Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

I've found a Classic Rewards itinerary that fits what I know so far, departing Sydney in April this new year and then a sequence of flights at the end of this year the last few of which I would hope to change to March/April 23 before departure.
It is SYD-DUB, DUB-MRU, JNB-BOM, CMB-PER, PER-SYD flying in J.
Are the two land segments permissible?
QFF says the DUB-MRU leg can only be via Paris and Air France but BA has 3 weekly flights to MRU from LGW.
And QFF will not show flights out of CMB but Malaysian and Sri Lankan both have flights.
Would this be acceptable and how to get around these last issues please?
 
I've found a Classic Rewards itinerary that fits what I know so far, departing Sydney in April this new year and then a sequence of flights at the end of this year the last few of which I would hope to change to March/April 23 before departure.
It is SYD-DUB … but BA has 3 weekly flights to MRU from LGW …

You would have transit/stops SYD-DUB (Dublin). There are no direct flight between the two.

For example, the proposed trip itinerary could be something like SYD/SIN/LHR/DUB//DUB/xx_/MRU//JNB/yyy/BOM/…. The itinerary routing/stops/transits are important to ensure that the trip is keeping within the rules.

Remember that although BA has flights to MRU, there needs to be availability for a QF oneworld award. BA may, or may not, provide that through QF for the flight(s) that you are looking at.

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I've found a Classic Rewards itinerary that fits what I know so far, departing Sydney in April this new year and then a sequence of flights at the end of this year the last few of which I would hope to change to March/April 23 before departure.
It is SYD-DUB, DUB-MRU, JNB-BOM, CMB-PER, PER-SYD flying in J.
Are the two land segments permissible?
QFF says the DUB-MRU leg can only be via Paris and Air France but BA has 3 weekly flights to MRU from LGW.
And QFF will not show flights out of CMB but Malaysian and Sri Lankan both have flights.
Would this be acceptable and how to get around these last issues please?
Surface sectors are permitted, but count towards your total mileage.

Air France is not a Oneworld member so you would need an alternative from DUB to MRU. One option would be BA DUBxLHR-MRU.

You could take BA from LGA but they also fly to MRU from LHR and there more options from DUB to LHR than LGW.
 
you've not given up on that Antarctic cruise yet, have you?
Got it in one! Changed companies (to Ponant) though due to being priced out of the first (Scenic).

Trying to tie it in with the W trek in Patagonia, before going to a work conference in Austria just before christmas. So SYD-SCL-Europe-somewhere in Middle East or Asia - home would work very nicely.

We can dream ....
 
Got it in one! Changed companies (to Ponant) though due to being priced out of the first (Scenic).

Trying to tie it in with the W trek in Patagonia, before going to a work conference in Austria just before christmas. So SYD-SCL-Europe-somewhere in Middle East or Asia - home would work very nicely.

We can dream ....
That sounds amazing, hope you get to do it
 
Got it in one! Changed companies (to Ponant) though due to being priced out of the first (Scenic).

Try Hurtigruten
 
Surface sectors are permitted, but count towards your total mileage.

Air France is not a Oneworld member so you would need an alternative from DUB to MRU. One option would be BA DUBxLHR-MRU.

You could take BA from LGA but they also fly to MRU from LHR and there more options from DUB to LHR than LGW.
Thanks. So to get those options I'd have to speak with Qantas?
 
Thanks. So to get those options I'd have to speak with Qantas?
If award seats are available they should be visible on the QF site. In reality, agents can sometimes see reward seats that don’t appear online and vice versa.

If you have BAEC membership, you could cross check availability.

If you can see award availability with BA but not on the QF site you could call QF to check, but it may also be that those seats are only available to BA members and the QF agent won’t have access.
 
If award seats are available they should be visible on the QF site. In reality, agents can sometimes see reward seats that don’t appear online and vice versa.

If you have BAEC membership, you could cross check availability.

