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

[djkelly69]

Only thing to work out how to do now is book my seats for the non-qantas flights.

RJ.com worked for me, unless it is QR in which case their website is usually best (although there can be issues logging in on there).

 

[Mr H]

I looked up how much it would have been without points and it was quoting me $44000!!

Very happy for you. The international call centres can be a lottery but being clear and methodical in your approach can help nudge the odds in your favour.

It is always tempting to price up your flights and see how much you have saved. It is worth remembering, though, that there are revenue near-equivalents of OWAs that are much less than you are calculating. These come with similar availability restrictions and arcane rules. If you were paying full revenue fares, you would have a much greater choice of flights and, truth be told, you would not be planning an itinerary in the same way. Awards used well (it sounds as though you are using them well) are not so much about saving money as allowing you to do things you would never consider on a revenue ticket. Why fly direct when you can connect?

 

[JohnM]

It is worth remembering, though, that there are revenue near-equivalents of OWAs that are much less than you are calculating. These come with similar availability restrictions and arcane rules.

Exactly - a OneWorld Explorer which books into D bucket (aka DONEx (where x is 3-6 continental zones)) is (was) around the $13K mark. Maximum of 16 sectors, no distance limits, continue one way only between continental zones, can backtrack within (with coast-to-coast limits), 4 sectors per continental zone, except for N America where it's 6. Earn about 12-1400 SCs and about 100K FF points in the process. Good way to stay WP and get to LTG, especially if only a leisure traveller. Rules are not too arcane once you get your head around them.

Sigh... I had to cancel my 17th successive annual DONEx that was due to start in April 2020.

 

[BWKopite]

Very happy for you. The international call centres can be a lottery but being clear and methodical in your approach can help nudge the odds in your favour.

It is always tempting to price up your flights and see how much you have saved. It is worth remembering, though, that there are revenue near-equivalents of OWAs that are much less than you are calculating. These come with similar availability restrictions and arcane rules. If you were paying full revenue fares, you would have a much greater choice of flights and, truth be told, you would not be planning an itinerary in the same way. Awards used well (it sounds as though you are using them well) are not so much about saving money as allowing you to do things you would never consider on a revenue ticket. Why fly direct when you can connect?

Agree 100%.
I'm from the UK anyway, and am overdue a trip home. I actually looked up the flights home cost too and it would have been more for the 2 of us just to go Melb-London return in economy either way. So im very happy I manage to get a few travel places knocked off the list also, and save some money at the same time
Myself and my girlfriend are also lucky our places of work allowed us to take 10 weeks off to do it, which let us be flexible with flights/itineraries.

When I first heard of OWA I was a little sceptical, and it does take a fair bit of learning how to do it, but I'm more than satisfied with the results, and will be back to churning credit cards when I get back to Aus.

 

[BWKopite]

RJ.com worked for me, unless it is QR in which case their website is usually best (although there can be issues logging in on there).

Interesting, how do I use it to book seats?
My flights are with Qantas, American Airlines, British Airways, Qatar, Malaysian. Can I do all those through RJ, or do I need to go to each Airlines website.
I briefly looked at AA but couldnt work it out so I was gonna do some research later and try again.

 

[Mr H]

Interesting, how do I use it to book seats?
My flights are with Qantas, American Airlines, British Airways, Qatar, Malaysian. Can I do all those through RJ, or do I need to go to each Airlines website.
I briefly looked at AA but couldnt work it out so I was gonna do some research later and try again.

BA can only be done on their own website in return for a very hefty fee.

 

[Lynda2475]

BA can only be done on their own website in return for a very hefty fee.

Depends on your status and ticket type. I have 3 * BA flight on my OWA in J and was able to select seats for all of them at no cost, Im QF Gold.

 

[flapper]

This may be the wrong thread to ask this in - I (Bronze) have 2xJ OWA booked for Feb/Mar (HBA-MEL-DOH-BCN / MAD-LHR / LHR-HEL / HEL-DOH-MEL-HBA) on a mix of QF, QR, IB and AY. Ideally I would prefer to fly MAN-HEL instead of LHR-HEL. When booking online it wouldn't let me book this route (I think because it's operated by AY's regional subsidiary) so I booked in and out of LHR because I didn't want to lose the QR sectors (booked the day the new CBR via MEL flight was open).
I've heard some horror stories about the call centre accidentally cancelling entire itineraries when asked to make a change to an award booking - I'm trying to work out what the risk is if I call and make a change to my preferred routing. Is this a simple request that they should be able to make and reticket instantaneously or is there a serious risk I'm jeopardising my whole itinerary (or am I getting suckered in to rumours that the call centre is worse than it actually is?)

I wouldn't risk it for such a minor change. I've had flights deleted because they weren't reticketed in time and a LAX-MEL flight accidently deleted by CC operator. It's a big hassle and takes many calls to try and get things fixed.

 

[nat000]

Wondering if someone could explain how the taxes worked in the following situation.
I booked an award ticket per-doh-muc-doh-per on QR in J and it cost $1300 in taxes. A few weeks later I added sin-hel-fco on AY in J as part of that ticket and the taxes went down to $900 (so refunded $400).
Why did the taxes go down when I added more flights ?

