Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[bookworm]

Hi everyone,

Thank you for all your help, greatly appreciated.

My itinerary thus far looks like this:-

1. PER-MEL (TRANSIT)
2. MEL-NRT (TRANSIT)
3. NRT-LAX (TRANSIT)
4. LAX-LAS (STOPOVER)
5. LAS-SFO (SURFACE SECTOR)
6. SFO-ORD(TRANSIT)
7. ORD-LHR(TRANSIT)
8. LHR-IST(STOPOVER)
9. IST-DOH(STOPOVER)
10. DOH-MEL(TRANSIT)
11. MEL-PER

I am curious if I can add on :
SFO-YVR(STOPOVER)
YVR-SFO (TRANSIT)
After #5 above

Please advise.

Also I have not received an email from Qantas with the tickets. (spoke to them more than 24 hrs ago)
Flights are showing up on all the carriers and when I log in to Qantas.

Thank you very much.

Good Day,

Much appreciate all the responses.

Just an update: After another marathon session with call centre, they could not add SFO-YVR , because they said their system could not process flights out of one destination (in this case SFO twice, as I'm also flying out from SFO to ORD)
They could not add on YVR-SFO because of some codeshare flight.

 

[Mr H]

Good Day,

Much appreciate all the responses.

Just an update: After another marathon session with call centre, they could not add SFO-YVR , because they said their system could not process flights out of one destination (in this case SFO twice, as I'm also flying out from SFO to ORD)
They could not add on YVR-SFO because of some codeshare flight.

You can absolutely fly out of the same airport twice. You can even do it three times if one of your visits is a stopover.

 

[Jimmy Chen]

I have the following itinerary for two people in U:

SYD-MEL-NRT
HND-LAX
(LAX-JFK)
JFK-LHR
LHR-DOH
DOH-HKG
HKG-SYD

Travel after Boxing Day this year. Had the flights and everything, QF website error, and then as I'm calling, all the QR flights had U availability removed? So now my LHR-DOH and DOH-HKG sectors only have X availability. Does anyone know if this is a common occurrence, with QR revenue management maybe removing the seats from redemption?

 

[Sydney BE]

Just got notified that jal cancelled my return flight from hnd to SYD in July. So looks like I'm back to working out an alternative. They did the same on out outbound which which we were going to transit via Tokyo. Which I get because Japan isn't yet open to tourists but does this mean it is highly unlikely they will be open even by late July

 

[Jacques Vert]

Given LAS-SFO is a surface sector, I thought under OWA rules only the arrival point (LAS) counts as stopover, but not the departure point (SFO)?

That's what the rules are supposed to be but in practice it will depend on the agent that answers the phone (assuming they eventually do).

 

[ozflier]

I have the following itinerary for two people in U:

SYD-MEL-NRT
HND-LAX
(LAX-JFK)
JFK-LHR
LHR-DOH
DOH-HKG
HKG-SYD

Travel after Boxing Day this year. Had the flights and everything, QF website error, and then as I'm calling, all the QR flights had U availability removed? So now my LHR-DOH and DOH-HKG sectors only have X availability. Does anyone know if this is a common occurrence, with QR revenue management maybe removing the seats from redemption?

It would help to understand better what happened.
Are you saying that you identified the above itinerary online including "u" seats on the QR sectors and then when you rang QFF to actually book , they could not see them.
Its pretty upsetting.
Maybe the issue could be that other airlines award availability is released only a couple times a day and may not be updated immediately when someone from another airline frequent flier program sees those seats, and grabs them earlier than you and that transaction is not reflected at once on the QFF site- this has happened to me or at least that was the explanation given to me by Qantas.
I haven't heard of Qatar unilaterally cancelling a passenger's flights once they have been properly ticketed.

 

[Danger]

I have the following itinerary for two people in U:

SYD-MEL-NRT
HND-LAX
(LAX-JFK)
JFK-LHR
LHR-DOH
DOH-HKG
HKG-SYD

Travel after Boxing Day this year. Had the flights and everything, QF website error, and then as I'm calling, all the QR flights had U availability removed? So now my LHR-DOH and DOH-HKG sectors only have X availability. Does anyone know if this is a common occurrence, with QR revenue management maybe removing the seats from redemption?

