1st B/C Round The World Trip on Points

[Carlton3]

Many thanks to all at AFF, I have recently completed my 1st RTW QF Business Class booking on QF frequent Flyer Points. I found out so much from the forums. Inc. You don't have to actually go round the world, you can backtrack. I was lucky enough booking only 6 months out to get three (yes 3) Qatar Business Class Q Suites. The trick seems to be fly to Singapore, where I think all Singapore to Doha flights have Q Suites. If you can't book a year out when the seats are released, forget about booking from Australia, fly to Singapore to start your Q Suites experience. Once again, many thanks to all.

 

[lilkid28]

Congrats! Mind sharing your redemption routing?

 

[Carlton3]

MEL-SIN-DOH-VCE-LHR-AMS-DOH-HND-KIX-MEL Two Open Jaws. LHR-AMS & HND-KIX. LHR to AMS on Eurostar via Paris & Paris to AMS on the High Speed Train. Tokyo to Osaka via Kyoto on the Shinkasen.
With the SIN-DOH & the AMS-DOH/DOH-HND being in Q Suites (Hopefully that want change the planes)

 

[stoney]

I agree, there are so many helpful forums. I can not speak highly enough of the help from FFS, they know their stuff. I have also got an RTW awards trip in J coming up in June. The add on taxes and charges was expensive at $2,869.29 for the two of us but that is still good considering the real cost of the trip would have been over $26K if paying for it.

 

[JohnM]

Many thanks to all at AFF, I have recently completed my 1st RTW QF Business Class booking on QF frequent Flyer Points. I found out so much from the forums. Inc. You don't have to actually go round the world, you can backtrack.

Well done!

However, even though you have stated clearly why a OWA (OneWorld Award) should not be confused with a revenue RTW fare such as an xONEx, you continued to call it 'RTW' .

They are two completely different things.

It causes confusion on this forum and I'm sure must be one of the reasons why when people phone QF looking to book a OWA, yet refer to it as 'RTW', they end up thinking the agent is ignorant and then grumble about call centre incompetence.

Edit: perhaps @support or a Mod could change the title of this thread to help reduce further confusion?

 

[stoney]

Right, got it. Thank you.

 

[stoney]

"Round the world with Oneworld" is taked directly from the Qantas website. I do not want to start WWIII but it is my chosen abbreviation but obviously unacceptable here. I will refrain from using it to avoid confusion.

 

[JohnM]

"Round the world with Oneworld" is taked directly from the Qantas website. I do not want to start WWIII but it is my chosen abbreviation but obviously unacceptable here. I will refrain from using it to avoid confusion.

That is true - but it is not the Award-based offering.

What that refers to is a revenue-based OneWorld Explorer or Global Explorer. They are both true RTW fares where circling the globe is obligatory. Neither are available for purchase by points; money only.

 

[Carlton3]

Sorry all, my bad. You learn something every day. The lovely lady at Qantas Hobart call centre knew what I meant & was a pleasure to talk to about my booking.

 

[JohnM]

Probably lucky in getting Hobart...

 

[Carlton3]

When Qantas advised a change of flight times, I rang & spoke to the very same lovely lady at the Hobart Call Centre again - so I've been very lucky.

 

[stoney]

That is good to hear

 

[Carlton3]

Thanks Stoney, All the best for your June trip. I'm off in July.

 

[MikeG]

Wow you were lucky. I spent probably 20 hours either on hold or on calls with Qantas to book our OWA (round the world as it happens) trip of 2x Economy and 2x Business. No Qatar unfortunately as they were not available booking 10 months in advance. We ended up getting Cathay, British Airways and JAL for our trip. Looking forward to Cathay Business Class as I've heard the food is second to none. JAL was Premium Economy because of lack of Business Class redemption seats.
As I have quite alot of domestic USA flights included I was forced to book some separately outside the OWA in order to get the trip we wanted. Qantas would not honour the rules for OWA so we ended up spending way more points than we had to on extra flights. Plus I had to buy one flight with cash (South West Airlines) due to no availability on that sector...

I found that the Qantas SMS contact method was workable sometimes (As I'm busy and cant afford the time to wait on hold). But all in all Qantas needs to take a look at itself and decide if it wants to keep customers happy or push them to the competition.

I've since moved my Amex card from QBR to Amex Rewards, and I will be focussing on earning Velocity Points moving forward. The paid international flights I've made for this year (not part of our round the world OWA booking) have all been Virgin or airlines other than Qantas.

 

[p--and--t]

Have read so many sad war stories on here about these bookings.

I must have been damn lucky or just well prepared (and flexible) when I booked my OWA J fare for my partner and I six months out from our trip. (which just incidentally was a 13 sector RTW routing- yes I know the difference)

Read the wiki from go to whoa. Investigated alternative routes. Piecemeal double checked all the sectors before hand with dummy bookings either on QF (or BA website where the USA domestic flights on AA and their multiple affiliates from minor airports are not listed on QF), rang Qantas once, waited maybe 45 mins to get answered, and booked the entire journey in one go with fantastic very helpful operator

BTW: I am only a Bronze with QF

Made a change a couple weeks later (added two sectors, dropped a sector) when circumstances changed and fixed in a single short call (with quite a long wait to get answered)

Wasn't charged booking fee (or change fee) because I pointed out not achievable online due to missing airports in QF database.

Maybe should have bought a lottery ticket ☺

 

[Carlton3]

Just luck Mike, the 1st time was a call back after 1 hour, the 2nd time was a call back after 3 hours. I'll hang up & call again if I don't get the call back service. But I got the call back service both times.
You'll enjoy Cathay B/C if it's the reverse herringbone seats, one of my favourite business class seats. I've never had any luck with the Qantas sms contact as the callbacks happened before the sms contact even responded.

 

[Carlton3]

I was also very well prepared with all my flights, dates, times, type of aircraft, seating etc all written down to give to the Qantas Call Centre staff. I also did dummy bookings on Qantas to check flights details & checked business class seating on Seat Alerts. And I have had excellent experiences with the Qantas call centre staff, although I have to admit both times it was the Hobart call centre.

 

[MikeG]

I also did dummy bookings, but some legs were what Qantas term "phantom seats" - but funnily enough, after getting this answer, with the consultant on the line I actually booked the "phantom seats" and told them so - they refused to refund my points or anything, and said that it was a timing thing. But it wasn't - there just seem to be issues with the Qantas customer experience, whether that is through software issues with their customer support, or training issues with their staff, or both. Who knows...