Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[levelnine]

Misread that. Doesn't show up as LHR-SIN.

Then it is married.

Here’s an example of married segments in action. One member is currently attempting to book two connecting flights on Cathay Pacific using points. They can find award availability if they search for the flights individually, but due to married segment logic they appear as unavailable if booked together. The only way to get around this is to book the flights separately or to add a break of more than 24 hours between flights.

What are Married Segments?

Image: Adobe Stock. If you've ever booked a flight, chances are you've come across the issue of "married segments". But what are they, and how do they

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[Phoenix-1]

Thanks. That's probably it.

 

[Rach1616]

I have a OWA flight booked and ticketed for March 2023. I added the final flights over the phone in Sept 2022 (I won't go in to that drama) and the extra taxes were paid and new e-ticket received. However the extra points have still not been taken so in effect I have a OWA ticket for around 271,000 points rather than 318,000. I understand the usual thing that happens is the original points go back in to your account then they take the points for the new ticket out again but none of this has happened. Do I just keep quiet and keep waiting or do I need to call at some point? Every time I call I'm terrified they will mess up the booking but I'm also worried the ticket could auto cancel if the points have been paid. Is this a possibility? Thank you.

 

[Wolf creek]

Doing a northern lights trip in nov/dec coming back to BNE from HEL.The mrs wants to check out India on the way home,great price flying HEL-DEL $40 taxes flying business,then have probable options with cathay DEL-HKG-BNE $450 taxes,DEL-KUL-SYD (mh)for around$100 similar flight duration all business.Is Malaysian airlines business a good standard.
Had access to my daughters platinum couldn’t find any qantas DEL-MEL at all in Nov so I don’t have much hope there.
Just. To add I couldn’t believe the exorbitant taxes for BA flights from LHR to SYD…

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Doing a northern lights trip in nov/dec coming back to BNE from HEL.The mrs wants to check out India on the way home,great price flying HEL-DEL $40 taxes flying business,then have probable options with cathay DEL-HKG-BNE $450 taxes,DEL-KUL-SYD (mh)for around$100 similar flight duration all business.Is Malaysian airlines business a good standard.
Had access to my daughters platinum couldn’t find any qantas DEL-MEL at all in Nov so I don’t have much hope there.
Just. To add I couldn’t believe the exorbitant taxes for BA flights from LHR to SYD…

two different issues here. There’s a tax component, which for long haul premium cabins out of the UK is already high.

Then there’s carrier charges, for fuel. Which aren’t tax. Some airlines will charge the fuel surcharge on awards, some don’t. And even for those that don’t, the issuing carrier might still levy them and keep them!

 

[Danger]

Doing a northern lights trip in nov/dec coming back to BNE from HEL.The mrs wants to check out India on the way home,great price flying HEL-DEL $40 taxes flying business,then have probable options with cathay DEL-HKG-BNE $450 taxes,DEL-KUL-SYD (mh)for around$100 similar flight duration all business.Is Malaysian airlines business a good standard.
Had access to my daughters platinum couldn’t find any qantas DEL-MEL at all in Nov so I don’t have much hope there.
Just. To add I couldn’t believe the exorbitant taxes for BA flights from LHR to SYD…

Cathay every day of the week over Malaysia.

 

[algae]

Cathay every day of the week over Malaysia.

While Cathays product is better, I'd take Malaysia any day at the moment until HKG and Cathay stabilises.

My trip I booked 6 months ago for travel next May is constantly at risk of being cancelled because of the Cathay flights (and probably will, taking my whole trip with it) as they're just not flying very much.

Using Perth as an example. Cathay is flying 3 times a week next May. Malaysian is flying 10 times a week.

 

[turnipapple]

I'm flying QF1 Syd - London (OWA business) this month. Flights are almost full - is there anything I can do to decrease chances of being bumped? Arriving early to the airport?

I can't post on the help desk forum so posting here! ("You have insufficient privileges to reply here.")

 

[Mr H]

I'm flying QF1 Syd - London (OWA business) this month. Flights are almost full - is there anything I can do to decrease chances of being bumped? Arriving early to the airport?

