"oneworld" award (132.4K/249.6K/318K/455K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

[hutch]

I may have had a similar problem recently.
I am not sure but it was interesting at the time.
I made a OWA booking WAW-DOH-Tokyo with a connection time of 6.5 hours at Doha.
I checked some weeks later and found on QFF and BA a better connection available ( 2 hours conx only)
I rang QFF and the system would not let them exchange the later flight out of DOH for the earlier one despite the agent seeing that sector was available.
She explained that if she looked for a WAW-DOH-Tokyo flight , the system would allow the flights with the shorter connection but would not let her exchange just the flight out of Doha.
She actually rang QR and they suggested this work round.
Cancel the original WAW-DOH-Tokyo flights and just replace them with the ones I wanted . It worked.
I was happy with the outcome and grateful to the lady but I wonder how risky the manouvre was ( ie if I ended up losing both sectors and replacements not being available).
Anyway,it worked for me.

It sounds like an issue caused by the flights being 'married'... can't just swap one.

 

[snabbu]

I just changed a QF segment (LAX-SYD) from an existing booking to a Cathay segment (ORD-HKG) without any dramas.

Is your HKG-??? on CX, and is it a transit or stop over?

 

[hutch]

Is your HKG-??? on CX, and is it a transit or stop over?

I previously had booked:
CBR-BNE-LAX (stop) on QF
LAX-SYD-CBR (stop) on QF

After changing, I'm now doing:
CBR-BNE-LAX (stop) on QF
ORD-HKG (stop) on CX

After Hong Kong, I intend to book a separate economy ticket home and then after a few months return to Hong Kong and do something like:

HKG-HEL-Europe (stop) on AY
Europe-DOH-Aust-CBR on QR

There will undoubtedly be some changes to the above, but that's the plan.

 

[snabbu]

I previously had booked:
CBR-BNE-LAX (stop) on QF
LAX-SYD-CBR (stop) on QF

After changing, I'm now doing:
CBR-BNE-LAX (stop) on QF
ORD-HKG (stop) on CX

After Hong Kong, I intend to book a separate economy ticket home and then after a few months return to Hong Kong and do something like:

HKG-HEL-Europe (stop) on AY
Europe-DOH-Aust-CBR on QR

There will undoubtedly be some changes to the above, but that's the plan.

Ok i see. My issue was a transit in HKG, yours is a stopover. I think that is the difference and what the agent was talking about.

 

[hutch]

Well actually, before I booked ORD-HKG, I actually booked into ORD-HKG-SIN (with HKG as a transit) on CX without drama.

I ended up ringing QF the next day and changed to ORD-HKG as going through to SIN took up too many miles (there was J availability on ORD-HKG-SIN and just ORD-HKG)

Not sure whether your issues relates to married segments or not.

 

[exceladdict]

Which segments were you trying to book on JL? There is a direct KIX-LAX service. If you see availability and the operator doesn't, he/she is more than likely is in the wrong screen.

If you can see availability on each segment you are after and there are 5 or less stopovers, then you should be bale to drip feed the QF operator each individual flight.

Good luck!

Had verified there was availability for NRT-LAX (original intended routing, only threw in KIX to mix it up if having to go via HKG anyway). I will retry again after double checking JL availability on BA and JL. Will also double check all avails again

 

[annielee]

read the last 150pages and recorded some of the successful rtw routing, so i can 'tweak' mine into it..
question, im only planning to travel in mar/apr 2018, hence will start booking in few months time for the first few leg..do i need to have at least 280k points in my account when i book the 1st few flight ?

my routing (about 33k miles according to GCM) will be as per below (appreciate for experts in this thread to 'comment')

Mar/April 2018 (will start booking by april 2017)
KUL/BKK/SIN - HEL
HEL - CPH
CPH - KEF
KEF - CDG
CDG - SIN/KUL/BKK
>> northern europe trip with sister

Dec 2018 (will start booking by dec 2017)
SIN/KUL/BKK - SFO
LAX - YVR
YVR - SIN/KUL/BKK
>> white christmas in the States

thanks in advance...

