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

[Danger]

Hi,
Another question.

Our second leg of the trip means that we would need to fly with AA, as AA doesn't release their flights until 330 days out, can i book 3/4/5 leg first then go back and book second later on?
or should i wait til i have the second before i book the rest?

these is the route
MEL-NRT-KIX-LAX- MCO-LGW-MXP-LGW-PRG-DOH-HKT-HKG-SYD-MEL

the part from KIX-LAX-MCO is where AA comes into play. the rest are with BA/CX/QR

Book as soon as the flight become available.

I couldn't book europe through doha because even though seats were available I just keep getting an error at checkout. I just had a SMS conversation with Qantas and they said if there is an error, that means routing isn't possible and putting all flights on one booking can't be done. They said a third party agent might be able to get it on one booking. I said if the website doesn't work when seats are available, why won't you solve it. But they still refuse?

I'm trying to speak to a real person but can anyone offer an explanation>? or have I finally encountered a HUCA situation...

Thanks guys

Bollocks. As others have said, it's a faulty booking engine that struggles to return a result for anything remotely more complicated than SYD-MEL-SYD. That's a pathetic response from QF.

I have seen on this thread where some Qantas agents count transits as stopovers in completing the OW award bookings.
I am trying to complete my booking and have so far booked
MEL - DOH - JNB (QR)
JNB - DOH - CDG (QR)
LYS - LHR - YYZ (BA)
BOS - NRT - SYD (JL)
When I try to book the last flight from SYD to MEL 2 agents have said that because you change terminals from international to domestic in SYD this 2 hour transit counts as a stopover which I can accept, but this makes my 6th stopover.
My mileage count is under the 35K allowed.
Can anyone let me know where I can find the stopover/ transit discussion in this thread.

The absurd lack of knowledge from a seemingly increasing number of QF staff about their own product is outrageous. Next time you get another incompetent idiot, ask something like 'Then how is it legal for me to arrive into LHR T3 from LYS and depart from LHR T5 to YYZ?'

 

[qiaqia]

When I try to book the last flight from SYD to MEL 2 agents have said that because you change terminals from international to domestic in SYD this 2 hour transit counts as a stopover which I can accept, but this makes my 6th stopover.

I change terminals at Melbourne, SYD-MEL-SIN, 5 hours at MEL, so that is from domestic to international, MEL count as a transit, not a stopover, just booked 2 weeks ago.
I guess you need to call again, hopefully, someone knows the rule better helps you to book.

 

[DC3]

... When I try to book the last flight from SYD to MEL 2 agents have said that because you change terminals from international to domestic in SYD this 2 hour transit count ...

They must be clueless. It’s one airport, called SYD. How many terminals are there at JFK, LAX, DFW, LHR, for example?

Also, what sort of Call Centre agent calls a transit of less than 24 hours, a stop-over?

All they need to do is to process the itinerary details as provided by the customer. Any real issues will then be identified by the computer program rather than made-up ones.

 

[aikman]

I have seen on this thread where some Qantas agents count transits as stopovers in completing the OW award bookings.
I am trying to complete my booking and have so far booked
MEL - DOH - JNB (QR)
JNB - DOH - CDG (QR)
LYS - LHR - YYZ (BA)
BOS - NRT - SYD (JL)
When I try to book the last flight from SYD to MEL 2 agents have said that because you change terminals from international to domestic in SYD this 2 hour transit counts as a stopover which I can accept, but this makes my 6th stopover.
My mileage count is under the 35K allowed.
Can anyone let me know where I can find the stopover/ transit discussion in this thread.

I would say that you are over 35,000 miles according to Qantas' calculators, which we dont have access to. The agents you have been speaking to doesn't know what the exact reasons are that your itinerary wont work so they just make something up.

 

[davidjm2389]

No issue with a change of carriers at SYD international to domestic? JL to QF.

 

[Jacques Vert]

When I try to book the last flight from SYD to MEL 2 agents have said that because you change terminals from international to domestic in SYD this 2 hour transit counts as a stopover which I can accept, but this makes my 6th stopover.

Absolute rubbish; your problem is elsewhere but those agents don't know the answer so they are guessing.

Unfortunately, when QF outsourced the majority of their call centres to other parts of the world, they lost many of their experienced agents.

 

[Jacques Vert]

Have you tried to book it online?

