Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[AL10]

Also, do surface sectors count in the mileage calculation?
I've calculated the below:
SIN - DOH - LHR = 7117

FRA - TYO - MEL = 10880

MEL - LAX - MEL = 15842

 

[cjd600]

Also, do surface sectors count in the mileage calculation?
I've calculated the below:
SIN - DOH - LHR = 7117

FRA - TYO - MEL = 10880

MEL - LAX - MEL = 15842

Yes, surface sectors count to mileage

 

[AL10]

Yes, surface sectors count to mileage

Thank you for the quick reply.

 

[AL10]

SIN-DOH-HEL-HKG-SYD-LAX-SYD-SIN 34912 according to GCmap. End itinerary in SYD rather than adding a return to SIN

SIN - DOH - HEL- TYO - MEL - TYO - LAX - TYO - HKG = 34,342miles. There's another option for me.

 

[cjd600]

SIN - DOH - HEL- TYO - MEL - TYO - LAX - TYO - HKG = 34,342miles. There's another option for me.

That includes miles HKG-SIN at the end?

 

[AL10]

That includes miles HKG-SIN at the end?

No, I was thinking of just stopping at HK and then making my own way back home to MEL.

 

[Captain Halliday]

No, I was thinking of just stopping at HK and then making my own way back home to MEL.

Making your own way home is fine, but you need to include the miles back to SIN and still be under 35,000 for the routing to be valid.

 

[AL10]

Making your own way home is fine, but you need to include the miles back to SIN and still be under 35,000 for the routing to be valid.

Thanks Captain Halliday. So effectively, the route is valid is I count the mileage as starting and ending at the same place (regardless of whether I actually start/end there).

Such great help. Thank you!

Edit: So MEL - SIN (transit) - DOH (transit) - HEL (stop) - FRA - TYO - HKG - (long stop) - lax- mel = 34,101 could work then, with me making my own way from HKG-MEL return.

 

[adenda]

The last ADL-MEL is neither of those. I'd try and escalate it if I were you. Without status, you might not be able to do it so easily.

Thinking about it a bit more I suspect the previous poster is right about rule 14.3.15. I'm guessing the rationale behind that rule is that assuming you have some miles and sectors left from your international travel those spare miles aren't used for a few domestic sectors just to use up the miles. Who knows?
Whatever - I'm wondering if I tried changing our KUL-ADL sector to a KUL-MEL sector (which ironically is likely to to involve a transit in either ADL, BNE or SYD as there aren't even Y seats available on direct flights) that that would be acceptable under the rules?
Otherwise it could be pretty hard to get back to your home city in Australia (under the award) if you couldn't find a direct flight.

 

[serfty]

Thinking about it a bit more I suspect the previous poster is right about rule 14.3.15. I'm guessing the rationale behind that rule is that assuming you have some miles and sectors left from your international travel those spare miles aren't used for a few domestic sectors just to use up the miles. Who knows?
Whatever - I'm wondering if I tried changing our KUL-ADL sector to a KUL-MEL sector (which ironically is likely to to involve a transit in either ADL, BNE or SYD as there aren't even Y seats available on direct flights) that that would be acceptable under the rules?
Otherwise it could be pretty hard to get back to your home city in Australia (under the award) if you couldn't find a direct flight.

The rule you are quoting is "14.3.5 A Classic Flight Reward Itinerary must contain no more than one departure from the city or country of first departure on that Itinerary. "

What that means, is that you cannot transit the city of first departure and once the routing returns to the country of origin, you cannot depart again.

There should be nothing wrong with flying MEL-ADL-DOH...KUL-ADL-MEL on a Qantas Classic oneworld award.