 

[aikman]

Wondering if someone could explain how the taxes worked in the following situation.
I booked an award ticket per-doh-muc-doh-per on QR in J and it cost $1300 in taxes. A few weeks later I added sin-hel-fco on AY in J as part of that ticket and the taxes went down to $900 (so refunded $400).
Why did the taxes go down when I added more flights ?

Did you replace QR with AY? AY has lower surcharges.

Otherwise I hope its not because the agent did a mistake and has stuffed up your ticket.

 

[There'sOnlyOneJimmy]

Wondering if someone could explain how the taxes worked in the following situation.
I booked an award ticket per-doh-muc-doh-per on QR in J and it cost $1300 in taxes. A few weeks later I added sin-hel-fco on AY in J as part of that ticket and the taxes went down to $900 (so refunded $400).
Why did the taxes go down when I added more flights ?

My guess is that either the first calculation was wrong, or the second calculation was wrong…

 

[Captain Halliday]

a OneWorld Explorer which books into D bucket (aka DONEx (where x is 3-6 continental zones)) is (was) around the $13K mark. Maximum of 16 sectors, no distance limits, continue one way only between continental zones, can backtrack within (with coast-to-coast limits), 4 sectors per continental zone, except for N America where it's 6. Earn about 12-1400 SCs and about 100K FF points in the process.

Does this mean you’re back, fighting the good fight to keep this thread on topic?

It’s been exhausting trying to keep those three little letters out of here without you!

 

[djkelly69]

Interesting, how do I use it to book seats?

Use Manage Booking, login using your normal PNR, and go down to I think Seat Selections (website seems to be broken ATM so can't confirm exactly).

Should hopefully be able to select seats from there and save selections. Just be sure to hover over each seat you want to select to ensure it doesn't say 'restricted' or similar, as it might let you select those but then won't save any selections.

I am not sure if it will cover all those airlines, but I used it for QF, AA and JAL. Can usually use AY, JAL or MH websites to do the same thing if one doesn't work.

 

[melbkate]

Hello all I have managed to book a J OWR for 2023. Coming home from Europe I am flying AY 73 HEL-NRT transit to JL NRT-MEL - both in T2 the connection is 80 mins is that a problem? I took it as not as I was allowed to book it.. thanks Kate

Helsinki to Tokyo (Narita)​

AY73 • Sun 9 Jul 2023 • 17:45 - 09:10 (Mon)

Tokyo (Narita) to Melbourne​

JL773 • Mon 10 Jul 2023 • 10:30 - 21:55

 

[Mr H]

Hello all I have managed to book a J OWR for 2023. Coming home from Europe I am flying AY 73 HEL-NRT transit to JL NRT-MEL - both in T2 the connection is 80 mins is that a problem? I took it as not as I was allowed to book it.. thanks Kate

Helsinki to Tokyo (Narita)​

AY73 • Sun 9 Jul 2023 • 17:45 - 09:10 (Mon)

Tokyo (Narita) to Melbourne​

JL773 • Mon 10 Jul 2023 • 10:30 - 21:55

The minimum connection time may (or may not) be legal but be aware that if AY has to continue avoiding Russian airspace until July 2023 then the flight times may alter significantly from what you have assumed. Also, flight schedules may well change between now and then anyway.

 

[motef]

Hello all I have managed to book a J OWR for 2023. Coming home from Europe I am flying AY 73 HEL-NRT transit to JL NRT-MEL - both in T2 the connection is 80 mins is that a problem? I took it as not as I was allowed to book it.. thanks Kate

Helsinki to Tokyo (Narita)​

AY73 • Sun 9 Jul 2023 • 17:45 - 09:10 (Mon)

Tokyo (Narita) to Melbourne​

JL773 • Mon 10 Jul 2023 • 10:30 - 21:55

The MCT From Oneworld to JL international is 70 minutes.

 

[sarvowinner]

Hi all, ages since I booked my last OW - I have found a PE itinerary that works for us & I am about consolidate our points. My husband is LTS but I am a lowly Bronze. Is there any benefit in booking it using my husband’s FF? We are flying PE long haul in JAL & BA, short haul Y in QF & AA.

 

[Muppet501st]

Hi all, ages since I booked my last OW - I have found a PE itinerary that works for us & I am about consolidate our points. My husband is LTS but I am a lowly Bronze. Is there any benefit in booking it using my husband’s FF? We are flying PE long haul in JAL & BA, short haul Y in QF & AA.

If booked under husbands account, being QF silver, should give you free seat selection on BA.

 

[FishFood]

If booked under husbands account, being QF silver, should give you free seat selection on BA.

If correct that would be great, I am QF Silver but am being charged $150 - $200 for seat selection on a BA flight. Do you know how I could select a seat for free?

 

[Mr H]

If correct that would be great, I am QF Silver but am being charged $150 - $200 for seat selection on a BA flight. Do you know how I could select a seat for free?

According to the small print as QF Silver (OW Ruby) you get free seat selection for everyone in your booking from 7 days before departure.

https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/seating/reserving-your-seat