Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[algae]

It sounds like when an airline changes anything at all, even the timing of its flight by 5 minutes (or more, which they do multiple times per year), this somehow stuffs up the QF ticketing

Not quite.

Couple scenarios:
1. If an airline changes flight times you get an email from Qantas requesting you confirm that you're happy with the change. Usually it's fine so you click accept and bam, new e-ticket. All automated, all fine. But use CMT to triple check, just in case.
2. If an airline changes flight times and you're asked to accept it, but it breaks a connecting flight so it's not impossible to fly. This isn't as common, but can happen. Then yes this can be problematic absolutely and involves getting on the phone to Qantas.
3. The most common complaint in this thread is people calling up because they want to change their booking (eg. Add a flight or change something themselves). This can't be done online and you need to call. This is very problematic as the phone operators are often inexperienced and is typically when you get issues with losing flights etc.

So in summary, #1 happens a lot and is fine. #2 happens rarely fingers crossed it doesn't happen to you, and avoid #3 by not touching your booking unnecessarily after you make it.

 

[FenderQF]

I think the main thing to take away from this thread is how to deal with any issue if/when they arise. There are so many flight changes that get accepted and e-tickets received within a few minutes without issue that you should have some level of confidence.

 

[Phoenix-1]

I have to book an ADL-MEL flight to get to my RTW booking (MEL-LAX on QF). Is there any benefit to booking a QF flight for ADL-MEL? Would there be any priority or benefit if things get delayed if I'm on the same carrier throughout but separate PNRs? My MEL-LAX fight is at 8:25pm.

 

[Warragul]

If you go the separate booking, get the PNRs linked which *should* make it easier for bags to be through checked etc at ADL. Should be possible without them being linked but not always the case.

 

[Phoenix-1]

Thanks. Didn't realise you can link separate PNRs. Just book and call up? Does it matter if the OWCA is partially flown?

 

[pyramidforce]

Not quite.


So in summary, #1 happens a lot and is fine. #2 happens rarely fingers crossed it doesn't happen to you, and avoid #3 by not touching your booking unnecessarily after you make it.

Hi Algae,

Thank you and everyone else for posting some advice. Good news is that most of the hotels are refundable so I guess there is always 11th hour cancellation followed by angry twitter rant to fall back on if everything breaks.

I hope you are right and that #1 will be fine for me. I remember reading somewhere here that someones QR flight got moved by literally 5 minutes and that this somehow broke the ticket because it changed the flight number as well. Maybe that was a QR specific thing, looking at some of the comments. Hopefully that won't happen to me.

I've looked up my flight numbers and seen that #2 (large time changes) happens quite a bit, but based on historical trends, this ends up giving me more time to transfer, not less. All but one of my flights is routed through major cities, so I doubt that there will be cancellations. So hopefully this won't affect me either.

I have no intention of minmaxing the OWA booking by doing #3; I'm already very happy with there I am going. If I don't touch anything, hopefully this means segments won't just drop off for no reason at all!

Thanks again everyone for your help and the great resources you have put together to help me book this itinerary!

 

[Mr H]

I think some of the recent posts here are minimising a genuine risk. Flight schedule changes do not always automatically re-ticket; airlines can and do cancel routes between major cities; itineraries may require changes to be initiated by the passenger for a variety of reasons; and when flights disappear, passengers do not always find everything works out in the end. There may be things we can do to minimise the risks but right now there is a high risk that even half-way complicated OWA bookings will go off the rails at some point.

 

[cjd600]

I've had an active OWA since pre covid, about 3 years.
Countless, countless changes, rolling it forward, and never lost a flight.....
Need a bit of perspective, from the hysteria, only hearing the 'horror' stories, not the many that have no issues whatsoever.

 

[Mr H]

I've had an active OWA since pre covid, about 3 years.
Countless, countless changes, rolling it forward, and never lost a flight.....
Need a bit of perspective, from the hysteria, only hearing the 'horror' stories, not the many that have no issues whatsoever.

I’m pleased for you. I have experienced five or six separate occasions of flight losses in the past 12 months.

 

[levelnine]

I think some of the recent posts here are minimising a genuine risk.

I'm inclined to agree.

