Help with OW FF points flight

[Demon]

Hi everyone. Great forum. Was just introduced to it, but of all forums I have participated in, this one seems to be the most expert - maybe it's travel that brings it out in people!

I just was hoping for any tips on my wife's and my upcoming flight. My cousin told me to get a OW ticket bc it would be less points than the destinations I was after.

2 questions before my itinerary:

1. If my points are already in Qantas FF program, is it correct to say that I can't do the AA deal (even if it was better, which I have enjoyed seeing a discussion about!)?

2. Does that suck for me?

Our itinerary:

29/7 Melb - LA (QF93) - NY (UF107)

2/8 NY - Lon (BA178)

18/8 Lon - Brussels (BA392)

21/8 Brussels - Lon (BA401) - Tel Aviv (BA163)

26/8 TLV - Amman (RJ343) - BKK (RJ180)

1/9 BKK - Syd (BA9) - Melb (QF417)

I may move some dates around to get a bit more time in NY (never been!) and a bit less in the UK. I can't seem to be able to get a 3 day stop in BKK because of connection issues.

I suppose my question on this is whether there are any better or worse codes to take, any tricks, etc... I haven't booked it bc as you know you can't hold it on Qantas, but this was available 10 minutes ago!

Any help would be gratefully appreciated.

 

[IMOA]

1. Yes
2. Yes, but not the end of the world

For the itin a Oneworld award is going to be the best, 142,500 in economy, 282,500 in business. You'd have about 20,000 miles "left over" so you could tack on some sidetrips as well (actually, maybe not). The important conditions are that only 5 stopovers are allowed and you cannot have two stopovers in the same city - eg one of those connections through london would have to be less than 24 hours.

 

[straitman]

Demon,

Welcome to AFF.

There is a lot in your questions so I'll answer what I can and others will pick up the pieces.

As your points are with QF that’s where they stay.

Doesn’t really matter if it sucks for you as you can only go with what you’ve got. Cost would be 140000 point PP in Y or 280000 points PP in J

Some of you other questions are a bit subjective so I’d wait for inputs from others who know the specific trips a little better.

If you are moderately confident and are willing to pay the 2500 assisted booking fee you could ring QF and setup the booking. They’ll hold it for a few days and do so each time you make a change. To me that would be better than letting the availability get away.

 

[serfty]

Note that with a Qantas FF oneworld award you can have up to 16 segments and as long as you do not exceed 35,000 miles it will not cost any more points.

 

[Demon]

The fellow from Qantas told me I can't hold it, but I bet I know who's right!

Demon,

Welcome to AFF.

There is a lot in your questions so I'll answer what I can and others will pick up the pieces.

As your points are with QF that’s where they stay.

Doesn’t really matter if it sucks for you as you can only go with what you’ve got. Cost would be 140000 point PP in Y or 280000 points PP in J

Some of you other questions are a bit subjective so I’d wait for inputs from others who know the specific trips a little better.

If you are moderately confident and are willing to pay the 2500 assisted booking fee you could ring QF and setup the booking. They’ll hold it for a few days and do so each time you make a change. To me that would be better than letting the availability get away.

 

[JohnK]

That itinerary looks OK.

You have used up 10 sectors and already have 5 stopovers so unless changing the cities you want to visit there is not much tweaking that can be be done. As someone mentioned you will need to ensure that one of the London visits is a transit rather than a stopover. With a Oneworld RTW award for any city you can have one stopover and 2 transits.

According to GCM you itinerary is just under 26,000 miles so while you have another ~9,000 miles you can add to itinerary it would have to be transits rather than stopovers and transits just for the sake of maxing out a Oneworld RTW award are not fun. Believe me.

 

[straitman]

The fellow from Qantas told me I can't hold it, but I bet I know who's right!

Demon,

I've do so several times :!:

Remember it was only for a short time (a few days each time) whilst associated bit and pieces were finalised. If in doubt ring back and ask someone else.