Oneworld "Around The World" Award Questions

[dfcatch]

RTW OW J/F awards

Sorry if I'm duplicating....

Just to confirm that the 280K J RTW award requires U availability??

And the 420K F RTW requires P availability??

Is that correct?

If this is the case then whilst these awards represent great value, the actual usability presents serious difficulties... Even 355 days out.

 

[serfty]

Yes, U for Business and P for First Class on Qantas flights.

 

[Dantine]

Which sectors are you having trouble with?

As one with no status, I had surprisingly little trouble piecing together online a dummy 13 segment "Grand Tour of the Pacific" using the 280k J award on QF/LA/AA/JL for November that I actually want to do in March next year. Including usually busy and expensive routes like Japan to HKG.

 

[dfcatch]

Yes, U for Business and P for First Class on Qantas flights.

Thanks Serfty, and thanks for fixing the title.... The iPhone App doesn't seem to allow to specify the title when creating a thread....??

Bunza - just more of a musing, I had been thinking where to use accumulated points, and if you're going to redeem these awards (particularly an F award), you'd want to maximize things like A380 flights etc.

All doable, naturally, but quite restrictive unless you are prepared/able:

- to be flexible
- book 355 days in advance
- be able to commit to dates
- lock yourself into those dates as the chances of finding alternative U or P inventory at late notice (in the event of changes) is quite small.

Of course the same applies to all reward redemptions.

My thought was mainly just that when redeeming a single premium award, it's just one flight you need to commit to. A lot harder when you need to firmly lock yourself into a RTW that far in advance.

 

[Dantine]

Fair enough. I'd have thought that Oneworld awards would be more leisure focused.

As no SC's are on the table like xONE4's, I was of the mindset that awards will be more point to point between the places you want to go, and there is little incentive to take circuitious routings to achieve maximum points/experience.

Bit I guess if you have time up your sleeve and a strong urge to catch an A380 you can make it work Are QF the only OW A380 operator?

 

[dfcatch]

Yes I would agree with all of that.

As an example - a quick check of A380 U and P awards between SYD/MEL and LAX for later in the year are in very short supply, if they even exist for certain periods.

Not that this is news, it was just the first time I had seriously thought about the logistics of practically using a premium OW award.

That said, I did snag my parents a couple of A380 P seats for October back when the A380 suddenly had premium availability in decent quantities

I also took advantage of some First and Business BA trans-Atlantic seats at the last minute (T-48) last year in the middle of the cabin crew strike

 

[Jacques Vert]

My understanding is that as an NB you would have less availability than those of higher status.

May I suggest that you telephone QF and ask them to see what they can offer; it costs nothing to ask unless and until you book, and the call centre staff have access to more options (especially with the OW partners).

Mrs JV & I were able to book an RTW in J about 4 months out by being a little flexible with timing and route (but interesting to note that only our first and last flights were with QF).

JV

PS: The A380 flights to LAX will probably be the most difficult.

 

[JohnK]

My understanding is that as an NB you would have less availability than those of higher status.

Only for economy awards. There is an additional sub-class (bucket) for Platinum and perhaps Gold as well.

 

[serfty]

My understanding is that as an NB you would have less availability than those of higher status.
...

Only for economy awards. There is an additional sub-class (bucket) for Platinum and perhaps Gold as well.

Qantas can vary award availability between status levels in any cabin.

In practice it seems they do more so with X but other variances has been observed.

 

[Dantine]

Thanks for the advice all. As more detail becomes available about the events I plan to attend on the way, I'll make sure I optimise for aircraft, routing, times and experience.

 

[Robert K]

sorry i'm a bit noob,

But what was the original question? Can you use your FF points to redeem a RTW trip?

 

[serfty]

Yes! If a multi segment award can be booked that includes travel on at least two other oneworld carrers other than Qantas then it may be considered a "oneworld Award".

Points costs are listed here: http://www.qantas.com.au/fflyer/dyn/program/usingPoints/pointsTables#jump3

Other limitations are:

• Can only include award travel on oneworld airlines and flight numbers
• Limited to 16 segments (surface sectors are segments)
• 5 stopovers (surface sectors are essentially a stopover)
• 35,000 miles (including surface sectors)

This thread may help:

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....program/oneworld-rtw-140-000-point-27758.html