Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[Jacques Vert]

Yeah the mileage does include the return back to BKK at the end.

Good thinking about trying a different final stop. I just tried with a final leg to HKG-MEL but got the error "we are unable to confirm your selected flights"

What airlines?

 

[WanderBug]

What airlines?

BKK-CPH - Finnair
HEL-NRT - Finnair
HND-HKG - Japan Airlines
HKG-SYD - Qantas
SYD-KTM - Malaysian
KTM-SYD - Cathay

 

[Jacques Vert]

BKK-CPH - Finnair
HEL-NRT - Finnair
HND-HKG - Japan Airlines
HKG-SYD - Qantas
SYD-KTM - Malaysian
KTM-SYD - Cathay

They should be fine. Are all your transits under 24 hours? If you can't book online, make sure you log out a couple of hours before you ring.

 

[Aeryn]

Looks like 2 stops in SYD to me which isnt allowed as even though you aren't flying last leg your trip needs to end in BKK.

 

[serfty]

Looks like 2 stops in SYD to me which isnt allowed as even though you aren't flying last leg you trip needs to end in BKK.

The Qantas booking engine considers a surface segment creates a stopover wherever it is.@WanderBug the computer "thinks" you have an implicit -SYD(-<surface>-BKK) at the end of the routing, so by default it calculates the fare as if having a stopover in SYD.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The Qantas booking engine considers a surface segment creates a stopover wherever it is.@WanderBug the computer "thinks" you have an implicit -SYD(-<surface>-BKK) at the end of the routing, so by default it calculates the fare as if having a stopover in SYD.

I thought that was treated as a termination point and not stop?

Otherwise you could just add the flight back to bkk, even in economy, and just not board it.

 

[Aeryn]

I thought that was treated as a termination point and not stop?

The termination point is always the starting city, whether you fly back there or not.

Otherwise you could just add the flight back to bkk, even in economy, and just not board it.

For the second flight to SYD not to count as a stop-over the flight back to BKK would need to be taken under 24hours from the arrival in SYD. Because there is no flight to back to BKK they assume you stay in >24hours and hence a stop.

The OP could try replacing KTM-SYD with a KTM-MEL/BNE and then just buy a cheap domestic connection; but the distance MEL/BNE back to BKK will still need to be included.

Adding a SYD-BKK within 24 hours and then not boarding the flight is skip lagging and could see traveler placed on a ban list in future.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The termination point is always the starting city, whether you fly back there or not.



For the second flight to SYD not to count as a stop-over the flight back to BKK would need to be taken under 24hours from the arrival in SYD. Because there is no flight to back to BKK they assume you stay in >24hours and hence a stop.

The OP could try replacing KTM-SYD with a KTM-MEL/BNE and then just buy a cheap domestic connection; but the distance MEL/BNE back to BKK will still need to be included.

Adding a SYD-BKK within 24 hours and then not boarding the flight is skip lagging and could see traveler placed on a ban list in future.

Difference between ‘finishing’ and itinerary in a city other than the one you strayed at, and including the mileage back to the point of origin. The rules say you dan finish your itinerary anywhere… not that the finishing point will be considered a stopover, see 14.4.3.

Highly unlikely that failing to check-in and board the last leg is going to lead to a ban. This is not slip-lagging in the sense of taking advantage of a cheaper fare.

 

[Aeryn]

Debatable as a OWA is much cheaper than simply paying for each leg as individual awards; so still skip lagging if you add flights you dont intend to take just to get the OWA price.

Finishing in a city different to your starting point results in that finishing city being considered a stop-over; and likely why the OP cant book it online or via the call centre.

Most people nesting 2 trips within a OWA buy cheap positioning flights in/out of Aus to ensure the duplicate stop-over isnt an issue.

 

[elanshin]

Debatable as a OWA is much cheaper than simply paying for each leg as individual awards; so still skip lagging if you add flights you dont intend to take just to get the OWA price.

Finishing in a city different to your starting point results in that finishing city being considered a stop-over; and likely why the OP cant book it online or via the call centre.

Most people nesting 2 trips within a OWA buy cheap positioning flights in/out of Aus to ensure the duplicate stop-over isnt an issue.

Ive been told with good authority previously that the End point is the end point (not a transit nor a stopover). It is possible that sometimes the computer doesn't like it as much that way and potential manual intervention is needed. So in this case, just the distance of SYD - BKK would count but it wouldn't be a stop or a transit.

I finished my OWA last year in SYD despite starting in CGK and transiting in SYD once and stopping over in SYD once.

 

[WanderBug]

Ive been told with good authority previously that the End point is the end point (not a transit nor a stopover). It is possible that sometimes the computer doesn't like it as much that way and potential manual intervention is needed. So in this case, just the distance of SYD - BKK would count but it wouldn't be a stop or a transit.

I finished my OWA last year in SYD despite starting in CGK and transiting in SYD once and stopping over in SYD once.

That's very helpful, thank you!

Guess I'll just keep calling and hope I get lucky at some stage.

 

[WanderBug]

I thought that was treated as a termination point and not stop?

Otherwise you could just add the flight back to bkk, even in economy, and just not board it.

I did also try this either ending the trip in BNE/MEL as opposed to SYD or with a flight to BKK within 24 hours of the flight back to SYD but still had no joy.

