Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[Bell21]

Two points here:
1. Change fee will apply every time you call up and change something. Not just changing the original flights.

2. This is not converting a Classic Flight Reward Flight into a RTW Award. It always remains a Oneworld Classic Flight Award (whether you go around the world or not). This is the language mixup that creates confusion when people get on the phone and start asking to book a RTW ticket. A RTW ticket is a completely different product.

Thanks for the steer re point 2 - yes, I know RTW is a different product, but mixing up the language won't help when talking to an agent, that's for sure!

 

[elanshin]

Correct… any cha be to your TICKET will incur the 5000 points. So adding, subtracting, changing will incur 5000 points, per person.

You can hiwever make multiple changes at the one time for 5000 points. So you could add three flights, take another two away, change some dates all on the one call and it would be 5000 total per passenger. The next time you call is another 5k.

It might be 5k change fee per ticketing. I've had an instances where I did a change then called back a day later to do a different change on the same PNR before the first change was ticketed and it only charged me once.

 

[Bell21]

I can see why this is called the Definitive Thread

 

[MEL_Traveller]

It might be 5k change fee per ticketing. I've had an instances where I did a change then called back a day later to do a different change on the same PNR before the first change was ticketed and it only charged me once.

You are correct.

But for most tickets you’d want instant ticketing to avoid flights auto cancelling!!

 

[leaving on a jet plane]

HELP Please.
I have booked a OWA ticket for 2 in J class which I have done before. I need to finesse the itinerary as is always the case but this time I have run into a couple of new (to me) brick walls. I can see flights out of several Japanese's ports with J class availability on the days that work better for me BUT when I call QANTAS they keep telling me that these seats are only available to NEW bookings ....not existing bookings. I also had the same issue when trying to use Finnair where J seats were showing but were only available to NEW bookings. I am a Platinum QANTAS Frequent flyer and even the so called "Premium" team they say to bad that's the rule BUT I just read the article in the Australia Frequent Flyer 20.10.2025 edition titled How Stephanie Booked Her Honeymoon with Qantas Points.
in this article she says "...... The first four calls were a disaster: long holds and agents insisting flights could only be booked on new itineraries, or hanging up entirely. Hang Up And Call Again (HUACA) became my mantra…
But I refused to give up.
Finally, on the fifth call, I reached an agent who admitted she had heard about these “intense” bookings and was nervous, but willing to give it a go. After a lot of back-and-forth, endless holds, and a growing sense of dread, flights started appearing in my Qantas app. After what felt like a lifetime, she confirmed everything was added. She was proud. I was proud.

So my question is: Are these seats that show as available on the web site able to be booked into an existing itinerary? even though I have been told several times now that they are deemed only available for new bookings when you call. I ask this as it seems Stephanie was able to book them!
If Stephanie is correct (and her ticket seems to suggest she was successful) what's the work around? or who do you ask to speak too?
JC

 

[elanshin]

HELP Please.
I have booked a OWA ticket for 2 in J class which I have done before. I need to finesse the itinerary as is always the case but this time I have run into a couple of new (to me) brick walls. I can see flights out of several Japanese's ports with J class availability on the days that work better for me BUT when I call QANTAS they keep telling me that these seats are only available to NEW bookings ....not existing bookings. I also had the same issue when trying to use Finnair where J seats were showing but were only available to NEW bookings. I am a Platinum QANTAS Frequent flyer and even the so called "Premium" team they say to bad that's the rule BUT I just read the article in the Australia Frequent Flyer 20.10.2025 edition titled How Stephanie Booked Her Honeymoon with Qantas Points.
in this article she says "...... The first four calls were a disaster: long holds and agents insisting flights could only be booked on new itineraries, or hanging up entirely. Hang Up And Call Again (HUACA) became my mantra…
But I refused to give up.
Finally, on the fifth call, I reached an agent who admitted she had heard about these “intense” bookings and was nervous, but willing to give it a go. After a lot of back-and-forth, endless holds, and a growing sense of dread, flights started appearing in my Qantas app. After what felt like a lifetime, she confirmed everything was added. She was proud. I was proud.

So my question is: Are these seats that show as available on the web site able to be booked into an existing itinerary? even though I have been told several times now that they are deemed only available for new bookings when you call. I ask this as it seems Stephanie was able to book them!
If Stephanie is correct (and her ticket seems to suggest she was successful) what's the work around? or who do you ask to speak too?
JC

There certain married segment or specific requirement seats that show up from time to time.

Other times its just the call centre person unable to find it and then saying anything.

An example i can give (not OWA but awards booking) was that I saw a SIN - HND J flight available but when i tagged on a MEL-SIN QF to go with it, it didn't show up and two platinum consultants couldn't solve it. They could see the flight on their own but as soon mel - sin was added all sorts of problems happened.

