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

[repete]

Seeking any suggestions... I am having real trouble seeming to get the site to work for me at the moment, keeps returning an error that: "We are unable to find the flight recommendations for requested segment (s) %s to %s on airlines that we search. (#9207)Is there something obvious I'm missing? I thought I was doing the same thing as I did about a month ago helping my brother out and now it's not working at all...even when I simplify to try something like a SYD-LHR-JFK-LAX-SYD itinerary, for random mid-year dates (I was trying more complex ones last time). Any ideas greatly appreciated- thank you.

 

[okiedokie]

JFK->LAX will be your problem I imagine - pretty sure any internal US flights were returning that for me.

In simplified code terms %s stands for string, it's not replacing it out properly with the city names.

It was very time consuming doing an award booking due to many generic errors like that, had to trial and error to find what exact segments were the issue.

I found it easier to search for award flights 1 by 1 in a separate tab, then compile an itinerary and do multi-city. Because any changes like a date meant going back through the whole process. Also solved the route problems.

 

[repete]

Genius - thanks okiedokie! I can now get an itinerary to return by taking out JFK - LAX. But as you alluded, no internal US flights seem to be able to be added like I could a few weeks back. So only 1 stop in US now? Thanks

 

[okiedokie]

Not sure, I found I couldn't do any, because I ended up having to go back via Europe to get home. Rather than doing JFK->LAX (or even Dallas)->Sydney which is much easier.

Hopefully someone knows if it's possible because I'd spend the 3000 odd points to make mine the quicker route. Plus, A380 on most of those routes.

My return leg is 35 hrs, I love flying but gee that is a long time...

 

[madrooster]

If your itinerary involves QF11 LAX-JFK or QF12 JFK-LAX and there is a stopover at LAX, you will need to call. It can't be done online.

 

[okiedokie]

Do you know if JFK->Dallas is the same?

 

[grussellt]

Try searching for the flights you need (internal USA) on American Airlines AAdvantage (free to join) and then call QFF and feed them the award flights you have found. They will need to be Milesaver awards on AA to qualify.

 

[JaneFlyer]

I also encountered this issue recently. You need to call and they'll sort out internal USA flights for you. Not sure why it's not possible online anymore.

 

[Dave G]

Just nailed the flights of a lifetime in J - get this - for 6 of us ( Most of the way - leaving the eldest in New York)
Perth->Hong Kong,Hong Kong->Zurich
Rome-> Berlin
London->New York
New York-> Vancouver ( had to split 2 in J, 2 PE and 2 economy)
Vancouver-> Dallas ( economy)
Dallas -> Doha, Doha-> Perth

Even though Rome -> Berlin and London ->New York are BA, the taxes weren't too bad - under $1000 each for the whole trip
Pretty stoked

 

[madrooster]

Just nailed the flights of a lifetime in J - get this - for 6 of us ( Most of the way - leaving the eldest in New York)
Perth->Hong Kong,Hong Kong->Zurich
Rome-> Berlin
London->New York
New York-> Vancouver ( had to split 2 in J, 2 PE and 2 economy)
Vancouver-> Dallas ( economy)
Dallas -> Doha, Doha-> Perth

Even though Rome -> Berlin and London ->New York are BA, the taxes weren't too bad - under $1000 each for the whole trip
Pretty stoked

Well done if you managed to get 5 J seats on DFW-DOH-PER. QR normally only releases 4 seats in J at tops...

 

[Dave G]

Yep - had to wait until 1 Feb for the return flight - only 4 until then.
Was a bit stressful - had to wait for my Woolies points to post - and in the interim lost LAX->DOH by one day
DFW will be a nice change - Traveled through LAX and Houston a few times

Looking forward to trying the centurion lounge there

Now just need a few J seats released on JFK -> YVR. Looks like they only ever release 2 until close to flight date

 

[Danger]

If anyone is on the hunt to book one of these right now, you will find the award booking engine is broken and will not display any AA (and, possibly, North American) flights on any date on any route through end of schedule. Qantas can see them and book them for you but you can't do it with the engine so a good opportunity to have the booking fee waived.

It's been this way since at least Tuesday afternoon. Qantas is apparently aware of it but it seems there's no rush to fix it.

Just nailed the flights of a lifetime in J - get this - for 6 of us ( Most of the way - leaving the eldest in New York)
Perth->Hong Kong,Hong Kong->Zurich
Rome-> Berlin
London->New York
New York-> Vancouver ( had to split 2 in J, 2 PE and 2 economy)
Vancouver-> Dallas ( economy)
Dallas -> Doha, Doha-> Perth

Even though Rome -> Berlin and London ->New York are BA, the taxes weren't too bad - under $1000 each for the whole trip
Pretty stoked

A perfect example of how this award does not require round the world travel.

