Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[icecream]

My apologies… I misread the onward connection was out of HKG, not KIX.

In this case it would calculate the trips as SYD-HKG-ICN and KIX-HEL-FRA.

KIX-HEL-FRA is 5774 miles which is 108000 points.

Still comes to 125400+108000 = 233400.

Not sure how your get 125.4k for each leg? They are in different mileage bands.

Thanks @MEL_Traveller your answer makes the most sense. The cost comes from the reward tool but also multi city (looking at this leg only)

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks @MEL_Traveller your answer makes the most sense. The cost comes from the reward tool but also multi city (looking at this leg only)

View attachment 518647

It’s interesting.

The tool, and booking engine are returning incorrect results when searching for the individual trip!

According to the award tables published here: https://www.qantas.com/en-au/frequent-flyer/use-points/classic-flight-rewards/tables

… together with great circle mapper to get the distance*: http://www.gcmap.com/mapui

The actual mileage should fall within the lower band by 26 miles (5776 miles vs band limit of 5800 miles)

When using the multicity tool it appear to be calculating this correctly, and charging the 108k miles for KIX-HEL-FRA.

When buying individually it seems to be pushing over the 5800 mileage band to charge 125.4k


* in a tiny percent of cases mileage may differ between great circle mapper and airline systems… due mainly to historic airport locations. But this is usually only a few miles and not important unless right at the mileage band limit. But that doesn’t appear the case here as both OSA and ITM airports actually have a lower mileage to FRA than KIX!

It seems to be a sneaky way to increase cost by QF. I noticed it as well for some other connections involving AY which were at the mileage band limit as well

 

[icecream]

Thanks again @MEL_Traveller that's mystery solved then. Strange it is showing as 125.4k (although you can book it for 108k on multi city) because if it showed correctly as 108k on the reward finder tool then I would have definitely understood where the 233.4k total for the 2 flight segments came from

 

[icecream]

Hi everyone,

I completed a oneworld classic reward in 2024 so consider myself fairly decent with the rules but I’m a bit confused about the below and appreciate any insights.

I’m looking at piecing together initially
SYD-HKG-ICN which lands at 22:25 then next day departing 22:15 KIX-HEL-FRA

this is coming up as 233.4k and I’m unsure where this comes from. The legs separately are 125.4k each and consulting all the points tables would it not currently fall under the partner reward table zone 10 (12,174 mi on gcm) for 182.9k?

Coming back to my question earlier I've just come across this article:
How to book a long stopover with Qantas Points

It is my understanding that because it is a transit of <24 h (by 5 mins in fact, just like 2 of the examples in the article) then indeed it should not price as flight 1 + flight 2. I've gone back to play with the multi-city tool and today it seems to be co-operating. If I select flight 1 as the CX flight and flight 2 as the CX flight, it indeed caps at 182.9k. However, if I select flight 1 as CX and flight 2 as AY it comes out at 233.4k... (btw the AY flight departs ICN earlier)

You'd probably guess it's because of two different airlines but according to the article it should be fine as long as they are using the same table here: https://www.qantas.com/en-au/freque...rewards/tables#partner-classic-flight-rewards

So I'm still not sure what's going on

EDIT: Realised the new tester flights I was looking at are different to initial query but dilemma remains the same they are
flight 1
SYD-HKG-ICN arrive 22:25 (CX)

flight 2 next day depart 20:05 ICN-HKG-FRA (CX)
OR
next day depart 21:50 ICN-HEL-FRA (AY)

 

[icecream]

Hi everyone,

I completed a oneworld classic reward in 2024 so consider myself fairly decent with the rules but I’m a bit confused about the below and appreciate any insights.

I’m looking at piecing together initially
SYD-HKG-ICN which lands at 22:25 then next day departing 22:15 KIX-HEL-FRA

this is coming up as 233.4k and I’m unsure where this comes from. The legs separately are 125.4k each and consulting all the points tables would it not currently fall under the partner reward table zone 10 (12,174 mi on gcm) for 182.9k?