If you can see award availability with BA but not on the QF site you could call QF to check, but it may also be that those seats are only available to BA members and the QF agent won’t have access.
I have learnt that some oneworld airline members do NOT necessarily update their award availability in real time . I was told that BA does it 3 times a day.
This may be one example of "phantom availability" - ie QFF websearch shows availability on BA (say) and in the time prior to this , a BAEC member may have snatched those/that seat/s and are no longer available from BA, BUT until the update goes thru , or the QFF agent tries to grab that seat for one of us , the QFF search engine shows those award seats as being available.
This is certainly one explanation of phantom availability - Likely that there are others as well.
 
Got it in one! Changed companies (to Ponant) though due to being priced out of the first (Scenic).

Trying to tie it in with the W trek in Patagonia, before going to a work conference in Austria just before christmas. So SYD-SCL-Europe-somewhere in Middle East or Asia - home would work very nicely.

We can dream ....
I'm still dreaming about European Christmas markets in December - I'm not giving up yet
 
Hello fellow members,
We are planning on travelling in early 2023 and are hoping to book a RTW ticket. We are in our middle to late 50s and I guess that we are just unsure where to start. I have just over a 1M QFF points which will easily cover a RWT for two in business class. I will dot point the questions that I can think of at the moment in hope that someone in the community may have been in a similar situation. We are not really into doing activities like jumping out of areophane's or anything like that. The plan is a more of a relaxing holiday with some sights to see and enjoy great weather and learn new cultures.

  • What would be the best direction to go (we live in Melbourne Australia) following the warm weather around.
  • Does anyone have an itinerary that might provide some ideas of places to go and see?
  • How do we ensure that we have full lay back beds/seats while travelling
  • What is the best and cheapest way to handle money / minimize transfer fees etc.
  • What is the best value travel insurance
  • What would the best way to book flights / accommodation etc.
  • Do you have any contacts that could help with planning / Ideas etc.

We would appreciate if anyone could point us in the right direction please. I don't want to make a mess of this and we do have some time to plan.

Thanks again
Regards
Ross J
 
It will be hard to provide advice when you are not sure where you want to go but in the context of the QFF oneworld award, most people tend to stick to the northern hemisphere and to the oneworld member airline hub cities which is where you are likely to find lay flat seats.

Flying westward is easier on the jetlag and a sample itinerary could be flying to London, perhaps with a stopover on Doha. Then fly to a major city in the USA and then a stop in Asia such as Tokyo on the way home to Melbourne.

It is not always easy to use QFF points to book a business class oneworld award so you will need to be flexible on destinations and dates which sounds like you are.

My recommendation is to first work out where you want to go and what you want to see. Once you work that out then the rest will follow.
 
It will be hard to provide advice when you are not sure where you want to go but in the context of the QFF oneworld award, most people tend to stick to the northern hemisphere and to the oneworld member airline hub cities which is where you are likely to find lay flat seats.

Flying westward is easier on the jetlag and a sample itinerary could be flying to London, perhaps with a stopover on Doha. Then fly to a major city in the USA and then a stop in Asia such as Tokyo on the way home to Melbourne.

It is not always easy to use QFF points to book a business class oneworld award so you will need to be flexible on destinations and dates which sounds like you are.

My recommendation is to first work out where you want to go and what you want to see. Once you work that out then the rest will follow.
Hi aikman, thank you for your reply, yes I was hoping that someone may have already been there done that so to speak and yes I am a ware that everyone is different but just sort of trying to get a few ideas. I will take on board the jetlag thank you and yes we are flexible on destinations. We have some time to plan so I agree will will have to start to identify places to stay.

Regards
Ross
 
Thank you for your reply Craven, I thought that you could use QFF points for a RWT ? Am I wrong.
Regards RJ
It's one of the talking points of this site the confusion with RTW.

You want a One world classic reward using your points - there is no requirement to go RTW. There is a long thread on planning here. Have fun

 
Thank you for your reply Craven, I thought that you could use QFF points for a RWT ? Am I wrong.
Regards RJ

RTW flights are paid for - Oneworld Classic Award is the one you are wanting. This will utilise your stash of QFF points.


