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

[flapper]

I was avoiding CX in the OWA I’m trying to construct.

Based on the above reports, perhaps keeping them in might work in my favour.

Would certainly be a gamble.

I changed my CX flights this week when an alternative in J became available. I didn't want to take the risk.

 

[Mr H]

Is it possible that airlines will avoid Russian airspace after they invade Ukraine? Could stuff up AY flights?

Anything is possible but many airlines fly over countries that are at war. Finland has a long history of living next door to a more powerful neighbour and reportedly changed their international vehicle designator from SF in case people thought it stood for Soviet Finland.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Is it possible that airlines will avoid Russian airspace after they invade Ukraine? Could stuff up AY flights?

Do you know something that the rest of us don't?

In any case if you are worried about scenarios like that before they happen, the only route for you to get to Europe "safely" would be via the US. Probably wouldn't ever want to overfly the Middle East

 

[renatts]

Update on my strange situation.

I just logged in again (last time I checked was this morning, about 8 hours ago).

All my flights have changed from C or J to U class - Business Award, so that's probably a good sign.
They're all 'confirmed' except one - QF9 MEL - LHR - that is 'requested'

We also lost all of our seat selections.

I'm more confident I'll get everything ticketed now that it's not booked as a cash fare, but it does mean we'll miss status credits - damn haha.

Considering I had found a route to Helsinki that the agent refused to book for me because 'QF9 will be better, it is Qantas so if anything happens we can rebook you' - I think I'll have a pretty good argument if QF Reject the award seats being released on QF9.
I had this all lined up and ready to go, fully available, but she refused to book it.
BNE - SYD (QF)
SYD - SIN (BA)
SIN - HEL (AY)

Hopefully this wild ride comes to an end soon.

 

[Lynda2475]

but it does mean we'll miss status credits

If you are points club, you wil get partial SCs on any of the QF metal flights.

 

[renatts]

If you are points club, you wil get partial SCs on any of the QF metal flights.

Yeah we're both points club plus, but its not really gonna be enough to make a difference. That's all fine, we never expected anything - it was just funny when it was in the booking as Flex Business and we were gonna earn around 800SC each according to the notes on the booking page.

That said, 27 calls to Qantas in the last week to try and get this booking fixed and to still not have a new ticket with the correct flights, Gold is the least they could do haha.

The frustration of just wanting to speak to someone from Hobart who actually understands how OWA's work, it's wild.
Every time I called - same call centre, same misunderstanding, being told I couldn't have the flights I wanted, being put on to the wrong flights, having the dates changed without mentioning it, wondering every day if my booking will just disappear.
Now I'm just waiting to see my QF9 disappear without mention from the booking so I get the pleasure of calling again - to then once again speak to someone who doesn't know how to solve my problem..
I'm so happy that some complete moron put the priority numbers on OzBargain - I really hated being able to speak to Hobart within 10 minutes of holding...

 

[Lynda2475]

I sympathize ever since my OWA was cancelled (thankfully now reinstated) I log in every day to check it is still there.

Supposedly ticketed, I have a ticket number in an email from fiji call centre (cut n paste in text) but not in the normal PDF e-ticket format. I keep hoping there is minor timing change that will trigger re-sending the proper pdf format.

 

[Mr H]

I'm so happy that some complete moron put the priority numbers on OzBargain

Yes. People like that think they’re so clever and love being the person who has something valuable to share. Similar things happen in groups for limited edition collectibles. Just yesterday on one of those groups, someone posted a list of about twenty online stores that had discontinued Aviationtags in stock…

 

[renatts]

I sympathize ever since my OWA was cancelled (thankfully now reinstated) I log in every day to check it is still there.

Supposedly ticketed, I have a ticket number in an email from fiji call centre (cut n paste in text) but not in the normal PDF e-ticket format. I keep hoping there is minor timing change that will trigger re-sending the proper pdf format.

Yeah. I've had the booking disappear twice back in 2020, so log in every day.

It was hard enough when I would almost always get the South African call centre, now the Fiji one seems even more difficult to deal with. They're far nicer, and seem to really want to help, but don't seem to really have a great understanding of how to help.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Do you know something that the rest of us don't?

In any case if you are worried about scenarios like that before they happen, the only route for you to get to Europe "safely" would be via the US. Probably wouldn't ever want to overfly the Middle East

I think this could be something worth thinking about. Not from a safety perspective, but from an international sanctions perspective. War in the middle east you can generally fly around the country. Completely bypassing russia might be a little more difficult? Too late once it happens.

