Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[grussellt]

Try searching for the flights you need (internal USA) on American Airlines AAdvantage (free to join) and then call QFF and feed them the award flights you have found. They will need to be Milesaver awards on AA to qualify.

 

[JaneFlyer]

I also encountered this issue recently. You need to call and they'll sort out internal USA flights for you. Not sure why it's not possible online anymore.

 

[Dave G]

Just nailed the flights of a lifetime in J - get this - for 6 of us ( Most of the way - leaving the eldest in New York)
Perth->Hong Kong,Hong Kong->Zurich
Rome-> Berlin
London->New York
New York-> Vancouver ( had to split 2 in J, 2 PE and 2 economy)
Vancouver-> Dallas ( economy)
Dallas -> Doha, Doha-> Perth

Even though Rome -> Berlin and London ->New York are BA, the taxes weren't too bad - under $1000 each for the whole trip
Pretty stoked

 

[madrooster]

Just nailed the flights of a lifetime in J - get this - for 6 of us ( Most of the way - leaving the eldest in New York)
Perth->Hong Kong,Hong Kong->Zurich
Rome-> Berlin
London->New York
New York-> Vancouver ( had to split 2 in J, 2 PE and 2 economy)
Vancouver-> Dallas ( economy)
Dallas -> Doha, Doha-> Perth

Even though Rome -> Berlin and London ->New York are BA, the taxes weren't too bad - under $1000 each for the whole trip
Pretty stoked

Well done if you managed to get 5 J seats on DFW-DOH-PER. QR normally only releases 4 seats in J at tops...

 

[Dave G]

Yep - had to wait until 1 Feb for the return flight - only 4 until then.
Was a bit stressful - had to wait for my Woolies points to post - and in the interim lost LAX->DOH by one day
DFW will be a nice change - Traveled through LAX and Houston a few times

Looking forward to trying the centurion lounge there

Now just need a few J seats released on JFK -> YVR. Looks like they only ever release 2 until close to flight date

 

[Danger]

If anyone is on the hunt to book one of these right now, you will find the award booking engine is broken and will not display any AA (and, possibly, North American) flights on any date on any route through end of schedule. Qantas can see them and book them for you but you can't do it with the engine so a good opportunity to have the booking fee waived.

It's been this way since at least Tuesday afternoon. Qantas is apparently aware of it but it seems there's no rush to fix it.

Just nailed the flights of a lifetime in J - get this - for 6 of us ( Most of the way - leaving the eldest in New York)
Perth->Hong Kong,Hong Kong->Zurich
Rome-> Berlin
London->New York
New York-> Vancouver ( had to split 2 in J, 2 PE and 2 economy)
Vancouver-> Dallas ( economy)
Dallas -> Doha, Doha-> Perth

Even though Rome -> Berlin and London ->New York are BA, the taxes weren't too bad - under $1000 each for the whole trip
Pretty stoked

A perfect example of how this award does not require round the world travel.

Yep - had to wait until 1 Feb for the return flight - only 4 until then.
Was a bit stressful - had to wait for my Woolies points to post - and in the interim lost LAX->DOH by one day
DFW will be a nice change - Traveled through LAX and Houston a few times

Looking forward to trying the centurion lounge there

Now just need a few J seats released on JFK -> YVR. Looks like they only ever release 2 until close to flight date

May I ask what card you have in order to access the Centurion lounge?

 

[Dave G]

Danger,
Certainly - I have a platinum charge - that I understand should gain my family access on this trip.
Most of the time I will use the airport lounges - although I understand that YVR is a Plaza Premium

 

[yld200]

It's been this way since at least Tuesday afternoon. Qantas is apparently aware of it but it seems there's no rush to fix it.

AA searches are now visible using the QF award search engine

 

[exceladdict]

AA searches are now visible using the QF award search engine

That makes estimating taxes in this early stage of planning far, far easier for me

 

[wokstar]

Hello everyone,

Wondering if the more experienced members are able to give me their opinions on whether the taxes on this J award itinerary are about right.

My itinerary is:
BNE > HKG (CX) Transit
HKG > JFK (CX) Stop 1
JFK > MAD (IB) Stop 2
MAD > MUC (IB) Transit
MUC > TXL (AB) Stop 3 (economy)
TXL > ARN [Surface/own means]
ARN > HEL (AY) Transit
HEL > HKG (AY) Transit
HKG > SGN (CX) Stop 4
SGN > NRT (JL) Transit
HND > CTS (JL) Stop 5 (economy)
CTS > HND (JL) Transit (economy)
NRT > SYD (JL) Transit
SYD > BNE (QF) Home

Total taxes paid is: ~$1140 each ($2280 for 2)

The reason that I ask is because after my final change the e-ticket was issued which showed a refund amount.
I called up, asking about it and QF said it would be refunded to my account. Waited a few weeks with no refund received so called up again, QF said yes, refund is coming.
Waited another week and still no refund received so called again today. Now QF said they made an error in the e-ticket taxes and no refund will be issued...

The refund amount shown was for ~$1300 which would have brought the total taxes down to an amazing ~$500 per person.

So I am just wondering what the opinion is on the taxes, given that they've said refund coming twice but then changed their mind.

Thanks!

 

[fairbasa]

For comparison, your itinerary looks similar to mine in terms of airlines and # of segments. You have IB where I have QR in mine, but QR I understand charge more in taxes. Destinations are obviously different. $1100 looks a bit high.