Hope this helps ✈️ 😉
 
Thank you for your reply Craven, I thought that you could use QFF points for a RWT ? Am I wrong.
Regards RJ
Yes, you can use the Oneworld Classic Flight Reward (Oneworld Award) to fly around the world, but you don't have to. You can go half way and double back or whereever you wish, provided a Oneworld Airline flies there and you stick to the rules of the fare (e.g., max 35,000 miles, two airlines other than Qantas, etc.).

In relation to your trip:

What would be the best direction to go (we live in Melbourne Australia) following the warm weather around.
This is pretty much personal preference. However, as you are going early in the year, you may wish to consider Cherry Blossom time in Japan which is March/April (you would need to do some careful planning as the blossoms only last 7 to 10 days and bloom at diferent times in various parts of the country). It will be cool as the cheeries bloom at the beginning of spring but well worth a visit if that is your thing.

Does anyone have an itinerary that might provide some ideas of places to go and see?
Not sure anyone else's itinerary will help you; pick 5 places you would like to visit and an alternative 5, then see if you can link it together.

How do we ensure that we have full lay back beds/seats while travelling
Whilst you can always get a last minute substitution of a different aircraft, look at the airline and aircraft type for each leg. Be aware that short haul flights (especially in Europe) will mostly be an Economy seat with the middle seat blocked-out (the infamous Euro-Business).

What is the best and cheapest way to handle money / minimize transfer fees etc.
There are a small number of credit cards that have fee-free international purchases (e.g., the Coles Rewards Mastercard - the Black one not the cheaper ones, and you also earn Fly-Buys points). Also, the Citibank Plus Debit Mastercard has no fees. Many on this forum use this card.

What is the best value travel insurance
You'll need to do a lot of research on this one to see what suits your situation (including pre-existing medical conditions). There are a number of threads on this forum that will get you started.
 
Read our AFF credit card guides and start earning more points now.

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Below are some snippets/notes I have captured over the last 3-4 years of example routings and comments in this thread posted by various users. I kept a notepad file for ideas.
Might be some useful ideas for those pondering a OWA itinerary.
Note that the the old OWA points/taxes are sometimes quoted.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MNL-SYD-CFS/CFS-SYD-ADL-DOH-ATH/ATH-LHR-GVA/ZRH-AMM-HKG-MNL

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SIN-NRT(JL)/HND-SYD-PER(QF)/PER-HKG-HND(tf)NRT-HEL(CX/JL/AY)/HEL-HKG-PER(AY/CX) comes to $1850 approx
SIN-NRT(JL)/HND-SYD-PER(QF)/PER-ADL-DOH-HEL(QF/QR)/HEL-HKG-PER(AY/CX) comes to $2100AUD approx
SIN-NRT(JL)/HND-SYD-PER(QF)/PER-ADL-DOH-HEL(QF/QR)/LGW-DOH-ADL (QR) comes to $2K AUD approx

MNL-NRT/NRT-MEL-SYD-PER/PER-SYD-DOH-HEL/HEL-HKG-PER with the SYD-DOH-HEL on QR was the 42858PHP

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SIN-NRT/NRT-SYD-PER/PER-SYD-DOH-HEL/HEL-HKG-PER with one less QF leg, same otherwise, $2063SGD.

----------------------------------------------

Edit: fun fact, a similar run ex DPS comes to about $2700 AUD for 2pax:
DPS-HKG-NRT/HND-SYD-PER/PER-SYD-DOH-HEL/HEL-HKG-PER at 28323400IDR.

------------------------------------------

SYD - DUB CX stop
DUB - LON BA stop
LON - INNS BA stop
INNS - VCE land sector
VCE - MAD IB stop
MAD - SIN QR stop
SIN - SYD QF this flight is yet to be added because as a lowly silver no J options available to me yet. But I have been looking at flight availability on QF 297 days out and there are many options, if not direct to Sydney via Brisbane or Melbourne.