 

[Danger]

Thinking about it a bit more I suspect the previous poster is right about rule 14.3.15. I'm guessing the rationale behind that rule is that assuming you have some miles and sectors left from your international travel those spare miles aren't used for a few domestic sectors just to use up the miles. Who knows?
Whatever - I'm wondering if I tried changing our KUL-ADL sector to a KUL-MEL sector (which ironically is likely to to involve a transit in either ADL, BNE or SYD as there aren't even Y seats available on direct flights) that that would be acceptable under the rules?
Otherwise it could be pretty hard to get back to your home city in Australia (under the award) if you couldn't find a direct flight.

I'd keep pushing back on this. Ask the agents who deny you what the rule is you're supposedly violating. Another suggesting might be to jump on the phone and plan the exact same itinerary you've already got, but on different dates, in the hope that you'll get an agent telling you what you've planned is valid. Then ask them to look at your existing itinerary and do what you want.

At the end of the day, though, I wouldn't be losing your entire trip over a short hop between MEL and ADL.

 

[lukelegend]

With the upcoming points changes in booking a oneworld RTW ticket from 280k to 318k in J class, will the taxes/fees be cheaper to offset the extra points?

 

[Maki]

Good Evening,

I'm feeling a bit out of place, last time I booked an award ticket was more than 3 years ago, this time around QG engine is driving me crazy.
I am looking at booking 2xreturn tickets SYD-JFK in early March next year. My first option was to go via HKG but with all the unrest in the are am looking at routing via Tokyo.
I have 500k points and another 100k should come in a month or so.
I wanted to book SYD-HND-JFK-HND (SYD-HND in Y, the rest in J) but impossible to find the combination. If I split the search and look just at the HND-JFK leg it gets easier to find availability. There is even F but keeps changing daily.
Can I book HND-JFK leg first and then latercall QF to add the SYD flights later on when they become available? I don't want to lose flights while they ares still available.
I'm open to any other routing suggestion? Any advice helps.

Thank you alot!

Cheers
Maki

 

[Rtw]

Hey guys, looking for some advice on a Y Class OWA trip next year from mid Aug-mid Nov (12 weeks).
This is the trip planned so far

PER-FCO
*Surface to GLA*
GLA-YVR
*Surface to LAS*
LAS-HNL
HNL-NRT
NRT-PER

I have confirmed on multi trip search that this route fits the criteria for OWA after many attempts using random dates next year.

1. Do I wait until my last flight is available and then book the full trip?
2. Does booking Y Class OWA trips mean you have a lot more availability?
3. Will I get better options booking over the phone than using the multi city booking ?

 

[adenda]

I'd keep pushing back on this. Ask the agents who deny you what the rule is you're supposedly violating. Another suggesting might be to jump on the phone and plan the exact same itinerary you've already got, but on different dates, in the hope that you'll get an agent telling you what you've planned is valid. Then ask them to look at your existing itinerary and do what you want.

At the end of the day, though, I wouldn't be losing your entire trip over a short hop between MEL and ADL.

The consistent response I'm getting - again tonight - is that the computer says no. Don't know what I can do to escalate from there. I might give up.

 

[Kangol]

Has anyone noticed that Cathay award space for the most part has suddenly disappeared?
I've tried searching in a few places. No go.
Not sure if it has anything to do with what's going on in HKG...

 

[Ktan89]

Has anyone noticed that Cathay award space for the most part has suddenly disappeared?
I've tried searching in a few places. No go.
Not sure if it has anything to do with what's going on in HKG...

Not sure if it was sudden but when I had a look for some flights last night, there was no consistency and had huge blocks of dates not being available. There would be 1-2 days with awards at roughly 350 days away and then a few more dates at 280-290 days out.
This also seems to be the case with Qatar.. Is it going to be harder to get award seats now + point increase coming up.

 

[knightfall88]

Thanks Captain Halliday. So effectively, the route is valid is I count the mileage as starting and ending at the same place (regardless of whether I actually start/end there).

Such great help. Thank you!

Edit: So MEL - SIN (transit) - DOH (transit) - HEL (stop) - FRA - TYO - HKG - (long stop) - lax- mel = 34,101 could work then, with me making my own way from HKG-MEL return.