I've had similar, although not on a oneworld award. My flight into HND has been changed to NRT and my short transit has become 30-hour stop.

Just got notified that jal cancelled my return flight from hnd to SYD in July. So looks like I'm back to working out an alternative. They did the same on out outbound which which we were going to transit via Tokyo. Which I get because Japan isn't yet open to tourists but does this mean it is highly unlikely they will be open even by late July

As ozflier noted, it's quite possible a member of a frequent flyer program with a half-decent award booking system snapped up the seats your were looking at.

 

[DC3]

I have the following itinerary for two people in U:

SYD-MEL-NRT
HND-LAX
(LAX-JFK)
JFK-LHR
LHR-DOH
DOH-HKG
HKG-SYD

Travel after Boxing Day this year. Had the flights and everything, QF website error, and then as I'm calling, all the QR flights had U availability removed? So now my LHR-DOH and DOH-HKG sectors only have X availability. Does anyone know if this is a common occurrence, with QR revenue management maybe removing the seats from redemption?

I’m guessing that you were yet to book any flights for your proposed itinerary and were still in the process of trying to confirm availability.

Possibly phantom availability showing, or someone else snapped up the seats.

 

[Pom-DownUnder]

Quick question all, can the multi-city be trusted?

playing around with a few options i'm looking at:
CBR-DOH
DOH-MAN
NCL-YYZ
YYZ-NCL
LHR-DOH
DOH-CBR

now this 'passes' on the multi-city and returns an option to book for 318,000 as would be expected.

however if i try and do this same journey on the oneworld website it falls down when i try and change from heading west to heading back east at the YYZ-NCL leg it throws an error.

if it looks good on the multi-city on QF site it'll work and get ticketed?

Thanks.

 

[Sydney BE]

You don't need to travel in one direction on a oneworld award booking. For a paid around the world fare you do but the award fare is just based on number of stops, miles and availability

 

[DC3]

Quick question all, can the multi-city be trusted?

playing around with a few options i'm looking at:
CBR-DOH
DOH-MAN
NCL-YYZ
YYZ-NCL
LHR-DOH
DOH-CBR

now this 'passes' on the multi-city and returns an option to book for 318,000 as would be expected.

however if i try and do this same journey on the oneworld website it falls down when i try and change from heading west to heading back east at the YYZ-NCL leg it throws an error.

if it looks good on the multi-city on QF site it'll work and get ticketed?

Thanks.

Are you looking at the oneworld site for a particular reason? If seeking to book a QF classic award itinerary, it would be done on the QF site.

 

[Pom-DownUnder]

You don't need to travel in one direction on a oneworld award booking. For a paid around the world fare you do but the award fare is just based on number of stops, miles and availability

wow the one situation in the world where awards are more flexible than cash money? crazy days

 

[JohnM]

wow the one situation in the world where awards are more flexible than cash money? crazy days

Not quite - availability is likely to = rocking horse excrement.

While a DONEx (ie. a true RTW) can be challenging at times, it's nothing like as challenging as a OWA.

Up until Covid, my main mode of O/S travel was an annual DONEx for 16 successive years, often of several months' duration. The 17th was booked for 2020 but had to be cancelled.

The rest is history...

 

[Captain Halliday]

Not quite - availability is likely to = rocking horse excrement.

While a DONEx (ie. a true RTW) can be challenging at times, it's nothing like as challenging as a OWA.

Up until Covid, my main mode of O/S travel was an annual DONEx for 16 successive years, often of several months' duration. The 17th was booked for 2020 but had to be cancelled.

The rest is history...

Oi! Wrong thread for those three letters. It just adds to the confusion for newbies.

Besides, I thought you were chief of police on this issue.

 

[Mr H]

wow the one situation in the world where awards are more flexible than cash money? crazy days

There are many things you can do on a redemption that are impossible or crazy money using cash. Mostly involving interlining.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Yes, the Euro-business can be rather ordinary. Middle (economy-type) seat blocked (with a snap-in tray set-up) in Business and just a rather stale/dry sandwich to eat for lunch on BA LHR-FCO several years ago

Dunno… I find Eurobusiness on BA (and others like AF, KL, LX) to be far superior to anything QFd offers on the same size plane. Quality of catering, champagne, ratio of staff to pax and personal space (width wise) leave QF way behind. For a one or two hour flight I’d gladly take the extra space in eurobusiness compared to someone reclining in front of me on a QF 737

Granted some euro business aren’t that great… like IB.

