Classic award booking question

[ajaaay]

Hi There,

I need some expert advice and hopefully i dont seeem tooo stupid.

So i have booked a classic award flight to america next year with my partner. At the time we had not completely worked out our internal plans for travelling around the US. We have now made some decisions of where we are going to go / fly. My question is, is it possible to get the classic award booking updated to include the additional flights in the U.S.? The internal flights i would also be booking with points. or do i need to book the internal flights separately?

Many thanks

 

[blackcat20]

You can add on the internal flights as points booking, but you will pay a change fee (I think 3500 points per person). There isnt really a reason why you cant just book them separately unless you specifically need them on the one ticket....

 

[NoName]

Hi There,

I need some expert advice and hopefully i dont seeem tooo stupid.

So i have booked a classic award flight to america next year with my partner. At the time we had not completely worked out our internal plans for travelling around the US. We have now made some decisions of where we are going to go / fly. My question is, is it possible to get the classic award booking updated to include the additional flights in the U.S.? The internal flights i would also be booking with points. or do i need to book the internal flights separately?

Many thanks

Yes this will be no issue. I did exactly that just this morning. I had a booking for LAX-BNE and got them to add JFK-LAX for the day before. No issues at all. You'll probably need to call up to do it.


EDIT: Also added LAX-LAS to an existing MEL-LAX classic award a couple of weeks ago. They recalculated the new award cost. Same points cost so no charge other than the 3.5k pts change fee.

 

[NoName]

You can add on the internal flights as points booking, but you will pay a change fee (I think 3500 points per person). There isnt really a reason why you cant just book them separately unless you specifically need them on the one ticket....

A possible reason for one ticket is that if you are transiting somewhere then A-B-C will quite possibly be less points if one booking compared to two (A-B + B-C).

 

[ajaaay]

Thanks for your help now another questions, when you added the LAX - LAS, did you baggage allowance carry over? I.E. if i was currently booking my internal flights seperately the baggage allowance is 0 but if i add to my international flights will what i get also carry onto the domestic legs?

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Hi There,

I need some expert advice and hopefully i dont seeem tooo stupid.

So i have booked a classic award flight to america next year with my partner. At the time we had not completely worked out our internal plans for travelling around the US. We have now made some decisions of where we are going to go / fly. My question is, is it possible to get the classic award booking updated to include the additional flights in the U.S.? The internal flights i would also be booking with points. or do i need to book the internal flights separately?

Many thanks

What dates and sectors do you plan to fly? This will give us a better idea of what to suggest.

Do you plan to connect immediately on arrival to another US city? If so, getting all the first internal flight booked and reissued so it's on the same ticket as your transpac flight is a good idea as QF can then through check the bag to that destination (even though you need to clear customs with your bag on arrival at the first entry point to the US.

Currently QF will through to AA on separate pnrs up to 31 August 2016 but after that date if you've got a separate booking with AA they will no longer do this.

It's worth comparing the cost of purchasing a fare vs using points as sometimes you would get better value from hanging on to the points and using them for future travel in a premium cabin as often fares are quite cheap to buy. As you are QF SG you would get free checked bags on AA anyway so you don't need to have the domestic flights on the international ticket for the purpose of free baggage like a non-status pax would need to do.

It depends on what sectors you want to use your Qantas points for. One benefit of using points for USA domestic flights is it's good value when there's not a very good exchange rate plus the taxes of USA domestic flights are very cheap as in approx USD5.50. West Coast flights to Hawaii are a good use of points IMHO as a fare LAX/HNL is generally quite expensive so represents good value for 25K points if you were doing a circle trip itinerary eg. MEL/LAX/HNL/MEL.

Ps your question is definitely not stupid as this is the exact place to ask that advice as there's always others that will benefit from your example.

 

[blackcat20]

A possible reason for one ticket is that if you are transiting somewhere then A-B-C will quite possibly be less points if one booking compared to two (A-B + B-C).

Definitely, which is why I mentioned that it may be required. More important if its a same day connection from the international flight, not so important for other flights.

 

[ajaaay]

What dates and sectors do you plan to fly? This will give us a better idea of what to suggest.

Do you plan to connect immediately on arrival to another US city? If so, getting all the first internal flight booked and reissued so it's on the same ticket as your transpac flight is a good idea as QF can then through check the bag to that destination (even though you need to clear customs with your bag on arrival at the first entry point to the US.

Currently QF will through to AA on separate pnrs up to 31 August 2016 but after that date if you've got a separate booking with AA they will no longer do this.

It's worth comparing the cost of purchasing a fare vs using points as sometimes you would get better value from hanging on to the points and using them for future travel in a premium cabin as often fares are quite cheap to buy. As you are QF SG you would get free checked bags on AA anyway so you don't need to have the domestic flights on the international ticket for the purpose of free baggage like a non-status pax would need to do.

