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

[djkelly69]

Should I be worried here and get on the phone asap go have the whole thing re-ticketed? Or are my other flights safe as they have ticket numbers in CMT?

Have the flights which are showing a ticket number got a new e-ticket number, or is it the same as the ticket number on your old itinerary from Qantas MMB?

Also I have always accepted my changes after reviewing them in MMB on the website, so maybe worth going on there and checking the changes have been accepted properly?

 

[gilldo]

In 14.9.5, they refer to 'failure to board a Flight Segment (no show)'. My questions are:
- is a no show a failure to board a flight leg?, or
- is it a failure to board a flight leg WITHOUT notifying the airline prior to departure?

If it is the latter, then is it possible to cancel a leg (not change or replace it) prior to departure AND still retain the remaining legs in the case of a OneWorld Classic Reward?

I rang Qantas this afternoon and tried to get some form of clarification. I ended up politely hanging up the call after the most circular conversation with one of their CapeTown staff who plainly did not know, but was not prepared to acknowledge it.

I just made contact with Qantas again this morning.

Their response was as follows:
- A No Show is a failure to board a flight leg WITHOUT notifying the airline prior to departure
- It is possible to simply cancel a leg of a OneWorld Classic Reward prior to departure (and after commencement of the first leg), and still retain all remaining legs

The young lady appeared confident and clear in her explanations - not vague in anyway.

I'd like to say I believe her, but I hope I never have to find out if she is right!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I just made contact with Qantas again this morning.

Their response was as follows:
- A No Show is a failure to board a flight leg WITHOUT notifying the airline prior to departure
- It is possible to simply cancel a leg of a OneWorld Classic Reward prior to departure (and after commencement of the first leg), and still retain all remaining legs

The young lady appeared confident and clear in her explanations - not vague in anyway.

I'd like to say I believe her, but I hope I never have to find out if she is right!

The definition of ‘no show’ is correct.

Cancellation in advance of a sector would require the rest of the ticket to be reissued. You’d want to hope that happens instantly so that the ticket deadline doesn’t pass and all the remaining sectors get cancelled anyway.

In the current environment it seems a big risk.

 

[Lynda2475]

but would be better to cancel now if you know you arent going to fly to give time follow-up the reticketing, would be more stressful to chase form overseas once the journey has begun.

 

[squid01]

Have the flights which are showing a ticket number got a new e-ticket number, or is it the same as the ticket number on your old itinerary from Qantas MMB?

Also I have always accepted my changes after reviewing them in MMB on the website, so maybe worth going on there and checking the changes have been accepted properly?

All the other flights have the same ticket number which they had before.

Qantas MMB shows the change flights correctly, it has gone through on their end. CMT flights match MMB, it’s just that one AA flight where there was a flight number change doesn’t have a ticket number.

I’m flying out on Monday. Is this something I should get sorted before I fly? Just scared if they say they have to re-ticket the whole itinery and flights dropping off. Or can they just add this exisiting ticket number to that AA flight? Confused as to what I should do here in terms of chasing up.

 

[djkelly69]

All the other flights have the same ticket number which they had before.

Can only speak for my experience with the 3 or 4 changes to my OWA, but each time I have accepted changes a new e-ticket has been sent shortly after with a new ticket number for the whole booking.

So I would be wanting a new e-ticket to be issued by Qantas ASAP, which unfortunately likely means a phone call as I am not aware of any other way to try and force it through.

 

[gilldo]

but would be better to cancel now if you know you arent going to fly to give time follow-up the reticketing, would be more stressful to chase form overseas once the journey has begun.

Of course it would, and if I knew for sure, I'd do it. Depending on what happens next Tuesday, I might have no choice but to do it then.

In the end I hope not to have to do it at all.

Really appreciate the feedback - thanks

 

[Warragul]

I'm about to move from doing phantom searches to see what routings might be available to looking at actually booking some flights. When I search for city pairs flights that need two flights (eg SYD-BOS), the option of going SYD-HND-BOS isn't returned but searching SYD-HND (flight 1), HND-BOS (flight 2) on the same day shows availability. Can I assume that the minimum connection times are observed when these results are generated?

I have spotted with other similar searches invovling Tokyo that a flight arriving at NRT is offered as a connection to a flight departing HND 2 hours after the NRT arrival. So I wonder about the MCTs.

In the case of the Boston flight example JL offer that connection on their website, so it is acceptable, but I don;t know if i can trust the booking engine given the NRT/HND offering.

Thanks

 

[k_sheep]

Well this Qatar business is really annoying me. I need to change some dates of existing flights (WAW - DOH then DOH - DEL) which BA is showing 2 pax available in J every day in the months I'm looking. But of course nada from QF.

I was really hoping to just change dates to try to avoid messing about with my booking, hoping to lessen the chances of something going wrong (and hoping against hope it didn't trigger a reprice given I booked before the Ukraine war increases fuel fines) ... but that's looking rather hopeless right now

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I'm about to move from doing phantom searches to see what routings might be available to looking at actually booking some flights. When I search for city pairs flights that need two flights (eg SYD-BOS), the option of going SYD-HND-BOS isn't returned but searching SYD-HND (flight 1), HND-BOS (flight 2) on the same day shows availability. Can I assume that the minimum connection times are observed when these results are generated?

I have spotted with other similar searches invovling Tokyo that a flight arriving at NRT is offered as a connection to a flight departing HND 2 hours after the NRT arrival. So I wonder about the MCTs.

In the case of the Boston flight example JL offer that connection on their website, so it is acceptable, but I don;t know if i can trust the booking engine given the NRT/HND offering.

Thanks

Yes and no

If selecting flights via the multi city tool there will often be multiple options, but it will only let you proceed to the next stage if the selected flight meets all the requirements such as minimum connecting times.

