Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[SydneySwan]

It's a shame that Qatar don't release reward seats for QFF members until 3 days prior (therefore you can't plan in advance) and also a shame that not all Qantas consultants can see and amend reward bookings - you literally have to be lucky to get a consultant who is able to see what you see online.

Shame is way too polite. Its b----y disgraceful.

 

[blu]

can this be booked with flights more than 1 year in advance?

Not more than a year. See:

When do new reward seats come out? - Point Hacks

The early bird gets the worm. Here's how to get first dibs at reward seats.

www.pointhacks.com.au

 

[flapper]

I had great difficulty adding an AS J flight to my OWA. Despite a number of flights showing on QF & BA with J seats the cc operators insisted there were none only Y. After 4 calls finally one could see J seats but then she couldn't add them to my booking, she said they mustn't exist. I was staring to believe they must be phantom availability. I made a few more call not expecting any luck. I thought I'd try one more time and finally she could see availability and could add the flight to my booking. Why is it so many operators can't see the available seats? Next will be the battle to try and get it reticketed. I wonder how many calls that will take? Last time it was 15.

 

[Phoenix-1]

Just want a sanity check on this OWCA J itinerary:

Stop 1: MEL-KUL-BKK MH
Stop 2: BKK-HEL AY
Stop 3: HEL-JFK AY
Stop 4: DFW-HEL-CDG AY
Stop 5: AMS-HEL-KIX
Return: NRT-KUL-ADL

Because there's 3 open jaws I can't book it online so just confirming it's within the rules. It IS 34,700 miles though, which is awfully close to the cap.

Planning to book everything except the last leg and then spend a few days HUACA'ing until I can get someone to add the last leg.

 

[Mr H]

Just want a sanity check on this OWCA J itinerary:

Stop 1: MEL-KUL-BKK MH
Stop 2: BKK-HEL AY
Stop 3: HEL-JFK AY
Stop 4: DFW-HEL-CDG AY
Stop 5: AMS-HEL-KIX
Return: NRT-KUL-ADL

Because there's 3 open jaws I can't book it online so just confirming it's within the rules. It IS 34,700 miles though, which is awfully close to the cap.

Planning to book everything except the last leg and then spend a few days HUACA'ing until I can get someone to add the last leg.

The route follows all the rules except one - alas GC Map says this comes in at 35,100 miles - so no dice...

 

[Phoenix-1]

The route follows all the rules except one - alas GC Map says this comes in at 35,100 miles - so no dice...

View attachment 352675

Thanks. Forgot about the extra leg to MEL. I'll see if I can find a flight to MEL instead of ADL. Alternatively:

Stop 1: MEL-KUL-BKK MH
Stop 2: BKK-HEL AY
Stop 3: HEL-JFK AY
Stop 4: DFW-HEL-CDG AY
Stop 5: AMS-HEL-HND
Return: NRT-KUL-ADL
Return to start: ADL-MEL

Comes in at 34,899

 

[Mr H]

Thanks. Forgot about the extra leg to MEL. I'll see if I can find a flight to MEL instead of ADL. Alternatively:

Stop 1: MEL-KUL-BKK MH
Stop 2: BKK-HEL AY
Stop 3: HEL-JFK AY
Stop 4: DFW-HEL-CDG AY
Stop 5: AMS-HEL-HND
Return: NRT-KUL-ADL
Return to start: ADL-MEL

Comes in at 34,899

Yes, that works.

 

[elanshin]

Thanks. Forgot about the extra leg to MEL. I'll see if I can find a flight to MEL instead of ADL. Alternatively:

Stop 1: MEL-KUL-BKK MH
Stop 2: BKK-HEL AY
Stop 3: HEL-JFK AY
Stop 4: DFW-HEL-CDG AY
Stop 5: AMS-HEL-HND
Return: NRT-KUL-ADL
Return to start: ADL-MEL

Comes in at 34,899

Whats your airline for stop 5 ? Given that it goes via HEL, AY again? And return via KUL again is MH? If that's the case, you'll need a 3rd airline which the ADL > MEL will solve if you get QF.

 

[Captain Halliday]

Whats your airline for stop 5 ? Given that it goes via HEL, AY again? And return via KUL again is MH? If that's the case, you'll need a 3rd airline which the ADL > MEL will solve if you get QF.

Why?

The itinerary already has two oneworld airlines other than Qantas.

There’s no requirement to have three.

 

[elanshin]

Why?

The itinerary already has two oneworld airlines other than Qantas.

There’s no requirement to have three.

Isn't the requirement to have 3 different OW airlines. Or have i just assumed that sentence to mean 3 airlines but it's actually just 2 non QF OW ?

 

[Captain Halliday]

Isn't the requirement to have 3 different OW airlines. Or have i just assumed that sentence to mean 3 airlines but it's actually just 2 non QF OW ?

From the terms:
13.5.1 A oneworld Award is an Award Flight Itinerary that includes travel on at least two oneworld Alliance Airlines other than Qantas and does not include any travel on any airline that is not a oneworld Alliance Airline.

 

[sarvowinner]

Just 2 non-QF OW carriers. I was under the impression there could only be a maximum of two surface legs, albeit an unwritten rule?

• Surface sectors are allowed, and count as one stopover, but the distance between the two airports counts towards your total limit. Although there is no published limit, Qantas seems to allow up to 2 surface sectors per itinerary.

 

[Aussiejosh]

can this be booked with flights more than 1 year in advance?

