"oneworld" award (132.4K/249.6K/318K/455K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

[Mr H]

After the e-tickets came through a refund of 318,000 points were credited back to my account with the description "CANCELLED - CLASSIC FLIGHT 1 ADT REF xx_xx_ ON REDEMPTION". I was immediately scared that the agent had cancelled one of my tickets... BUT, I have 2 new e-tickets with the confirmed itinerary and I can still see my booking on the Qantas website and also seat selection for 2 pax is also showing on all the airlines websites.

So, long story short do I need to be alarmed or should I keep quiet and accept that Qantas' incompetency has benefitted me 318k in points???...

Cheers, Ash

Congratulations on getting a South African agent - I wish I could have some of your luck.

It is a common practice for changes to result in points being returned. Never fear, you will be debited the points again in the near future.

 

[awah]

Congratulations on getting a South African agent - I wish I could have some of your luck.

It is a common practice for changes to result in points being returned. Never fear, you will be debited the points again in the near future.

HUACA was my favored approach. Would usually get through to SA on 2nd/3rd attempt. Wait time was less than 15 mins, Points Club allegedly gets you priority calls but who knows the truth of that one. Now just have to wait for a Business seat on the return leg to show up!

 

[Rich]

Hi Team!

Last week I managed to make a OWA booking for Jul-Aug next year on the following itinerary for 2 pax in Business.

MEL-HKG (QF)
HKG-BKK-AMM (RJ)
AMM-FCO (RJ)
AMS-HEL (AY)
HEL-JFK (AY)
JFK-ORD-SFO (AA)
YVR - HKG (CX)
HKG - MEL (QF - economy)

I consider myself extremely lucky to have managed to book these through an agent in Cape Town with touch wood, relatively few issues so far. The first agent transferred me to her team leader who was doing all of the RTW bookings because they are still in training apparently. Being armed with all the knowledge prior to calling was very helpful and I NEVER accepted a call back when it was offered.

I called back over the weekend to have the 1st sector upgraded to business on the same flight (QF29) because when I initially booked the agent couldn't see U class seats available even though they were appearing online. When I called back the new agent could see the seats and I now have new e-tickets confirming we are now in business for that flight. A small increase in taxes were also processed from my CC.

After the e-tickets came through a refund of 318,000 points were credited back to my account with the description "CANCELLED - CLASSIC FLIGHT 1 ADT REF xx_xx_ ON REDEMPTION". I was immediately scared that the agent had cancelled one of my tickets... BUT, I have 2 new e-tickets with the confirmed itinerary and I can still see my booking on the Qantas website and also seat selection for 2 pax is also showing on all the airlines websites.

So, long story short do I need to be alarmed or should I keep quiet and accept that Qantas' incompetency has benefitted me 318k in points???...

Cheers, Ash

There is a similar question from 1 or 2 weeks ago in this thread. From memory the answer was inconclusive.
I hope it works out for you. It is a pretty good itinerary, especially because it looks like you only just booked it and have only 1 evonomy flight.
Is this all for 318k points each? If so, what are the actual stopovers?

 

[awah]

There is a similar question from 1 or 2 weeks ago in this thread. From memory the answer was inconclusive.
I hope it works out for you. It is a pretty good itinerary, especially because it looks like you only just booked it and have only 1 evonomy flight.
Is this all for 318k points each? If so, what are the actual stopovers?

Hey Rich! I'll go back and see if I can find the discussion.

Yes only booked it a week ago. 318k each, stops are HKG (by 3 hours...), AMM, FCO + Europe (surface sector to AMS), JFK, SFO (surface sector to YVR).

The most difficult part was getting out of North America, with the second hardest being in and out of Aus to HKG.

 

[sunny_aus]

Qatar business class reward seats are basically no longer bookable with Qantas points.

You'll need to find an alternative.

Thanks for that. I have done some rejigging looking for suitable flights, have found it a little difficult to get direct flights to destinations we wanted.