The errors I get vary between "we are unable to confirm your selected flights" or "we are unable to confirm the fare for the flights you have selected from the airlines we search."

 

[djkelly69]

I get the same mileage as you using GCM, but I reckon that could possibly be the issue. From memory they calculate it differently so anything close can cause issues (not that ~500 miles is particularly close).

I thought there had been some other discussion here about the end point issue and as far as I recall, what elanshin said above is correct.

 

[WanderBug]

Interesting update:

Firstly, just spent 2 hours on hold to Qantas to be disconnected so that's fun.

However I was playing around with itineraries and if I do the below it will let me through to the payment page:

BKK-CPH (BKK-HEL, HEL-CPH)
HEL-NRT
HKG-SYD
SYD-DEL (SYD-KUL, KUL-DEL)
DEL-SYD (DEL-KUL, KUL-SIN, SIN-SYD)

So this shows me that ending the ticket in Sydney is not an issue.
This also comes in at 34,978 miles so I don't think the mileage is an issue on my previous attempts.

I did have to remove the HND-HKG sector to make this price, otherwise it wouldn't work. I imagine I should be able to call up and get that single sector added if I were to book this in but with my luck so far, who knows.

Unfortunately I would still rather go to KTM than DEL but if I try the same thing (removing the HND-HKG sector) on my KTM ticket, I still get an issue and it won't let me through to the payment screen.

 

[Jacques Vert]

The first rule of booking a OWA is to be flexible with dates and routings.

 

[Tawarri]

Hi All,
I'm a newbie at this, and planning our first OWA booking in Business.
Question is whether I am able to only book the first 3 or 4 legs of my trip, and then continue the booking later when I decide on the remaining legs, or when suitable legs become available?
If this is possible, does one pay for the surcharges and taxes for the legs booked to date, and when I continue and complete the final legs, will the points cap out at 318,000 points?
Appreciate any comments.
Thanks a lot,
Dave

 

[serfty]

Hi All,
I'm a newbie at this, and planning our first OWA booking in Business.
Question is whether I am able to only book the first 3 or 4 legs of my trip, and then continue the booking later when I decide on the remaining legs, or when suitable legs become available?
If this is possible, does one pay for the surcharges and taxes for the legs booked to date, and when I continue and complete the final legs, will the points cap out at 318,000 points?
Appreciate any comments.
Thanks a lot,
Dave

Moved to main thread here.

 

[Albert_Thurgood]

A Global Explorer is a paid fare.

If you mean a Oneworld classic flight award, yes you can call Qantas to ask for award seats to be released on a Qantas flight.

Thank you.

So I called. Qantas is not listing any Business seats for any flights out of Perth nor out of SCL. I called and asked for seats to be released as both myself and wife are both Platinum, and both formally P1. The request was denied. I asked the lady in Manila why we were denied. The answer was "there are no seats available". Well, yes that is why I requested for seats to be released! It is hard to believe that QF has already sold every J seat on every flight 12 months ahead. She just kept repeating the line that there were no seats left. I tried two other times and have been denied this request.

It seems to me that QF does not want people to be using their points ahead of them being devalued in a few days time.

I would be grateful if anyone had suggestions that would be effective in getting seats released.

 

[elanshin]

So I called. Qantas is not listing any Business seats for any flights out of Perth nor out of SCL. I called and asked for seats to be released as both myself and wife are both Platinum, and both formally P1. The request was denied. I asked the lady in Manila why we were denied. The answer was "there are no seats available". Well, yes that is why I requested for seats to be released! It is hard to believe that QF has already sold every J seat on every flight 12 months ahead. She just kept repeating the line that there were no seats left. I tried two other times and have been denied this request.

It seems to me that QF does not want people to be using their points ahead of them being devalued in a few days time.

I would be grateful if anyone had suggestions that would be effective in getting seats released.

Did they take down your dates and flights and pause for a while then cone back as denied?

Your flight needs to satisfy criterias before the request can be made and then it can be denied by the computer too. 1) QF flight (pretty obvious) has to be QF metal and not a code share. 2) for platinum you need booking class I available. P1 can have it at D as well as manual review.

This is more commonly covered in thus thread.

Thread 'QFF Platinum requesting release of extra Classic Reward seats?'

Oct 29, 2014

View an article on this topic:

How Qantas Platinum Members Can Request Extra Reward Seats

Qantas Platinum and Platinum One frequent flyers can request the release of additional Classic Flight Reward seats on Qantas flights.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

---

Was looking through Frequent Flyer - Flying Qantas and Partner Airlines - Status Credits and Tier Benefits - Tier Benefits today

Seems like access to extra Caward seats is only available to P1 only.

I was under the impression that WP can request extra Caward seats be released where none was available. Or is this an unwritten benefit only?

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[levelnine]

The answer was "there are no seats available".

In addition to elanshin's answer, not every unsold seat is made available for release to a Platinum. Essentially, Qantas yield management's algorithm decides whether it will release the seats depending on factors such as the likelihood of them being able to sell the seat for cash.

You can't do anything to change the computer's decision as a Platinum (Platinum One can ask for manual review). Your best bet is to try a different set of dates or a different route.