Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[elanshin]

Hi All / Experts

First time trying to book the classic rewards ticket, however confused about surface sectors.

In their rules it states that the distance counts between airports, however no mention that it counts as an additional stop over. So apologies if this has been clarified before but is counting surface sectors as stop overs definitive?

As an example I have tickets already booked:
Mel to Hanoi, transit tokyo - 1 stop
Hanoi to Tokyo - 2 stops
Sapporo to Paris, transit tokyo - 3 or 4 stops?

Surface sector of Tokyo to Sapporo.

Would the above be counted as 4 stop overs of the 5 or 3?

Thanks

In terms of stops it would be 3. But you're playing with fire in terms of stops and transits. In theory, it's fine (2 transits and one stop) but sometimes the computer might not be able to correctly get it because it's a surface sector too.

You can have the Sapporo to Paris via Tokyo but be ready to drop the Sapporo to Tokyo leg if its causing issues in getting it ticketed.

 

[sifntdaz]

In terms of stops it would be 3. But you're playing with fire in terms of stops and transits. In theory, it's fine (2 transits and one stop) but sometimes the computer might not be able to correctly get it because it's a surface sector too.

You can have the Sapporo to Paris via Tokyo but be ready to drop the Sapporo to Tokyo leg if its causing issues in getting it ticketed.

Thanks

I already have all those legs ticketed with the remainder being:

London to Hk
Hk returning to Mel

These tickets are not yet available, but will be soon.

I am just trying to figure out if I can do London to Hk and then Hk to Mel and be within the rules, or if I have to make my way back to Paris given I have already landed there and counted it as a stop over to facilitate Hk to Mel.

Just to add the Sapporo to Tokyo leg was required in order to get Business from Tokyo to Paris. From what I have read it is some sort of married leg? So therefore we will arrange for our own transport from Tokyo to Sapporo as a surface sector

 

[elanshin]

Thanks

I already have all those legs ticketed with the remainder being:

London to Hk
Hk returning to Mel

These tickets are not yet available, but will be soon.

The problem here is anything can be ticketed but until the whole itinerary is pieced together, it may or may not qualify for OWA. When many agent say they can't ticket it what they're actually saying is they can't get it ticketed with 318k cap. They CAN ticket it, but if its 400 or 500k points, that's not what the customer is after.

I am just trying to figure out if I can do London to Hk and then Hk to Mel and be within the rules, or if I have to make my way back to Paris given I have already landed there and counted it as a stop over to facilitate Hk to Mel.

it should be fine to do Sapporo > London (Stopover) then Paris > HK > Mel.
No problems there as long as your sector count and distance count is fine.

Just to add the Sapporo to Tokyo leg was required in order to get Business from Tokyo to Paris. From what I have read it is some sort of married leg? So therefore we will arrange for our own transport from Tokyo to Sapporo as a surface sector

Ah I was afraid of that. Often the case that Tokyo > xx_ city is not available but an extra Domestic leg in Japan makes it possible.

I still think it should in theory be ok, but i've had trouble before using Sydney doing similar things with you (stopover, 2 transit with a surface sector in there) and the system didn't like it until i got rid of one syd-mel leg.

 

[WilsonM]

Just to add the Sapporo to Tokyo leg was required in order to get Business from Tokyo to Paris. From what I have read it is some sort of married leg? So therefore we will arrange for our own transport from Tokyo to Sapporo as a surface sector

Yeah - this is common practice from Japan Airlines.

I recently booked a successful J OWA, but could only get Y from Japan-YVR - there was a married segment available from NGO-NRT-YVR in J, but it wouldn't process with an Australian Point of Sale either. So good job getting it ticketed so far

 

[QFFBNE]

Morning all,
I'm currently booking flights for a Oneworld Classic Reward trip in April next year to Egypt, UK and Ireland with about 80% done and just waiting on a couple of sectors to show availability (e.g. SYD-BKK). I'll hit P1 in August so that will help with this trip, but I'm wondering if I can/should jump the gun on the next trip as well to beat the Points increase in August this year.
We want to fly to the US around October 2026 but obviously no Award seats will be available until October 2025 at the earliest. Would I be able to book Award seats prior to August 2025 for flights in say July 2026 (at the old rate), then change those flights to October 2026 when those Award seats become available? And if so, would the old pre-August 2025 rate still apply, or would we have to make up the difference to the new rate? I'd be surprised (but happy) if this was allowed but no harm in asking.

 

[There'sOnlyOneJimmy]

Morning all,
I'm currently booking flights for a Oneworld Classic Reward trip in April next year to Egypt, UK and Ireland with about 80% done and just waiting on a couple of sectors to show availability (e.g. SYD-BKK). I'll hit P1 in August so that will help with this trip, but I'm wondering if I can/should jump the gun on the next trip as well to beat the Points increase in August this year.
We want to fly to the US around October 2026 but obviously no Award seats will be available until October 2025 at the earliest. Would I be able to book Award seats prior to August 2025 for flights in say July 2026 (at the old rate), then change those flights to October 2026 when those Award seats become available? And if so, would the old pre-August 2025 rate still apply, or would we have to make up the difference to the new rate? I'd be surprised (but happy) if this was allowed but no harm in asking.

