Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[kctt]

Does anyone have experience with transit in India?
I have an overnight transit 14 hours at Delhi airport. Do I need transit visa?
Thank you in advance

 

[Mr H]

Does anyone have experience with transit in India?
I have an overnight transit 14 hours at Delhi airport. Do I need transit visa?
Thank you in advance

A transit visa will transform your experience. With one, you will be able to leave the airport and check into a comfortable hotel, then return to the airport a couple of hours before your flight. Without one, you will sit on a hard bench in a holding pen, waiting for the airline agent to arrive to validate your onward travel - usually at the time check in opens for your next flight.

Also note, transit visas are issued only a few days before travel. Not sure whether it is online now, but it used to be a sticker visa and it was very nerve racking to be separated from a passport so close to departure. The full one year visa can be applied for electronically well in advance.

 

[SimonR32]

A transit visa will transform your experience. With one, you will be able to leave the airport and check into a comfortable hotel, then return to the airport a couple of hours before your flight. Without one, you will sit on a hard bench in a holding pen, waiting for the airline agent to arrive to validate your onward travel - usually at the time check in opens for your next flight.

Also note, transit visas are issued only a few days before travel. Not sure whether it is online now, but it used to be a sticker visa and it was very nerve racking to be separated from a passport so close to departure. The full one year visa can be applied for electronically well in advance.

How long are the transit visits valid for? 24 hours?

 

[Mr H]

How long are the transit visits valid for? 24 hours?

They are valid for 15 days for a stay of up to three days IIRC. I remember being due to fly to Ashgabat via Delhi and my passport was still with the Indian Consulate two days before I was travelling. Since then, I have opted for 12 month e-visas.

 

[SimonR32]

They are valid for 15 days for a stay of up to three days IIRC. I remember being due to fly to Ashgabat via Delhi and my passport was still with the Indian Consulate two days before I was travelling. Since then, I have opted for 12 month e-visas.

Had a quick google and looks like you can do them online now so will give that a go for my Chennai 21 hour stop coming up in March

 

[algae]

Had a quick google and looks like you can do them online now so will give that a go for my Chennai 21 hour stop coming up in March

I did an evisa recently. Super easy and quick process

 

[lovedbymarylane]

Hey, looking for some call centre advice please!
I've been trying to add return flights to my existing PNR (booked outbound flights when they were available; now I'm trying to complete the loop) and have had three call centre agents so far tell me 'you need to just start a new booking'. When I've told them about the OW award and how it all needs to go on one PNR, they go to 'speak to the support team', put me on hold for ages and then hang up. Is there something I can say to make this clearer? Or a particular team (I've been speaking to Reservations) I should try to chat to?

 

[Mr H]

Hey, looking for some call centre advice please!
I've been trying to add return flights to my existing PNR (booked outbound flights when they were available; now I'm trying to complete the loop) and have had three call centre agents so far tell me 'you need to just start a new booking'. When I've told them about the OW award and how it all needs to go on one PNR, they go to 'speak to the support team', put me on hold for ages and then hang up. Is there something I can say to make this clearer? Or a particular team (I've been speaking to Reservations) I should try to chat to?

I always say that I want to add some flights to an existing booking and give the details of the flights. Then the agents can get the computer to price it up.

 

[lovedbymarylane]

I always say that I want to add some flights to an existing booking and give the details of the flights. Then the agents can get the computer to price it up.

Thank you! I'm afraid that's what I've been doing. Once they have the details of the flights, they go away briefly, come back to tell me to just start a new booking, then I tell them it can't be a new booking as it's a Oneworld Classic Award and all needs to be on one PNR, then the long hold begins. Maybe I've just had bad luck with agents?

 

[MelbFlyer]

I always say that I want to add some flights to an existing booking and give the details of the flights. Then the agents can get the computer to price it up.

Not in my previous experience with trying to change a Oneworld award flight - the flight that I could see online wasn't able to be seen by the agent. They mentioned on their end, they could only see 'commercial flights'.

In the end, I cancelled the booking altogether and waited for my points (took 4hrs to get back) and my taxes back (took 2-4 days), then rebooked online.

 

[lovedbymarylane]

Not in my previous experience with trying to change a Oneworld award flight - the flight that I could see online wasn't able to be seen by the agent. They mentioned on their end, they could only see 'commercial flights'.

I had this happen too. There was a flight I could see in multi-city that the agent insisted they didn't have access to 'on their end'. In the end I was lucky to get someone who was much more familiar with Oneworld Classic Awards and magically the flight was there for them, plus they knew how to add them to an existing PNR. Success! (3 hours later.)

 

[flapper]

I had this happen too. There was a flight I could see in multi-city that the agent insisted they didn't have access to 'on their end'. In the end I was lucky to get someone who was much more familiar with Oneworld Classic Awards and magically the flight was there for them, plus they knew how to add them to an existing PNR. Success! (3 hours later.)

Now you only have to get it reticketed in time before partner airlines start deleting flights from your booking.

 

[kctt]

A transit visa will transform your experience. With one, you will be able to leave the airport and check into a comfortable hotel, then return to the airport a couple of hours before your flight. Without one, you will sit on a hard bench in a holding pen, waiting for the airline agent to arrive to validate your onward travel - usually at the time check in opens for your next flight.

Also note, transit visas are issued only a few days before travel. Not sure whether it is online now, but it used to be a sticker visa and it was very nerve racking to be separated from a passport so close to departure. The full one year visa can be applied for electronically well in advance.

Thank you for your advice.
It's an early morning flight at 7am so i would be hanging around lounges and sleeping near departure gate.
Transit visa can be applied online. I think I will apply transit visa around 15 days before transit date.

 

[Phoenix-1]

Can anyone get (direct) AA flights to show up via Qantas's search? There were dozens of AKL-DFW direct seats which all disappeared a few days ago. Was looking at some internal US flights today and no direct AA options are shown, despite flying that route.

 

[Lynda2475]

NoneI tried every direct route out of LAX and not one seat in all of August, something is wrong. Given AA fly lax-sfo hourly there should be at least 1 Y reward seat. Nlthing to DFW, ORD, MSY, MIA, JFK, SEA.

 

[ETW]

Can anyone get (direct) AA flights to show up via Qantas's search? There were dozens of AKL-DFW direct seats which all disappeared a few days ago. Was looking at some internal US flights today and no direct AA options are shown, despite flying that route.

There's a thread about that

Australian Frequent Flyer

Tips, Tricks & Chat for the Australian Frequent Flyer

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Had a look on the BA site and it seems to match ExpertFlyer so I'm assuming the issue is at the QF end (unsurprisingly)

 

[Captain Halliday]

Question re: assistance fees.

If I book a classic award in Y as a placeholder and later change it to J and add sectors, does the assistance fee apply?

I reckon (okay, Im hoping) that by adding one or more J sectors that only the change fee would apply.

Anyone happen to know for sure?

 

[adenda]

Lately I’ve used Twitter to request changes. It’s quite apparent that he team handling these messages are very experienced and likely locally based as they’ve managed to achieve all the changes I’ve requested without much trouble.
Having said that it’s usually several hours between sending a message and getting a response and the response will often be from a different person. (The agents append each response with their initials)
Getting my changes made and ticketed took almost 3 days.

 

[cambriamarsh]

I always say that I want to add some flights to an existing booking and give the details of the flights. Then the agents can get the computer to price it up.

I'm ygoing

 

[Mr H]

I'm ygoing

Good for you!