Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[gilldo]

but would be better to cancel now if you know you arent going to fly to give time follow-up the reticketing, would be more stressful to chase form overseas once the journey has begun.

Of course it would, and if I knew for sure, I'd do it. Depending on what happens next Tuesday, I might have no choice but to do it then.

In the end I hope not to have to do it at all.

Really appreciate the feedback - thanks

 

[Warragul]

I'm about to move from doing phantom searches to see what routings might be available to looking at actually booking some flights. When I search for city pairs flights that need two flights (eg SYD-BOS), the option of going SYD-HND-BOS isn't returned but searching SYD-HND (flight 1), HND-BOS (flight 2) on the same day shows availability. Can I assume that the minimum connection times are observed when these results are generated?

I have spotted with other similar searches invovling Tokyo that a flight arriving at NRT is offered as a connection to a flight departing HND 2 hours after the NRT arrival. So I wonder about the MCTs.

In the case of the Boston flight example JL offer that connection on their website, so it is acceptable, but I don;t know if i can trust the booking engine given the NRT/HND offering.

Thanks

 

[k_sheep]

Well this Qatar business is really annoying me. I need to change some dates of existing flights (WAW - DOH then DOH - DEL) which BA is showing 2 pax available in J every day in the months I'm looking. But of course nada from QF.

I was really hoping to just change dates to try to avoid messing about with my booking, hoping to lessen the chances of something going wrong (and hoping against hope it didn't trigger a reprice given I booked before the Ukraine war increases fuel fines) ... but that's looking rather hopeless right now

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I'm about to move from doing phantom searches to see what routings might be available to looking at actually booking some flights. When I search for city pairs flights that need two flights (eg SYD-BOS), the option of going SYD-HND-BOS isn't returned but searching SYD-HND (flight 1), HND-BOS (flight 2) on the same day shows availability. Can I assume that the minimum connection times are observed when these results are generated?

I have spotted with other similar searches invovling Tokyo that a flight arriving at NRT is offered as a connection to a flight departing HND 2 hours after the NRT arrival. So I wonder about the MCTs.

In the case of the Boston flight example JL offer that connection on their website, so it is acceptable, but I don;t know if i can trust the booking engine given the NRT/HND offering.

Thanks

Yes and no

If selecting flights via the multi city tool there will often be multiple options, but it will only let you proceed to the next stage if the selected flight meets all the requirements such as minimum connecting times.

For example, you might be able to see a flight from HND leaving two hours after arriving at NRT, and you will be able to select it, but when you hit ‘continue’ it should (will) return an error.If you select a flight that meets MCT it will allow you to proceed and select the next flight, etc.

Pre-covid minimum connecting time HND-NRT or vv was three hours. When buses were running frequently between the two that was more than enough time (gives you about an hour to spare). That might be ambitious post covid while japan is opening up… buses between the two may not be as frequent.

But if it allows three hours, you can accept that. The carrier is, in theory, responsible to get you to your destination.

 

[gilldo]

I have spotted with other similar searches invovling Tokyo that a flight arriving at NRT is offered as a connection to a flight departing HND 2 hours after the NRT arrival. So I wonder about the MCTs.

Depending on when you intend to do this, the option may not be available anyway.

As of this week you are unable to transit between airports in Tokyo due to Japanese COVID-19-related laws.

These are expected to be removed as part of the path to normality - we just don't know when.

 

[acinod]

Managed to add some flights to complete my OWA over the phone and the ticket just came through my email. But I'm very confused because they haven't mentioned anything about the additional points and taxes. Should I call up or is my booking confirmed because I have an e-ticket already?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Managed to add some flights to complete my OWA over the phone and the ticket just came through my email. But I'm very confused because they haven't mentioned anything about the additional points and taxes. Should I call up or is my booking confirmed because I have an e-ticket already?

If the points were already at the cal there might not have been any additional to collect.

For payment of taxes I’d give it a couple of days and see if they come through. If not, you don’t want qantas cancelling the ticket due to ‘non payment’ (which is a thing).