That scenario worked for me at the last points cost increase, but… that also coincided with some of the Covid period (so some extra leniency may have been built in to the system). In any event, if you’re committed to making the trip anyway, you’ve really got nothing to lose if you give it a try.

 

[mt1552]

Anyone know if Hong Kong counts as being part of China.

My OWA starts in Shanghai, if I go HK mid trip will that count as going back to my starting country?

 

[Tonkatough]

About to start a J Oneworld Classic Reward trip and received an option to submit a request to upgrade the second Qantas leg (which is one of the current legs in Y) using points. I had not thought this was an option with a Oneworld Classic Reward ticket. Is this something new?

 

[nomadscientist]

I have a tight connection between two AA flights on my OWA. If I miss the connection without my wrongdoing, who should I speak to for sorting it out:

1. the carrier AA
2. the ticketing airline Qantas (via call centre?)
3. my travel insurance

Details:
MBJ (Jamaica) - ORD - LAX = intl to dom transfer at ORD
95mins connection time
I read online that ORD is 120mins MCT for intl to dom (yet Qantas ticketed it)
Fare class U (biz) so hopefully that helps with getting off the plane quickly

 

[elanshin]

About to start a J Oneworld Classic Reward trip and received an option to submit a request to upgrade the second Qantas leg (which is one of the current legs in Y) using points. I had not thought this was an option with a Oneworld Classic Reward ticket. Is this something new?

This is normal. CR could always submit an upgrade request to J (not to F from J though). OWA is just a classic rewards thats capped.

 

[Mr H]

I have a tight connection between two AA flights on my OWA. If I miss the connection without my wrongdoing, who should I speak to for sorting it out:

1. the carrier AA
2. the ticketing airline Qantas (via call centre?)
3. my travel insurance

Details:
MBJ (Jamaica) - ORD - LAX = intl to dom transfer at ORD
95mins connection time
I read online that ORD is 120mins MCT for intl to dom (yet Qantas ticketed it)
Fare class U (biz) so hopefully that helps with getting off the plane quickly

If you miss the connection between two AA flights then it is for AA to fix. Remember, though, to call it a connexion or the AAgent won’t understand you.

 

[smellan]

What if you added a MH KUL-SIN leg to start? I wonder if that would work for the itinerary.



2 things to note on this

1.You only have 4 stops in this itinerary. Final stop is not a leg, so you could add one more stopover. However....

2. As it is, you're over the 35,000 mile limit

A map from the Great Circle Mapper

A map from the Great Circle Mapper

www.gcmap.com

dam good pick up- I was under the kms but hadnt added in that extra leg back to SIN from CNS! this is so tricky!!

 

[DC3]

I have a tight connection between two AA flights on my OWA. If I miss the connection without my wrongdoing, who should I speak to for sorting it out:

1. the carrier AA
2. the ticketing airline Qantas (via call centre?)
3. my travel insurance

Details:
MBJ (Jamaica) - ORD - LAX = intl to dom transfer at ORD
95mins connection time
I read online that ORD is 120mins MCT for intl to dom (yet Qantas ticketed it)
Fare class U (biz) so hopefully that helps with getting off the plane quickly

Two hours should be good. 95 minutes is rather tight.

Getting from ORD T5 (International) to the Domestic Terminals is very straightforward (O'Hare official web site):

• The Terminal Transfer Bus runs every 15 minutes and will take you directly from T5 to the Domestic Terminals. There is no pedestrian connection airside, so you will not stay air side and you will have to go back through security at the Domestic Terminals. The Transfer Bus runs 1130 -2130 daily.
• The Airport Transit System (train) runs 24/7 with trains arriving in each terminal every 10 minutes and takes a total of 10 minutes end-to-end.

If connecting flights are on the same PNR then you are “protected’ (i.e., for the next “available” flight”). Probably easiest to sort out a missed connection at ORD AA desk.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I have a tight connection between two AA flights on my OWA. If I miss the connection without my wrongdoing, who should I speak to for sorting it out:

1. the carrier AA
2. the ticketing airline Qantas (via call centre?)
3. my travel insurance

Details:
MBJ (Jamaica) - ORD - LAX = intl to dom transfer at ORD
95mins connection time
I read online that ORD is 120mins MCT for intl to dom (yet Qantas ticketed it)
Fare class U (biz) so hopefully that helps with getting off the plane quickly

AA - in fact all the major US airlines - are pretty good when it comes to these sorts of things. They’ll rebook you to get to your destination, even on other carriers if required.

If this does happen you need to contact QF on arrival into LAX to ensure that whatever AA has done your original ticket is still in tact.

Sometimes during IRROPS the agents will reticket you, but not properly update the underlying ticket, so you can appear as a ‘no show’, affecting the rest of the ticket.