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

[DC3]

… When I look at a single booking using flexible with dates it shows availability beyond the Qantas - 353 days eg JAL at - 360 days. Is this actually bookable online?

If I use the multi- sector option I can only book -353 days and by that time the sectors that were available are no longer available. If the answer to my first point is yes then can I call Qantas (heaven forbid) and book two or more sectors at greater than the -353 …

A few days ago I booked JAL on the QF website, MEL-NRT and NRT-BOS, at 360 days out.

For example, this is currently showing for 6/8/20, and is bookable now:



Also, you can call the QF Call Centre (an extra 5,000 points per passenger, plus probably an extra fee if booking Economy).

Edit: For my booking, I did not use Multi-Booking, but just searched MEL-BOS to get that result

 

[motef]

Evening All

Doing lots of dummy bookings for my initial Oneworld Classic Flight Award and May have come up against a problem.
When I look at a single booking using flexible with dates it shows availability beyond the Qantas - 353 days eg JAL at - 360 days. Is this actually bookable online?

If I use the multi- sector option I can only book -353 days and by that time the sectors that were available are no longer available. If the answer to my first point is yes then can I call Qantas (heaven forbid) and book two or more sectors at greater than the -353.

Fingers crossed and many thanks for clarification

Zoom

You can select greater than 353 on the QF multi city tool.

Just select Flexible With Date and choose the last date you can pickup on the QF calendar. Then when the results are returned you will see dates in the calendar view for up to 361 days and in some cases greater although my experience is that greater than 361 is China Eastern which cannot be used as part of an OWA

 

[zoom&boom]

Wow. Thanks for those very quick responses. Wasn’t aware that the flexible with dates worked on the multi cities. You guys may just have saved a marriage....

Zoom

 

[zoom&boom]

You can select greater than 353 on the QF multi city tool.

Just select Flexible With Date and choose the last date you can pickup on the QF calendar. Then when the results are returned you will see dates in the calendar view for up to 361 days and in some cases greater although my experience is that greater than 361 is China Eastern which cannot be used as part of an OWA

Hi motef

When I select the last day possible at -353, 30JUL and flexible with dates, I can select SIN-NRTon say the 6AUG. We I Hirt Continue
It displays “Dares must be in departure order” and I can go no further. The system seems to lock on the original date selected.

Any ideas on what I am doing wrong.

I am trying to book SIN-NRT 6AUG and NRT-HEL 7AUG us

Thanks in advance

 

[motef]

What’s the intinerary your trying to book?

Destinations and dates?

 

[motef]

So here is my search note that Flexible with dates is selected and they are in logical date order. If you have more than two flights in you Multi City QF only allows you have two flights with the same date selected.

So if it was
Flight 1 SYD -Sin 28th Jul
Flight 2 SIN - NRT 28th Jul
Flight 3 must be a date after 28th Jul





then select Search Flights

Calendar opens and shows dates past 30th Jul




Pick your dates and select continue noting they must be in logical date order ie you cant take Flight 2 before Flight 1
and then the results




in this example just remember you cant have China Eastern in a OWA as its not part of OW

 

[DC3]

… I am trying to book SIN-NRT 6AUG and NRT-HEL 7AUG us ...

if all else fails, including contacting the QF Call centre for SIN-NRT//NRT-HEL, then maybe consider bypassing NRT and fly SIN-HEL, direct (as a last resort):



This is part of a OneWorld award isn't it? I seem to recall that you were planning this. If so, then adding/amending flights will necessitate calling the QF Call Centre in any case. Anyway, I would expect that the Call Centre will be able to resolve this for you

 

[lukelegend]

dps-hkg-ber-dub-lgw-yyz-mia-lim-eze-scl-mel-nrt-dps

Awesome trips, where are your stop overs?

 

[zoom&boom]

So here is my search note that Flexible with dates is selected and they are in logical date order. If you have more than two flights in you Multi City QF only allows you have two flights with the same date selected.

