One way award to Japan, paid return?

Status
Not open for further replies.

toml

Junior Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2014
Posts
10
Hi all, looking for any advice on my plans!

I'm planning a trip for 2 to Japan and wasn't satisfied with award/upgrade options via my usual VA, so transferred Velocity points over to SQ miles to try SQ or ANA.

I have enough miles for 2x business award SYD-HND direct on ANA, booked via SQ redemption, so I was hoping to do this and then pay for a standard economy flight to return HND-SYD.

However, whilst I can see S class economy discount fares available on ANA HND-SYD for the dates I'm looking at returning (price approx $500 per person), neither ANA nor SQ seem to allow this to be booked as a one-way fare - the only option they provide is a full Y fare at approx $3300 per person(!!).

I wondered whether I could book a full SYD-HND-SYD return flight directly with ANA (since that's cheaper than booking one-way), then also redeem the SQ business rewards and simply not fly on one leg of the purchased return booking - is this allowable?

Alternatively I looked at outright purchasing the full return voyage with ANA and then using SQ miles to upgrade one-way economy to business - but the only reasonably priced fares available for purchase are V or H class, which - as far as I can tell - ANA doesn't allow upgrades on.

Is what I'm trying to do too unusual? Any help appreciated!

Tom
 
I recently did something similar - I had SYD-CHC return Y seats. Then I found F class CHC-SYD award booking. I wanted to try EK F class, so booked that too.

So we travelled economy SYD-CHC but on the return trip didn't use the Y tickets and checked in for our F class one-way award bookings.

Obviously, this won't work the other way because if you don't show up for your first flight, I believe the whole ticket will be cancelled.

I was a bit concerned about being on the same flight twice, but the girl at check in said: "you're showing as booked in Y and F, which ones would you like?"

"F thanks." lol

She smiled and said, "I never like to assume." :)
 
Ah yes I hadn't considered the order of flights! Thanks for pointing that out!

Hmm, ok - I think my only realistic option is to book reward tickets in economy as a full return journey and skip any further attempts at PE/J class!

I hope F on EK was enjoyable, goldenhorn. :)
 
Final option I'm considering is booking the business reward SYD-HND and then a separate ticket with Cathay or Qantas for the return, since they're doing reasonable priced one-way via HKG or BNE.

Both of these routes are about the same price:

KIX-HKG-SYD (15hrs total incl. 1.5hr stopover in HKG) on Cathay Pacific
which is a 777 KIX-HKG then A330 HKG-SYD

or NRT-BNE-SYD (13hr total incl. 2hr layover in BNE) on Qantas
which is QF A330 from NRT to BNE then 737 BNE-SYD

Ugh, too many options, and none are fantastic!
 
@toml

Welcome!! (Again!!:))

MH has a sale at the moment and an additional discount for companion.

Promo code: TWO2GO

SYD-SIN-KUL is same FF points (approx 58000 points) as SYD-SIN on SQ and approx $100 per person fee per booking (not per sector). J cabin.

Then buy KUL-NRT on MH return (MH operates their A380 on that route)

ANA also operates to/from KUL

Note if the KUL-NRT is on JAL, they will measure (as in tape measure) your ski bag (if you are taking a ski bag, or any oversized bag)

If it exceeds 200cm in total dimension, there will (as in no exceptions) be a USD$200 fee. MH doesn’t do that, only JAL
 
Last edited:
Your strategy of redeeming points in one direction and paying for the other way only really works if there are fares available which price at one-way levels. Have you considered flying a low-cost airline in one direction and using points to come back? E.g. fly Jetstar (yes, I know) for the day flight to Japan and redeem KrisFlyer miles to come back on NH or SQ (overnight).
 
Hi all, looking for any advice on my plans!

I'm planning a trip for 2 to Japan and wasn't satisfied with award/upgrade options via my usual VA, so transferred Velocity points over to SQ miles to try SQ or ANA.

I have enough miles for 2x business award SYD-HND direct on ANA, booked via SQ redemption, so I was hoping to do this and then pay for a standard economy flight to return HND-SYD.

However, whilst I can see S class economy discount fares available on ANA HND-SYD for the dates I'm looking at returning (price approx $500 per person), neither ANA nor SQ seem to allow this to be booked as a one-way fare - the only option they provide is a full Y fare at approx $3300 per person(!!).

I wondered whether I could book a full SYD-HND-SYD return flight directly with ANA (since that's cheaper than booking one-way), then also redeem the SQ business rewards and simply not fly on one leg of the purchased return booking - is this allowable?

Alternatively I looked at outright purchasing the full return voyage with ANA and then using SQ miles to upgrade one-way economy to business - but the only reasonably priced fares available for purchase are V or H class, which - as far as I can tell - ANA doesn't allow upgrades on.

Is what I'm trying to do too unusual? Any help appreciated!

