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

[ellen10]

I can confirm that O/S point of origin does complicate things in several ways:
1. When adding flights, not all agents know they need to go into the (virtual) overseas office of the departure port to add the additional flights.
2. Cash component for addition flights remains in original currency and some agents struggle with this.
3. But the big one is that ticketing is done in the office of the first port booked. So if not AU this means even if you get an agent in HBA, they still have to email the offshore office for ticketing.

YMMV

As a lowly Bronze flyer I feel that adding more flights the agents I would get when adding these flights, could possibly be confused and it could create many headaches,

 

[adenda]

As a lowly Bronze flyer I feel that adding more flights the agents I would get when adding these flights, could possibly be confused and it could create many headaches,

To be honest that has been my experience - but persistence pays off. There are some overseas agents who are reasonably competent. Best advice if it's not working - HUACA. Or try social media channels.

 

[gda380]

Lately I’ve used Twitter to request changes. It’s quite apparent that he team handling these messages are very experienced and likely locally based as they’ve managed to achieve all the changes I’ve requested without much trouble.
Having said that it’s usually several hours between sending a message and getting a response and the response will often be from a different person. (The agents append each response with their initials)
Getting my changes made and ticketed took almost 3 days.

I agree with this, I had an issue with a cancelled UL flight in a OWCA (see previous post). I emailed the new escalation team and also called qantas few times over the last 8 days nothing happened. Yesterday I sent a message via twitter and few hours later I was booked on the replacement UL flight (in J) and e-ticket generated for 3 pax. Everything is showing ok on CMT. Hope this will help others in a similar situation.

 

[Rich]

3. But the big one is that ticketing is done in the office of the first port booked. So if not AU this means even if you get an agent in HBA, they still have to email the offshore office for ticketing.

Surely Qantas doesn't have an office in every country in which your booking could originate. If not, then would it be that, for example, Manila handles anything originating in The Philippines and some nearby countries?

 

[Warragul]

Surely Qantas doesn't have an office in every country in which your booking could originate. If not, then would it be that, for example, Manila handles anything originating in The Philippines and some nearby countries?

That sounds about right. So, for example, when I've looked at booking a reward flight from Jordan to somewhere, there is a message about being redirected to the UK site and paying in GBP.

 

[Captain Halliday]

Surely Qantas doesn't have an office in every country in which your booking could originate. If not, then would it be that, for example, Manila handles anything originating in The Philippines and some nearby countries?

I only have direct experience for the three ports I mentioned above.

But I think your point makes sense. It’s unlikely they’d have an office in every overseas port from which their aircraft depart.

 

[PointsTraveller!]

If I'm to ring the call centre to add another leg to my OWA but there are no direct routes, can the agent simply search CUN - LAS and all the options will come up in front of them OR do I need to do the groundwork through AA's website to find suitable routes and times prior eg CUN - DFW - LAS?

Such a pain that Qantas website won't show AA Award availability currently.

 

[yaksha98]

Best to do the leg work yourself - chances of getting a non-Hobart agent that has the lateral thinking to do that for you is slim.

 

[adenda]

Such a pain that Qantas website won't show AA Award availability currently.

Didn't know that - does that mean telephone agents won't find seats on AA despite them showing on the AA and BA websites?
When did this start as I only recently added an AA flight to my OWA that I first found on AA and then on QF?

 

[PointsTraveller!]

Didn't know that - does that mean telephone agents won't find seats on AA despite them showing on the AA and BA websites?
When did this start as I only recently added an AA flight to my OWA that I first found on AA and then on QF?

See below. It’s been around two weeks with no or very low availability shown.

Qantas Classic Rewards on AA not Showing! [IT Glitch?]

Has this happened before where there are literally no reward seats available in the USA? Don’t think so. Extremely frustrating. I was going to call QF tomorrow to see if I could still book something over the phone but ended up booking a cheap paid option direct with AA… I did lodge a form...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[Tonkatough]

Amongst all the 'suboptimal' experiences here, I had an excellent experience booking a OneWorld J ticket for 2, departing Adelaide in June 2023. After a few weeks of online researching, I spent an hour on the phone working through the process with a very helpful and knowledgeable Hobart agent. Ticketed by the end of the day.

