After following this blog for over two years, and with check-in due for our One World Classic award (580,000 point) trip opening in 5 weeks, I thought it worthwhile giving a word of encouragement to those still in the planning stage.
Apologies if it’s a bit long-winded but I learned a lot from others going through their experiences on here and this might help someone else. With all the advice and help available on this site, plenty of patience and attention to detail, several thousand extra FF points to cover changes, some forward planning and a smidgin of luck it is possible to book that dream trip.
We started planning our trip over 18 months ago so we were ready to book on the day our first flights opened. This meant being online literally the minute they became available and having a series of alternatives available if our first choice flights/airline/itinerary wasn’t available.
Over the next 8 weeks or so I again went online the minute the subsequent flights opened, and using this method was able to secure 90% of our first choices. Where a first choice wasn’t available we went with our second choices intending to try and get our first choice over the months ahead. To be honest we would have been happy if we couldn’t make any changes but by checking the QANTAS site regularly (and in the end every day) we were able to get 9 out of 10 of our first preference airline. All Business class, all with preferred seating, all with the better carriers and all to fit our itinerary.
I start work early so first thing every morning at 6-ish I would check if any new award availability had opened up, and if so rang Qantas FF immediately to secure the seats. At this time of morning I never waited any longer than 5 minutes and was frequently through in under 1 minute. Qantas call staff were all fantastic and couldn’t do enough to help. We did have one hiccup (experienced by a few others) when already booked flights disappeared after some changes but this was picked up, fixed and re-ticketed within 30 minutes.
If you don’t get your first choice flights initially I strongly recommend booking your second or third choice and then just keep trying. For example our return trip was from Rome to Brisbane and the only Business class flights I could get meant an awkward 16-hour stopover in Hong Kong (FCO/DOH/HKG/BNE). I booked that as a safeguard but kept looking and as late as last week (only 10 weeks before check-in) was able to book a day later HKG/MEL/BNE alternative which allowed us two days and nights in Hong Kong, and better flight schedules for the trip.
The only flight I haven’t been able to change is San Francisco to New York, which a the moment is a redeye flight with a 90-minute layover in Chicago. I am still checking every morning for a direct day flight but it seems American Airlines are notorious for lack of award availabilty on this route.
We leave mid-September for 5 weeks and our final itinerary goes as follows:
BNE-SYD-SFO (Qantas)
SFO-CHG-LGD (AA)
JFK-LHR (BA)
LHR-FCO (BA)
FCO-DOH-HKG (QR)
HKG-MEL-BNE (Qantas)
Choosing the airlines and airports that we did It meant it certainly wasn’t cheap at around $4,200 in fees and charges and an extra 20,000 points all up but considering what we are getting we are not complaining. We have exactly the trip we wanted; round the world all in J (even managed Qsuites with Qatar), with premium carriers, where we wanted to go on the days and at the times we wanted, and could not be happier.
It can look tricky but with a little bit of preparation and perseverance its worth it.
