Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread


That is for 19,201 to 35,000 total miles in the itinerary. Less points required for shorter awards.

Can do it with only two OneWorld airlines if you want. The restriction is that you must use 2 carriers other than Qantas. So if Qantas is included, then its a minimum of 3 carriers. If no Qantas flights in the itinerary, then only two OneWorld carriers required.
One of the many rules is that the first legs out of Australia must be Qantas.
 
That would figure - we received so many varied 'opinions' from opertators when booking this last one. After 40+ hours on the phone over 7 months you take any directives just to get the job done.
Why would you believe anything an operator says, especially when the terms are spelt out in plain English on the website?
 
Why would you believe anything an operator says, especially when the terms are spelt out in plain English on the website?
Call Centre Fatigue? Some will wear you down, not always wanting to listen to what you have to say.

Edited: Continual HUACA needed
 
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Why would you believe anything an operator says, especially when the terms are spelt out in plain English on the website?
Many make the mistake of including EK, CI or FJ on their OWAs. To ‘fix’ it, the operator may suggest putting the passenger on QF. Hence first leg out of Australia ‘having to be in QF’.

Not saying that’s happened in the case immediately above, but I can see how a solution to a specific issue could be taken as being a ‘rule’ if it’s expressed in a certain way.
 
Many make the mistake of including EK, CI or FJ on their OWAs. To ‘fix’ it, the operator may suggest putting the passenger on QF. Hence first leg out of Australia ‘having to be in QF’ …
It’s surprising how some AFFers don’t seem to do much research on the basics of a OWA, when there’s so much useful information on here.
 
There is also no requirement that the itinerary must start or end in Australia. It is purely a distance-based award.

Obviously there are more QF flights operating to/from Australia, but there are still plenty of non-QF options, including AA, BA, CX, JL, MH, QR
 
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I just went on the Qantas multi-city booking tool to check out a RTW as recommended in the recent article. The disclaimer at the top specifically exempts award bookings.
The Qantas web site Multi-City booking tool can be helpful to identify possible flight options that can be used to construct a QFF OneWorld Award, but it will show flight options that may not be permitted on the specific Qantas OneWorld Award itinerary. Hence the disclaimer. But can still be helpful in the process of researching flights that may be possible to include in the OneWorld award.
 
I just went on the Qantas multi-city booking tool to check out a RTW as recommended in the recent article. The disclaimer at the top specifically exempts award bookings.

There is also no requirement that the itinerary must start or end in Australia. It is purely a distance-based award.
Nor is there a requirement to go “round the world”. That’s an entirely different product.
 
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I just went on the Qantas multi-city booking tool to check out a RTW as recommended in the recent article. The disclaimer at the top specifically exempts award bookings.
Are you confusing Classic Rewards with the new Classic Plus - easy to do I suppose

It does state in the disclaimer that Classic Plus are not available for Multi City searches
 
Should have asked before I booked;

1. BA city flyer counts as oneworld for the purposes of 318k/455k points limit?
2. I booked all legs of my flight except return to Australia. What is the chance that, when I call to add a flight back to Australia, Manila call centre will nuke the whole booking and leave me selling sob stories to reward ticketing escalations?
Real numbers only.
 
1. BA city flyer counts as oneworld for the purposes of 318k/455k points limit?
Yes.
2. I booked all legs of my flight except return to Australia. What is the chance that, when I call to add a flight back to Australia, Manila call centre will nuke the whole booking and leave me selling sob stories to reward ticketing escalations?
As long as you're careful and check your booking at every step of the way, you should be fine. Be specific about adding flights to an existing booking. If you keep your bookings (not the actual booking, but the list of all your bookings) up on the Qantas website and constantly refresh, you can catch any weirdness with booking changes before the operator hangs up.

IME the bigger issue is slow re-ticketing causing some carriers to drop you. I've never had an issue with an agent actually deleting my booking. What carriers are you on?
 
Yes.

As long as you're careful and check your booking at every step of the way, you should be fine. Be specific about adding flights to an existing booking. If you keep your bookings (not the actual booking, but the list of all your bookings) up on the Qantas website and constantly refresh, you can catch any weirdness with booking changes before the operator hangs up.

IME the bigger issue is slow re-ticketing causing some carriers to drop you. I've never had an issue with an agent actually deleting my booking. What carriers are you on?
When I call, will make sure I say "adding" flights. Hopefully that works.

On BA and JL at the moment, including BA cityflyer.

Will probably get JL or QF back from Japan, will route anyway I can. If I'm lucky I'll somehow get JL first to SIN followed by some MH flights from SIN-MEL or SIN-SYD, but I know MH will drop flights if Qantas doesn't ticket.

EDIT: The itinerary actually starts in Ireland so I I have the first world problem of needing to call again at the end of the year to add a "free" flight back to Europe.
 
On BA and JL at the moment, including BA cityflyer.
You should be fine - I haven't had a BA or JL flight drop yet...

I know MH will drop flights if Qantas doesn't ticket.
Officially, agents should immediately re-ticket if MH is on the ticket. In practice, I've found that the overseas ones usually don't. And yes, MH is pretty aggressive with dropping flights. In recent times I've had fairly good success with the rewards ticketing team reinstating dropped MH flights, but I wouldn't bank on it.

I have the first world problem of needing to call again at the end of the year to add a "free" flight back to Europe.
I'm guessing your itinerary starts next year, but noting in case that you can't add flights once you've taken the first leg.
 

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