There was one missing segment that I could only get Y seats that I wanted to see if anyone here could help with: does anyone know of any J availability form London (any airport) to Hong Kong (any connection) departing on Wednesday 5 July, noting all Qatar availability at the time was either phantom or could not actually be booked?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Lynda2475]

I have a SYD-LAX-SYD in J that Im trying to change to make it a OWA now that more flights have been released.

I want:
SYD-DFW QF7 +
DFW-LHR BA192 +
LHR-HEL AY1340 +
HEL-JFK AY15 +
JFK - LAX AA ?? (couldn find anythign via QF)+
LAX-SYD QF 12 (Keep exising J booking).

According to cirlce this fits within OWA mileage.

Manila based agent said no prob to changing SYD-LAX to SYD-DFW and adding DFW-LHR but states that cant add LHR-HEL or HEL-JFK even though I can see plenty of award availablity online through QF

He keeps telling me to book online which I cant because I dont have enough points unless I amend the existing booking (you cant add flights online) and also because the LAX-SYD isnt available anymore.

Not to mention impossible to search for JFK-LAX with the current web issues.

When I asked him check with a supervisor he hung up and now im on hold trying to HUACA.

Any ideas how to get them to add available flights when they say they are only availabel for new bookings?

 

[Lynda2475]

Second call better, the lovely Sala in Fiji was able to find all quoted flight numbers, revised points quoted capped at 318k extra $500 in taxes (as expected)

She was unable to find me anything from JFK to LAX, but i will keep checking over the coming months in the hope the US domestic award problem gets sorted.

Received an itinerary (and can see same online) SYD-DFW + DFW-LHR + LHR-HEL + HEL-JFK + LAX-SYD but no additional points deducted yet.

Now have to hold my breath that payment is processed correctly and itinerary ticketed - i need something to look forward to.

 

[yaksha98]

Amongst all the 'suboptimal' experiences here, I had an excellent experience booking a OneWorld J ticket for 2, departing Adelaide in June 2023. After a few weeks of online researching, I spent an hour on the phone working through the process with a very helpful and knowledgeable Hobart agent. Ticketed by the end of the day.

There was one missing segment that I could only get Y seats that I wanted to see if anyone here could help with: does anyone know of any J availability form London (any airport) to Hong Kong (any connection) departing on Wednesday 5 July, noting all Qatar availability at the time was either phantom or could not actually be booked?

Thanks in advance.

The magic word here is "Hobart" ... you'll find that majority if not all of the suboptimal experiences are as a result of the offshore call centre agents (not all) not properly trained in what to do.

 

[djkelly69]

noting all Qatar availability at the time was either phantom or could not actually be booked?

Likely a through-fare issue. Have you got room in your OWA for a night or 2 in DOH?

 

[Lynda2475]

Based on my cancellation there should be a QF SYD-LAX in J on 1st August going back into the reward pool.

I also noticed there is still some SYD-DFW and DFW-MEL J availability on random days in August if anyone is looking.

 

[Kangol]

Based on my cancellation there should be a QF SYD-SYD in J on 1st August going back into the reward pool.

You can forecast an aircraft turnback?

 

[Lynda2475]

oops fixed that

 

[snabbu]

Based on my cancellation there should be a QF SYD-LAX in J on 1st August going back into the reward pool.

I also noticed there is still some SYD-DFW and DFW-MEL J availability on random days in August if anyone is looking.

There was a stack of SYD/MEL-DFW J awards dropped by QF for the whole of July/August a couple of days ago, still quite a few available amazingly.

 

[Lynda2475]

There was a stack of SYD/MEL-DFW J awards dropped by QF for the whole of July/August a couple of days ago, still quite a few available amazingly.

If these had dropped at the same time as the LAX ones did last week, I could have booked all my international legs myself, and no be stressing right now about a ticket.

The schedule for QF12 has already changed since i booked it 9 days or so ago.