Looking for help booking Oneworld Classic Reward

T

tomasp

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Jul 19, 2017
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Hi,

My wife and I are looking to fly to USA next year (mid May to June 2023 - flexible with timing).

We would like to fly business with Oneworld Classic Reward (318k each). We are only bronze QFF members with PointsClub Plus; I have Oneworld Qatar Gold but don't think this would help us in any way; and don't have access to any family that are QFF Gold.

We would like to fly Perth > NYC (spend 2 wks or a little over) > San Francisco (spend 1 wk or a little over) > Bali (spend 1 week) > Perth. I have over 820k point accrued but little experience booking these Classic Rewards.

Given the info above, can anyone please help provide some assistance or advice on how best to book this, when to look for these flights and general advice, so that we don't miss the boat or miss out on being able to book this Classic Reward.

Thanks in advance,
Tom
 
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tomasp said:
I've seen that but its a bit steep (approx. $595 for the two of us) and very few reviews/experiences I have been able to find using the service. So I'm a bit hesitant to pay a significant amount for the service if I can't validate other's experience or how good it is.
Click to expand...
It's run by the people who run the forum you are posting on. They are very good.
 
tomasp said:
My wife and I are looking to fly to USA next year (mid May to June 2023 - flexible with timing).

We would like to fly business with Oneworld Classic Reward (318k each). We are only bronze QFF members with PointsClub Plus; I have Oneworld Qatar Gold but don't think this would help us in any way; and don't have access to any family that are QFF Gold.

We would like to fly Perth > NYC (spend 2 wks or a little over) > San Francisco (spend 1 wk or a little over) > Bali (spend 1 week) > Perth. I have over 820k point accrued but little experience booking these Classic Rewards.

Given the info above, can anyone please help provide some assistance or advice on how best to book this, when to look for these flights and general advice, so that we don't miss the boat or miss out on being able to book this Classic Reward.
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Point to point would be hard and expensive in QF points. QF oneworld award is good, if you get it to work.
Many of your destinations will require 1 or more transits (so map below is not what will happen)
Business class award for 2 people AU<--->USA will be hard, but not impossible.

Would start practising now. AA/AS awards are from 330 days out. No status with QF limits what awards show for you.
Paying for award booking service may be worth it. Retail for 2 business class flights for those flight would be 10's of thousands (not that many would pay for that).

Do you have QR avios? QR avios can be moved to BA-IB ffp's subject to the t&c's

www.gcmap.com

A map from Great Circle Mapper

A map from Great Circle Mapper
www.gcmap.com www.gcmap.com

Edit
Added HKG, KUL & SEA to map
 
Last edited:
Mwenenzi said:
Point to point would be hard and expansive in QF points
Many of your destinations will require 1 or more transits (so map below is not what will happen)
Business class award for 2 people AU<--->USA will be hard, but not impossible.
Would start practising now. AA/AS awards are from 330 days out. QF no status limits what award show for you.

Paying for award booking service may be worth. Retail for 2 business class flights for those flight would be10's of thousands (not that many would pay for that).

Do you have QR avios? QR avios can be moved to BA-IB ffp's subject to the t&c's

www.gcmap.com

A map from the Great Circle Mapper

A map from the Great Circle Mapper
www.gcmap.com www.gcmap.com
Click to expand...
We are quite open to connecting flights (not direct) so not so much of an issue in that regards. I've been trying to do some searches in April (ish) and can find some options via Tokyo for Per > NYC.

I can also find some options for SFO > Bali (via Doha with Qatar) and Bali to Perth with Cathay.

My biggest issue which I haven't been able to sort out is the NYC > SFO leg. Seems there is no availability for Business Reward seats on any direct flights no matter what date I select (all the way from mid Feb up to the latest dates I can select in April). There are a couple of connecting journeys with AA via Charlotte but they are all connecting flights with only 1/2 hour layover time (which I don't think is smart). Seems I can't book anything with a 2hr or so layover time.

***EDIT**** - sorry I didn't reply to your Avois question. No I don't have any Avois. I just have the 820k of QFF points.
 
Also interesting is that when I look up reward flights using BA Avios it comes up with availability on Alaskan airlines AS1284

1651731487835.png

but when I look it up on Qantas, it doesn't show any availability

1651731534806.png
 
DOH is a big diversion, and may have considerable cost in QF ff points.
Given the airlines that fly DPS - PER worth considering paying cash. Does not need to be OW
For NYC looking at JFK/LGA/EWR on AA & AS? Or PHL / BOS instead of NYC? USA first - business can be problematic. USA first in 2 class aircraft is "business" for QF earning & burning.

