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

[Hamole]

Did you try the multi-city tool? As well as straight up SIN-SFO? It might be married segments or other revenue control.

Did you have any other connections in the USA immediately after arriving? The tool will not allow more then three flights to be booked on the same day.

Yes, couldn't get that flight combinations of flights to show up on the multi-city tool, only if added as separate flights. No other connections in the US, next flight is 5 days alter.

i.e. if you search Singapore-> San Francisco you will get flights via Taipei
But if broken up you will get the flights via Tokyo, but you can't actually book them or you get error #4002.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Yes, couldn't get that flight combinations of flights to show up on the multi-city tool, only if added as separate flights. No other connections in the US, next flight is 5 days alter.

i.e. if you search Singapore-> San Francisco you will get flights via Taipei
But if broken up you will get the flights via Tokyo, but you can't actually book them or you get error #4002.

Quite possible it’s a form of revenue control… they are restricting the market SIN-SFO via TYO. I suppose if you break your journey in TYO for 24 hours it will be bookable?

 

[Hamole]

Think you might be right. I booked it online with the 24 hour break, then called today and got it changed to the same day flight.

Very happy with the flights we were able to get in the end.
Melbourne -> Singapore Qantas in J
Singapore -> Tokyo on JAL in J then onwards to San Fran on JAL in premium economy.
San Francisco -> Cabo on Alaska economy
Bogota -> Athens via Madrid on Iberia in J
London -> Sydney via Bangalore on BA/Qantas in J


My advice to anyone trying to do this as a bronze frequent flyer like me is that the availability always seems to be better in the multi city search tool. Book your most important flights through that and just accept that you will have to cop the 5,000 points to make changes to add the flights you couldn't fit in the search over the phone.

Helped that when calling today was answered in less than minute by the Australian call centre, I think because I had the existing business booking?

 

[Mr H]

Think you might be right. I booked it online with the 24 hour break, then called today and got it changed to the same day flight.

Very happy with the flights we were able to get in the end.
Melbourne -> Singapore Qantas in J
Singapore -> Tokyo on JAL in J then onwards to San Fran on JAL in premium economy.
San Francisco -> Cabo on Alaska economy
Bogota -> Athens via Madrid on Iberia in J
London -> Sydney via Bangalore on BA/Qantas in J


My advice to anyone trying to do this as a bronze frequent flyer like me is that the availability always seems to be better in the multi city search tool. Book your most important flights through that and just accept that you will have to cop the 5,000 points to make changes to add the flights you couldn't fit in the search over the phone.

Helped that when calling today was answered in less than minute by the Australian call centre, I think because I had the existing business booking?

Very nice itinerary, well done. I had to look up Cabo.

Your transit in India is likely to be much more comfortable if you get a visa and go landside - there are horror stories of transit pax having to wait on hard seats in a holding pen until an airline rep rescues them 2 hours before their onward flight. Much more comfortable to wait out the transit time in a nearby hotel.

Just for others' reference, you could have avoided the 5,000 point change fee by booking the entire itinerary over the phone rather than doing some flights online. But it is a small extra price to pay for getting an interesting itinerary.

 

[Hamole]

Very nice itinerary, well done. I had to look up Cabo.

Your transit in India is likely to be much more comfortable if you get a visa and go landside - there are horror stories of transit pax having to wait on hard seats in a holding pen until an airline rep rescues them 2 hours before their onward flight. Much more comfortable to wait out the transit time in a nearby hotel.

Just for others' reference, you could have avoided the 5,000 point change fee by booking the entire itinerary over the phone rather than doing some flights online. But it is a small extra price to pay for getting an interesting itinerary.

I did try to do the whole thing over the phone but the issue was they were adamant that some of the flights weren't available - Bangalore to Sydney for example. Not sure why the difference


I've been looking at the Bangalore transit and think the 080 hotel might be go - you can get and airside room for 12 hours for ~$130 which sounds perfect.

 

[Mr H]

I've been looking at the Bangalore transit and think the 080 hotel might be go - you can get and airside room for 12 hours for ~$130 which sounds perfect.

You will need to make sure you are allowed to get to it. Maybe Bangalore is different, but Delhi will send you to transit jail and not let you access the rest of the terminal until 2 hours before your flight unless you are travelling with Air India.

 

[GDale]

I did try to do the whole thing over the phone but the issue was they were adamant that some of the flights weren't available - Bangalore to Sydney for example. Not sure why the difference

An agent suggested booking as many segments online as possible and making any corrections/additions within 24 hours of the booking to avoid having to pay any change fees, and that worked like a charm for me - no change fees charged, and I spent far less time on the phone than I would've if the whole itinerary had to be agent guided.

 

[vetrade]

Think you might be right. I booked it online with the 24 hour break, then called today and got it changed to the same day flight.

