Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[cjd600]

Re points to change a J ticket, you are charged 5k points per person per call - you can make multiple changes on the same call for the one charge. The telephone assistance points fee is waived for J tickets......the actual change fee still applies

 

[Captain Halliday]

Does anyone have experience with fuel charges if POS (and original departure) is from Singapore? Trying to work out an itinerary with a couple of breaks back home in Perth.

Significantly cheaper than ex.AU.

There’s some detail in the wiki, but as a rough guide my first OWA which was 33,996 miles was broken down by a TA who estimated the fuel fines to be several hundred dollars cheaper ex. SIN.

 

[Jacques Vert]

235: You have too many sectors within Europe Middle East region. Check the flight allowances and adjust your itinerary".

Have you tried putting it into the QF multi-city tool using dummy dates?

 

[geoffshaw]

If you use the oneworld page it uses the rules for the paid RTW ticket. The award rules are different.

 

[exceladdict]

Significantly cheaper than ex.AU.

There’s some detail in the wiki, but as a rough guide my first OWA which was 33,996 miles was broken down by a TA who estimated the fuel fines to be several hundred dollars cheaper ex. SIN.

Thanks, that's good news. I'm currently finding it easier to get flights back to AUS via SIN than DPS or HKG at the moment. Seems to be significantly less direct to HKG unless in a married segment. Will post what I end up finding.

 

[OzziTravellers]

235: You have too many sectors within Europe Middle East region. Check the flight allowances and adjust your itinerary".

Have you tried putting it into the QF multi-city tool using dummy dates?

I did but IVL wasn’t available in the QF tool so tried HEL instead and couldn’t get it to click over to the 280k at any point just kept adding points up to 492k.

 

[nickfromeastryde]

I did but IVL wasn’t available in the QF tool so tried HEL instead and couldn’t get it to click over to the 280k at any point just kept adding points up to 492k.

How about posting exactly what you tried using the QF Multi City Tool

 

[Jacques Vert]

I did but IVL wasn’t available in the QF tool so tried HEL instead and couldn’t get it to click over to the 280k at any point just kept adding points up to 492k.

Works for me when I put it into the Multi-city tool using HEL instead of IVL and last segment DAR-DOH-KUL-MEL.

Were any of your transits more than 24 hours?

GCMap calculates 32,948 miles on my itinerary; did you check whether the connections in the itinerary you searched stayed under 35,000 miles?

 

[p--and--t]

Re points to change a J ticket, you are charged 5k points per person per call - you can make multiple changes on the same call for the one charge. The telephone assistance points fee is waived for J tickets......the actual change fee still applies

Well yes and no. Depends on the operator and also depends on whether the change is bookable on the website engine.

I booked my initial itinerary through the operator and pointed out the JL seat I wanted appeared on JL and BA but not on QF. No fee

I changed my itinerary later adding 2 more sectors in the middle and pointed out the airport I wanted to fly into comes up as no such destination on the QF site but I could see it on AA and BA. No fee.

If you attempt online a legitimate itinerary and the QF site errors on you, then you are within your rights to request no assistance fee.

 

[cjd600]

Well yes and no. Depends on the operator and also depends on whether the change is bookable on the website engine.

I booked my initial itinerary through the operator and pointed out the JL seat I wanted appeared on JL and BA but not on QF. No fee

I changed my itinerary later adding 2 more sectors in the middle and pointed out the airport I wanted to fly into comes up as no such destination on the QF site but I could see it on AA and BA. No fee.

If you attempt online a legitimate itinerary and the QF site errors on you, then you are within your rights to request no assistance fee.

The point, in response to a specific question was that a J award fare is not automatically exempt from the change fee, but it is for the assistance fee.
Its quite well known that the assistance fee can be waived for any travel class if the change cannot be made online due to error. Additions to existing oneworld award fares can't be actioned online regardless, and I'd be surprised if you avoided a change fee in this instance.. You don't mention which class of travel your example refers,at any rate

 

[OzziTravellers]

Works for me when I put it into the Multi-city tool using HEL instead of IVL and last segment DAR-DOH-KUL-MEL.

Were any of your transits more than 24 hours?

GCMap calculates 32,948 miles on my itinerary; did you check whether the connections in the itinerary you searched stayed under 35,000 miles?

Thanks Jacques - I did it again a couple of times and got it to show the 280k - I must have either inadvertently selected a non-partner (Emirates) or gone over the 35k miles, or actually now I think about it I wonder if there was a 3rd transit spot through London. Thanks for the tips.

