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

[PaulyB]

Just had an experience whereby 2 J MH flights and one J QF coming back into Australia and then Canberra are showing up as available but the operator says that are not showing as Award tickets. I know I have seen mention of this beofre but can anyone remind me of a solution to it with the operator?
Only for new bookings???

Thanks!

 

[ozflier]

Bit of a horror story, have (or now maybe had?) a great OWA in J booked for over the new year. Decided to drop the last segment, a Qantas flight, and add an American segment in the middle (which was originally booked as a separate ticket). Called up and got it changed and all looked fine.

Checked an hour later and 4 Sri Lankan segments had been cancelled, apparently automatically by their IT system. Called up and 3 were able to be reinstated because award availability was still there, one segment sent to the oneworld desk to get reinstated.

Checked another hour later, and because all the UL segments had been cancelled, MH decided to cancel all four of their sectors. Called up again and exactly the same, 3 reinstated on the spot, 1 sent as a request to the oneworld desk.

Operator said tickets had been issued, paid for and confirmed, so without saying guaranteed, did say high chance they will be reinstated. But with less than 10 days to go to the initial flight, little bit annoying. Apparently the oneworld desk also operates business days only, so 48 hour response takes me to Monday rather than today or tomorrow. Would have thought something important like that would operate weekends as well!

Wish I understood how adding a completely unrelated segment would cause another carrier to cancel their segments!

Tom,
I've had some trouble in the past incorporating separately booked award sectors into a previously booked OWA if there is no current award availabilities at the time of requesting the addition to original booking .
Did the agent need to check if award seats were available or just went ahead and did it?
When I tried similar , in the past , the agent needed to cancel the proposed addon booking to free up award seats and it went ok but my most recent request did not go well as award seats were not returned to the pool !
So you can see my interest .
Did you need to argue the point to get the addition accepted.

 

[Mr H]

Tom,
I've had some trouble in the past incorporating separately booked award sectors into a previously booked OWA if there is no current award availabilities at the time of requesting the addition to original booking .
Did the agent need to check if award seats were available or just went ahead and did it?
When I tried similar , in the past , the agent needed to cancel the proposed addon booking to free up award seats and it went ok but my most recent request did not go well as award seats were not returned to the pool !
So you can see my interest .
Did you need to argue the point to get the addition accepted.

My understanding was that two PNRs can never be merged.

 

[TomYagher]

I have never had a flight reinstated via the One World desk - only if a flight has come back into award inventory.

Well I'm hoping for the best.

My understanding was that two PNRs can never be merged.

That's correct. I didn't merge it. Cancelled the separate booking and added it as a change to the OWA.

Post automatically merged: Dec 16, 2022

if there is no current award availabilities at the time of requesting the addition to original booking .

Yup I checked online and there was. The agent also had the itinerary in the ticketing queue with all the correct sectors.

 

[ozflier]

Well I'm hoping for the best.

That's correct. I didn't merge it. Cancelled the separate booking and added it as a change to the OWA.

Post automatically merged: Dec 16, 2022

Yup I checked online and there was. The agent also had the itinerary in the ticketing queue with all the correct sectors.

Good to know.

 

[Ktan89]

Edit.

Anyone here still have an active 280k ticket and recently made a routing change?

I'm asking because I tried to make routing changes tonight (through onshore team) and they told me I will get $xx points back but have to add 38k to make it the new 318k rtw charge. "This is the rtw charge, its been 318k for sometime" - she said.

I asked her if this was new because just last month I made another change to routing and they charged me 280k.

She said this is not new and because this PNR needs to be reticketed, they need to recalculate the tax and the points and the new points is now 318k.

This is where I feel like she got it wrong, if she had said "yes, this is new, we received a memo blah blah" I would understand. I told her to leave my booking alone for now to see if anyone here had the same experience recently?

 

[Ross Pringle]

Hi all

Just booked my first OWA after several dummy runs, begins in May and ends in September. $1298 in fees etc.

SYD-BLR(transit 18 hrs)-LHR Stop QF and BA
LHR-IST Stop BA
FRA-HEL Stop AY
HEL_HKG Stop AY but really 2 day transit due to flight availability
HKG-PER CX end.

