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

[Norris]

Sounds good. Was that a family transfer/award?
Must have a look and see what awards my son (WP) can see.

Correct, transfer the points from son to father then book the fare under fathers account.

I wont go into detail because its been discussed before in this thread but the "VISIBLE" offering of award seats online increases the higher status you are. Gold see more than silver, Plat see more than gold ect.

The tricks are in booking the "IN-VISIBLE" seats.

 

[ozflier]

I am having an issue with QFF recognising reward availability on JAL.
I understand that online that i cannot see availability though presumably QFF reps can.I usually find the seats on BA Exec Clubmand then ring QFF and success follows.
Last night, I found a business class seat NRT-SYD on 11 july and phoned QFF but they could not "see" it.
I assumed that maybe the seat had already been taken but had not been cleared from the BA results.
I waited til this am and tried again - biz seat still available NRT-SYD on that date on BA and again QFF could not "see" it
Maybe JAL selectively release award seats to their partners and BA comes ahead of QF
Any thoughts?

 

[Doctore1003]

I am having an issue with QFF recognising reward availability on JAL.
I understand that online that i cannot see availability though presumably QFF reps can.I usually find the seats on BA Exec Clubmand then ring QFF and success follows.
Last night, I found a business class seat NRT-SYD on 11 july and phoned QFF but they could not "see" it.
I assumed that maybe the seat had already been taken but had not been cleared from the BA results.
I waited til this am and tried again - biz seat still available NRT-SYD on that date on BA and again QFF could not "see" it
Maybe JAL selectively release award seats to their partners and BA comes ahead of QF
Any thoughts?

Not sure about your question but I can see that seat available through the JAL website as well if that helps.

 

[ozflier]

Thank you, I'll try QFF again and let you know what happens.

 

[siri]

You should try Tok to Syd using Haneda airport since it is much closure to Tokyo than Narita and plenty of Bus. class to Sydney via Haneda. If you try Narita, Qantas always try to put you via Brisbane..
Haneda also short journey via train or taxi.

 

[grussellt]

Thank you, I'll try QFF again and let you know what happens.

You can also check JL availability on Awardnexus.

 

[ozflier]

Thank you .
I have been unable to find biz award seats HND-SYD anywhere that date but it is a good thought.

You should try Tok to Syd using Haneda airport since it is much closure to Tokyo than Narita and plenty of Bus. class to Sydney via Haneda. If you try Narita, Qantas always try to put you via Brisbane..
Haneda also short journey via train or taxi.

 

[ozflier]

Well success at last.
I initially had the same response from the QFF agent. Can't see it.
Then i explained that the seat was found on 2 other award search engines and she correctly said that did not reflect what is on offer on QFF.
She said sorry but try again and then at the last moment , she said she looked another way and found that a biz award seat had been released on that flight recently.
She took it and I am a happy person.
This begs the question as to how difficult it is for QFF staff to see award availability on some of their partners.
As an aside the new call back system is great.

Not sure about your question but I can see that seat available through the JAL website as well if that helps.

 

[blu]

booked my first RTW 280k holiday in J august 2017 UOTE]

QR SIN-DOH - midnight arrival? - peak activity time at DOH (along with 6am). Checkout the mezzanine dining area in the Al Mourjan lounge. I like their newer J seat except the foot shelf, which felt a bit restrictive (window seat).
I'm looking at SLC too (next winter), will have to see if there is any 'domestic F' if available (thanks for mentioning).

 

[serfty]

Re: One world Round The World Business booking using Qantas points.

Yes, 1500 is for taxes.. ...

To be clear, actual government "Taxes" on such a booking come to about $600.

The remaining $900 per passenger are Airline imposed surcharges such as fuel levies.

 

[Ultan Lankford]

Re: One world Round The World Business booking using Qantas points.

OK, just to clarify. Surface segments are permitted and are not included as an extra stop over. E.g. Stopover in Paris, Surface to Frankfurt. This is ONE stopover, not two. I have asked this question before and it seems this is the case, but Qantas CSR seems to think otherwise, for some reason. Computer says no.

 

[Ultan Lankford]

Re: One world Round The World Business booking using Qantas points.

They must have the dummy crew on tonight in Auckland because, they are adamant (with no rules to point me to) that surfacing is actually an extra stopover, not just a segment. Spent the last 30 minutes looking at this thread and see that people have ticketed this fare using multiple surfaces and the allocated 5 stops.
Either that or the rules have changed tonight
They must have got the wrong memo and very bad training.

E.g. #3155

That is 5 stopovers with 3 surface segments. Right on the button.
Yet Qantas said tonight that is, actually 8 stopovers.

Another example here.
#523

Qantas, get your act together. Going to ring in the morning, hopefully will get through to someone with a brain in Hobart who knows their stuff and my last few flights done.