Airlines are probably changing routes more often than they were pre-COVID as they are forced to adjust to a rapidly changing travel environment. I have a OWA coming up with a fairly vanilla itinerary (Australia - US - Europe - Asia - Australia) that has had more than a dozen flight changes since it was booked a few months ago. At least 3 of the changes have required me to phone Qantas after the Royal Air Maroc flights disappeared due to a 5 minute schedule change not being reticketed. It seems like Royal Air Maroc flights disappear in a matter of hours if not reticketed. I only found out about some of the changes through CheckMyTrip — I never received any notice from Qantas. If I wasn't aware of this issue and immediately on the phone to Qantas, I could have lost these flights for good. I do think you need to be hyper vigilant at the moment.

 

[pyramidforce]

I think some of the recent posts here are minimising a genuine risk.

Hi Mr H,

Thank you for your insight. It sounds like from what you and others are saying, Qantas can just fail to reticket you for no reason when faced with even the slightest disruption to your itinerary. This is really disappointing to hear. Is there anything else that can be done to minimise the risk, beyond checking CMT multiple times a day to see if anything has been dropped off? As I said, I have no doubt that at the very least, at least one of my flight times will change by 5min before I start travel, given how far away it still is, so I will very likely need to call at least once.

Calling, staying on the line until reticketing is completed, hang up and call again, calling with two phones at once, going to the lounge and hoping to get a hobart number, cc carpet bombing executives are things Ive seen mentioned so far. Some airlines also seem to lose tickets faster than others, based on what I think I understand.

Sorry again if this all sounds naive, as I said this is my first time. Thanks so much for your help so far.

 

[levelnine]

Is there anything else that can be done to minimise the risk, beyond checking CMT multiple times a day to see if anything has been dropped off?

You don't really need to check CMT multiple times per day. What you do need to do is act if CMT informs you of any changes to your flights, even a 5 minute schedule change. Make sure all legs have the same ticket number after any schedule change. If any ticket numbers are missing or mismatched, you need to be reticketed ASAP.

 

[pyramidforce]

Thanks for your help. I hope that I have set CMT app to have permissions to buzz my phone.

Sorry, another naive question. Why do the ticket numbers need to be the same? My non-flying logic is that ticket is ticket, i thought that not having a ticket was the issue.

Without knowing the specifics of the situation, what would you recommend I say to Qantas in this scenario? My head is envisioning this conversation: Could you please reticket me on flight XX123, But sir what do you mean? you have a ticket number already.

 

[cjd600]

I’m pleased for you. I have experienced five or six separate occasions of flight losses in the past 12 months.

I'm sympathetic to your experience.
I'm just illustrating that it is not all doom and gloom, and provide some balance of the reality, especially for the newer members looking at this award.
Even if it doesnt suit the narrative of "as soon as you touch a OWA all your flights evaporate" lol

 

[levelnine]

Why do the ticket numbers need to be the same?

Because it means some flights are on an old/expired/invalid ticket number.

When you call into Qantas, they will know what to do as long as you get a competent agent. Just say there's been a flight change and it appears the booking needs to be reticketed. They'll be able to see it on their end.

 

[Mr H]

Just lost 2 more flights waiting for the 2 previous missing ones to reappear. They refused to ticket the remaining flights because they were waiting to hear about reinstatement of the other ones - they told me they had until 28 January to ticket them - seems this was not correct.

 

[pyramidforce]

Because it means some flights are on an old/expired/invalid ticket number.

When you call into Qantas, they will know what to do as long as you get a competent agent. Just say there's been a flight change and it appears the booking needs to be reticketed. They'll be able to see it on their end.

Thanks for clarifying. I appreciate your help.

Sorry to hear about Mr H. I can only hope my journey is less affected than his.

 

[Warragul]

Thanks. Didn't realise you can link separate PNRs. Just book and call up? Does it matter if the OWCA is partially flown?

Can't comment about impacts to OWCA, but to 'link' contact the call centre or I've done it via Messenger (pre COVID). I'm not sure if it is a formal linking of the bookings or a comment in each booking referring to the other.

 

[FenderQF]

Just wondering.. out of interest more than anything, has anyone shown up to/or know somebody that has turned up to a leg of their already commenced OWCA that showed up on their itinerary but that individual leg hadn’t been ticketed?

 

[Kiwiash]

CX does not fly to AMM. Try routing through BKK.

It appears that RJ have reduced this service to 5 days a week. This is the second sector, is there any need for me to resolve this quickly to avoid ticketing issues or do I have time to consider options. As there's no change to accept I assume re-ticketing will not have been triggered?