Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[Youfah Mizzum]

found that I could no longer see any AA availability, so figuring I had missed out the dates we wanted, I checked around those dates and still nothing, so I started to try things as just single segments just to find what was available. I'm not seeing any availability for any AA for any US route I've dreamt up or on any dates. I contacted Qantas for a manual search and they are not showing any availability either, seems to me like all AA seats are not available for booking at all. Even with "Flexible with dates" checked all I get is "We are unable to find recommendations from the airlines we search. Please change your search criteria and resubmit the search. (# 66002)"

Same here. I was searching, searching, searching all over the interwebby thing for what I thought was an fairly simple leg from JFK to get home to SYD via HNL. Would've been nice to stop over for a beachy few days in Waikiki but AA never had anything available and the QF consultant couldn't help either (multiple phone calls).
In the end it all got too hard so instead stopping off in LAX, then onwards to SYD.

 

[Auski]

Is anyone else having issues getting BA shorthaul (i.e. IntraEurope) to come up on Qantas.com? I can't get anything at all

Same deal Plenty of availability on BA but QF errors #9200 when you search.

I wonder if other Oneworld airlines are sick of providing all the J seats while QF hardly releases any and have stopped sharing with QF.

Just booked my second 280K award and only 1 QF international leg in the first, none in the second, just no availability even 12 months out.

Previously plenty of CX, but looking now even that seems less.

Maybe our points are no longer very useful.

 

[Kangol]

I can't find anything specific in the T&Cs, but if two pax are on the same PNR for a oneworld award, do they both have to have the same itinerary?

 

[madrooster]

I can't find anything specific in the T&Cs, but if two pax are on the same PNR for a oneworld award, do they both have to have the same itinerary?

Yes. Itinerary must be identical.

 

[jaybeedee]

I'm feeling very positive about QF and even the call centre after my experiences, getting and then fine tuning my bookings (which are less than 100 days out).


What I learnt:
Get started and make bookings.
What worked for me (but YMMV) was locking in some key sectors so I knew I could get to the Northern hemisphere and back, then calling back and refining the sectors/changing dates, partly due to availability changing, partly to us refining and extending our itinerary and partly because I made a mistake on version 1.

We ended up making 3 sets of changes but only got 1 change fee(500points/pax=10,000), because the first two were before it had been ticketed - seems like roughly 24 hours between booking and ticketing but may depend on time of day and number of other airlines involved - and when I made the first changes the clock started again. No phone assistance fee because in premium cabins.

Setting up a BA account was simple, any made up address in UK worked. Gave better visibility of Qatar, Iberia, Cathay and others.

The call centre staff were very helpful and generally knowledgeable (WP may have helped with where the call was routed to). The most time spent waiting was for the tax calculations to come through and it seemed fairly consistent across all the calls - ie not dependent on the CSR's skill.

I saw pretty good availability in J from east coast to Japan in June and from HKG to east coast at end of July/August. (I actually ended up with the flight I really wanted to get home: DOH-AKL in J on QR, 2 pax on August 13th so 5 months away).

I didn't stress about getting as close as possible to 35,000miles - tried to focus on the holiday we wanted. Originally we were coming back via HKG and a 16 hour stoppver there on a Ssunday would have been worked to see friends, but generally the thought of treating a less than 24hour transit as a stopover and dealing with immigration/security/transport/etc to say we had been somewhere leaves me cold.

good luck to everyone trying to make it happen, and thanks for the assistance

 

[Ultan Lankford]

If a person missed a segment of their award fare, does qantas re calculate the entire fare as single segments and refund the difference in points or do you waive all the entire points?

 

[There'sOnlyOneJimmy]

If a person missed a segment of their award fare, does qantas re calculate the entire fare as single segments and refund the difference in points or do you waive all the entire points?