Total fees for 2 people in J $2542 - 560,000 points.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


PER xHKG YVR (stop) CX (both A350)
YVR - JFK (stop) CX (777)
**ground segment to Chicago**
ORD xLHR BRU (stop) BA (A380 + A320)
**ground segment to Rome**
FCO xLHR BER (stop) BA (A320)
**ground segment to Frankfurt**
FRA - NRT (stop) JL (787)
NRT xHKG PER CX (A330 + A350)



When calling just say you want to 'make changes to an existing award booking' and reel off your flights you want to add. Don't mention Oneworld Award etc, Round the World (definitely don't), or you'll likely trigger much confusion. They don't need to know what sort of award it is, as long as you keep within the rules it'll max out at 280k

If you’re booking in J (business) you should only have to pay two things when adding the extra sectors:
1. The change fee. It’s 5,000 points per person. IIRC
2. Any additional taxes that apply for the sectors you add. This is paid in cash.

If they try to charge you the telephone booking fee, you can point them to their own terms which say this doesn’t apply for awards in J.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FRA-MAD-GRU (stop 1 - São Paulo)
GRU-SCL-SYD-CBR (stop 2 - Canberra)
CBR-SYD-JNB (stop 3 - Johannesburg with surface sector to Windhoek)
WDH-DOH-DEL (stop 4 - Delhi)
DEL-HEL (stop 5 - Helsinki)
HEL-VIE
280k points for business class and around $1,750 in taxes

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One other trick you should consider. I noticed that your trip is just to Europe. You could consider having 2 holidays in Europe instead of just one. We have done this before and will be doing it next year as well (one trip in summer and one over Christmas). You just need to stop the first trip in Asia and start the second trip from Asia. In our case, Singapore is our "6 month stopover" and we will just pay for the SIN-BNE & BNE-SIN flights (we used Scoot last time for this). Keeping within the 35,000 miles can be a slight problem but it is do-able. Here is the itinerary I am current half way through booking for 2 in J and 1 in Y:
BNE-HKG(Stop)-LHR(Stop, surface)-BGO-HEL-SIN(6 month Stop)-HEL(Stop)-DUS(Stop, surface)-FRA-HEL-PVG-HKG-BNE (34,849 mi)

So we will have a month in the UK and Norway in Summer and spend Xmas/New Year in Germany and Austria. Hopefully. I've still got to book the flights home from Europe which could be a problem in January.
Including 6 flights on Finnair seems to be another good trick to keep the fees and taxes down. It requires a stopover in Helsinki and 2 transits. I have been booking these Finnair flights exactly 361 days before I want to fly, soon after they appear at 10am Brisbane time.

Can always start in AKL or DPS - whatever's cheapest for you to position to

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


QF MEL-SIN, QR SIN-DOH, QR DOH-FCO, STOP IB FCO-MAD, IB MAD-EAS, STOP (train to NICE, PARIS or BORDEAUX to fly to Helsinki) AY HEL-NRT, QF NRT-MEL

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MEL-SIN (QF) ~22 hour stopover
SIN-HKG-LHR-FCO (CX/BA)
FCO-MAD-RAK (IB)
CMN-MAD (IB)
MAD-SCL (IB)
SCL-SYD-MEL (QF)

I was very worried what the surcharges were going to come out to when on the phone to the operator as i was too tired of going through the process to reject anything. To my surprise it came out at circa $780 per person. Needless to say we booked. Not the ideal routing or airlines, but hey, we got to redeem some points at excellent value so we won't be complaining.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BNE-HKG-xDOH-FRA-overland-MAN-xHKG-DPS-xHKG-NRT-BKK-SYD

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PER-HKG-KIX (CX)
NRT-YVR (JAL)
YVR-JFK (CX)
LGA-MIA-GYE (AA)
GRU-MAD (LATAM)
PSA-LHR-HKG (BA)
HKG-PER (CX)
$600 tax