You can't book more than 1 year in advance

 

[MelbFlyer]

So after having finished my 5 leg business OWA just recently, I'm back to Qantas' website to look for my next trip, around this time next year.

This time it won't be a OWA, as I'm looking to use points to redeem on MU, CI and JL, so it won't be capped anyway.

With the recent saga I had in relation to trying to change flights / dates within a OWA, I wonder if it's the same as per any other reward booking?

ie. Is it "harder" for Qantas consultants to amend a OWA booking compared to a regular "awards" / non-OWA booking? Or, it's the same regardless (as they're both awards bookings)?

I'm a lowly Bronze and therefore don't have access to the Hobart team.

It'll probably be a (simpler) 3 leg business itinerary this time round - but of course this time round I'll try my best to get the itinerary as I want in one go - but of course as we all know, sometimes your perfect itinerary isn't available first time round - ie. new business seats may be released after your initial booking etc.

I suspect it'll be the same BS responses as per when attempting to change flights in my now flown OWA -
- "The flights / seats you see online are only for new bookings and can't be used for existing bookings"
- "There are no reward seats showing for the day you have requested" (even despite me looking at them online in the multi city booking at the time of calling)

amongst other responses.

Looking forward to a much easier booking experience this time round (if at all possible!)

 

[Phoenix-1]

Whats your airline for stop 5 ? Given that it goes via HEL, AY again? And return via KUL again is MH? If that's the case, you'll need a 3rd airline which the ADL > MEL will solve if you get QF.

Yes, AY and MH again.

 

[Mr H]

This time it won't be a OWA, as I'm looking to use points to redeem on MU, CI and JL, so it won't be capped anyway.

You may be better to create this as a series of one way trips point to point if it isn't going to be capped. Advantage is that each sector is more likely to be bookable online which avoids multiple change fees - disadvantage is you pay multiple cancellation fees if you change your mind.

 

[flapper]

So after having finished my 5 leg business OWA just recently, I'm back to Qantas' website to look for my next trip, around this time next year.

This time it won't be a OWA, as I'm looking to use points to redeem on MU, CI and JL, so it won't be capped anyway.

With the recent saga I had in relation to trying to change flights / dates within a OWA, I wonder if it's the same as per any other reward booking?

ie. Is it "harder" for Qantas consultants to amend a OWA booking compared to a regular "awards" / non-OWA booking? Or, it's the same regardless (as they're both awards bookings)?

I'm a lowly Bronze and therefore don't have access to the Hobart team.

It'll probably be a (simpler) 3 leg business itinerary this time round - but of course this time round I'll try my best to get the itinerary as I want in one go - but of course as we all know, sometimes your perfect itinerary isn't available first time round - ie. new business seats may be released after your initial booking etc.

I suspect it'll be the same BS responses as per when attempting to change flights in my now flown OWA -
- "The flights / seats you see online are only for new bookings and can't be used for existing bookings"
- "There are no reward seats showing for the day you have requested" (even despite me looking at them online in the multi city booking at the time of calling)

amongst other responses.

Looking forward to a much easier booking experience this time round (if at all possible!)

I just had that problem on Saturday where the agents can't see the seats showing on QF website I think on the 6th call the agent could see and add the flight. Don't they all have the same reservation system?

 

[MelbFlyer]

You may be better to create this as a series of one way trips point to point if it isn't going to be capped. Advantage is that each sector is more likely to be bookable online which avoids multiple change fees - disadvantage is you pay multiple cancellation fees if you change your mind.

I was thinking about this as well and it indeed is a viable alternative compared to having everything on the one PNR.

Other than possible multiple cancellation / change fees, what would be the other disadvantages of having point to point flights on separate PNRs?

At this stage, our flights would be at least 3 days apart from each other, so if there were any cancellations or delays, it "should" be okay considering the amount of time in between.

On the contrary though, if all flights were on the one booking and one flight is affected, Qantas should be able to assist to accommodate to change any other flights later in the trip?

I just had that problem on Saturday where the agents can't see the seats showing on QF website I think on the 6th call the agent could see and add the flight. Don't they all have the same reservation system?

Yep, it's a real annoyance tbh - why should one set of consultants (ie. the Hobart team) have no issues at all in seeing what is available on the Qantas multi-city portal and changing accordingly, whereas the majority of other teams have such difficulty / provide totally incorrect responses?

Due to this reason and previous OWA itinerary experience, I am considering just booking each business reward seat in separate PNRs to avoid such hassles moving forward, but I am weighing up the pros and cons of booking altogether, or booking separately.

I think at this stage tbh, I'm considering booking separately. I'll just have to cop up the 3% international transaction fee for the legs that originate overseas (if booked altogether, it would all be charged in AUD).

 

[djkelly69]

I think at this stage tbh, I'm considering booking separately.

Might also note you can book each flight as soon as it is released with separate bookings, as opposed to having to wait for the last flight to be released with a single booking.

 

[MelbFlyer]

Might also note you can book each flight as soon as it is released with separate bookings, as opposed to having to wait for the last flight to be released with a single booking.

Yep, I'll probably book each flight in separate PNRs for this trip considering there's no OWA cap to take advantage of.

I'll just cop the 3% international transaction fee for the legs the originate outside of Australia. (I don't have a 28 degrees or Latitude card etc).

Sorry to hijack the OWA thread for this but it is somewhat related considering it's still award flights / seats.

Just beware that taxes might be lower depending on your point of origin, especially if you're flying ex-HND

Yep, I've checked the taxes flying out of Japan, they're very reasonable. The same can't be said for the UK or flying on EK.