I have a couple more questions I was hoping people would be able to help out with.

Some current flights I have identified are:
1. BKK-AMM (RJ), arriving 0510
2. Departing at 0830: AMM-LHR-CPH (BA)

Will I be able to check our baggage all the way through from BKK to CPH? Or is that at the discretion of the RJ person checking us in at BKK?
If they are unable to, and we need to go through immigration, collect our bags and then check-in again at AMM, what happens if the first flight is delayed? Is there any chance of the AMM-LHR-CPH leg being rebooked as it's all part of the same OW Award Booking, or because it is officially two separate flight bookings, it's tough luck?

Similarly, have managed to find:
1. AMS-LHR-PVG (with BA), arriving 0755
2. Departing 1125: PVG-HKG (with CX)
We then have a 23hr transit in HKG (was planning on spending the night exploring) before a flight back to SYD via MNL the next day
Is there any change of BA checking our baggage all the way through to HKG? And if not, again if the inbound flight into PVG is delayed, what does that mean for the PVG-HKG leg?

Thanks

 

[Mr H]

Thanks for that. I have done some rejigging looking for suitable flights, have found it a little difficult to get direct flights to destinations we wanted.

I have a couple more questions I was hoping people would be able to help out with.

Some current flights I have identified are:
1. BKK-AMM (RJ), arriving 0510
2. Departing at 0830: AMM-LHR-CPH (BA)

Will I be able to check our baggage all the way through from BKK to CPH? Or is that at the discretion of the RJ person checking us in at BKK?
If they are unable to, and we need to go through immigration, collect our bags and then check-in again at AMM, what happens if the first flight is delayed? Is there any chance of the AMM-LHR-CPH leg being rebooked as it's all part of the same OW Award Booking, or because it is officially two separate flight bookings, it's tough luck?

Similarly, have managed to find:
1. AMS-LHR-PVG (with BA), arriving 0755
2. Departing 1125: PVG-HKG (with CX)
We then have a 23hr transit in HKG (was planning on spending the night exploring) before a flight back to SYD via MNL the next day
Is there any change of BA checking our baggage all the way through to HKG? And if not, again if the inbound flight into PVG is delayed, what does that mean for the PVG-HKG leg?

Thanks

You should be able to through check your bags both times because your flights are in the same ticket and the transit is less than 24 hours in any one airport. You will need to retain your luggage receipts and you may not get the boarding passes all at once, in which case the transit deals will ask to see those luggage checks.

If it is reassuring, I through checked luggage AMM-LHR-HEL-DEL-MEL using three different airlines (RJ, AY and QF) with long transits and the overall journey spreading over four days

 

[sunny_aus]

You should be able to through check your bags both times because your flights are in the same ticket and the transit is less than 24 hours in any one airport. You will need to retain your luggage receipts and you may not get the boarding passes all at once, in which case the transit deals will ask to see those luggage checks.

If it is reassuring, I through checked luggage AMM-LHR-HEL-DEL-MEL using three different airlines (RJ, AY and QF) with long transits and the overall journey spreading over four days

Thanks, that is reassuring.

So just to confirm, even though on the Qantas online booking section it lists Flight 1 as BKK-AMM with RJ, and then Flight 2 as AMM-LHR-CPH with BA, I should be ok to get bags checked all the way through to the end destination?

 

[Mr H]

Thanks, that is reassuring.

So just to confirm, even though on the Qantas online booking section it lists Flight 1 as BKK-AMM with RJ, and then Flight 2 as AMM-LHR-CPH with BA, I should be ok to get bags checked all the way through to the end destination?View attachment 309007

Yes

Obviously nothing in life is ever 100% certain as you will meet unexpected situations, but if you ask for your bags to be through checked there is no reason why they would not be. If, by some freak occurrence, they do not through check your bags then you will need to stump up for a visa on arrival in Jordan and collect your bags, take them upstairs and check them in again. But this will not happen.