 

[snabbu]

read the last 150pages and recorded some of the successful rtw routing, so i can 'tweak' mine into it..
question, im only planning to travel in mar/apr 2018, hence will start booking in few months time for the first few leg..do i need to have at least 280k points in my account when i book the 1st few flight ?

my routing (about 33k miles according to GCM) will be as per below (appreciate for experts in this thread to 'comment')

Mar/April 2018 (will start booking by april 2017)
KUL/BKK/SIN - HEL
HEL - CPH
CPH - KEF
KEF - CDG
CDG - SIN/KUL/BKK
>> northern europe trip with sister

Dec 2018 (will start booking by dec 2017)
SIN/KUL/BKK - SFO
LAX - YVR
YVR - SIN/KUL/BKK
>> white christmas in the States

thanks in advance...

No need to have 280k when booking the first couple of flights, just need enough points to lock in what you want at the time. As you add more flights and the itin builds it will max out at 280k, as long as no other rules are broken.

Where are your stopovers? Remember you have a max of 5.

SIN-HEL-CPH seems pretty straight forward.
CPH-KEF will need a transit, probably through LHR
KEF-CDG will also need a transit, AY through HEL or BA through LHR
CDG-BKK needs transit in HKG, DOH, LHR or AMM

BKK-SFO transit in HND
LAX-YVR direct
YVR-SIN transit through either HKG/NRT

Based on the above something like this should work, coming in at 34255 miles.

SIN-HEL-CPH-LHR-KEF-HEL-CDG-DOH-BKK-HND-SFO,LAX-YVR-HKG-SIN

Always keep in mind the simplified rules in the wiki at the top of each page.

 

[Radio8tiv]

read the last 150pages and recorded some of the successful rtw routing, so i can 'tweak' mine into it..
question, im only planning to travel in mar/apr 2018, hence will start booking in few months time for the first few leg..do i need to have at least 280k points in my account when i book the 1st few flight ?

my routing (about 33k miles according to GCM) will be as per below (appreciate for experts in this thread to 'comment')

Mar/April 2018 (will start booking by april 2017)
KUL/BKK/SIN - HEL
HEL - CPH
CPH - KEF
KEF - CDG
CDG - SIN/KUL/BKK
>> northern europe trip with sister

Dec 2018 (will start booking by dec 2017)
SIN/KUL/BKK - SFO
LAX - YVR
YVR - SIN/KUL/BKK
>> white christmas in the States

thanks in advance...

Looks like a nice trip, you will just have to juggle the cities to keep an eye on the two transits per city rule

 

[engelm]

Hi everyone - long time lurker, first time poster

Just started to book my first OW Award for 4xJ passengers for Dec 2017/Jan 2018....very exciting! Have managed to book and ticket 4xJ for Dec 2017 MEL->CDG (via HKG on CX), so off to a good start.

My question is regarding J availability on Air Berlin (AB) and Finnair (AY). I can't seem to find any J availability for any dates in 2017 on AB (flights within Europe, so <=4 hours or so), and AY only seem to release 2 J awards at any time for any flights.

Is this other people's experience as well? Do you know if the 2 J AY seats are grabbed, whether they release another 2, or is that all they seem to release to partners per flight?

Otherwise the thread has been invaluable (and long). My initial observations of the process are:
1) CX have great availability and charges are low
2) BA seems to have great availability, but charges are high
3) QF availability is poor, even when ringing the call centre and having them request seats be released in 12 months time for WP, the answer 3 times has been "No can do"
4) AB good availability, but only in Y
5) AY good availability, but only in Y (limited in J)

Interested in others' viewpoints - thank-you!!

 

[exceladdict]

Hi everyone - long time lurker, first time poster

Just started to book my first OW Award for 4xJ passengers for Dec 2017/Jan 2018....very exciting! Have managed to book and ticket 4xJ for Dec 2017 MEL->CDG (via HKG on CX), so off to a good start.

My question is regarding J availability on Air Berlin (AB) and Finnair (AY). I can't seem to find any J availability for any dates in 2017 on AB (flights within Europe, so <=4 hours or so), and AY only seem to release 2 J awards at any time for any flights.

Is this other people's experience as well? Do you know if the 2 J AY seats are grabbed, whether they release another 2, or is that all they seem to release to partners per flight?

Otherwise the thread has been invaluable (and long). My initial observations of the process are:
1) CX have great availability and charges are low
2) BA seems to have great availability, but charges are high
3) QF availability is poor, even when ringing the call centre and having them request seats be released in 12 months time for WP, the answer 3 times has been "No can do"
4) AB good availability, but only in Y
5) AY good availability, but only in Y (limited in J)

Interested in others' viewpoints - thank-you!!

I have seen more than 2 seats available at a time on AY looking on the BA website.