The rules say only 2 transfers may be taken at any one city. It doesn’t say airport. I take that to mean transfers at LHR, LGW or LCY all count as one city.

Regarding the stopover rules.

Are we allowed for any one city (not departure city) do 1 stopover and 2 transits? (basically arriving at that city 3 times)

 

[jeza]

Regarding the stopover rules.

Are we allowed for any one city (not departure city) do 1 stopover and 2 transits? (basically arriving at that city 3 times)

Yes you are. Though you may find some agents say you can't, in that case HUCA

Edit: Add in quote from T&C's

14.5.4 The following Stopover conditions apply to oneworld Classic Flight Rewards:


(a) up to five free Stopovers are permitted;
(b) additional Stopovers are not permitted;
(c) only one Stopover is permitted in any one city in the Itinerary; and
(d) only two Transfers may be taken at any one city in the Itinerary.

 

[pottsy]

I hope some of the experts on this forum have the time to check my Oneworld J Award itinerary:

SYD-HKG-CMB (stopover) -LHR (extended stopover) -JFK (extended stopover) -MIA(economy)-CUN (stopover) -DFW-NRT-BKK (stopover) -HKG-SYD. 33,625 miles

As advised here previously, I have booked SYD-HKG-CMB-LHR content (arriving LHR 22/6/20) and now want to add to the existing booking, the remaining flights on dummy dates to lock it all in. My husband and I are totally flexible with dates as we will not return until March 2021. We will be living in France from June through Oct 2020, at which time I hope to change the remaining flight dates to late 2020 and early 2021. I have gone with major carriers and airports to make it easier to keep route and carrier when rebooking the dates. I should pre-empt the award miles increase by booking before September 18, however if I have to make some changes before our departure in June 2020, we will have the necessary additional 76k points by then. I am hopeful though that if I can make the changes after the first two legs have been flown, our points cost will remain at 560k total.

I have checked and found the following availability for my dummy dates in J using the Qantas award search for most flights and Asia Miles for the Cathay Pacific flights which I couldn’t find on the Qantas engine.

27/6/20: LHR-JFK on BA185
4/7/20: JFK-MIA(economy) on AA1554
MIA-CUN on AA2492
6/7/20: CUN-DFW on AA1392
DFW-NRT on JL11
7/7/20: NRT-BKK on JL707
When more flights open up, hoping to get a long layover in Tokyo

9/7/20: BKK-HKG on CX616
HKG-SYD on CX111
Again, hope to get a long layover in HKG when I change these dates

Have I committed a grave error anywhere? Is my logic sound? We are transiting through HKG in the first leg on our way to Sri Lanka but my understanding is that we can transit through the same airport twice on this award? I'd like to book these flights asap if anyone has the time to advise me?
Thanks in advance

Hi, interested in the 'dummy' booking, (prior to Sept 18) then altering, at a later date in order to remain at 280,000 point cost! Can't see any replies to your query though? I am thinking of doing similar. Did you reach any conclusions please?

Just got off the call with Qantas. must have been really busy today because I asked for the call back since 5.30pm and tried again at 7.30pm.

After the CC put me on hold to checked with another department she confirmed by saying "you will not be charged extra points as long as you stay within the rules." I had to clarify it and told her the situation again..
I'm in the middle of my RTW redemption, the current cost is 280k but in September Qantas will increase the cost to 318k and since I can't book the last 2 legs until November.. Will I be charge the new rates at 318k?
"No, since you already started the booking it will cap at 280k as long as you stay within 35,000miles."

Sounds good, I'm pretty happy!
I asked her if she could email me this info or if there is something on the site where I can read this but she can't. The only thing she recommend is to quote this call because it is recorded and linked to the booking number.
I don't know to believe her on this one?

Hi, I am wondering the same re: increase in points! What is your view on putting in 'dummy' flights and then changing them when u wish (Nov)? Interested in your opinion?