Received my e-ticket pdf and can see my booking on each airline. So hopefully OK.


Ross

 

[TomYagher]

I have never had a flight reinstated via the One World desk - only if a flight has come back into award inventory.

And turned out me being hopeful was a silly idea. UL 'offered' me a flight the next day...but it wasn't really an offer because as you said, the award space was open and searchable for everyone on the new flight.

Thankfully I had already sorted out another routing which Hobart managed to calculate taxes on and ticket within an hour of me calling. Annoyingly added another 250 dollars, however does mean I get a different transit in a city I haven't visited yet. Win some, lose some.

Agent still thought it was strange UL and MH cancelled 8 of my segments so quickly. She said usually happens if the ticket isn't reissued within a couple of days, but for me it was less than an hour.

8 days to go...

 

[encryptededdy]

but for me it was less than an hour.

I wonder if the first agent actually made a mistake and cancelled them

 

[TomYagher]

I wonder if the first agent actually made a mistake and cancelled them

I don't think so, somehow I lucked out and had the same two agents dealing with it from Hobart, they seemed to know what they were doing. I remember telling the second agent the name of the first one and he said she was sitting next to him so he just asked her what was going on.

Original agent had confirmed all the flights with me before putting it in the ticketing queue, I think it was just UL and MH trying to be annoying/possibly even using the system to get award seats back for revenue sales.

 

[Mr H]

Agent still thought it was strange UL and MH cancelled 8 of my segments so quickly. She said usually happens if the ticket isn't reissued within a couple of days, but for me it was less than an hour.

I lost MH flights within four hours of a ticketed flight being changed. It may have been even sooner but I have no way of knowing.

 

[Maybloomer]

Hi all

Just booked my first OWA after several dummy runs, begins in May and ends in September. $1298 in fees etc.

SYD-BLR(transit 18 hrs)-LHR Stop QF and BA
LHR-IST Stop BA
FRA-HEL Stop AY
HEL_HKG Stop AY but really 2 day transit due to flight availability
HKG-PER CX end.

Received my e-ticket pdf and can see my booking on each airline. So hopefully OK.


Ross

Qantas and Cathay should allow you to pick your seats on their respective websites using your Booking Ref No. Not sure about AY, no go with BA.

 

[turnipapple]

Is this correct - once a OWA journey begins it's not possible to change it?

What would you do if you needed to change one of your flights for whatever reason? Just lose the rest of the itinerary?

 

[Warragul]

Is this correct - once a OWA journey begins it's not possible to change it?

What would you do if you needed to change one of your flights for whatever reason? Just lose the rest of the itinerary?

It depends.... I think. My understanding is no changes at least on partner carriers after commencement of travel. Have a read of section 14.7 of Qantas Frequent Flyer Terms & Conditions and see where your scenario fits.
https://www.qantas.com/au/en/freque...ms-and-conditions.html#classic-flight-rewards

 

[Jacques Vert]

Is this correct - once a OWA journey begins it's not possible to change it?

What would you do if you needed to change one of your flights for whatever reason? Just lose the rest of the itinerary?

Can only change date and/or time of a flight.

 

[cambriamarsh]

Can only change date and/or time of a flight.

And class, eg Y to J

 

[Jacques Vert]

And class, eg Y to J

Where does it say that?

14.7.8a would suggest not.

 

[turnipapple]

It depends.... I think. My understanding is no changes at least on partner carriers after commencement of travel. Have a read of section 14.7 of Qantas Frequent Flyer Terms & Conditions and see where your scenario fits.
https://www.qantas.com/au/en/freque...ms-and-conditions.html#classic-flight-rewards

Thank you! I'll have a read of this

Can only change date and/or time of a flight.

That's great, thank you

 

[cambriamarsh]

Where does it say that?

14.7.8a would suggest not.

I've done it NAP to LGW

 

[Warragul]

I've done it NAP to LGW

Of course what is in the terms and conditions appears not to be consistently applied by QF call centre, which can be a plus or a minus.