So if it was
Flight 1 SYD -Sin 28th Jul
Flight 2 SIN - NRT 28th Jul
Flight 3 must be a date after 28th Jul

View attachment 181724

View attachment 181725

then select Search Flights

Calendar opens and shows dates past 30th Jul

View attachment 181726
View attachment 181727

Pick your dates and select continue noting they must be in logical date order ie you cant take Flight 2 before Flight 1
and then the results

View attachment 181728
View attachment 181729

in this example just remember you cant have China Eastern in a OWA as its not part of OW

Thank you for an incredibly detailed response. I must have a gremlin in my iPad as when I do exactly as you have described it still won’t work. I’ll try my Mac and my wlfe’s computer when I get home.

The one thing I was doing incorrectly initially was having different dates for Flight One and Flight Two. Boy the first Oneworld Award is a steep learning curve.

Thanks motef
very much appreciated.

Zoom

 

[motef]

Thank you for an incredibly detailed response. I must have a gremlin in my iPad as when I do exactly as you have described it still won’t work. I’ll try my Mac and my wlfe’s computer when I get home.

The one thing I was doing incorrectly initially was having different dates for Flight One and Flight Two. Boy the first Oneworld Award is a steep learning curve.

Thanks motef
very much appreciated.

Zoom

No problems

Remember you have to use the full site not the mobile version.

 

[zoom&boom]

No problems

Remember you have to use the full site not the mobile version.

Eating humble pie for breakfast at the moment....Reread your “How To” guide and did exactly as described on my Mac and voila Success. This the first couple of sectors which were very hard to book at QF -353. Dummy bookings should the rest of it to be ok.

Planned trip is Sin-Bkk-Hel-Arn-Cph-Lhr-Jfk-Hkg-Bkk-Doh-Nbo-Doh-Sin. Have miles left over but the 5 Stopover rule got me.

Thanks to everyone who responded. Now well on the way to my dream trip

Zoom

 

[flyingchicken]

greater than the -353

You can definately book more than 353 out (as long as the carrier in question releases them earlier). I booked my QR flights 361 out. But be warned that some CS staff will insist that you can't. Part of the very beginning of my horror story (which I forgot to mention) was that the very first lady insisted for ages that their policy forbids bookings any further out. It was only after 5+ hours that she eventually gave me a one time only 'exclusion' from the 'rule'. She had to 'go speak with the ticketing team' for hours to secure this for me, and then when she finally returned she realised that the flights had booked out whilst she was gone!

And I was only able to convince her it was even possible because the original booking I did online for myself was out 361 days...she said that must of been an error, and that Qantas staff are physically incapable of booking any further out regardless of carrier. But she also told me a lot of inaccurate things. Depending on your patience, I'd simply change up who you're speaking to and try again.

I personally would book as much as you can online, as long as your last flight isn't the first half of a married sector (which was my issue). I spoke to at least 10 people on the weekend, many SMS, one online and one phone centre. Each gave me a completely different answer and most weren't willing to be told different (save for one).

 

[zoom&boom]

You can definately book more than 353 out (as long as the carrier in question releases them earlier). I booked my QR flights 361 out. But be warned that some CS staff will insist that you can't. Part of the very beginning of my horror story (which I forgot to mention) was that the very first lady insisted for ages that their policy forbids bookings any further out. It was only after 5+ hours that she eventually gave me a one time only 'exclusion' from the 'rule'. She had to 'go speak with the ticketing team' for hours to secure this for me, and then when she finally returned she realised that the flights had booked out whilst she was gone!

And I was only able to convince her it was even possible because the original booking I did online for myself was out 361 days...she said that must of been an error, and that Qantas staff are physically incapable of booking any further out regardless of carrier. But she also told me a lot of inaccurate things. Depending on your patience, I'd simply change up who you're speaking to and try again.

I personally would book as much as you can online, as long as your last flight isn't the first half of a married sector (which was my issue). I spoke to at least 10 people on the weekend, many SMS, one online and one phone centre. Each gave me a completely different answer and most weren't willing to be told different (save for one).

Thanks for that. I’ll be able to do my first 3 sectors on line which are the most important. Have to ring for the rest unfortunately. So far the remaining one are showing availability at -353 during lots of dummy bookings. Fingers crossed.