 

[GaryLG]

I sympathize ever since my OWA was cancelled (thankfully now reinstated) I log in every day to check it is still there.

Supposedly ticketed, I have a ticket number in an email from fiji call centre (cut n paste in text) but not in the normal PDF e-ticket format. I keep hoping there is minor timing change that will trigger re-sending the proper pdf format.

I'm still waiting too with the hope something will change as well.

 

[aikman]

Do you know something that the rest of us don't?

In any case if you are worried about scenarios like that before they happen, the only route for you to get to Europe "safely" would be via the US. Probably wouldn't ever want to overfly the Middle East

I am just sick of booking flights that end up being cancelled.

If POTUS is convinced that the invasion will happen then there must be something to it. Assuming there will be sanctions on Russia and AY has to avoid Russian airspace then its possible AY might just decide to cancel all their Asian routes rather than go the long way around.

I might just suck up the UK APD and QF's surcharges and book LHR-SIN(DRW?)-MEL. Less risk of being cancelled.

 

[renatts]

I'm still waiting too with the hope something will change as well.

Have your booking classes changed back to U?

 

[DC3]

Yes, that was my thought as well, but my point total hasn't been touched (so far, and l am watching it like a hawk) ..

Don’t hold your breathe. My most recent OWA flight change was 10 days ago. The points are yet to update (although the e-ticket came through within a few minutes), and I check daily.

Also, I don’t recall where EK has ever been included in a OWA. I hope that the Call Centre knew what they were doing. Has an e-ticket been issued? Has your cc been charged yet?

 

[renatts]

Don’t hold your breathe. My most recent OWA flight change was 10 days ago. The points are yet to update (although the e-ticket came through within a few minutes), and I check daily.

Also, I don’t recall where EK has ever been included in a OWA. I hope that the Call Centre knew what they were doing. Has an e-ticket been issued? Has your cc been charged yet?

I had the Hobart call centre offer me Emirates in place of Qatar due to their slow ticketing meaning my flights autocancelled and someone else booked them.

They were going to charge me the extra points, but also deposit the exact amount into my account as a bonus or something.

It was a lovely offer, and the lady did an amazing job getting it approved, but it was an overnight in Singapore which we just didn’t see as viable and also ruined our ability to add internal flights. Luckily we found another way.

 

[DC3]

I had the Hobart call centre offer me Emirates in place of Qatar …

They were going to charge me the extra points, but also deposit the exact amount into my account as a bonus or something …

That’s an interesting twist. Would the EK flight(s) have been on the same PNR?

I wonder how any future new/changed flights would have affected the points pricing, once the OWA rules had been ‘broken’. Perhaps manual intervention each time in order not to exceed the the points cap after reading copious booking notes and trying to get their head around it at the Call Centre.

I wonder how Cape Town would have handled that.

 

[renatts]

That’s an interesting twist. Would the EK flight(s) have been on the same PNR?

I wonder how any future new/changed flights would have affected the points pricing, once the OWA rules had been ‘broken’. Perhaps manual intervention each time in order not to exceed the the points cap after reading copious booking notes and trying to get their head around it at the Call Centre.

I wonder how Cape Town would have handled that.

Yeah the pricing would have been affected for any future changes.
Same PNR

They were charging me the full points rate for a mixed partner award just like if I called up to change to EK flights for the flights home, but they were going to top up my account with the extra points required for the booking. 88k or something like that.

Should have said yes, then changed back to a OWA after the points hit the account now that I think about it..

 

[Stusipad]

Also, I don’t recall where EK has ever been included in a OWA. I hope that the Call Centre knew what they were doing. Has an e-ticket been issued? Has your cc been charged yet?

No charges to CCard and no additional points taken. Checkmyticket has all flights on the entire OWA 'Confirmed' (if that counts for anything).

 

[Mr H]

No charges to CCard and no additional points taken. Checkmyticket has all flights on the entire OWA 'Confirmed' (if that counts for anything).

You can go onto Check My Trip and click on the confirmation number for each sector to verify that there is a ticket number behind it. There is probably a simpler way to do it all at once.

 

[Stusipad]

You can go onto Check My Trip and click on the confirmation number for each sector to verify that there is a ticket number behind it.

Ah, l see now - no ticket number, just dashes. I guess l should get back on the phone with Qantas and ask where my e-ticket is? Hopefully that'll confirm if this is all going to work or fall into a heap.