From the T&C page:
14.3.9 If a Member fails to board a Flight Segment of an itinerary containing only Classic Flight Reward Flight Segments, the remaining Segments will be cancelled. The cancelled Segments will only be reinstated if Classic Flight Reward seats are available. If any Segments are reinstated, the Reinstatement Fee will apply (see the Fee Schedule). In addition the Points required for the entire Itinerary including both travelled and reinstated Segments will be recalculated and any additional Points required will be deducted from the Member's account.
Note: If a Member fails to board a Flight Segment of a Classic Flight Reward on a flight operated by a Jetstar Airline, the Flight Segment will be considered used and cannot be reinstated. Any recalculation of the Points for the Itinerary will include that Segment as travelled.

 

[flychrisfly]

From the T&C page:
14.3.9 If a Member fails to board a Flight Segment of an itinerary containing only Classic Flight Reward Flight Segments, the remaining Segments will be cancelled. The cancelled Segments will only be reinstated if Classic Flight Reward seats are available. If any Segments are reinstated, the Reinstatement Fee will apply (see the Fee Schedule). In addition the Points required for the entire Itinerary including both travelled and reinstated Segments will be recalculated and any additional Points required will be deducted from the Member's account.
Note: If a Member fails to board a Flight Segment of a Classic Flight Reward on a flight operated by a Jetstar Airline, the Flight Segment will be considered used and cannot be reinstated. Any recalculation of the Points for the Itinerary will include that Segment as travelled.

So you could pay more if, say, the missed flight was one of the two non-QF flights required to make it a OneWorld award flight.

 

[okiedokie]

Booked a oneworld award. I'm flying into KLIA with Malaysia Air, leaving on Qatar early next day.
At the moment seems I can't check in online for anything. Possible to get the boarding pass in advance or am I going to have to clear immigration, then come back 2 hrs before the flight the next day? PITA much nicer to fly in, sleep airside, wake up late next day for the 10 min walk to the gate.

 

[shadowground]

there are transfer counters air side at KLIA so you should be able to get your onward boarding pass there assuming check in for the flight is open.

 

[okiedokie]

there are transfer counters air side at KLIA so you should be able to get your onward boarding pass there assuming check in for the flight is open.

I ended up calling, the guy could switch me to MNL->HKG->LHR->CDG which although is an inferior BA product in the middle, means no stopover though. Also no seat selection, 5 BA flights would cost around $500 in total in just picking a seat! Already in business class yet paid seat selection, I can see why their product is so poorly rated. Not as if it's RyanAir who's selling a $20 ticket and they need to make money elsewhere.

Would I need to do immigration at LHR or at CDG? The whole EU/UK thing is a bit confusing for me still.

I only have 90 mins changeover for the LHR leg.

Likewise on the way back, I have JFK->LHR->AMS->HKG.

Would I need to switch from international, to domestic for LHR->AMS, then back to international for the HKG flight? Or transit all the way though?

 

[flychrisfly]

I ended up calling, the guy could switch me to MNL->HKG->LHR->CDG which although is an inferior BA product in the middle, means no stopover though. Also no seat selection, 5 BA flights would cost around $500 in total in just picking a seat! Already in business class yet paid seat selection, I can see why their product is so poorly rated. Not as if it's RyanAir who's selling a $20 ticket and they need to make money elsewhere.

I wouldn't have changed! YMMV

 

[okiedokie]

It's really a trade off... unfortunately I have minimal time, I actually have all the time in the world but the miss's is already pissed I'm jetsetting for 2 weeks as it is! So the extra ~16 hrs this saves is valuable. I'm pretty lucky to have even done such an itinerary just 3 months out from what I've seen.

Every other flight appears to be great planes so 1 bad/inferior out of 9 isn't bad.

Cost maybe $2.5k total - card fees to get points + taxes - for 30,000 odd miles of business class flying. This itinerary with LCC's wouldn't be much cheaper, the one world RTW is actually quite good value.

