Help booking a qantas award flight. ADL>AMS - FCO>ADL

[neon_crossing]

Hey guys,
After about 10 years worth of points hoarding for Qantas my folks are finally going to use them for a cruise in europe in Sep 2016.
They have accumulated 686,000 and placed them in one account, as I am the designated family travel aficionado it has come down to me to make the booking on their behalf, it will be a good trial run for me anyway as I've managed to accumulate 298k myself in under 12 months from credit card deals alone.
Getting straight to the biscuits, they are willing to burn all of their hard earned points and are looking for J or F:
They are looking to fly ADL > AMS arriving to the AMS for the 2nd/3rd Sep 2013 as the cruise departs on the 4th.
I am keen to book this itinerary early and then book the return later.
The return needed is FCO > ADL departing on the 30th Sep/ 1st Oct.

The most economical routing seems to be ADL>HKG>AMS (139k points / $170ish tax pp)

I am getting perplexed/frustrated at the fact I can see award flight availability in single sectors or part of MEL>HKG>AMS / SYD>HKG>AMS
but not when I search the particular date I want ADL > HKG > AMS.
For example:
02 SEP - ADL > HKG available in J
03 SEP - HKG > AMS available in J (but I can only see the flight come up if I fly via SYD or MEL to AMS)

My questions are:
Is there some restriction as to what flights are made available per booking origin?
Am I booking this completely wrong and should I be waiting for the window for the return flights to open up and opt for a RTW/Oneworld award booking?
How do I search the availability for the one world style bookings?

Cheers in advance, I really appreciate it.

 

[grussellt]

The best starting point is at:

One World Award

It may seem complex at first but if you learn a few rules and know how to search multi-city trips you will be well on the way. Have a practice and see how you go once you have started the learning process. If all else fails you can do it by a phone call (or two).
Just to give you a leg-up here's an example of what you can do (I've used Y because there is more choice).
12/7 ADL-MEL (QF)
MEL-AMS (CX)
30/7 FCO-LHR-SIN (BA)
31/7 SIN-PER (QF)
01/08 PER-ADL (QF)
This costs 140000pts and $716.21. The itinerary must have less than 5 stops (24h plus otherwise a transit) and must have at least two one world airlines other than QF (so EK not allowed). This is a very simple example of what's possible but input the legs shown into a multi-city search and you will be started.

 

[neon_crossing]

thanks for the heads up grussellt.
yeah a RTW OW booking seems like the way to go.
The call centre advised to book a regular multi city booking now to lock in the first legs of the trip before the cruise.
Then in a month figure out the return and give them a call to add them in, they mentioned they can then turn it into a RTW OW booking. for the cost of 3,500pts pp fee that seems reasonable

 

[Mattg]

thanks for the heads up grussellt.
yeah a RTW OW booking seems like the way to go.
The call centre advised to book a regular multi city booking now to lock in the first legs of the trip before the cruise.
Then in a month figure out the return and give them a call to add them in, they mentioned they can then turn it into a RTW OW booking. for the cost of 3,500pts pp fee that seems reasonable

Definitely the way to go. I wouldn't risk losing the first lot of flights by waiting.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

02 SEP - ADL > HKG available in J
03 SEP - HKG > AMS available in J (but I can only see the flight come up if I fly via SYD or MEL to AMS)

My questions are:
Is there some restriction as to what flights are made available per booking origin?

It looks like it could be a married segment. I tried earlier today, departing both ADL and MEL/SYD, but could not get the HKG-AMS CX flight to show in conjunction with the AU originating flight. Only when bringing up HKG-AMS is isolation would it show.

However - possibly worth calling QF anyway - they might be able to override it.

 

[neon_crossing]

Yeah the only one coming up is the SYD>AMS you cant book the HKG>AMS in isolation or PER/MEL/ADL>AMS.
It is really bizzare, I spoke to Qantas on the phone 3 times now and they have no idea why it is like that and no way to fix it for me.
If I wanted to book the flights as a regular classic award (ADL>SYD SYD>AMS) it will cost 163,000pts instead of 139,000 pts ADL>AMS.
Also, now they are telling me if I want to book ADL > SYD > AMS on the first half of a RTW OW ticket that i'll have to choose dummy return flights and book them then when I call to change the return flights they are going to charge not only the 3,500 per passenger but another 8,000 per passenger too!
Should I:
A) Hold them for 23,000 points on the RTW?
B) Take the price gouge of 24,000ea extra for the ADL>SYD and just book it as a classic award?
C) Take the 30 day risk of losing the departure route and try to book the RTW return routing?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Yeah the only one coming up is the SYD>AMS you cant book the HKG>AMS in isolation or PER/MEL/ADL>AMS.
It is really bizzare, I spoke to Qantas on the phone 3 times now and they have no idea why it is like that and no way to fix it for me.

Married segment is all I can think of. If so, there'll be no easy way around it. You could just book ex SYD, and pay for the connection with $, or an economy award (total 151,000).

Can an RTW booking be made entirely on line? If so, would changes also made entirely on line be exempt from the 8000 assistance change fee (ie just leaving you with 3500 to pay)? (I don't know the answer as I've never made such a booking.)

 

[neon_crossing]

Can an RTW booking be made entirely on line? If so, would changes also made entirely on line be exempt from the 8000 assistance change fee (ie just leaving you with 3500 to pay)? (I don't know the answer as I've never made such a booking.)

I've just called QFF again and they echoed your suggestion, the woman I spoke to last night must have no idea what she is talking about. You can change it only (apparently a RTW booking is just a multi-trip and if you follow the rules it will max out at the 280k for J. If you do it online its only 3,500 and you avoid the 8k fee, Also they mentioned that because it is business even if you call up you avoid the 8k fee. I asked him 4 times to clarify and he 'guaranteed' it.
I am going to jump on and book the ADL>SYD SYD>(HKG)>AMS now for 163k in J and sit tight for a month.

Cheers for the help MEL_Traveller