I can't post on the help desk forum so posting here! ("You have insufficient privileges to reply here.")

Getting bumped is extremely rare - I would not worry about it.

 

[turnipapple]

Getting bumped is extremely rare - I would not worry about it.

Thank you The call center horror stories (incl. my own) has been putting me on edge lol

 

[Warragul]

I have a OWA flight booked and ticketed for March 2023. I added the final flights over the phone in Sept 2022 (I won't go in to that drama) and the extra taxes were paid and new e-ticket received. However the extra points have still not been taken so in effect I have a OWA ticket for around 271,000 points rather than 318,000. I understand the usual thing that happens is the original points go back in to your account then they take the points for the new ticket out again but none of this has happened. Do I just keep quiet and keep waiting or do I need to call at some point? Every time I call I'm terrified they will mess up the booking but I'm also worried the ticket could auto cancel if the points have been paid. Is this a possibility? Thank you.

Have all the flights been ticketed? When I finished booking my itineray which took multiple calls, all the flights were ticketed pretty quickly bar one - a SYD-CBR hop. Despite several calls asking for this to be done, it wasn't and not all the required points were deducted. When there was a on QF carrier initiated change which required ticket revalidating, this seemed to 'force the issue' on ticketing the outstanding flight, with it being ticketed in the revaludating process. Within a day or two of this the full 318K points were deducted.

One of the reasons I was told not to worry about the lack of ticketing for that flight was that it was a Qantas flight and that the non QF flights have been ticketed. Right or wrong I don't know but no flights were lost while that SYD-CBR flight was unticketed - around 3 weeks.

As described elsewhere, on CMT look at each flight see if there is a ticket for each flight. The QF eticket pdf attachment with a ticket number does not guarantee each fligh is ticketed unfortunately.

 

[Guvner]

There's some CX first awards popping up here and there in July 2023 if anyone is looking to get their OWA off to a good start out of Oz.

 

[TomYagher]

Bit of a horror story, have (or now maybe had?) a great OWA in J booked for over the new year. Decided to drop the last segment, a Qantas flight, and add an American segment in the middle (which was originally booked as a separate ticket). Called up and got it changed and all looked fine.

Checked an hour later and 4 Sri Lankan segments had been cancelled, apparently automatically by their IT system. Called up and 3 were able to be reinstated because award availability was still there, one segment sent to the oneworld desk to get reinstated.

Checked another hour later, and because all the UL segments had been cancelled, MH decided to cancel all four of their sectors. Called up again and exactly the same, 3 reinstated on the spot, 1 sent as a request to the oneworld desk.

Operator said tickets had been issued, paid for and confirmed, so without saying guaranteed, did say high chance they will be reinstated. But with less than 10 days to go to the initial flight, little bit annoying. Apparently the oneworld desk also operates business days only, so 48 hour response takes me to Monday rather than today or tomorrow. Would have thought something important like that would operate weekends as well!

Wish I understood how adding a completely unrelated segment would cause another carrier to cancel their segments!

 

[Mr H]

Bit of a horror story, have (or now maybe had?) a great OWA in J booked for over the new year. Decided to drop the last segment, a Qantas flight, and add an American segment in the middle (which was originally booked as a separate ticket). Called up and got it changed and all looked fine.

Checked an hour later and 4 Sri Lankan segments had been cancelled, apparently automatically by their IT system. Called up and 3 were able to be reinstated because award availability was still there, one segment sent to the oneworld desk to get reinstated.

Checked another hour later, and because all the UL segments had been cancelled, MH decided to cancel all four of their sectors. Called up again and exactly the same, 3 reinstated on the spot, 1 sent as a request to the oneworld desk.

Operator said tickets had been issued, paid for and confirmed, so without saying guaranteed, did say high chance they will be reinstated. But with less than 10 days to go to the initial flight, little bit annoying. Apparently the oneworld desk also operates business days only, so 48 hour response takes me to Monday rather than today or tomorrow. Would have thought something important like that would operate weekends as well!