It depends on what sectors you want to use your Qantas points for. One benefit of using points for USA domestic flights is it's good value when there's not a very good exchange rate plus the taxes of USA domestic flights are very cheap as in approx USD5.50. West Coast flights to Hawaii are a good use of points IMHO as a fare LAX/HNL is generally quite expensive so represents good value for 25K points if you were doing a circle trip itinerary eg. MEL/LAX/HNL/MEL.

Ps your question is definitely not stupid as this is the exact place to ask that advice as there's always others that will benefit from your example.

Thanks for the very comprehensive response, to answer your second question no we don't plan to connect right away. Below is the overall plan and dates for the travel

19th April MEL - JFK with Emirates in First (already booked)
24th April JFK - DCA Economy
27th April DCA - MSP Economy
1st May SEA - LAX only first available on this date
7th May LAX - MEL in Business on QF (already booked)

I looked up the price for booking the flights and the flights for these days would cost around 800-1000

Anyways open to suggestions for the best way to do it!

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Thanks for the very comprehensive response, to answer your second question no we don't plan to connect right away. Below is the overall plan and dates for the travel

19th April MEL - JFK with Emirates in First (already booked)
24th April JFK - DCA Economy
27th April DCA - MSP Economy
1st May SEA - LAX only first available on this date
7th May LAX - MEL in Business on QF (already booked)

I looked up the price for booking the flights and the flights for these days would cost around 800-1000

Anyways open to suggestions for the best way to do it!

What about MSP/SEA? I take it that given your time frame you'd be flying this sector also?

 

[ajaaay]

We were looking to drive from MSP to Seattle and stop off in south dekota and see mount rushmore and then other spots along the way

maybe there is a closer airport than MSP for this trip as we don't actually have anything planned to do in MSP

 

[NoName]

Are the flights that you've already booked on the one booking or seperate? If seperate it may pay to see if you can get them on the one booking as co-payment may be quite a bit less. I originally had MEL-LAX & LAX-BNE on seperate bookings. When I asked to join them into one booking the recalculated co-payment was approx $700 lower for 2 pax.

 

[ajaaay]

Are the flights that you've already booked on the one booking or seperate? If seperate it may pay to see if you can get them on the one booking as co-payment may be quite a bit less. I originally had MEL-LAX & LAX-BNE on seperate bookings. When I asked to join them into one booking the recalculated co-payment was approx $700 lower for 2 pax.

The flights that i have booked are already on the same booking. Thanks for the advice though

 

[JohnK]

Interesting thread.

I had a SYD-MEL-KUL booking and wanted to change date. Online no problem. Then I wanted to change destination. Can't be done online unless you cancel and forfeit 5,000 points. Called a couple of days ago and to change to SYD-BKK the consultant said 3,500 points + assisted booking fee.

Consultant wrong? Not sure how everyone else is adding sectors onto existing bookings as destination is changing.

Anyway she couldn't see the availability SYD-BKK so told me to book it and she waived the 5,000 point cancellation fee.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Are the flights that you've already booked on the one booking or seperate? If seperate it may pay to see if you can get them on the one booking as co-payment may be quite a bit less. I originally had MEL-LAX & LAX-BNE on seperate bookings. When I asked to join them into one booking the recalculated co-payment was approx $700 lower for 2 pax.

oh that is interesting . I love the info you get on here! I booked two award flghts MEL-lax for my daughter and her fiance today in J. In a couple of weeks I plan to book the return legs (once they are released). So I can just phone up after I have done that and ask for them to be made into one booking and they will recalculate? Did you need to ask them to recalculate, or do they do it automatically?

 

[NoName]

oh that is interesting . I love the info you get on here! I booked two award flghts MEL-lax for my daughter and her fiance today in J. In a couple of weeks I plan to book the return legs (once they are released). So I can just phone up after I have done that and ask for them to be made into one booking and they will recalculate? Did you need to ask them to recalculate, or do they do it automatically?

What actually happened in my situation was a relative who is WP was requesting seats for my wife and I. We were travelling to LAX seperately (in F) and returning to BNE together (in Y). The agent on the phone (out of ease I guess) booked it under 3 bookings - me there, wife there, both home. I rang up and said that it should have been booked all as one booking and that I suspected the copayment should be much lower. The agent didn't think that was right about the copayment but agreed to put all the bookings together and recalculate. As I said, when this was done it was approx $700 less for the two of us.

Definitely have them add return flights onto the existing booking. If you do a dummy booking online you'll be able to find out approximately what the difference will be. For both legs being in J you will probably save even more than I did.

 

[Flying mermaid]

What actually happened in my situation was a relative who is WP was requesting seats for my wife and I. We were travelling to LAX seperately (in F) and returning to BNE together (in Y). The agent on the phone (out of ease I guess) booked it under 3 bookings - me there, wife there, both home. I rang up and said that it should have been booked all as one booking and that I suspected the copayment should be much lower. The agent didn't think that was right about the copayment but agreed to put all the bookings together and recalculate. As I said, when this was done it was approx $700 less for the two of us.

Definitely have them add return flights onto the existing booking. If you do a dummy booking online you'll be able to find out approximately what the difference will be. For both legs being in J you will probably save even more than I did.

Thank-you - I will give it a try