Yep - had to wait until 1 Feb for the return flight - only 4 until then.
Was a bit stressful - had to wait for my Woolies points to post - and in the interim lost LAX->DOH by one day
DFW will be a nice change - Traveled through LAX and Houston a few times

Looking forward to trying the centurion lounge there

Now just need a few J seats released on JFK -> YVR. Looks like they only ever release 2 until close to flight date

May I ask what card you have in order to access the Centurion lounge?

 

[Dave G]

Danger,
Certainly - I have a platinum charge - that I understand should gain my family access on this trip.
Most of the time I will use the airport lounges - although I understand that YVR is a Plaza Premium

 

[yld200]

It's been this way since at least Tuesday afternoon. Qantas is apparently aware of it but it seems there's no rush to fix it.

AA searches are now visible using the QF award search engine

 

[exceladdict]

AA searches are now visible using the QF award search engine

That makes estimating taxes in this early stage of planning far, far easier for me

 

[wokstar]

Hello everyone,

Wondering if the more experienced members are able to give me their opinions on whether the taxes on this J award itinerary are about right.

My itinerary is:
BNE > HKG (CX) Transit
HKG > JFK (CX) Stop 1
JFK > MAD (IB) Stop 2
MAD > MUC (IB) Transit
MUC > TXL (AB) Stop 3 (economy)
TXL > ARN [Surface/own means]
ARN > HEL (AY) Transit
HEL > HKG (AY) Transit
HKG > SGN (CX) Stop 4
SGN > NRT (JL) Transit
HND > CTS (JL) Stop 5 (economy)
CTS > HND (JL) Transit (economy)
NRT > SYD (JL) Transit
SYD > BNE (QF) Home

Total taxes paid is: ~$1140 each ($2280 for 2)

The reason that I ask is because after my final change the e-ticket was issued which showed a refund amount.
I called up, asking about it and QF said it would be refunded to my account. Waited a few weeks with no refund received so called up again, QF said yes, refund is coming.
Waited another week and still no refund received so called again today. Now QF said they made an error in the e-ticket taxes and no refund will be issued...

The refund amount shown was for ~$1300 which would have brought the total taxes down to an amazing ~$500 per person.

So I am just wondering what the opinion is on the taxes, given that they've said refund coming twice but then changed their mind.

Thanks!

 

[fairbasa]

For comparison, your itinerary looks similar to mine in terms of airlines and # of segments. You have IB where I have QR in mine, but QR I understand charge more in taxes. Destinations are obviously different. $1100 looks a bit high.

Here is my itinerary below:

MEL-ADL 737 QF J
ADL-DOH A350 QR J
DOH-HEL A320 QR J
HEL-TLL ATR72 AY Y STOP
TLL-HEL ATR72 AY Y
HEL-MIA A330 AY J
MIA-CUN 737 AA J STOP
CUN-DFW A321 AA J
DFW-JFK 737 AA J STOP
JFK-YVR 777 CX J STOP
YYC-YVR A320 AC Y (Cash fare - Outside award)
YVR-NRT 787 JL J STOP
NRT-SYD 777 JL J
SYD-MEL A330 QF J


Taxes: $700.900 pp

Probably worth following up again methinks.

 

[exceladdict]

Hello everyone,

Wondering if the more experienced members are able to give me their opinions on whether the taxes on this J award itinerary are about right.<snip>

The refund amount shown was for ~$1300 which would have brought the total taxes down to an amazing ~$500 per person.

So I am just wondering what the opinion is on the taxes, given that they've said refund coming twice but then changed their mind.

Thanks!

A trans-atlantic leg on IB, back in USDM days, added similar taxes to BA (~$500 off memory, this was a marathon call centre call). Perhaps check that leg in isolation to check what the taxes on that are and maybe look for an AA or AY alternative

 

[wokstar]

I did call again to query the taxes, and neither the latest consultant nor supervisor could make heads or tails of it so I have been asked to provide evidence of what I have been charged as they couldn't find it in their system...

So I have emailed that off and will be awaiting their response.

I also think the taxes on the IB flight are causing these silly buggers to happen, as during previous itinerary changes it was mentioned that the taxes had to be calculated manually because of the IB flight.

I did have a quick look via the QFF website for the JFK>MAD flight on IB as a single leg and taxes are shown as US$60 per person.

My initial booking included taxes at A$224 per person which included:
BNE>HKG>JFK (CX) and,
JFK>MAD (IB)

So I am not sure how they calculated the total of $1140 per person for the full itinerary.

 

[Daver6]

You can always check the taxes yourself using https://matrix.itasoftware.com/ if you can be bothered. Doing so once saved me $900 (2 pax) on a 280k booking.