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

[Mumanddad]

I see it mentioned that we may get better availability if we can get someone with status to do the booking for us (we are bronze). Just wondering if we take that path whether those booked on the ticket are able to liaise with Qantas for flight adds/changes etc, or would it all have to be done by the person doing the booking?

 

[Danger]

I see it mentioned that we may get better availability if we can get someone with status to do the booking for us (we are bronze). Just wondering if we take that path whether those booked on the ticket are able to liaise with Qantas for flight adds/changes etc, or would it all have to be done by the person doing the booking?

The passenger won't have a problem liaising on the booking.

 

[MarcB]

I have 2 preferred options on the limit. One at 34,950 the other at 35,125 miles. Will be interesting to see which way the margin of error falls

You can use ITA Matrix to calculate the mileage. Just put in your origin and destination, and once it loads the results, click on "Price" and then toggle the "price per mile" check box. The price results will then show you the mileage. I assume - though can't confirm - that this is the "GDS" mileage...although it neither matches the Great Circle Mapper nor the mileage that shows up in EF in the Flight Details search.

 

[Mumanddad]

The passenger won't have a problem liaising on the booking.

Thanks for that. Daughter-in-law is Gold and is regularly out of the country, but is happy to do the initial booking for us. I was concerned that after that we would not be able initiate any changes etc by phone directly with Qantas without her involvement.

 

[Danger]

Thanks for that. Daughter-in-law is Gold and is regularly out of the country, but is happy to do the initial booking for us. I was concerned that after that we would not be able initiate any changes etc by phone directly with Qantas without her involvement.

Provided you're not going to be using her points to make the changes, it will be fine.

 

[glasszon]

I got a text message from Qantas about my RTW trip, apparently the ADL-DOH flight time has changed and now I am below the MCT for my transit at ADL for my MEL-ADL-DOH flight.

I was asked to call Qantas but just want to know what's the best I could get out of it? I originally wanted to go MEL-DXB, is there any chance they might release some reward seats for me on the QF MEL-DXB? Or is the best they would do is change my flights without a change fee?

Edit: One more question, I am thinking about adding a DOH-MCT and MCT-DOH leg into the flight (assuming Qantas won't let me go directly to DXB) to protect myself against the Qatar blockade, is it easy to drop a segment in the booking later on or do they have to reconfirm award availability for subsequent legs? For example, let's say I booked MEL-DOH-MCT with DOH as a transit point, can I drop the DOH-MCT easily or does it have to reconfirm there are award availability with just MEL-DOH?

 

[There'sOnlyOneJimmy]

I got a text message from Qantas about my RTW trip, apparently the ADL-DOH flight time has changed and now I am below the MCT for my transit at ADL for my MEL-ADL-DOH flight.

I was asked to call Qantas but just want to know what's the best I could get out of it? I originally wanted to go MEL-DXB, is there any chance they might release some reward seats for me on the QF MEL-DXB? Or is the best they would do is change my flights without a change fee?

Edit: One more question, I am thinking about adding a DOH-MCT and MCT-DOH leg into the flight (assuming Qantas won't let me go directly to DXB) to protect myself against the Qatar blockade, is it easy to drop a segment in the booking later on or do they have to reconfirm award availability for subsequent legs? For example, let's say I booked MEL-DOH-MCT with DOH as a transit point, can I drop the DOH-MCT easily or does it have to reconfirm there are award availability with just MEL-DOH?

As to whether they will release extra award seats for DXB, unless you have God status, I wish you luck but suggest that you don't hold your breath (especially while waiting to get through the phone queue...) I think I'd be aiming at an earlier flight MEL-ADL.

To your additional question: In my limited experience (I've only done 2 of these so far), when I've made subsequent changes to the itinerary, any existing segments remaining unchanged on the itinerary are not impacted at all. But do keep in mind that there are additional rules concerning itinerary changes once you have started the first segment of your itinerary.

 

[glasszon]

As to whether they will release extra award seats for DXB, unless you have God status, I wish you luck but suggest that you don't hold your breath (especially while waiting to get through the phone queue...) I think I'd be aiming at an earlier flight MEL-ADL.

To your additional question: In my limited experience (I've only done 2 of these so far), when I've made subsequent changes to the itinerary, any existing segments remaining unchanged on the itinerary are not impacted at all. But do keep in mind that there are additional rules concerning itinerary changes once you have started the first segment of your itinerary.

Thank you, I will need luck on the call. If the DXB plan doesn't work (yeah, I don't see it happening either) then I will need every segment of my booking. Let's see whether it can be easily done or should I just ask them to cancel without penalty (due to the change in flight time after booking causing MCT issue) and rebook. If I do the latter do they redeposit the points into my account right away?

 

[jewles]

Has anyone had any experience with flying Qatar to Europe when they are actively blocking seats (according to the Qantas rep at least!)? I can book PER - DOH, and also DOH - ATH but I can't book both together. The rep has said that he can see plenty of availability however as soon as he selected the first leg, the second leg becomes unavailable and there is nothing that can be done apart from a revenue flight or hoping for the best that something will change down the track. We have booked the PER-DOH portion but are a bit worried about getting stuck in DOHA for over 24 hours and it contributing to a stop.

 

[Kangol]

Has anyone had any experience with flying Qatar to Europe when they are actively blocking seats (according to the Qantas rep at least!)? I can book PER - DOH, and also DOH - ATH but I can't book both together. The rep has said that he can see plenty of availability however as soon as he selected the first leg, the second leg becomes unavailable and there is nothing that can be done apart from a revenue flight or hoping for the best that something will change down the track. We have booked the PER-DOH portion but are a bit worried about getting stuck in DOHA for over 24 hours and it contributing to a stop.