For example, you might be able to see a flight from HND leaving two hours after arriving at NRT, and you will be able to select it, but when you hit ‘continue’ it should (will) return an error.If you select a flight that meets MCT it will allow you to proceed and select the next flight, etc.

Pre-covid minimum connecting time HND-NRT or vv was three hours. When buses were running frequently between the two that was more than enough time (gives you about an hour to spare). That might be ambitious post covid while japan is opening up… buses between the two may not be as frequent.

But if it allows three hours, you can accept that. The carrier is, in theory, responsible to get you to your destination.

 

[gilldo]

I have spotted with other similar searches invovling Tokyo that a flight arriving at NRT is offered as a connection to a flight departing HND 2 hours after the NRT arrival. So I wonder about the MCTs.

Depending on when you intend to do this, the option may not be available anyway.

As of this week you are unable to transit between airports in Tokyo due to Japanese COVID-19-related laws.

These are expected to be removed as part of the path to normality - we just don't know when.

 

[acinod]

Managed to add some flights to complete my OWA over the phone and the ticket just came through my email. But I'm very confused because they haven't mentioned anything about the additional points and taxes. Should I call up or is my booking confirmed because I have an e-ticket already?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Managed to add some flights to complete my OWA over the phone and the ticket just came through my email. But I'm very confused because they haven't mentioned anything about the additional points and taxes. Should I call up or is my booking confirmed because I have an e-ticket already?

If the points were already at the cal there might not have been any additional to collect.

For payment of taxes I’d give it a couple of days and see if they come through. If not, you don’t want qantas cancelling the ticket due to ‘non payment’ (which is a thing).

Even if QF’s error, getting award seats back might not be easy, so better to rectify in advance of any ticket cancellation.

 

[Warragul]

Depending on when you intend to do this, the option may not be available anyway.

As of this week you are unable to transit between airports in Tokyo due to Japanese COVID-19-related laws.

These are expected to be removed as part of the path to normality - we just don't know when.

Thanks. I wasn't aiming to to so the NRT-HND shuffle, but seeing it returned as an option got my wondering about MCTs in general even for flights at the same airport (not just Tokyo).

 

[jpp42]

As of this week you are unable to transit between airports in Tokyo due to Japanese COVID-19-related laws.

Gilldo, I undertand the sentiment of your comment but it's worth noting that this while this is the case for most foreigners, some people can in fact transit - Japanese citizens, residents, and those with certain visas. I'm pointing this out because there's been a bit of an outcry about "why do the airlines show these unusable itineraries" when in fact, airlines have no knowledge of whether their customers have the required visas or not. There are still a large enough group of people that can in fact transit, along with the uncertainty of when transit will be available for the rest of us, that it's reasonable for airlines to make these itineraries available. It's always been the responsibility of the traveller to know if a certain itinerary is suitable for their visa/passport status.

 

[gilldo]

Gilldo, I undertand the sentiment of your comment but it's worth noting that this while this is the case for most foreigners, some people can in fact transit - Japanese citizens, residents, and those with certain visas. I'm pointing this out because there's been a bit of an outcry about "why do the airlines show these unusable itineraries" when in fact, airlines have no knowledge of whether their customers have the required visas or not. There are still a large enough group of people that can in fact transit, along with the uncertainty of when transit will be available for the rest of us, that it's reasonable for airlines to make these itineraries available. It's always been the responsibility of the traveller to know if a certain itinerary is suitable for their visa/passport status.

I'm not having a go at the airlines for making the itineraries available, but more of a courtesy warning to people that they might get an unpleasant surprise while boarding or trying to enter.

See the case of the 25 AU-bound pax at NRT last Sunday night after their onward flight was cancelled.

I can't wait for them to reopen.

 

[squid01]

Can only speak for my experience with the 3 or 4 changes to my OWA, but each time I have accepted changes a new e-ticket has been sent shortly after with a new ticket number for the whole booking.

So I would be wanting a new e-ticket to be issued by Qantas ASAP, which unfortunately likely means a phone call as I am not aware of any other way to try and force it through.

New auto e-ticket came through this afternoon, 48hrs after I accepted the change. All flights in CMT now all have tickets number, and it’s a new number. So looks like I’m all set.

Way too stressful all this stuff. Almost lost the whole itinery couple weeks ago when it went unticketed due to a change and flights started dropping off. Leaving Monday with a QF domestic flight hopefully the strikes don’t effect my flight :/

 

[djkelly69]

New auto e-ticket came through this afternoon, 48hrs after I accepted the change.

Glad to hear it - hope it all goes well!

Not sure why it took so long to issue though - I have had another forced change, accepted it, and received my (further) updated e-tickets in the same amount of time. Could be to do with how close you are to leaving maybe?

 

[jpp42]

Not sure why it took so long to issue though

When the e-tickets take several days it's likely because something was complex enough that they couldn't be auto-ticketed, and it goes into a manual queue that's processed by an offshore team in Manila. The problem is that certain airlines will cancel the booking if not re-ticketed within a relatively short period of time (looking at you, Qatar, but also MH), and there were problems with this queue being very backed up earlier this year and many people losing flights as a result. Anecdotally it seems a bit better now.

 

[squid01]

When the e-tickets take several days it's likely because something was complex enough that they couldn't be auto-ticketed, and it goes into a manual queue that's processed by an offshore team in Manila. The problem is that certain airlines will cancel the booking if not re-ticketed within a relatively short period of time (looking at you, Qatar, but also MH), and there were problems with this queue being very backed up earlier this year and many people losing flights as a result. Anecdotally it seems a bit better now.

Yes I fell victim to that with an MH flight dropping on a previous change when the whole thing became unticketed. This change though all flights still had a ticket number so they were safe. If I never have to phone Qantas again I’ll be happy.