Either way, if your inbound flight is late and causes you to miss the connection, it will be up to RJ or BA to re-accommodate you. Both airlines fly to London and there are plenty of flights from LHR to CPH.

 

[am0985]

After the e-tickets came through a refund of 318,000 points were credited back to my account with the description "CANCELLED - CLASSIC FLIGHT 1 ADT REF xx_xx_ ON REDEMPTION". I was immediately scared that the agent had cancelled one of my tickets... BUT, I have 2 new e-tickets with the confirmed itinerary and I can still see my booking on the Qantas website and also seat selection for 2 pax is also showing on all the airlines websites.

So, long story short do I need to be alarmed or should I keep quiet and accept that Qantas' incompetency has benefitted me 318k in points???...

Cheers, Ash

This same thing happened to me about two months ago. They didn't debit the 318,000 points yet, so as it stands I've got a RTW ticket for 0 points and about $1500...

 

[algae]

Hey all,
I've got flights booked for a trip in April next year, which i've had for quite some time.
The trip starts with PER>HKG>YYZ with Cathay in J.

Perth to HKG, no issue. Cathay is flying 3 days a week from Perth, including the Friday i'm booked on.
HKG to Toronto on the other hand, they operate 7 flights per week in April.... but not on the Saturday i'm booked on.
Theyre not selling cash tickets on Saturday anymore either. However my booking is still working on their website and hasnt been cancelled yet.

Any idea what's most likely?
- Flight will get cancelled closer to the date and my whole month long trip will be stuffed
- They will move me to the Sunday flight (making it a 15h stopover in HKG)
- Timetable might change again and they'll add a Saturday flight?

 

[Rich]

I am wondering, with flight cancellations and time changes, when should I get worried and when should I leave it alone as I am concerned about calling QF unnecessarily and then they mess something up.
As a simple example, I have an award booking for March flying QF metal to USA but returning on 2 x AA flights. Originally to SFO, but QF were pro-active in advising they delayed resumption of SFO flights and put me on an alternative. (The alternative wasn't really suitable but there was no problem calling as a PB and getting that fixed, but maybe I was just lucky).
What about AA?
From what I understand, if they cancelled my flight before we started the journey (left Australia), that would be a concern and probably (?) leave us without a holiday, but if they cancelled after we started they would have to get us home. Please correct me if I am wrong.
What I am not sure about is a change of flight time. When do flight time changes cause problems?

 

[Westly]

Thanks to everyone who responded to my post for information. Sorry for any confusion, I have been confusing terminology between RTW and OWA tickets in my research – The OWA ticket, flying economy is what I am looking to book.

I would like to book as much as I can on the OWA ticket, and will need to book the remainder myself. I can find available OWA reward seats for:

Signapore ->Athens (British Airways)
Reykjavik->Barcelona (British Airways)
Madrid->Lima (American Airlines)
Cancun->Tokyo and; (America Airlines)
Tokyo->Perth (JAL/Qantas) or (JAL/MH)

This leaves Perth->Signapore, Athens->Reykjavik and Lima->Mexico City to be booked outside of the OWA ticket. I realise this isn't ideal - but this is potentially the only time to use these points, so gaining some benefit is better than none.

I can find all these flights on the Qantas multi-city search, I was hoping to book all shortly through this to avoid booking through the call centre. Is there any issues with booking through the multi city search on the qantas website?

Thanks again to those who replied with help / suggestions.

 

[Mr H]

Thanks to everyone who responded to my post for information. Sorry for any confusion, I have been confusing terminology between RTW and OWA tickets in my research – The OWA ticket, flying economy is what I am looking to book.

I would like to book as much as I can on the OWA ticket, and will need to book the remainder myself. I can find available OWA reward seats for:

Signapore ->Athens (British Airways)
Reykjavik->Barcelona (British Airways)
Madrid->Lima (American Airlines)
Cancun->Tokyo and; (America Airlines)
Tokyo->Perth (JAL/Qantas) or (JAL/MH)

This leaves Perth->Signapore, Athens->Reykjavik and Lima->Mexico City to be booked outside of the OWA ticket. I realise this isn't ideal - but this is potentially the only time to use these points, so gaining some benefit is better than none.