Zoom

 

[qiaqia]

Thanks for all the posts in this thread, learned a lot, finally picked my flights, but... everything was fine, confirming passenger details and all, but when reaching "payment", I received an:

"An error has occurred in our central database. Please contact us for further information. (4002 [7597]) Start over"

Tickets I picked:
1, SYD-MEL-SIN
2, SIN-HND-LHR
3, LHR-DFW-LAX
4, LAX-LAS
5, LAS-JFK
6, JFK-HKG, within 8 hours after arriving HKG,
7, HKG-SYD

Airlines: QF,BA,JL,AA,CX.
Total miles for all 10 segments, 34566miles.
5 stopovers: SIN, LHR, LAX, LAS, JFK
4 transit: MEL,HND,DFW,HKG

did I break an RTW rule (so that I receive an error) or Do I need to call Qantas? ( that these can not be booked online but can be booked with customer service staff. )
qantas error page didn't show much detail, totally confused.

 

[exceladdict]

Thanks for all the posts in this thread, learned a lot, finally picked my flights, but... everything was fine, confirming passenger details and all, but when reaching "payment", I received an:

"An error has occurred in our central database. Please contact us for further information. (4002 [7597]) Start over"

Tickets I picked:
1, SYD-MEL-SIN
2, SIN-HND-LHR
3, LHR-DFW-LAX
4, LAX-LAS
5, LAS-JFK
6, JFK-HKG, within 8 hours after arriving HKG,
7, HKG-SYD

Airlines: QF,BA,JL,AA,CX.
Total miles for all 10 segments, 34566miles.
5 stopovers: SIN, LHR, LAX, LAS, JFK
4 transit: MEL,HND,DFW,HKG

did I break an RTW rule (so that I receive an error) or Do I need to call Qantas? ( that these can not be booked online but can be booked with customer service staff. )
qantas error page didn't show much detail, totally confused.

Are all flights available on aa or ba etc? Could be phantom availability.

 

[Captain Halliday]

Thanks for all the posts in this thread, learned a lot, finally picked my flights, but... everything was fine, confirming passenger details and all, but when reaching "payment", I received an:

"An error has occurred in our central database. Please contact us for further information. (4002 [7597]) Start over"

Tickets I picked:
1, SYD-MEL-SIN
2, SIN-HND-LHR
3, LHR-DFW-LAX
4, LAX-LAS
5, LAS-JFK
6, JFK-HKG, within 8 hours after arriving HKG,
7, HKG-SYD

Airlines: QF,BA,JL,AA,CX.
Total miles for all 10 segments, 34566miles.
5 stopovers: SIN, LHR, LAX, LAS, JFK
4 transit: MEL,HND,DFW,HKG

did I break an RTW rule (so that I receive an error) or Do I need to call Qantas? ( that these can not be booked online but can be booked with customer service staff. )
qantas error page didn't show much detail, totally confused.

As exceladdict says this could be phantom availability.

But my guess is the JFKxHKG-SYD is a married sector. Did you search JFK-SYD to get that result?

 

[Jacques Vert]

Nothing unusual about the QF website not being able to price an itinerary.

You could try a different browser while waiting for someone at QF to answer the phone.

Don't let them charge you the phone assistance fee.

 

[11sjw]

did I break an RTW rule (so that I receive an error) or

Oh and before others pop in. This isn't a "Round the World" fare. It's a "Oneworld Award" (OWA). You don't have to travel around the world to use it!!

 

[Lemon_Party]

Its taken a while, and thanks for all the contributions on this and other threads that helped, but I've just secured my first booking. A trip to NZ later this year, which the outbound will be a separate booking, and then a west coast USA trip. 2 x J awards, total official routing:

CHC-BNE stopover (QF J)
BNE-SIN-NRT-SEA (overnight in SIN but layover, QF-JAL-JAL all J)
PDX-PHX-ONT (AA J)
SFO-BNE (QF J)

The USA trip is booked for late Jan & early Feb - escape the QLD heat for a west coast winter...

Total mileage including the dropped return back to CHC is 23,400. Could achieve a lot better but I just don't have time to squeeze in other trips and we've never been to US so wanted to maximise the west coast.

Total taxes were $1853 NZD.

All booked online against every effort of the QF booking tool to frustrate me...

 

[qiaqia]

Oh and before others pop in. This isn't a "Round the World" fare. It's a "Oneworld Award" (OWA). You don't have to travel around the world to use it!!

haha, my mistake