 

[jboy90]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to do my first around the world trip in J and wanted to confirm my thoughts. I'm looking at something simple like:
>AUS to LHR on CX
>LHR to somewhere in Europe on BA or Finnair
>Potentially an internal flight or two within Europe
>Europe to AUS on CX (or Japan Airlines)

I was hoping to book the first set of flights, and then call Qantas when seats are available for the return Europe to AUS route. Questions:
>One of my aims for this strategy is so I can get my LHR to Europe flight on BA in J, but have it linked to my AUS to LHR flights so I get through checkin (even though this is possible with the CX oneworld interline rules). Will my strategy work in this regard?
>What are the costs of me calling Qantas and having the additional flights added to my existing AUS to LHR booking? I understand there are no fees for J reward changes made by phone? Obviously there will be the additional points to get me to the 280,000 total, plus the additional taxes.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Jacques Vert]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to do my first around the world trip in J and wanted to confirm my thoughts. I'm looking at something simple like:
>AUS to LHR on CX
>LHR to somewhere in Europe on BA or Finnair
>Potentially an internal flight or two within Europe
>Europe to AUS on CX (or Japan Airlines)

I was hoping to book the first set of flights, and then call Qantas when seats are available for the return Europe to AUS route. Questions:
>One of my aims for this strategy is so I can get my LHR to Europe flight on BA in J, but have it linked to my AUS to LHR flights so I get through checkin (even though this is possible with the CX oneworld interline rules). Will my strategy work in this regard?
>What are the costs of me calling Qantas and having the additional flights added to my existing AUS to LHR booking? I understand there are no fees for J reward changes made by phone? Obviously there will be the additional points to get me to the 280,000 total, plus the additional taxes.

Thanks in advance!

There is a change fee of 5,000 points per person.

 

[Danger]

I'm aware that you can't make routing changes after the first flight but is it possible to make date, time, carrier and class (e.g. J becomes available when all you could get at booking is Y) possible after first departure?

 

[There'sOnlyOneJimmy]

I'm aware that you can't make routing changes after the first flight but is it possible to make date, time, carrier and class (e.g. J becomes available when all you could get at booking is Y) possible after first departure?

Given that you’re posting here, I assume that your itinerary includes international flights.
If that assumption is correct, then the rules say no...
Extract from the rules:

14.7.5 Subject to this clause 14.7, the following changes are permitted to a Classic Flight Reward flight before departure of that flight, provided the entire booking contains only Flight Segments that are within Australia, and will incur a Change Fee (see the Fee Schedule) per passenger:

(a) change to flight number;
(b) change to date of travel;
(c) change to class of travel; and
(d) change to a direct or indirect Segment routing without a Stopover (provided the origin and destination cities remain unchanged) or airline.

14.7.6 Subject to this clause 14.7, the following changes are permitted to a Classic Flight Reward flight before departure of that flight, provided the booking contains one or more Flight Segments that are not within Australia, and the Flight Segment(s) being changed do not include a partner airline that requires a ticket to be reissued for the change. Any such change will incur a Change Fee (see the Fee Schedule) per passenger:

(a) change to flight number; and
(b) change to date of travel.

 

[Captain Halliday]

Given that you’re posting here, I assume that your itinerary includes international flights.
If that assumption is correct, then the rules say no...
Extract from the rules:

14.7.5 Subject to this clause 14.7, the following changes are permitted to a Classic Flight Reward flight before departure of that flight, provided the entire booking contains only Flight Segments that are within Australia, and will incur a Change Fee (see the Fee Schedule) per passenger:

(a) change to flight number;
(b) change to date of travel;
(c) change to class of travel; and
(d) change to a direct or indirect Segment routing without a Stopover (provided the origin and destination cities remain unchanged) or airline.

14.7.6 Subject to this clause 14.7, the following changes are permitted to a Classic Flight Reward flight before departure of that flight, provided the booking contains one or more Flight Segments that are not within Australia, and the Flight Segment(s) being changed do not include a partner airline that requires a ticket to be reissued for the change. Any such change will incur a Change Fee (see the Fee Schedule) per passenger:

(a) change to flight number; and
(b) change to date of travel.

Is that a change to T&Cs they’ve slipped under the radar?

Though I’ve never made a date/time change after commencing a OWA, I’m reasonably confident it used to be allowed. I’m sure people have posted in this thread that they’ve done so.

