probably have to try for QF from HKG to either MEL or SYD because you will probably find that CX's married segment issue will block you from getting YVR - HKG - MEL/SYD all on CX. Another option would be to fly (if your mileage permits) YVR - JFK and come back through Europe (where there are lots of possibilities) rather than across the Pacific. This might allow you to get that QR flight you wanted by transiting through DOH.