Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[sydney]

No, i’m with you. But whatever the problem was pricing it in thai baht, is still there when charging you AUD.

Something in the booking is preventing it from ticketing.

They shouldn’t need to be calculating changes or calculating charges. It’s done in the spot, by the system.

Ticketing can take longer, but it shouldn’t be this long just to add a sector and price it.

On the phone again now and trying to start from scratch as suggested on a brand new booking. Still encountering problems with calculating more than 10 segments. ARGHHHH
Both hubby and I have been madly doing searches to replace flights.

So we deleted a few and taken it down to 10. He is now trying to price it but doesn't seem like it's going well. So frustrating. He says now it won't price 10, only 9.

This is a nightmare.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

On the phone again now and trying to start from scratch as suggested on a brand new booking. Still encountering problems with calculating more than 10 segments. ARGHHHH
Both hubby and I have been madly doing searches to replace flights.

So we deleted a few and taken it down to 10. He is now trying to price it but doesn't seem like it's going well. So frustrating. He says now it won't price 10, only 9.

This is a nightmare.

Maybe wait till Monday? Maybe it’s weekend agents? Or a problem with the award booking system.

If it’s down to nine segments, some of which are joined, you should be able to book it on line.

 

[sydney]

Maybe wait till Monday? Maybe it’s weekend agents? Or a problem with the award booking system.

If it’s down to nine segments, some of which are joined, you should be able to book it on line.

No more points. The Tuesday agent cancelled our other ticket to rebook but couldn't ticket the new one so should not have cancelled it before checking that the new one would ticket. Friday's agents were just as bad with only one courteous and helpful lady.

At least this gentleman is trying to help. One of the Friday agents complained that it was our fault when it wouldn't calculate, and said it's not her job to find flights to replace the flights that don't work, when we were scrambling to find flights oursleves. Said she only enters in the flights we tell her. Then, to avoid me taking the post-call survey, she forwarded me to the CLOSED QFF phone line which hung up on me.

Have been on phone with Qantas every day.
Have work during the week so don't have much time to be on the phone.

 

[sydney]

Anything wrong with this? He can't price it. Only if he removes ANY flight, will it calculate. We took it down to 10 by removing transits and now have an unwanted but minor open jaw - HKG.

CX652 SIN-HKG 12:45-17:00	HKG Stop 1
AY88 PVG-HEL 20:50-5:55 (Wed)
AY1331 HEL-LHR 8:00-9:10	LHR Stop 2
AY1572 CDG-HEL 10:35-14:30
AY151 HEL-HKT 16:35-9:00	HKT Stop 3
MH797 BKK-KUL 5:40-8:55
MH123 KUL-SYD 23:00-10:20	SYD Stop 4
MH250 SYD-KUL 10:25-16:00
MH70 KUL-NRT 9:40-17:30	NRT Stop 5
JL37 HND-SIN 11:25-17:30

 

[J-P]

Anything wrong with this? He can't price it. Only if he removes ANY flight, will it calculate. We took it down to 10 by removing transits and now have an unwanted but minor open jaw - HKG.

CX652 SIN-HKG 12:45-17:00	HKG Stop 1
AY88 PVG-HEL 20:50-5:55 (Wed)
AY1331 HEL-LHR 8:00-9:10	LHR Stop 2
AY1572 CDG-HEL 10:35-14:30
AY151 HEL-HKT 16:35-9:00	HKT Stop 3
MH797 BKK-KUL 5:40-8:55
MH123 KUL-SYD 23:00-10:20	SYD Stop 4
MH250 SYD-KUL 10:25-16:00
MH70 KUL-NRT 9:40-17:30	NRT Stop 5
JL37 HND-SIN 11:25-17:30

Looks like you have 3 surface sectors there: HKG-PVG, LHR-CDG, HKT-BKK. NRT-HND may also be counted as a surface sector, I've read mixed reviews in this thread about having 2 different airlines in the same city (but have never done it myself so can't report).

 

[sydney]

Looks like you have 3 surface sectors there: HKG-PVG, LHR-CDG, HKT-BKK. NRT-HND may also be counted as a surface sector, I've read mixed reviews in this thread about having 2 different airlines in the same city (but have never done it myself so can't report).