 

[Mr H]

Dunno… I find Eurobusiness on BA (and others like AF, KL, LX) to be far superior to anything QFd offers on the same size plane. Quality of catering, champagne, ratio of staff to pax and personal space (width wise) leave QF way behind. For a one or two hour flight I’d gladly take the extra space in eurobusiness compared to someone reclining in front of me on a QF 737

Granted some euro business aren’t that great… like IB.

Different people have different preferences. Certainly the empty seat next to you makes a huge difference, but that is something that can often happen in Y anyway. Is it worth paying extra for that guarantee? The recline on the seats is not great - means you don't have anyone reclining into your lap but you won't be reclining yourself. If you are comfortable sitting upright then it's no biggy. Quality of catering often depends on the time of day. If you can get lunch or dinner then that's great. If it is snack or the dreaded breakfast then you are not going to be writing rave reviews.

 

[bookworm]

You can absolutely fly out of the same airport twice. You can even do it three times if one of your visits is a stopover.

Thank you for responding.

I did point this out and kept getting told that the system would not process it.

Another gripe is that many flights (different airlines) showed up as available on my end, but I was told there was no availability. I was told that their system has live updates. This was really frustrating.

 

[Guvner]

My SYD-JNB flight in Sept just got moved back a day. Seems they are dropping the Sunday flights.
It's part of an OWA with QR legs. No new e-ticket yet. I have a bad feeling about this.

So no e-ticket still. Miraculously the QR legs haven't dropped off (yet), just waiting for that to happen and completely screw up the whole OWA.
Rang again this morning, spoke to an agent in SA who sounded like she had Covid or Ebola or something, sniffed and snorted her way through the call.
Apparently my e-ticket request was placed in the "wrong queue" and is now in the "priority queue"...

What a farce.
A cousin of mine (Tim) rowed from Australia to Africa in 57 days. The clock is ticking Qantas.

 

[Jimmy Chen]

It would help to understand better what happened.
Are you saying that you identified the above itinerary online including "u" seats on the QR sectors and then when you rang QFF to actually book , they could not see them.
Its pretty upsetting.
Maybe the issue could be that other airlines award availability is released only a couple times a day and may not be updated immediately when someone from another airline frequent flier program sees those seats, and grabs them earlier than you and that transaction is not reflected at once on the QFF site- this has happened to me or at least that was the explanation given to me by Qantas.
I haven't heard of Qatar unilaterally cancelling a passenger's flights once they have been properly ticketed.

See itin here:


I could confirm the itinerary on Qantas website - tickets not issued yet. Got that generic error so I called up QF at around 2am, got transferred to NZ centre and kind lady helped me to book. By that time however, QR showed no U inventory on any flight in or out of Doha. Other segments were fine.

The curious thing is that I had checked on BA to confirm availability for direct LHR-DOH and DOH-HKG flights (which there were) literally two or three hours ago before I got on the phone, and I even had contingencies like LHR-MUC-DOH and DOH-SIN-HKG; however these now all show X only, also on BA. So it's borderline impossible for someone to snap everything up, unless the even the BA system is showing phantoms.

Expertflyer also doesn't show QR availability, "our provider is having problems"...

I've had similar, although not on a oneworld award. My flight into HND has been changed to NRT and my short transit has become 30-hour stop.



As ozflier noted, it's quite possible a member of a frequent flyer program with a half-decent award booking system snapped up the seats your were looking at.

I’m guessing that you were yet to book any flights for your proposed itinerary and were still in the process of trying to confirm availability.

Possibly phantom availability showing, or someone else snapped up the seats.

Unless a hundred people snagged seats for even things like LHR-CPH-DOH, LHR-MUC-DOH etc, I don't think that's the case. I confirmed all the available sectors and dates on BA as well before booking, but at 2am AU time the U invent was all gone. Even today:



Only RJ has J availability in and out of DOH..