Here is my itinerary below:

MEL-ADL 737 QF J
ADL-DOH A350 QR J
DOH-HEL A320 QR J
HEL-TLL ATR72 AY Y STOP
TLL-HEL ATR72 AY Y
HEL-MIA A330 AY J
MIA-CUN 737 AA J STOP
CUN-DFW A321 AA J
DFW-JFK 737 AA J STOP
JFK-YVR 777 CX J STOP
YYC-YVR A320 AC Y (Cash fare - Outside award)
YVR-NRT 787 JL J STOP
NRT-SYD 777 JL J
SYD-MEL A330 QF J


Taxes: $700.900 pp

Probably worth following up again methinks.

 

[exceladdict]

Hello everyone,

Wondering if the more experienced members are able to give me their opinions on whether the taxes on this J award itinerary are about right.<snip>

The refund amount shown was for ~$1300 which would have brought the total taxes down to an amazing ~$500 per person.

So I am just wondering what the opinion is on the taxes, given that they've said refund coming twice but then changed their mind.

Thanks!

A trans-atlantic leg on IB, back in USDM days, added similar taxes to BA (~$500 off memory, this was a marathon call centre call). Perhaps check that leg in isolation to check what the taxes on that are and maybe look for an AA or AY alternative

 

[wokstar]

I did call again to query the taxes, and neither the latest consultant nor supervisor could make heads or tails of it so I have been asked to provide evidence of what I have been charged as they couldn't find it in their system...

So I have emailed that off and will be awaiting their response.

I also think the taxes on the IB flight are causing these silly buggers to happen, as during previous itinerary changes it was mentioned that the taxes had to be calculated manually because of the IB flight.

I did have a quick look via the QFF website for the JFK>MAD flight on IB as a single leg and taxes are shown as US$60 per person.

My initial booking included taxes at A$224 per person which included:
BNE>HKG>JFK (CX) and,
JFK>MAD (IB)

So I am not sure how they calculated the total of $1140 per person for the full itinerary.

 

[Daver6]

You can always check the taxes yourself using https://matrix.itasoftware.com/ if you can be bothered. Doing so once saved me $900 (2 pax) on a 280k booking.

 

[Dudditz]

Booked my first 280k J Award only 3.5 months out from commencement (Beginning late July and finishing in Feb 2018). To complicate matters more I had to coordinate seats with my partner who is using Avios to mirror my itinerary and is located in the states.

MEL>SYD>SIN QF J
SIN>DOH>JNB QR J
JNB>DOH>SOF QR J
CAI>DOH>KUL QR F/J (Revenue fare)
BKK>DOH>CAI QR J/F (Revenue fare)
TLV>AMM>IST RJ J
IST>LHR>ORD BA J
ORD>LAX>MEL AA/QF Y/J

$1130 taxes 34951 miles total

Opportunity to fly QR A350 and A380 as well as the QF787 in feb next year! Weeks of work looking at BA, QF and making multiple phone calls. WP came in handy requesting a J seat in Feb from LAX>MEL although unfortunately no availability in AA J class for any flights and I didn't have the miles left to consider JAL or CX home. This would have been possible if I was able to find two J seats on the SYD>JNB flight in July but I could only request one for myself. Not many options getting to across the atlantic to ORD besides BA, RJ and IB especially just before xmas. Three visits to the Al Mourjan Business lounge and one visit to the Al Safwa first will beat the sad excuse of a OWE lounge I have visited in the past. Very excited for my partner to experience J class for the first time also, she's been incredible in supporting my addiction

The end will also mark her moving to Melbourne to be with me after over a year of long distance. I fought the battle and won but let's face it we do live on a special patch of Earth

 

[Inuniform]

I have a RTW award coming up in July. On my QF booking page there is only the option to select seat preferences as aisle or window. Is there any time beforehand that seats can be selected on the award booking?

 

[ozflier]

My experience is that sometimes

you can enter that airlines booking ref ( not the QF one) into their website and request seats online
or
ring the airlines local office and request
and
for those airlines with no presence in Australia, email or fax the request thru to their USA office.

Most times this works out and seat selection can be made as early as you like.

I have a RTW award coming up in July. On my QF booking page there is only the option to select seat preferences as aisle or window. Is there any time beforehand that seats can be selected on the award booking?

 

[fairbasa]

What airlines are you trying to choose seats on? It varies airline to airline.

As ozflier said, you can either do it through each respective airline's website or call them. Generally, once selected the seat requests will show on your QF MMB page.

To access your booking on each airline's page, you need to know THEIR PNR for your booking. Some airlines will use the same PNR as QF, some you will need to find using CheckMyTrip.

 

[Inuniform]

Thanks to both of you. I have already booked seats for 4 flights with QR with the information provided. I have most of my other flights with CX and one flight apiece with BA and AA. Will try and get some more seats locked in. Thanks again to both of you.

What airlines are you trying to choose seats on? It varies airline to airline.

As ozflier said, you can either do it through each respective airline's website or call them. Generally, once selected the seat requests will show on your QF MMB page.

To access your booking on each airline's page, you need to know THEIR PNR for your booking. Some airlines will use the same PNR as QF, some you will need to find using CheckMyTrip.

 

[yld200]

Qatar airlines is usually the best to select seats on, just enter you QF booking code and all flights should appear.

For some AA and JL flights you'll need to log in through the specific site and enter their specific Booking reference which is different from the QF one. You can get this by downloading the My Flights app and loading your flight with the QF booking code, then at the bottom of your summary it'll display all of the individual booking references for each airline on the booking.

There's also a site that'll do this, cant remember the name now but its in this thread somewhere.

I'd highly recommend getting the app because it'll notify you of any changes to your booking - time, aircraft, status, etc.