 

[Doctore1003]

Hi all, can someone tell me if this is ok: I want to book the first leg of my OWA through the QF website (MEL-LAX-MEX) but the QF engine comes up with an error when I search for MEL-MEX. I can get the two flights as separate flights using the multi city feature. Would it be OK if I book them this way and then later when I ring QF to add more flights get them to make LAX a connection not a stopover?
TIA

 

[Ultan Lankford]

Hi all, can someone tell me if this is ok: I want to book the first leg of my OWA through the QF website (MEL-LAX-MEX) but the QF engine comes up with an error when I search for MEL-MEX. I can get the two flights as separate flights using the multi city feature. Would it be OK if I book them this way and then later when I ring QF to add more flights get them to make LAX a connection not a stopover?
TIA

Yes, I think that should be OK. Remember changing the booking will cost you points, so best to get as much as possible done online in the first few flights/segments.

 

[juddles]

Re: One world Round The World Business booking using Qantas points.

..... they are adamant (with no rules to point me to) that surfacing is actually an extra stopover, not just a segment......

Are you saying that Qantas want to impose two stopovers for a single surface sector? Or are you trying to put a surface sector between two flights without a stopover?

 

[Ultan Lankford]

Re: One world Round The World Business booking using Qantas points.

So, drama last night has been sorted. Spoke to a nice lady from the Hobart which sorted me out. There was a technical issue with the ticket, which took some time to resolve but eventually got there.

The lady confirmed with me that yes, surface segments are not an extra stop over and her seniors confirmed the same, stating that those in the Auckland call centre will be 'updated' to what the rules actually are.

I think they encountered the technical issue and wrongly attributed the blame to the fact that I had '8' stopovers, instead of actually looking into it. I can forgive someone new or inexperienced making mistakes, but the senior guy I spoke to should be fired. He did not know his brief, gave me the wrong information, lied to me that I was told some months back that surface segments are included as a stopover and then hung up the phone, when I called him out on it and asked him for his name. Disgraceful stuff.

Anyway, booking has been made and I have requested it to be ticketed ASAP as I have some QR flights on there, going to keep an eye on it and ring tomorrow if now move has been made on the ticketing.

Overall a win but those guys in Auckland seriously need to get up to speed. Wait times are very good now, no more waiting hours to speak to someone, but what use is it when those on the other line have very rudimentary knowledge. I will from now on in, ask to which call centre you are connected to, if Auckland, don't waste your time, hang up and try again for Hobart.

Anyway, here is the the full itinerary in J class.

MAD-SCL (LAN)
Surface to GRU
GRU-DOH-NBO (QR)
Surface to JNB
JNB-DOH-CDG (QR)
Sufrace to Dub
DUB-ORD (AA)
Surface JFK
JFK-MAD (IB)

Taxes and charges were about $515 each. Came in at 34,957 miles

Actually counting that, there is room for an extra stop but no miles to play with

 

[Ultan Lankford]

Re: One world Round The World Business booking using Qantas points.

Are you saying that Qantas want to impose two stopovers for a single surface sector? Or are you trying to put a surface sector between two flights without a stopover?

They were saying that because I had a surface segment, it counted as an extra stopover.

 

[juddles]

Re: One world Round The World Business booking using Qantas points.

I am no expert on this, but I thought that a surface sector would ALWAYS count as a stop-over, in that it is between two places, one of which will always be a stopover.

Can you give a hint what sort of itnierary you were thinking (or do a dummy one to illustrate your situation)

 

[Ultan Lankford]

Re: One world Round The World Business booking using Qantas points.

I am no expert on this, but I thought that a surface sector would ALWAYS count as a stop-over, in that it is between two places, one of which will always be a stopover.

Can you give a hint what sort of itnierary you were thinking (or do a dummy one to illustrate your situation)

Sorry, maybe I was not clear.

They said that the surface segment counted as an EXTRA stopover.
So say SYD-CDG, that is one stopover assuming you stay more than 24 hours in Pairs.
Say you spend a week in Paris and get the train to London.
You then fly LHR-JFK

How many stopovers is this? It is one as you stopped over in Paris, surfaced to London, then flew to New York. One stopover in total.
The Qantas reps yesterday was saying that, no its two. Because I was leaving from a separate port from the one I arrived in. So stopover one in Paris, stopover two London.
This was incorrect information given out. Surface segments are counted as a segment only, not a stopover and the distance between the two ports are counted towards the miles of the ticket.

When I asked them where in the rules did it say that surface segments counted as an EXTRA stopover, they put me on hold for a good 30 minutes, came back and could not state where in the rules it was, it was just common knowledge that everyone just knew....

My Itinerary is posted above and I am doing 4 surface segments.

 

[Kangol]

Re: One world Round The World Business booking using Qantas points.

So say SYD-CDG, that is one stopover assuming you stay more than 24 hours in Pairs.
Say you spend a week in Paris and get the train to London.
You then fly LHR-JFK

How many stopovers is this? It is one as you stopped over in Paris

One. They are wrong.