Even if QF’s error, getting award seats back might not be easy, so better to rectify in advance of any ticket cancellation.

 

[Warragul]

Depending on when you intend to do this, the option may not be available anyway.

As of this week you are unable to transit between airports in Tokyo due to Japanese COVID-19-related laws.

These are expected to be removed as part of the path to normality - we just don't know when.

Thanks. I wasn't aiming to to so the NRT-HND shuffle, but seeing it returned as an option got my wondering about MCTs in general even for flights at the same airport (not just Tokyo).

 

[jpp42]

As of this week you are unable to transit between airports in Tokyo due to Japanese COVID-19-related laws.

Gilldo, I undertand the sentiment of your comment but it's worth noting that this while this is the case for most foreigners, some people can in fact transit - Japanese citizens, residents, and those with certain visas. I'm pointing this out because there's been a bit of an outcry about "why do the airlines show these unusable itineraries" when in fact, airlines have no knowledge of whether their customers have the required visas or not. There are still a large enough group of people that can in fact transit, along with the uncertainty of when transit will be available for the rest of us, that it's reasonable for airlines to make these itineraries available. It's always been the responsibility of the traveller to know if a certain itinerary is suitable for their visa/passport status.

 

[gilldo]

Gilldo, I undertand the sentiment of your comment but it's worth noting that this while this is the case for most foreigners, some people can in fact transit - Japanese citizens, residents, and those with certain visas. I'm pointing this out because there's been a bit of an outcry about "why do the airlines show these unusable itineraries" when in fact, airlines have no knowledge of whether their customers have the required visas or not. There are still a large enough group of people that can in fact transit, along with the uncertainty of when transit will be available for the rest of us, that it's reasonable for airlines to make these itineraries available. It's always been the responsibility of the traveller to know if a certain itinerary is suitable for their visa/passport status.

I'm not having a go at the airlines for making the itineraries available, but more of a courtesy warning to people that they might get an unpleasant surprise while boarding or trying to enter.

See the case of the 25 AU-bound pax at NRT last Sunday night after their onward flight was cancelled.

I can't wait for them to reopen.

 

[squid01]

Can only speak for my experience with the 3 or 4 changes to my OWA, but each time I have accepted changes a new e-ticket has been sent shortly after with a new ticket number for the whole booking.

So I would be wanting a new e-ticket to be issued by Qantas ASAP, which unfortunately likely means a phone call as I am not aware of any other way to try and force it through.

New auto e-ticket came through this afternoon, 48hrs after I accepted the change. All flights in CMT now all have tickets number, and it’s a new number. So looks like I’m all set.

Way too stressful all this stuff. Almost lost the whole itinery couple weeks ago when it went unticketed due to a change and flights started dropping off. Leaving Monday with a QF domestic flight hopefully the strikes don’t effect my flight :/

 

[djkelly69]

New auto e-ticket came through this afternoon, 48hrs after I accepted the change.

Glad to hear it - hope it all goes well!

Not sure why it took so long to issue though - I have had another forced change, accepted it, and received my (further) updated e-tickets in the same amount of time. Could be to do with how close you are to leaving maybe?

 

[jpp42]

Not sure why it took so long to issue though

When the e-tickets take several days it's likely because something was complex enough that they couldn't be auto-ticketed, and it goes into a manual queue that's processed by an offshore team in Manila. The problem is that certain airlines will cancel the booking if not re-ticketed within a relatively short period of time (looking at you, Qatar, but also MH), and there were problems with this queue being very backed up earlier this year and many people losing flights as a result. Anecdotally it seems a bit better now.

 

[squid01]

When the e-tickets take several days it's likely because something was complex enough that they couldn't be auto-ticketed, and it goes into a manual queue that's processed by an offshore team in Manila. The problem is that certain airlines will cancel the booking if not re-ticketed within a relatively short period of time (looking at you, Qatar, but also MH), and there were problems with this queue being very backed up earlier this year and many people losing flights as a result. Anecdotally it seems a bit better now.