Tom

What you could do is buy a return Japan-Australia... if that is cheap, and not use the return but back from australia. This is the same thing you were contemplating, but in reverse. Still gets you the advantage of cheap pricing based on the return ticket, but you won’t have any sectors cancelling.

The other option is to look for an airline that offers one ways... so your jetstars, or scoots.
 
Thanks all, for the welcome and advice!

I ended up booking reward business on ANA SYD-HND via KrisFlyer and then will buy Cathay Pacific KIX-HKG-SYD for the return as they offer reasonable one-way fares. That seemed like a better option than Jetstar with a 4-5 hour CNS layover!
 
Thanks all, for the welcome and advice!

I ended up booking reward business on ANA SYD-HND via KrisFlyer and then will buy Cathay Pacific KIX-HKG-SYD for the return as they offer reasonable one-way fares. That seemed like a better option than Jetstar with a 4-5 hour CNS layover!

Technically the CX fare is not a one way but rather an open jaw with HKG as the pivot as CX has its hub there. (So its like a return - to HKG and away from HKG)
UA also does some remarkable Open jaws. A couple of years ago, I got a fare: PEK-SFO-SYD in J. SFO is a UA hub so the fare was cheaper than PEK-SFO one way on the same flight same cabin same day.

Obviously not all OJ are priced this way
 
Last edited:
Technically the CX fare is not a one way but rather an open jaw with HKG as the pivot as CX has its hub there. (So its like a return - to HKG and away from HKG)
UA also does some remarkable Open jaws. A couple of years ago, I got a fare: PEK-SFO-SYD in J. SFO is a UA hub so the fare was cheaper than PEK-SFO one way on the same flight same cabin same day.

Obviously not all OJ are priced this way

This is interesting! I priced out a KIX-SYD on CX and it is showing as a one way fare, not a retrn open jaw. What makes you say this is a return?

to toml... how much did you pay for your fare? When looking at one ways the CX fare was Y60800 (~AUD760), but there was an interesting fare on AirCalin for just Y53000 (~AUD662) - allowing travel in economy class KIX-NOU and then business class NOU-SYD. The AirCalin option was marginally longer (by an hour) but flying their new A330NEO.
 
This is interesting! I priced out a KIX-SYD on CX and it is showing as a one way fare, not a retrn open jaw. What makes you say this is a return?

to toml... how much did you pay for your fare? When looking at one ways the CX fare was Y60800 (~AUD760), but there was an interesting fare on AirCalin for just Y53000 (~AUD662) - allowing travel in economy class KIX-NOU and then business class NOU-SYD. The AirCalin option was marginally longer (by an hour) but flying their new A330NEO.
No, not a return but technically an open jaw (but in these cases priced like a return, not that it is a return).
Someone told me once (unable to verify) that a ticket is an OJ when the origin and destination is different but within an IATA region. I dont know what an IATA region is. So SYD-SIN-LHR is not an open jaw and is sold as a one way.

The TA that got me the PEK-SFO-SYD said the reason it was cheap was because it was an open jaw ticket. Im sure there are further reasons, but that was the interesting point.

@madrooster might be able to shed some light on this...
 
Last edited:
No, not a return but technically an open jaw (but in these cases priced like a return, not that it is a return).
Someone told me once (unable to verify) that a ticket is an OJ when the origin and destination is different but within an IATA region. I dont know what an IATA region is. So SYD-SIN-LHR is not an open jaw and is sold as a one way.

The TA that got me the PEK-SFO-SYD said the reason it was cheap was because it was an open jaw ticket. Im sure there are further reasons, but that was the interesting point.

@madrooster might be able to shed some light on this...


Sorry - I meant open jaw.

I still find it hard to believe it is an open jaw - the fare is listed as a one way. A common exclusion to open jaws is that the unflown segment can't be longer than either of the flown segments - which is this case it would be.

i can understrand PEK-SFO-SYD being an open jaw.

But just because a ticket is 'cheap' and 'one way', doesn't mean its an open jaw.

But i agree, it would be interesting for madrooster to let us know on this one.
 
Yes agree that the reason a ticket is cheap does not necessarily mean its an open jaw.

The interesting thing is the the UA PEK-SFO-SYD appeared as 2x one ways on the single PNR ticket: PEK-SFO was P fare and SFO-SYD was Z fare. (Z sits above P in the UA J cabin fare class). However the TA said it was priced like that (cheaper than PEK-SFO alone) because it was a OJ ticket.

here is the screen shot:

Screen Shot 2019-04-28 at 8.12.26 pm.png
 
Last edited:
The Frequent Flyer Concierge team takes the hard work out of finding reward seat availability. Using their expert knowledge and specialised tools, they'll help you book a great trip that maximises the value for your points.

AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements

Status
Not open for further replies.

Enhance your AFF viewing experience!!

From just $6 we'll remove all advertisements so that you can enjoy a cleaner and uninterupted viewing experience.

And you'll be supporting us so that we can continue to provide this valuable resource :)


Sample AFF with no advertisements? More..
Back
Top