Look up "married segments". Unless there is through availability (origin to destination), there is nothing you can do.

 

[Radio8tiv]

Has anyone had any experience with flying Qatar to Europe when they are actively blocking seats (according to the Qantas rep at least!)? I can book PER - DOH, and also DOH - ATH but I can't book both together. The rep has said that he can see plenty of availability however as soon as he selected the first leg, the second leg becomes unavailable and there is nothing that can be done apart from a revenue flight or hoping for the best that something will change down the track. We have booked the PER-DOH portion but are a bit worried about getting stuck in DOHA for over 24 hours and it contributing to a stop.

As mentioned by Kangol, it will be a married segment issue.
Maybe changing the second leg to a different destination like FCO, MAD, etc. and then adding another segment to get back to ATH may be a solution, providing you have enough segments and miles to play with.
You might even pick up a better plane, I noticed they are using A321 and A330 to Athens, I'm booked on a B787 to MAD and I know they use a A350 to FRA.

 

[jewles]

Thanks that is really helpful. Is there an easy way to figure out the segments the flight is 'married' to? the phone agent tried all through Italy, Germany, Austria and Poland and came up blank.

 

[Guvner]

 

[madrooster]

Provided you're not going to be using her points to make the changes, it will be fine.

Once a booking has been made with one QFF account, then it has to remain as that QFF account making changes etc. You cannot change account halfway through.

 

[Wanderlust_tim]

Has anyone had any experience on pricing long haul legs on Iberia? I am looking at trying to price a 140k but it all falls over on the Qantas system with the leg from Mexico City to Madrid.

 

[N860CR]

These tickets are certainly very hard to work with when something changes!

Received a schedule change for a Qatar flight out of EBB. It now leaves hours earlier so I wouldn't have been able to make it. Requested a delay by 24 hours to the next day, but there was no availability. Then requested the day after which did have seats, however because it was "more than a day later", they insisted that I pay the change fee. I just did as I couldn't be bothered arguing. That also impacted on the sector after which was BKK-SIN-HKG-SYD so that was swapped for the direct BKK-SYD (which is probably better in the end). That single change addes $1230 in taxes for the 2 passengers!

I ended up doing this on the phone. I tried initially via online chat, but the staff were useless. It took 45 minutes for the person to even understand what I was asking, then they simply say "there's no award availability, I'd suggest you cancel the whole ticket and book with someone else". Obviously there was availability....

All up I spent 4 hours dealing with this schedule change, and was pinged 10,000 points and $1230 for the pleasure.

Now the "changes" have been made, I've been told to expect a new e-ticket within 24-48 hours. I tried to explain the issues with QR cancelling changed bookings, but the person on the phone had no idea. Check My Trip still shows the ticket number. When should I be concerned?

 

[madrooster]

Received a schedule change for a Qatar flight out of EBB. It now leaves hours earlier so I wouldn't have been able to make it. Requested a delay by 24 hours to the next day, but there was no availability. Then requested the day after which did have seats, however because it was "more than a day later", they insisted that I pay the change fee. I just did as I couldn't be bothered arguing. That also impacted on the sector after which was BKK-SIN-HKG-SYD so that was swapped for the direct BKK-SYD (which is probably better in the end). That single change addes $1230 in taxes for the 2 passengers!

This should've been processed as an involuntary schedule change and not as a voluntary change. Furthermore the tax difference shouldn't have been $615 so something else is also wrong there.

I would recommend that you call up again between 7am and midnight which is when Hobart is open.

 

[N860CR]

I called this afternoon and again tonight and spoke with people in South Africa on both occasions. Guessing this must be newly openned? At least they answered right away and there was no delay.

Is there somewhere online where I can check the breakdown of taxes? Something isn't right... I did a dummy booking for BKK-SYD and BKK-SIN-HKG-SYD and the taxes on QF are only about 2000THB more. My only other thought is that maybe the taxes weren't calculated right when the ticket was first issued? It's SYD-HKG-YVR / SEA-LHR-HEL / ARN-DOH-EBB / EBB-DOH-BKK / BKK-SIN-HKG-SYD in J and the taxes were $1200pp which always seemed a little low to me.

 

[madrooster]

I called this afternoon and again tonight and spoke with people in South Africa on both occasions. Guessing this must be newly openned? At least they answered right away and there was no delay.

Is there somewhere online where I can check the breakdown of taxes? Something isn't right... I did a dummy booking for BKK-SYD and BKK-SIN-HKG-SYD and the taxes on QF are only about 2000THB more. My only other thought is that maybe the taxes weren't calculated right when the ticket was first issued? It's SYD-HKG-YVR / SEA-LHR-HEL / ARN-DOH-EBB / EBB-DOH-BKK / BKK-SIN-HKG-SYD in J and the taxes were $1200pp which always seemed a little low to me.

South Africa are useless.

No there isn't somewhere online. If it's a booking initially created over the phone with QF then I can pull the entire breakdown for you and also tell you if you got overcharged. PM me the record locator if your PNR meets those conditions.

 

[N860CR]

No there isn't somewhere online. If it's a booking initially created over the phone with QF then I can pull the entire breakdown for you and also tell you if you got overcharged. PM me the record locator if your PNR meets those conditions.

Many thanks. I've PM'd you.

Qantas are stating that it was a fuel surcharge difference between CX and QF which is aparently about $600AUD per person.