I can find all these flights on the Qantas multi-city search, I was hoping to book all shortly through this to avoid booking through the call centre. Is there any issues with booking through the multi city search on the qantas website?

Thanks again to those who replied with help / suggestions.

You have too many flights to book online. You should call up asap before flights disappear. I am surprised you can't get ATH-LHR-KEF with BA in economy. SIN is usually doable via KUL.

 

[Westly]

You have too many flights to book online. You should call up asap before flights disappear. I am surprised you can't get ATH-LHR-KEF with BA in economy. SIN is usually doable via KUL.

Thanks, we can get ATH-LHR-KEF, by it has a long overnight layover, so thought it better to just book a direct flight outside OWA.

Might need to look at more options for PER-SIN, it was a late change of idea to go through Signapore. We were originally going to book PER-ATH ourselves also, when we struggling to find a reasonable PER-ATH without too many stop overs.

 

[BriarFlyer]

Signapore ->Athens (British Airways)
Reykjavik->Barcelona (British Airways)
Madrid->Lima (American Airlines)
Cancun->Tokyo and; (America Airlines)
Tokyo->Perth (JAL/Qantas) or (JAL/MH)

Is there any issues with booking through the multi city search on the qantas website?

You will have issues trying to book that combination of flights using the multi-city tool because of the number of surface sectors. It doesn't play well with those.

 

[Mr H]

Thanks, we can get ATH-LHR-KEF, by it has a long overnight layover, so thought it better to just book a direct flight outside OWA.

Might need to look at more options for PER-SIN, it was a late change of idea to go through Signapore. We were originally going to book PER-ATH ourselves also, when we struggling to find a reasonable PER-ATH without too many stop overs.

Your call - I would have stepped outside the airport and had a night in one of the airport hotels.

 

[ozflier]

Your call - I would have stepped outside the airport and had a night in one of the airport hotels.

There is a 3 day per week Madrid to KEF direct service by Iberia leaving 2230 hrs - worth looking up ATH-MAD-KEF for your dates

 

[Danger]

It's more expensive to fly one leg in Y and one in J than both in J? What am I missing here?

 

[algae]

Hey all,
I've got flights booked for a trip in April next year, which i've had for quite some time.
The trip starts with PER>HKG>YYZ with Cathay in J.

Perth to HKG, no issue. Cathay is flying 3 days a week from Perth, including the Friday i'm booked on.
HKG to Toronto on the other hand, they operate 7 flights per week in April.... but not on the Saturday i'm booked on.
Theyre not selling cash tickets on Saturday anymore either. However my booking is still working on their website and hasnt been cancelled yet.

Any idea what's most likely?
- Flight will get cancelled closer to the date and my whole month long trip will be stuffed
- They will move me to the Sunday flight (making it a 15h stopover in HKG)
- Timetable might change again and they'll add a Saturday flight?

Following on from this, as i get the feeling my itinerary might get cancelled at some point (as the HKG>YYZ flight is comfortably the most expensive of the entire trip and wouldn't be easy to replace).

I've gone ahead and booked an entirely separate OWA at the same time in May. By some miracle managed to get J availability to Japan, Finland, Europe & India for 2x passengers at this short notice.

So now i have 1.27m qantas points tied up in two bookings for May 2023.

Is there any issue having the same passengers booked on two separate itineraries at the same time?

I've got flights that 'conflict' with the other booking (eg. I'll be flying from Stockholm>Helsinki on AY in one booking at 7am on Monday, while at the same time/date flying from Stockholm>London on BA in the other booking).

No conflicts are the same airline however.

Anything i should watch out for? I plan to hold on to both and cancel whichever has issues closer to the date.

 

[ozflier]

I have done the same for the same reasons.
No problems so far!