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SYD-HKG-CTU (Cathay)
CKG-HEL (Finnair)
VIE-MAD-JFK (Iberia)
LGA-MIA-UIO (American Airlines)
UIO-LIM-SCL (Latam)
SCL-SYD( QF)

Total surcharges + taxes ~$1200 per person. The last QF leg makes up most of it unfortunately so will keep an eye out any Latam seats that pop up.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


MEL-PER-LHR (QF)
LHR-MAD (Surface sector)
MAD-JFK-YYZ (IB, AA)
YYZ-ORD-YYC (AA)
YYC-LAX (Surface sector)
LAX-SCL-PNT (LAN)
PNT-SCL-MEL (LAN)

My only issue at this point is that PNT (Puerto Natales) doesn't exist in the Qantas system, so the LAN flights aren't visible via the multi-city tool. I assume this means I'll need to do the booking over the phone? It'd be nice if they waive the 6000 points seeing as it's not actually possible to book online.

____________________________________________________


CX: PER-JFK
BA: JFK-FCO & FCO-PRG
QR: CDG-SIN
CS: SIN-PER

(PER-JFK (via HKG), JFK - FCO (via LGW), FCO - PRG (via LHR), CDG-SIN (via DIA) and SIN-PER (via HKG) and surcharges came to $1750pp)
$1750
___________________________________________________


PER - ADL QF ADL - DOH - HEL QR. Over night in HEL but less than 24 hours.
HEL - BGO AY 12 nights. 11 on the cruise and one in Bergen.
BGO - HEL - LHR AY Managed to score a throne seat on the A330 from HEL to LHR. 7 nights in London
LHR - DOH - MLE QR Scored the Q-suites to DOH.
MLE - CMB UL in Y (90 minutes) then CMB - HKG - PER CX.

Fuel fines were high at just over $2k per pax. This was expected given the flights and cities. We will likely add on a side trip from London to Germany towards the end of our time in London. This would mean leaving Germany back to LHR and on to DOH. This should knock off a good few hundred dollars in terms of the UK APD.
Only comes in at 25,606. I could add a side trip to the US east coast from LHR and still be ok

__________________________________________________


SYD-ADL-DOH-SKPx-DOHx-ADDx-DOH-HKGx-SYD (J)

All on QR except for the last sector.

$2500 in taxes for 2 pax

__________________________________________________

MEL-SYD-xSIN-LHR (QF)
LHR-BCN (surface sector around Europe)
BCN-MAD-JFK (IB)
JFK-YYZ (AA)
YYZ-YYC, YYC-YVR (WS - not on OWA)
YVR-SFO (surface sector down the US west coast)
SFO-DFW-SCL (AA)
SCL-PNT, PNT-SCL (LA - not on OWA)
SCL-SYD-MEL (QF)
Taxes in Y - $1500
________________________________________________


HKG-DUB. DUB-LHR-AUS. AUS-PHX-SLC. SFO-SYD (8 week stop) SYD-HND. NRT-SYD

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

AKL-SCL // MVD-MIA // SJO-MAD-RAK // CMN-DOH-WDH // JNB-SYD-MEL // AKL
Total taxes/levies/carrier charges for the itinerary were $1,634 pp

______________________________________________________

SYD-HKG-JFK (CP)
PHL- LIS (AA)
LIS-MAD-BRU (IB)
BRU-LHR-NRT (BA)
NRT-MEL (JAL)
MEL-CBR (QF)

- taxes were $1670, got roughly the exact dates I needed for my scheduled appts.