Coming back to my question earlier I've just come across this article:
How to book a long stopover with Qantas Points

It is my understanding that because it is a transit of <24 h (by 5 mins in fact, just like 2 of the examples in the article) then indeed it should not price as flight 1 + flight 2. I've gone back to play with the multi-city tool and today it seems to be co-operating. If I select flight 1 as the CX flight and flight 2 as the CX flight, it indeed caps at 182.9k. However, if I select flight 1 as CX and flight 2 as AY it comes out at 233.4k... (btw the AY flight departs ICN earlier)

You'd probably guess it's because of two different airlines but according to the article it should be fine as long as they are using the same table here: https://www.qantas.com/en-au/freque...rewards/tables#partner-classic-flight-rewards

So I'm still not sure what's going on

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Coming back to my question earlier I've just come across this article:
How to book a long stopover with Qantas Points

It is my understanding that because it is a transit of <24 h (by 5 mins in fact, just like 2 of the examples in the article) then indeed it should not price as flight 1 + flight 2. I've gone back to play with the multi-city tool and today it seems to be co-operating. If I select flight 1 as the CX flight and flight 2 as the CX flight, it indeed caps at 182.9k. However, if I select flight 1 as CX and flight 2 as AY it comes out at 233.4k... (btw the AY flight departs ICN earlier)

You'd probably guess it's because of two different airlines but according to the article it should be fine as long as they are using the same table here: https://www.qantas.com/en-au/freque...rewards/tables#partner-classic-flight-rewards

So I'm still not sure what's going on

EDIT: Realised the new tester flights I was looking at are different to initial query but dilemma remains the same they are
flight 1
SYD-HKG-ICN arrive 22:25 (CX)

flight 2 next day depart 20:05 ICN-HKG-FRA (CX)
OR
next day depart 21:50 ICN-HEL-FRA (AY)

Qantas, AA and FJ price as the single through award. But in the partner airline tables, swapping between airlines triggers separate pricing.

SYD-HKG-ICN followed by ICN-HKG-FRA will price as separate trips because you are essentially doing a round trip to ICN from HKG, transiting HKG twice.

 

[serfty]

So I'm still not sure what's going on

swapping between airlines triggers separate pricing.

Agreed - from the teams and conditions under the definition of trip:

(c) not broken by a change to or from any airline included in the Partner Classic Flight Reward table.

Going from from CX to AY is indeed such a change.

To be clear, this is a situation for non oneworld classic awards.

If it were a Qantas oneworld classic award, trips are not relevant.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Agreed - from the teams and conditions under the definition of trip:
Going from from CX to AY is indeed such a change.

---

To be clear, this is a situation for non oneworld classic awards.

If it were a Qantas oneworld classic award, trips are not relevant.

The main problem seems to be the Pointhacks articles which come up on any google search. They indicate that staying within a table gives you the through fare. And they give the example of Qantas connecting to American Airlines.

That is indeed the case for AA/QF, but they don’t make it clear that switching carriers wholly within the partner table also triggers sector pricing.

 

[icecream]

Thought that may be the case, just the article said:

[Finally, for this itinerary to work, we’ve kept the flights to one award chart only – Cathay Pacific as per Qantas’ Partner Classic Flight Reward. If you combined a Qantas flight from Sydney-Hong Kong with a Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong-Shanghai, you’d pay for two separate tickets as Qantas and Cathay Pacific appear on different tables.]

and

[ You also can’t mix Qantas award charts. For example, if Flight 1 is with Qantas, which appears on the Qantas Classic Flight Reward table, you can’t book Flight 2 with an airline that appears on the Partner Classic Flight Reward table. Otherwise, your journey will be priced as two separate tickets, as the points totals will be additive. For the best value, stick to airlines that appear on the same award chart. ]

So seemed to imply it didn’t have to be the same airline, so long as it was in the same table

 

[MEL_Traveller]

It was the case, several years ago, that staying wholly within the partner award table gave you the through fare. But that's not the case now.

 

[serfty]

So seemed to imply it didn’t have to be the same airline, so long as it was in the same table

There are many here on AFF with decades of experince booking Qantas awards. I have been dealing with "Trips" since their original definition was implemented in 2005.

 

[icecream]

Ah, I see definitely good to know. Thank you both MEL_Traveller and serfty for your time and wisdom!

 

[serfty]

Ah, I see definitely good to know. Thank you both MEL_Traveller and serfty for your time and wisdom!

Note that artivmcle one very important innacuracy when considering long transits.

A transit can involve a connection of up to 24 hours. If a connection is of more than 24 hours it has to be a stopover.

Stopover: Meaning & Tips - Navan

What is a stopover, and when does a connection become one? Learn the IATA thresholds, corporate policy rules, and how stopovers affect business travel.

navan.com

i.e. Forget 23 hours and 59 minutes; it's 24 hours and 1 minute that is important.