 

[flychrisfly]

I ended up calling, the guy could switch me to MNL->HKG->LHR->CDG which although is an inferior BA product in the middle, means no stopover though.

Would I need to do immigration at LHR or at CDG? The whole EU/UK thing is a bit confusing for me still.

I only have 90 mins changeover for the LHR leg.

Likewise on the way back, I have JFK->LHR->AMS->HKG.

Would I need to switch from international, to domestic for LHR->AMS, then back to international for the HKG flight? Or transit all the way though?

If you're in transit, you're in transit - except if you're travelling through most US airports (any others?) Google 'schengen' if you want a better understanding of intra-European travel, noting that the UK is not in the schengen zone. Long story short - immigration at CDG on the way in and not in any of the transit points on the way home.

Also, look here for LHR transit info.

 

[okiedokie]

Great thank you - should have no issues then because transiting is very quick. Also happy to run if needed, wouldn't be the first time...

 

[Ultan Lankford]

From the T&C page:
14.3.9 If a Member fails to board a Flight Segment of an itinerary containing only Classic Flight Reward Flight Segments, the remaining Segments will be cancelled. The cancelled Segments will only be reinstated if Classic Flight Reward seats are available. If any Segments are reinstated, the Reinstatement Fee will apply (see the Fee Schedule). In addition the Points required for the entire Itinerary including both travelled and reinstated Segments will be recalculated and any additional Points required will be deducted from the Member's account.
Note: If a Member fails to board a Flight Segment of a Classic Flight Reward on a flight operated by a Jetstar Airline, the Flight Segment will be considered used and cannot be reinstated. Any recalculation of the Points for the Itinerary will include that Segment as travelled.

Thanks for that, not exactly that clear. What if you only use 2 segments and don't want to use the rest? Do you lose out on all your points?

 

[Captain Halliday]

From the T&C page:
14.3.9 If a Member fails to board a Flight Segment of an itinerary containing only Classic Flight Reward Flight Segments, the remaining Segments will be cancelled. The cancelled Segments will only be reinstated if Classic Flight Reward seats are available. If any Segments are reinstated, the Reinstatement Fee will apply (see the Fee Schedule). In addition the Points required for the entire Itinerary including both travelled and reinstated Segments will be recalculated and any additional Points required will be deducted from the Member's account.
Note: If a Member fails to board a Flight Segment of a Classic Flight Reward on a flight operated by a Jetstar Airline, the Flight Segment will be considered used and cannot be reinstated. Any recalculation of the Points for the Itinerary will include that Segment as travelled.

Thanks for that, not exactly that clear. What if you only use 2 segments and don't want to use the rest? Do you lose out on all your points?

Essentially you lose the rest. My bolding above.

 

[repete]

Seeking any suggestions... I am having real trouble seeming to get the site to work for me at the moment, keeps returning an error that: "We are unable to find the flight recommendations for requested segment (s) %s to %s on airlines that we search. (#9207)Is there something obvious I'm missing? I thought I was doing the same thing as I did about a month ago helping my brother out and now it's not working at all...even when I simplify to try something like a SYD-LHR-JFK-LAX-SYD itinerary, for random mid-year dates (I was trying more complex ones last time). Any ideas greatly appreciated- thank you.

 

[okiedokie]

JFK->LAX will be your problem I imagine - pretty sure any internal US flights were returning that for me.

In simplified code terms %s stands for string, it's not replacing it out properly with the city names.

It was very time consuming doing an award booking due to many generic errors like that, had to trial and error to find what exact segments were the issue.

I found it easier to search for award flights 1 by 1 in a separate tab, then compile an itinerary and do multi-city. Because any changes like a date meant going back through the whole process. Also solved the route problems.

 

[repete]

Genius - thanks okiedokie! I can now get an itinerary to return by taking out JFK - LAX. But as you alluded, no internal US flights seem to be able to be added like I could a few weeks back. So only 1 stop in US now? Thanks