________________________________________________________________

PER-DOH-AMM-ATH // JTR-HEL // ARN-DOH-KUL - trip 1
KUL-HKG-YVR-HKG-PER - trip 2

Europe and Canada, 2 trips 9 months apart. Just had to pay for KUL-PER-KUL (cheap Y) as well as ATH-JTR & HEL-ARN

_________________________________________________________________

SYD-HKG-JFK-LHR-LGW-VCE-FCO-SIN-SYD

I ended up paying just under $1600

___________________________________________________________________________________
Hello - would someone please check over my J OWR meets conditions? thanks in advance

MEl-HKG-ICN CX STOP
ICN-HEL AY STOP
HEL-FCO AY STOP
surface FCO-NCE
NCE-MAD-EAS IB STOP (NOT YET BOOKED)
surface EAS-BOD
BOD-HEL-NRT AY STOP
NRT-MEL JL (NOT YET BOOKED)
The mileage looks like well under 35k so I'd be looking at routing back via North America, just because you can. Something like HEL-xJFK/ORD-NRT. Also maybe MEL-xSYD-xHKG-ICN. Hell, you can even throw DOH in the mix. The upside too is that it gives you plenty of room to add in extra flights if you can't get the routing you want. Also make sure the flight between MAD and EAS is marketed and operated by Iberia and not Vueling.

____________________________________________________________________________________
2 trips!

SIN-HEL AY
HEL-TXL AY
AMS-DOH-PER QR
- 6 months- stop
PER-HKG CX
HKG-BCN CX
CDG-DOH-SIN QR
_____________________________________________________________________________________

MEL-ADL-DOH-ZRH (14.5 hours in Q Suites!)
ZRH-MAD-LIM
LIM-MIA (Surface for now - waiting for AA to release seats)
MIA-LHR-BCN
BCN-DOH-KUL
KUL-MEL
_____________________________________________________________________________________

BNE-SYD-SFO (Qantas)
SFO-CHG-LGD (AA)
JFK-LHR (BA)
LHR-FCO (BA)
FCO-DOH-HKG (QR)
HKG-MEL-BNE (Qantas

$2100 taxes

_____________________________________________________________________________________

1, SYD-MEL-SIN
2, SIN-HND-LHR
3, LHR-DFW-LAX
4, LAX-LAS
5, LAS-JFK
6, JFK-HKG, within 8 hours after arriving HKG,
7, HKG-SYD

Airlines: QF,BA,JL,AA,CX.
Total miles for all 10 segments, 34566miles.
5 stopovers: SIN, LHR, LAX, LAS, JFK
4 transit: MEL,HND,DFW,HKG

____________________________________________________________________________________

MEL-ADL QF
ADL-DOH-ZRH QR
ZRH-LHR-MIA BA
MIA-LIM LA
LIM-MAD-BCN IB
BCN-DOH-KUL QR
KUL-ADL MH
ADL-MEL QF

... for the bargain price of $2,133.26 per person.

____________________________________________________________________________________
PER - SYD QF (overnight but only a transit)
SYD - DOH - HEL QR (stop)
HEL - ARN - BGO SK Y (seperate booking, will explain later)
BGO - LHR - HEL AY (stop)
LHR - MUC BA (stop)
MUC - LHR BA - DOH - MLE QR (stop)
MLE - CMB UL (Y) - HKG - PER CX
___________________________________________________________________

Stopover 1: DEL
DBO-SYD-HKG-DEL

Stopover 2: AMM
DEL-DOH-AMM

Stopover 3: CAI
AMM-CAI

Stopover 4: FCO
CAI-AMM-FCO

Stopover 5: CUN
FCO-DOH-JFK-DFW-CUN

Return home to startpoint: DBO
CUN-PHX-LAX-SYD-DBO

____________________________________________________________________________

MEL-SIN-DOH-VCE-LHR-AMS-DOH-HND-KIX-MEL
Two Open Jaws. LHR-AMS & HND-KIX. LHR to AMS on Eurostar via Paris & Paris to AMS on the High Speed Train. Tokyo to Osaka via Kyoto on the Shinkasen.
With the SIN-DOH & the AMS-DOH/DOH-HND being in Q Suites
______________________________________________________________________________
BNE-SIN (stop)
SIN-DOH-VIE (stop)
MAD-LHR-JFK (stop)
SFO-HKG-BKK (stop)
BKK-NRT (stop)
HND-SYD-BNE
_______________________________________________________________________________
 

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