 

[There'sOnlyOneJimmy]

Is that a change to T&Cs they’ve slipped under the radar?

Though I’ve never made a date/time change after commencing a OWA, I’m reasonably confident it used to be allowed. I’m sure people have posted in this thread that they’ve done so.

For an itinerary that includes an international sector, date/time changes are still OK (see 14.7.6 above).
It’s Danger’s proposed carrier/class change(s) that cause the issues - OK for a 100% Domestic itinerary, but not if it includes international sectors.

I can confirm from personal experience that the date/time changes can be done (provided that award seats exist).

 

[There'sOnlyOneJimmy]

I had a similar experience with the distance calculations today.
I was trying to get the last couple of sectors of a OWA booked, knowing that I was running very close to the bone on remaining mileage.
I couldn’t get the exact sectors I wanted, but was offered an acceptable alternative. As I’ve been trying to complete this Itinerary for about 3 weeks (waiting for @#$&*% Cathay to release some award seats...) I decided to grab the plan B on offer.
The csa finished off her tasks, took the credit card details, etc., and we finished the call.
Then I thought: Oh Dear (or words to that effect), that different routing might have taken me over the mileage - I hope this goes through OK.
I have calculated out all the sectors, including a few land sectors, using the distances (in Km) provided by both GCM and OneWorld. Both methods gave me totals about 500Km (~1%) too many.

But I hope I’m right in believing that the Itinerary is OK:
* I’ve received an updated itinerary, including the new sectors, with a brand new e-ticket number;
* The Points have been deducted from my QFF account (including the change fee points); and
* The fines & taxes have hit my credit card account.

Am I OK, or do I need to worry a bit more?

Well this seems wierd...
In an optimistic, but futile, attempt to change my existing plan B flights to my preferred plan A flights, I rang QFF today.
In an effort to divert myself from the disappointment of finding that @#$&*% Cathay still hasn’t released any award seats, I asked whether the csa could see how many miles my itinerary was showing.
She said something like ‘I’m not sure, but there’s a field here that says MLS, that might be it... it says 35xyz’ (where x, y & z each indicate an integer >2).
It appears VERY plausible that MLS does mean Miles, because the number quoted was within 0.01% (yes, I do mean one 100th of a percent) of the number calculated using GCM and the OneWorld tool.
But, it’s hard to believe that the system would not enforce the strict 35,000 mileage limit.
Does anyone know if MLS = Miles, and if so, how much ‘wiggle room’ is embedded in the system?

 

[benjy]

These questions about changing are very timely as I'm finalising Part B of my One World award, and starting to get concerned my planned segments won't have the award seats available when I want to book.

What I'm doing
Part A (in just over 8 weeks ) which is all booked and ready to go
MEL > PER > KUL
KUL > HKG > NRT
NRT > HNL
(separate ticket back to MEL)

Part B (planned for September 2019, will drag it to different dates if allowed)

(separate ticket to YVR)
YVR > JFK
JFK > LHR
HEL > DOH > MEL (on QR)

If I'm reading correctly, I'm able to book Plan B now for dates in 2019 where Award seats are available, get it all ticketed etc. Then, after I've completed Part A, I can call and request to change dates for Part B as long as Award seats are available for the dates I want, and the segments, class of travel and airlines aren't changed?

If the above is true, it will be great, I will book plan B this week, stress less and then worry about it after Part A has been completed.

Thanks in advance

 

[lovetravellingoz]

These questions about changing are very timely as I'm finalising Part B of my One World award, and starting to get concerned my planned segments won't have the award seats available when I want to book.

What I'm doing
Part A (in just over 8 weeks ) which is all booked and ready to go
MEL > PER > KUL
KUL > HKG > NRT
NRT > HNL
(separate ticket back to MEL)

Part B (planned for September 2019, will drag it to different dates if allowed)

(separate ticket to YVR)
YVR > JFK
JFK > LHR
HEL > DOH > MEL (on QR)

If I'm reading correctly, I'm able to book Plan B now for dates in 2019 where Award seats are available, get it all ticketed etc. Then, after I've completed Part A, I can call and request to change dates for Part B as long as Award seats are available for the dates I want, and the segments, class of travel and airlines aren't changed?

If the above is true, it will be great, I will book plan B this week, stress less and then worry about it after Part A has been completed.

Thanks in advance

As long as you have not commenced you first flight.