 

[Kangol]

read the last 150pages and recorded some of the successful rtw routing, so i can 'tweak' mine into it..
question, im only planning to travel in mar/apr 2018, hence will start booking in few months time for the first few leg..do i need to have at least 280k points in my account when i book the 1st few flight ?

my routing (about 33k miles according to GCM) will be as per below (appreciate for experts in this thread to 'comment')

Mar/April 2018 (will start booking by april 2017)
KUL/BKK/SIN - HEL
HEL - CPH
CPH - KEF
KEF - CDG
CDG - SIN/KUL/BKK
>> northern europe trip with sister

Dec 2018 (will start booking by dec 2017)
SIN/KUL/BKK - SFO
LAX - YVR
YVR - SIN/KUL/BKK
>> white christmas in the States

thanks in advance...

Don't forget this.

https://www.qantas.com/fflyer/dyn/program/terms
14.3.5 A Classic Flight Reward Itinerary must contain no more than one departure from the city or country of first departure on that Itinerary.

You might want to start (KUL/SIN/BKK or elsewhere) in a country where you definitely will not, well at least on this award, return until the end.

 

[melbkate]

Hi all - I have recently booked our first J OWA thanks to info on this forum. Thanks!


My question is, I keep coming across people saying they are losing their booking, the flights weren't 'ticketed' particularly on QR. What does this mean 'ticketed'? I assumed that once I had my itinerary from QF and all legs saying 'confirmed' that was it. Is there something else I am meant to do or watch out for. FYI my itinerary is:


MEL-HKG-CDG CX STOP
surface Paris to Bordeaux
BDO-MAD-LIS IB STOP
surface Lisbon to Madrid
MAD-CTA IB STOP
surface Catania to Milan
MXP-HEL AY STOP
HEL-NRT JL STOP
NRT-MEL QF

 

[serfty]

Do you have a ticket number? (Starts with 081-)

 

[fairbasa]

My question is, I keep coming across people saying they are losing their booking, the flights weren't 'ticketed' particularly on QR. What does this mean 'ticketed'? I assumed that once I had my itinerary from QF and all legs saying 'confirmed' that was it. Is there something else I am meant to do or watch out for. FYI my itinerary is:

It's ticketed once you receive the Itinerary e-mail from Qantas with the e-ticket attached. Up to that point, it's only "confirmed".

 

[melbkate]

Do you have a ticket number? (Starts with 081-)

yes - so I don't need to worry about losing segments etc.?

 

[fairbasa]

No, you're all set.

 

[melbkate]

thanks so much fairbasa and serfty so excited.

 

[Radio8tiv]

yes - so I don't need to worry about losing segments etc.?

Still keep checking as changes do occur,
last week with my completed itinerary Iberia removed a flight BCN-MAD (schedule change) so I had to remove another Iberia flight MAD-VIE and change to two BA flights BCN-LHR-VIE, no big deal just took a couple of hours fortunaly there were other flights. Then yesterday Iberia made another change, luckily only a plane change (not that lucky, now I don't get to fly in the CRJ1000) and it changed the schedule departure time by only 20mins.

After the full itenary was ticketed though I did get emails from Qantas regarding the changes, I also got alerts on the my flights app.

 

[jxv]

Thanks to the information in this thread Mrs jxv and I have completed our first 280k award in 2016 and now we are already planning the next one!

I am not sure that I fully understand the stopover/transit/surface sector rules and would like someone more experienced to confirm some scenarios.

Already booked forOctober 2017:
MXP-LHR (transit 1)-HKG (stop 1) -MEL (stop 2)

Around May 2018 we will return to Europe via the USA or South America. Depending on mileage remaining we intend to make a side trip to SIN or AKL in Feb 2018.

As an example, does this itinerary comply?
MEL-AKL (stop 3)-SYD (stop 4)
SYD-MEL (surface sector)

MEL-SYD (transit 1)-SCL-LIM (stop 5) -MAD-AMS (end, include mileage AMS-MXP)

I would prefer to have two stops in South America. Does this example work?
MEL-AKL (stop 3),
AKL-MEL (surface sector)

MEL-SYD-SCL (stop4)-LIM (stop 5) -LHR (transit 2) -AMS (end, include mileage AMS-MXP)

In other words: if these itineraries are valid, the fare difference between "surface sectors" AKL-MEL and SYD-MEL buys an extra stop on the way back to Europe.