Eventually i got a more senior HBA staff and she sounded confused for a sec then did a bunch of stuff and suddenly she was like "all solved".

 

[leaving on a jet plane]

So does your last paragraph mean the "Are" available??

When the call centre staff say they cant see the seat I then have had them check as if I was making a stand alone new booking. When they do that the seat appears...but they cant seem to get it show when its for an existing booking. I figured it must be just another way to make OWA bookings a bit harder.
I have not encountered the problem with AA or CX or BA its only JAL and Finnair.

 

[Kangol]

So does your last paragraph mean the "Are" available??

When the call centre staff say they cant see the seat I then have had them check as if I was making a stand alone new booking. When they do that the seat appears...but they cant seem to get it show when its for an existing booking. I figured it must be just another way to make OWA bookings a bit harder.
I have not encountered the problem with AA or CX or BA its only JAL and Finnair.

In the past, when adding segments to existing OWAs, I've had agents search, not find award space, then search again "in another window", then find the seats.
One told me it was along the lines of searching "Qantas and partners" vs "all airlines", or words to that effect - those are the 2 different windows/screens, from what I gather.
I don't know if it's related to any specific airline, but something to consider next time.

 

[MelbFlyer]

AFF writer Stephanie shared this case study of booking a Oneworld Classic Flight Reward for two, using it on a "circle Pacific" routing rather than to fly around the world:

Case Study: How Stephanie Booked Her Honeymoon with Qantas Points

For her honeymoon, Stephanie wanted more than just a regular trip. Using Qantas Points, she booked a Oneworld Classic Flight Reward in Business Class, helping to make this an unforgettable trip.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Gosh, this reminds me of the time 2 years ago when I was booking a business OWA for my honeymoon as well.

100+ calls and hours later (80% of calls weren't helpful, therefore I HUACA many times), I finally managed to sort out the OWA.

My posts are extensively in this thread from pages ago, it was so frustrating at the best of times.

 

[Bell21]

Hmmm I'm not sure if I should ask this question or not, but as someone about to embark on trying to book an OWA, why is it so damn tricky at times? I've long held a view that QF has legacy IT systems which seems to cause all kinds of booking issues (and potentially training of customer service staff issues as well).

On a separate note, is 9 months lead-in to booking a business OWA to Europe reasonable for July 2026 or have I left our run a little late? (we are flexible with regards to stop-over points on the journey there and back as well as dates generally)

 

[elanshin]

Hmmm I'm not sure if I should ask this question or not, but as someone about to embark on trying to book an OWA, why is it so damn tricky at times? I've long held a view that QF has legacy IT systems which seems to cause all kinds of booking issues (and potentially training of customer service staff issues as well).

On a separate note, is 9 months lead-in to booking a business OWA to Europe reasonable for July 2026 or have I left our run a little late? (we are flexible with regards to stop-over points on the journey there and back as well as dates generally)

9 month is a tad late in terms of having the most options but still possible. Your challenges are always going to be getting off Australia and getting back to Australia as the main.

Getting to Europe generally has options from Asia just which carrier and to where. July also has a school holiday block in it which can mean flights get booked out as well.

 

[Bell21]

That's what I thought too - I figured that I would have to start the OWA off Australia somewhere in SE Asia with a positioning flight first (although I'll book a holding 'off Aust' outbounds flight based on earlier comments to reduce currency complexity etc) --- sound like I might have to do sometime similar on the return as well?

 

[There'sOnlyOneJimmy]

That's what I thought too - I figured that I would have to start the OWA off Australia somewhere in SE Asia with a positioning flight first (although I'll book a holding 'off Aust' outbounds flight based on earlier comments to reduce currency complexity etc) --- sound like I might have to do sometime similar on the return as well?

Here’s a way out of Aus in July 26 (2 x J)…

 

[leaving on a jet plane]

Here's a back door with a few options......if you hurry

 

[leaving on a jet plane]

MEL -CMB_LHR 13/7 - 14/7

 

[leaving on a jet plane]

That's what I thought too - I figured that I would have to start the OWA off Australia somewhere in SE Asia with a positioning flight first (although I'll book a holding 'off Aust' outbounds flight based on earlier comments to reduce currency complexity etc) --- sound like I might have to do sometime similar on the return as well?

 

[Bell21]

thanks for your efforts - will check it tonight

 

[Captain Halliday]

Would appreciate advice from the brains trust on reaching an acceptable resolution to this scenario please.

As outlined here, I had a fully ticketed Oneworld Classic Flight Award for 3 pax.

Hoping to remove a 36 hour stopover in TYO, I requested seat release on QF metal ex. LHR or CDG for flights back to Australia. Both were declined. However the agent made an error by adding an "auto cancel" to the booking.