Wish I understood how adding a completely unrelated segment would cause another carrier to cancel their segments!

I have never had a flight reinstated via the One World desk - only if a flight has come back into award inventory.

 

[PaulyB]

Just had an experience whereby 2 J MH flights and one J QF coming back into Australia and then Canberra are showing up as available but the operator says that are not showing as Award tickets. I know I have seen mention of this beofre but can anyone remind me of a solution to it with the operator?
Only for new bookings???

Thanks!

 

[ozflier]

Bit of a horror story, have (or now maybe had?) a great OWA in J booked for over the new year. Decided to drop the last segment, a Qantas flight, and add an American segment in the middle (which was originally booked as a separate ticket). Called up and got it changed and all looked fine.

Checked an hour later and 4 Sri Lankan segments had been cancelled, apparently automatically by their IT system. Called up and 3 were able to be reinstated because award availability was still there, one segment sent to the oneworld desk to get reinstated.

Checked another hour later, and because all the UL segments had been cancelled, MH decided to cancel all four of their sectors. Called up again and exactly the same, 3 reinstated on the spot, 1 sent as a request to the oneworld desk.

Operator said tickets had been issued, paid for and confirmed, so without saying guaranteed, did say high chance they will be reinstated. But with less than 10 days to go to the initial flight, little bit annoying. Apparently the oneworld desk also operates business days only, so 48 hour response takes me to Monday rather than today or tomorrow. Would have thought something important like that would operate weekends as well!

Wish I understood how adding a completely unrelated segment would cause another carrier to cancel their segments!

Tom,
I've had some trouble in the past incorporating separately booked award sectors into a previously booked OWA if there is no current award availabilities at the time of requesting the addition to original booking .
Did the agent need to check if award seats were available or just went ahead and did it?
When I tried similar , in the past , the agent needed to cancel the proposed addon booking to free up award seats and it went ok but my most recent request did not go well as award seats were not returned to the pool !
So you can see my interest .
Did you need to argue the point to get the addition accepted.

 

[Mr H]

Tom,
I've had some trouble in the past incorporating separately booked award sectors into a previously booked OWA if there is no current award availabilities at the time of requesting the addition to original booking .
Did the agent need to check if award seats were available or just went ahead and did it?
When I tried similar , in the past , the agent needed to cancel the proposed addon booking to free up award seats and it went ok but my most recent request did not go well as award seats were not returned to the pool !
So you can see my interest .
Did you need to argue the point to get the addition accepted.

My understanding was that two PNRs can never be merged.

 

[TomYagher]

I have never had a flight reinstated via the One World desk - only if a flight has come back into award inventory.

Well I'm hoping for the best.

My understanding was that two PNRs can never be merged.

That's correct. I didn't merge it. Cancelled the separate booking and added it as a change to the OWA.

Post automatically merged: Dec 16, 2022

if there is no current award availabilities at the time of requesting the addition to original booking .

Yup I checked online and there was. The agent also had the itinerary in the ticketing queue with all the correct sectors.

 

[ozflier]

Well I'm hoping for the best.

That's correct. I didn't merge it. Cancelled the separate booking and added it as a change to the OWA.

Post automatically merged: Dec 16, 2022

Yup I checked online and there was. The agent also had the itinerary in the ticketing queue with all the correct sectors.

Good to know.

 

[Ktan89]

Edit.

Anyone here still have an active 280k ticket and recently made a routing change?

I'm asking because I tried to make routing changes tonight (through onshore team) and they told me I will get $xx points back but have to add 38k to make it the new 318k rtw charge. "This is the rtw charge, its been 318k for sometime" - she said.

I asked her if this was new because just last month I made another change to routing and they charged me 280k.

She said this is not new and because this PNR needs to be reticketed, they need to recalculate the tax and the points and the new points is now 318k.

This is where I feel like she got it wrong, if she had said "yes, this is new, we received a memo blah blah" I would understand. I told her to leave my booking alone for now to see if anyone here had the same experience recently?