In the past I did that with a couple of connecting CX flights, only to have those flights disappear from my booking without warning several days later when CX's system detected that I had gone through the call centre to book the blocked connecting flights.
Suggest you keep an eye out to see if your flights get cancelled

 

[BriarFlyer]

@Hamole - Re the Bangalore 080 Hotel: there is a fairly recent post on AFF from someone who booked this hotel and had quite the experience accessing it. Might be worthwhile searching for his post which included advice for future travellers.

 

[Mr H]

@Hamole - Re the Bangalore 080 Hotel: there is a fairly recent post on AFF from someone who booked this hotel and had quite the experience accessing it. Might be worthwhile searching for his post which included advice for future travellers.

This is the post.

 

[blu]

Have heard there should be an 080 transit hotel at BLR T2, which is thought to open by year end. But can't find anything official to verify. Otherwise for us, the Taj. SmartTraveller lists swine flu as a risk. Should we get vacinated for 2x12hrs at BLR?

 

[Hamole]

Don't think you'll be able to find a specific swine flu vaccine these days. CDC (which is what most travel clinics use) does not list swine flu as a current concern.

Your best bet is to get the annual flu vaccine. This year's Australian vaccine contains an H1N1 strain which is as close as you'll get to a swine flu vaccine.

 

[blu]

will do, always seem to pick something up travelling or on return.

 

[LukeO9]

Is a stopover in SIN + the end of a surface secor allowed ?
i.e. SYD-SIN stopover, SIN-xx_......xx_-SGN, surface to SIN, SIN-BNE.

Also, is the end of a surface sector counted as a stopover ?
i.e. SIN-LHR stopover, surface to MAN, MAN-MAD-xx_..... is MAN considered a stopover ?

 

[Mr H]

Is a stopover in SIN + the end of a surface secor allowed ?
i.e. SYD-SIN stopover, SIN-xx_......xx_-SGN, surface to SIN, SIN-BNE.

Also, is the end of a surface sector counted as a stopover ?
i.e. SIN-LHR stopover, surface to MAN, MAN-MAD-xx_..... is MAN considered a stopover ?

A surface sector counts as a stopover in the city where it starts, not where it ends.

 

[Aceskywalker]

Just finalised a classic reward booking 4ppl all J except one flight. Phew...2 flights couldn't get on same flight but all in all a great result!

Trip 1 - January
Denpasar Bali - Hong Kong (Stopover)
Hong Kong - Bangkok (Stopover)
Bangkok - Hong Kong (Y) Seperate flights
Hong Kong - Sydney (Stopover)

Trip 2 - July
Sydney - Brisbane - Tokyo
Tokyo - Delhi
Delhi - London - Rome (Stopover)
Naples - Helsinki - Delhi (Stopover)
Delhi - Melbourne - Sydney (seperate flights)

 

[BriarFlyer]

Well done @Aceskywalker, firstly in getting all those flights for 4 pax -- and most on the same flights -- and within the 35k mileage.

 

[Aceskywalker]

Well done @Aceskywalker, firstly in getting all those flights for 4 pax -- and most on the same flights -- and within the 35k mileage.

Thanks, i'm gonna have a hell of alot more spare time up my sleeve...until the next one ( :

 

[Des1801]

Looks like im going to need to use that email. Changes made last tuesday, no new eticket or deduction of points/taxes. Called back Thursday and actually had to make one further minor change that the consultant got wrong on the first call. Advised ticket would be emailed in 24 hours. Now Saturday with still no points/taxes deduction or new eticket

So I got an email back from the dedicated reward seat email saying they had now processed the update and issued the new e-ticket. Can confirm that the QF points got deducted and also my CC got charged the taxes. Thing is, the itinerary that got email to me is just a “itinerary receipt” and not a “e-ticket and itinerary receipt” that I have for the other PNR. Hence, the itinerary receipt doesn’t contain the 081-xx_x number. HOWEVER, saw a tip that says the e-ticket number displays under manage booking on the Royal Jordanian website - went on there and can confirm there is a ticket number against the booking. Do I therefore feel satisfied that it is actually ticketed correctly ?

 

[tassie6]

So I got an email back from the dedicated reward seat email saying they had now processed the update and issued the new e-ticket. Can confirm that the QF points got deducted and also my CC got charged the taxes. Thing is, the itinerary that got email to me is just a “itinerary receipt” and not a “e-ticket and itinerary receipt” that I have for the other PNR. Hence, the itinerary receipt doesn’t contain the 081-xx_x number. HOWEVER, saw a tip that says the e-ticket number displays under manage booking on the Royal Jordanian website - went on there and can confirm there is a ticket number against the booking. Do I therefore feel satisfied that it is actually ticketed correctly ?

I would be satisfied if:
-Can see ticket number on RJ with date as issued today (or whenever the email said was ticketed)
- would try and resend itinerary from QF MMB and see what turns up. Button on the left to email itinerary when in the booking, would expect that to send you a proper itinerary now
-Malaysia airlines app when adding the booking via PNR should show what RJ is showing in a similar format

If all those three are in line, I would be happy