The wikipedia airport entry can be a starting poins for airlines/routes. But may not be up to date and/or will be different in 2023
en.wikipedia.org

Ngurah Rai International Airport - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Good luck with the hunt :)
 
tomasp said:
Also interesting is that when I look up reward flights using BA Avios it comes up with availability on Alaskan airlines AS1284

View attachment 275924

but when I look it up on Qantas, it doesn't show any availability

View attachment 275925
Click to expand...
Alaska (AS) only has First Class and Economy. Looks like BA identify AS First as Business class, while QF identify it as First class (which is common for QF), which would effectively rule it out for you.

When booking between US coasts consider flights via any of the American (AA) hubs in the direction of SFO. So this is flights via Washington Reagan (DCA), Chicago O'Hare (ORD), Philly (PHL), Charlotte (CLT), Dallas (DFW) or at a pinch Phoenix (PHX) or LAX.

Happy to provide some online guidance if you DM me.
 
gilldo said:
Alaska (AS) only has First Class and Economy. Looks like BA identify AS First as Business class, while QF identify it as First class (which is common for QF), which would effectively rule it out for you.

When booking between US coasts consider flights via any of the American (AA) hubs in the direction of SFO. So this is flights via Washington Reagan (DCA), Chicago O'Hare (ORD), Philly (PHL), Charlotte (CLT), Dallas (DFW) or at a pinch Phoenix (PHX) or LAX.

Happy to provide some online guidance if you DM me.
Click to expand...
Thanks @gilldo , appreciate your help. This makes sense now.

I had a look at there are some flights via ORD but the layover is only like half an hour (showing on Qantas booking system). I can see later flights available also, but can't book a combination of the earlier in / later out - to give us enough of a layover. When I try split this across two separate redemption bookings (JFK>ORD ; ORD>SFO) the award flights disappear and aren't shown. I guess I'd need to call up QF and book over the phone to get the longer layover timing I want?

I still can't get my head around how every flight between JFK>SFO direct has no business reward availability on QF anytime from Feb right through to end of March. Is this normal? The even more peculiar thing is that when I check on reward availability direct with AA, it shows there are reward seats available on some of the direct flights (just doesn't show up on QF system)?
 
Also, is Expertflyer premium at $9.99 per month worth it to sign up for reward availability notification? Or am I better off just periodically checking myself given the flexibility of when we can fly and the fact that we are searching for just over a year away?
 
tomasp said:
Thanks @gilldo , appreciate your help. This makes sense now.

I had a look at there are some flights via ORD but the layover is only like half an hour (showing on Qantas booking system). I can see later flights available also, but can't book a combination of the earlier in / later out - to give us enough of a layover. When I try split this across two separate redemption bookings (JFK>ORD ; ORD>SFO) the award flights disappear and aren't shown. I guess I'd need to call up QF and book over the phone to get the longer layover timing I want?

I still can't get my head around how every flight between JFK>SFO direct has no business reward availability on QF anytime from Feb right through to end of March. Is this normal? The even more peculiar thing is that when I check on reward availability direct with AA, it shows there are reward seats available on some of the direct flights (just doesn't show up on QF system)?
Click to expand...
Is the JFK-SFO situation normal - pretty much yes!

US airlines have a habit of providing tight connections - it's their job to get you there if you miss one! (when that would be, who knows!)
 
gilldo said:
Is the JFK-SFO situation normal - pretty much yes!

US airlines have a habit of providing tight connections - it's their job to get you there if you miss one! (when that would be, who knows!)
Click to expand...
So I gather it's not recommended... is half an hour realistic for transit at ORD if traveling AA JFK>SFO? I thought the gates close half hour before flight departure?

I gather there would be some preferential treatment if sitting in Business? This is our first time in USA and have been told airports and security can be crazy, so I should aim for at least 1.5hrs layover when catching connecting flights, just to be sure...
 
tomasp said:
The even more peculiar thing is that when I check on reward availability direct with AA, it shows there are reward seats available on some of the direct flights (just doesn't show up on QF system)?
Click to expand...
They need to be AAsaver awards to be able to be booked with QF ff points
AA have many types of awards dynamically priced in AA ff miles
 

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