How many surface sectors are we allowed? We had to have no more than 10 flights, so removed HKG-PVG, and changed a couple of destinations.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

How many surface sectors are we allowed? We had to have no more than 10 flights, so removed HKG-PVG, and changed a couple of destinations.

Anecdotally, two (surface sectors).

So the problem might not have been the 10 flights, it might have been there three surface sectors.

There is no limitation for 10 flights. The agent may not know that the three surface sectors are causing the issue and instead is looking at number of flights.

 

[sydney]

Anecdotally, two (surface sectors).

So the problem might not have been the 10 flights, it might have been there three surface sectors.

There is no limitation for 10 flights. The agent may not know that the three surface sectors are causing the issue and instead is looking at number of flights.

But we didn't have 3 surface sectors until they told us to remove flights.??? Really over this.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

But we didn't have 3 surface sectors until they told us to remove flights.??? Really over this.

True!

But my point was that the agent hasn’t identified the three surface sectors as a problem.

Can you read out on social to qantas? There’s another thread about that here on AFF. Apparently they are responsive, and fast. They might be able to escalate your case to the right department.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Another though @sydney… in your original plans to fly xx_-syd-mel-dps-mel-syd… were the SYD-DPS flights offered as a single result, or did you construct them sector by sector? The reason for asking is that there is a system block preventing domestic tags for international flights unless they are offered by the system. You cannot create them.

That is, you need to search SYD-DPS as a single flight and it has to offer SYD-MEL-DPS to you.

Most agents aren’t aware of the system block, to come up with other reasons… why the ticket may be failing.

 

[Amanad78]

True!

But my point was that the agent hasn’t identified the three surface sectors as a problem.

Can you read out on social to qantas? There’s another thread about that here on AFF. Apparently they are responsive, and fast. They might be able to escalate your case to the right department.

Messenger were helpful in getting our OWA ticketed.
Currently on our 9 month stopover in BNE

 

[sydney]

True!

But my point was that the agent hasn’t identified the three surface sectors as a problem.

Can you read out on social to qantas? There’s another thread about that here on AFF. Apparently they are responsive, and fast. They might be able to escalate your case to the right department.

I called back this morning and got someone from HOBART!!

She said there is nothing wrong with my itinerary and she can get it ticketed! She was able to add back the two business class seats that we replaced with a PE due to the supposed 10 flights limit.

There is no 2 sector limit as she has created bookings with more than 2.

She is shocked at all the kerfuffle I've been told and experienced. She has calculated the taxes and fees within minutes and it will be ticketed within the hour!

Our itinerary is not perfect as we had to scramble for alternative flights so she said they will waive future change fees after this is ticketed. Ahhh!!!

AMAZING

*If only we got Del from Hobart first instead of over 30 calls later.

 

[FlyingFiona]

I was in the middle of writing to say that you need Hobart when your post came through. Hurrah!
PLEASE follow this up with top tier QF. Your case is a prime example of how outsourcing costs them money rather than saves it (which, at the end of the day, is all they care about).

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I called back this morning and got someone from HOBART!!

She said there is nothing wrong with my itinerary and she can get it ticketed! She was able to add back the two business class seats that we replaced with a PE due to the supposed 10 flights limit.

Apparently there is no 3 surface sector limit as she has made bookings with more than 2.

She is shocked at all the kerfuffle I've been told and experienced. She has calculated the taxes and fees within minutes and it will be ticketed within the hour!

Our itinerary is not perfect as we had to scramble for alternative flights so she said they will waive future change fees after this is ticketed. Ahhh!!!

AMAZING

*If only we got Del from Hobart first instead of over 30 calls later.

Great news!

what does you pr final itinerary look like now?

The two/three/more surface segments is anecdotal. It has been known to cause problems before! But hope you have something back towards your original itinerary now?

Don’t suppose you asked about AU/NZ being considered one country?

 

[sydney]

I was in the middle of writing to say that you need Hobart when your post came through. Hurrah!
PLEASE follow this up with top tier QF. Your case is a prime example of how outsourcing costs them money rather than saves it (which, at the end of the day, is all they care about).

Credit card was charged for difference in taxes already while on phone. I can't believe it! So quick and easy when you get someone who knows what they're doing.