About a week later the whole trip disappeared.

QF requested the other Oneworld airlines reinstate the seats. Two agreed, but BA declined on YVRxLHR-MUC.

I have deliberately tried to be constructive with QF on this one and have proposed some solutions via the escalations email.

First, I found alternative routing with award inventory YVRxLHR-VIE. This would mean cutting our time in Vancouver from 4 days to 2. It would also mean serval changes (additional time and cost) to our plans in Germany and Austria. I put this option to QF as being acceptable if we could get a later return from Europe on QF via LHR or CDG.

QF said no seats were available for release, despite available inventory in I class. In any case I was suggesting QF convert revenue seats because it was a QF stuff up.

I also proposed QF purchase J revenue seats from BA on the original YVRxLHR-MUC to reinstate our original itinerary. I had no response on this.

Instead, QF has made a second attempt to have BA reinstate the original seats. It's now been a week since that request to BA and I've heard nothing further.

Any suggestions for how to progress this with QF so that the whole trip is not lost?

An update on this scenario.

Tomorrow will be six weeks since I discovered a QF agent had accidentally cancelled our entire Oneworld Classic Flight Award and still no acceptable resolution from QF.

They say BA has twice refused to make our original flights available.

QF has refused to acknowledged two separate emails requesting QF purchase 3xJ seats for the relevant BA flights and reinstate our original routing.

The have also refused my proposed solution which was a later return from Europe (requiring seats on QF metal). This would allow us to make changes to our on-ground plans in Europe and at least make going into VIE more achievable for us logistically.

I should also have noted in my earlier post that the involuntary re-route to VIE requires us to travel on Christmas day (original booking was 27th). I'm really not thrilled about this and would prefer Christmas day to be family time, not airport chaos.

The latest QF response effectively asks me to tally up the cost of changing the accommodation and they'll "...look at recovery options".

The reward ticketing escalations staff member I'm dealing with is either unwilling, or lacks the authority to resolve this case.

A couple of questions:
1. I'm yet to go down the formal complaint path, or write to a senior executive. Before I do one or both of these, any suggestions on how else to approach this with Qantas?

2. If I go through the exercise of tallying actual cost of the change including cancelled accomm, onward trains etc... what sort of compensation in either dollars or points do others consider reasonable for both sacrificing Christmas day, and the overall stuff-up and hassle QF has caused?

 

[Mr_Tee]

An update on this scenario.

Tomorrow will be six weeks since I discovered a QF agent had accidentally cancelled our entire Oneworld Classic Flight Award and still no acceptable resolution from QF.

They say BA has twice refused to make our original flights available.

QF has refused to acknowledged two separate emails requesting QF purchase 3xJ seats for the relevant BA flights and reinstate our original routing.

The have also refused my proposed solution which was a later return from Europe (requiring seats on QF metal). This would allow us to make changes to our on-ground plans in Europe and at least make going into VIE more achievable for us logistically.

I should also have noted in my earlier post that the involuntary re-route to VIE requires us to travel on Christmas day (original booking was 27th). I'm really not thrilled about this and would prefer Christmas day to be family time, not airport chaos.

The latest QF response effectively asks me to tally up the cost of changing the accommodation and they'll "...look at recovery options".

The reward ticketing escalations staff member I'm dealing with is either unwilling, or lacks the authority to resolve this case.

A couple of questions:
1. I'm yet to go down the formal complaint path, or write to a senior executive. Before I do one or both of these, any suggestions on how else to approach this with Qantas?

2. If I go through the exercise of tallying actual cost of the change including cancelled accomm, onward trains etc... what sort of compensation in either dollars or points do others consider reasonable for both sacrificing Christmas day, and the overall stuff-up and hassle QF has caused?

In relation to your question 1, I have no experience with a situation like this but I would have thought that after 6 weeks it is well due for serious escalation.

In relation to your question 2, surely if you have outlaid hard cash for accommodation, trains etc you would want hard cash as compensation rather than some points amount? I'd never accept points as compensation for something like this. The compensation needs to include any additional costs that you would incur when re-booking these other activities etc. You should not be out of pocket at any point in the process.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

In relation to your question 1, I have no experience with a situation like this but I would have thought that after 6 weeks it is well due for serious escalation.

In relation to your question 2, surely if you have outlaid hard cash for accommodation, trains etc you would want hard cash as compensation rather than some points amount? I'd never accept points as compensation for something like this. The compensation needs to include any additional costs that you would incur when re-booking these other activities etc. You should not be out of pocket at any point in the process.

I think the question was that in addition to the actual costs, how much should be requested for the stress and disruption… ie ‘compensation’.

I think that’s a different issue.

I’d focus on actual costs first, then ask for compensation. I fear the latter may fail.