Yes I fell victim to that with an MH flight dropping on a previous change when the whole thing became unticketed. This change though all flights still had a ticket number so they were safe. If I never have to phone Qantas again I’ll be happy.

 

[SnowmanShroomz]

Hi All,
Does anyone know why there are no longer any award availabilities with Qatar airways from Africa (Tanzania) to Australia? When I first started planning my round the world trip in May they were still there but I had to wait to get the dates right...

Post automatically merged: Sep 7, 2022

Has anyone else noticed that the award seats from Africa (Tanzania) to Australia have been removed? When I first planned my around the world trip there were flights from Tanzania to Sydney via Qatar but can't seem to find them anymore? Anyone know what's going on?
Cheers

 

[jeza]

@SnowmanShroomz it’s not just ex Tanzanian with QR but a general lack of award seats on QF.

See the thread below

QR withholding award seats from Qantas?

It's been pointed out to me that Qatar Airways seems to be releasing fewer award seats to Qantas Frequent Flyer members than it is for other Oneworld partner airlines. For example, if you search for Qatar Airways business class award availability from PER to LHR anytime in 2022, there are 4 "U"...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[kctt]

Hi everyone. Was there any significant change to Finnair routes?
I have an Osaka-Helsinki flight with Finnair next year which was quietly cancelled without notice.
I only find out about it when I receive email from CMT and Qantas today about another change flight Copenhagen to Bangkok (via Helsinki) with Helsinki to Bangkok leg departed before I would arrive in Helsinki from Copenhagen.
What should i do? Qantas website shows no suggested option for the cancelled flight Osaka-Helsinki. Is it common to be cancelled just like that? I cannot find any business reward seat around the cancelled flight date. I reckon tough luck to find one
Thank you.

 

[levelnine]

Was there any significant change to Finnair routes?

Yes, huge changes:

FINNAIR Schedule change 2022/2023 - impact on Rewards Bookings

If , like me , you have a trip to Europe booked via Tokyo and Helsinki next year note below. Particularly worrying given QFs seeming inability to re-ticket reward seats in a timely manner. Note change to Haneda. If flying into Narita - unable to transfer to Haneda based on current restrictions...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You probably won't find an alternative, sorry. Now that Qantas has lost Qatar availability, the OWA is quickly becoming less and less viable because it is getting so hard to get to/from Europe on a oneworld carrier with Cathay largely out of action, Qatar gone, Finnair cancelling routes, Qantas rarely releasing seats etc.

 

[melbkate]

Hello all - I have J trip for June 2023 booked MEL-DOH-FCO on Qatar coming home CDG-HEL AY1574 (3 days there) then HEL-NRT AY73 connecting though NRT-MEL on JAL773

From: Helsinki departs at 17.45
To: Tokyo (Narita) (terminal 2) arrives at 09.10
Flight: AY73

connecting with

From: Tokyo (Narita) (terminal 2) departs at 10.30
To: Melbourne (terminal 2) arrives at 21.55
Flight: JL773

Just got sent a flight change for the AY flights - CDG-HEL AY1574 to AY1572 2 hours earlier no big deal as staying in Helsinki for 3 days however the new HEL-NRT is now changed to 2 hours later AY61 and flying into HAN

Obviously we are now 4 hours late for our JAL773 and also in wrong terminal. So what do I do? I am afraid of losing the Qatar flights. Do I just wait for Qantas to hopefully put us on JL051 19.20 HAN-SYD-MEL best option I can see? Or do I try and orchestrate it myself?

Also if I do nothing does it need to be reticketed anyway and could possibly lose the Qatar flights?

I have a bad feeling about this booking! Advice welcome.. Kate

 

[kctt]

If i have a flight booked with transit, for example Paris to Copenhagen via Helsinki (CDG-HEL-CPH), is it possible to request cancel just one leg Helsinki-Copenhagen and keep Paris-Helsinki? This is part of OWA trip.
If it is a standalone booking only 1 flight, i think it's not allowed but probably ok in OWA multi flights?