How do I contact Qantas top tier? Only bronze.

Great news!

what does you pr final itinerary look like now?

The two/three/more surface segments is anecdotal. It has been known to cause problems before! But hope you have something back towards your original itinerary now?

Don’t suppose you asked about AU/NZ being considered one country?

Yes I asked about AKL and she said it was fine and added it back in, but that meant we'd have to spend time changing later fllghts back to SYD at the end instead of SIN, but we didn't have time this morning to fix the end of our trip. Didn't want to risk not ticketing it with a HOBART agent. So we both agreed that it was best to ticket it and she said we can make changes afterwards. So for now, due to all the other agents, we are flying in and out of SIN.

Here it is:
(Replaced PE SIN-HKG with SIN-KUL-NRT in U)
SIN-Kul
KUL-NRT (NRT Stop 1)
NRT-HEL
HEL-LHR (LHR Stop 2)
CDG-HEL
HEL-HKT (HKT Stop 3)
BKK-KUL
KUL-SYD (SYD Stop 4)
SYD-MEL
MEL-HKG (HKG Stop5)
HKG-SIN

Will need to buy return flights to Singapore.

 

[Dmac59]

Credit card was charged for difference in taxes already while on phone. I can't believe it! So quick and easy when you get someone who knows what they're doing.

How do I contact Qantas top tier? Only bronze.



Yes I asked about AKL and she said it was fine and added it back in, but that meant we'd have to spend time changing later fllghts back to SYD at the end instead of SIN, but we didn't have time this morning to fix the end of our trip. Didn't want to risk not ticketing it with a HOBART agent. So we both agreed that it was best to ticket it and she said we can make changes afterwards. So for now, due to all the other agents, we are flying in and out of SIN.

Here it is:
(Replaced PE SIN-HKG with SIN-KUL-NRT in U)
SIN-Kul
KUL-NRT (NRT Stop 1)
NRT-HEL
HEL-LHR (LHR Stop 2)
CDG-HEL
HEL-HKT (HKT Stop 3)
BKK-KUL
KUL-SYD (SYD Stop 4)
SYD-MEL
MEL-HKG (HKG Stop5)
HKG-SIN

Will need to buy return flights to Singapore.

Great outcome @sydney
Persistence eventually pays off with HUACA

 

[FlyingFiona]

How do I contact Qantas top tier?

[email protected] (I think)

 

[sydney]

Great outcome @sydney
Persistence eventually pays off with HUACA

HOBART is so good. I called back to add another flight we had removed due to the phantom 10 sector limit and a new agent couldn't do it. Said the system wouldn't let them calculate the taxes.

!RED FLAGS!

Told her apologetically and panickingly, in that case, PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH the booking and please ask Del if she is able to call me back about ticketing the flight. Del did and was able to add it in. She confirmed again that there is no limit to surface sectors within the 16 sectors.

So we now have a 3rd surface sector no worries.

Seriously unbelievable.

Suggestions for everyone in future. If you cannot get someone from Hobart, then HUACA.

 

[elanshin]

Suggestions for everyone in future. If you cannot get someone from Hobart, then HUACA.

The problem is even for platinums, getting Hobart is not a guarantee.

Also i should mention whilst hobart is heaps better, they're not infallible either. They couldn't solve my OWA last year and the "senior agent with 10+ years of experience" was stunned that I solved it myself by removing a domestic connection. Granted i did have probably a very convoluted route that pushed every boundary of the OWA (segment, length, connections, transit cities etc).

 

[sydney]

The problem is even for platinums, getting Hobart is not a guarantee.

Also i should mention whilst hobart is heaps better, they're not infallible either. They couldn't solve my OWA last year and the "senior agent with 10+ years of experience" was stunned that I solved it myself by removing a domestic connection. Granted i did have probably a very convoluted route that pushed every boundary of the OWA (segment, length, connections, transit cities etc).

Fyi, I was informed and educated by a senior ticketing officer in Hobart, who was so lovely and kind when he ticketed our full itinerary, that a surface sector is also counted in the 16 sector limit. I did not realise that. So our itinerary is actually 15 sectors, with a total of 12 flights and 3 surface sectors.
Hope this helps others in future.