I have seen on this thread where some Qantas agents count transits as stopovers in completing the OW award bookings.
I am trying to complete my booking and have so far booked
MEL - DOH - JNB (QR)
JNB - DOH - CDG (QR)
LYS - LHR - YYZ (BA)
BOS - NRT - SYD (JL)
When I try to book the last flight from SYD to MEL 2 agents have said that because you change terminals from international to domestic in SYD this 2 hour transit counts as a stopover which I can accept, but this makes my 6th stopover.
My mileage count is under the 35K allowed.
Can anyone let me know where I can find the stopover/ transit discussion in this thread.

Have you tried to book it online?

I agree with some others who have suggested that mileage may be the issue. Although Great Circle Mapper calculates it at 34,521 I've seen a couple of instances recently where QF has been 50miles+ more than GCmap. This seems to be a growing issue with Oneworld Awards.

 

[Gonetroppo]

Hi Serfty and Kangol! Yes, it's ticketed (and so far hasn't debited a non-RTW number of points, it's stayed at the RTW amount for J). I have since posed the same question to the QF call centre and the rep says it's not a problem. We've just booked some VA award seats to get from BNE-SYD at the start. OOL-SYD is a good idea, thanks Kangol. If anyone's interested, we've gone with a 'wonders of the world/bucket list' whirlwind itinerary (legs in brackets are additional to the RTW booking):
(BNE-SYD) SYD-PEK PEK-HKG-BLR (BLR-VDY VDY-HYD-JAI JAI-AGR) DEL-DOH-AMM-CAI CAI-AMM-FCO (FCO-BCN)-GRU-GIG (GIG-IGU IGR-AEP/EZE-SCL) SCL-SYD-BNE

Hoping to score some cheaper Easter Island tickets at the end.

Just a quick update on this one ('overshooting' original departure city at end of trip). Today we received a proactive call from QF saying that our itinerary actually wasn't possible, and that the system had ticketed it anyway was just a system limitation that they had to manually flag and sort out on our booking.
A big relief - I didn't quite believe the 2 reps who said it was AOK to 'overshoot', and I was worried it would only be picked up properly at the last minute.
Anyways, James from the Hobart contact centre fixed it all up magnificently and has saved the day - he is a customer service legend and a OWA expert. I wish we had his direct number - this trip would have been finalised months ago.

 

[Kangol]

Just a quick update on this one ('overshooting' original departure city at end of trip). Today we received a proactive call from QF saying that our itinerary actually wasn't possible, and that the system had ticketed it anyway was just a system limitation that they had to manually flag and sort out on our booking.
A big relief - I didn't quite believe the 2 reps who said it was AOK to 'overshoot', and I was worried it would only be picked up properly at the last minute.
Anyways, James from the Hobart contact centre fixed it all up magnificently and has saved the day - he is a customer service legend and a OWA expert. I wish we had his direct number - this trip would have been finalised months ago.

Wow, so they let you get away with it?
Sounds like a once in a lifetime situation.

 

[Gonetroppo]

Wow, so they let you get away with it?
Sounds like a once in a lifetime situation.

No the magnificent James found some BNE-SYD award seats that no previous reps could see (despite showing online the whole time!) and added them in Lost a bit of $ on the Virgin seats hubby booked for that leg but worth it to have the bags checked through and for the OWA ticket to not self-implode.

 

[knightfall88]

Thanks for all the help guys.

I am doing a Oneworld Award in First but splitting into 2 trips, manage to finally book the first half of the trip.

Going to do
Sydney-London with Qatar then London-Tokyo with JAL which is exactly what I wanted. I'll then fly back to Sydney on my own fare and continue to second half in the next 12 months. Second half will likely be Tokyo-New York with JAL, New-York-New-Orleans in AA Business, New Orleans-LA in AA Business, then LA-Sydney in Qantas F.

Fees and taxes were definitely high at $1000 per person for only the first 2 flights but personally for me it had to be Qatar and JAL.

 

[Kangol]

Thanks for all the help guys.

I am doing a Oneworld Award in First but splitting into 2 trips, manage to finally book the first half of the trip.

Going to do
Sydney-London with Qatar then London-Tokyo with JAL which is exactly what I wanted. I'll then fly back to Sydney on my own fare and continue to second half in the next 12 months. Second half will likely be Tokyo-New York with JAL, New-York-New-Orleans in AA Business, New Orleans-LA in AA Business, then LA-Sydney in Qantas F.

Fees and taxes were definitely high at $1000 per person for only the first 2 flights but personally for me it had to be Qatar and JAL.

You found award space for both SYD-DOH-LHR legs in F?
Thought they didn't release DOH-LHR QR F awards to anybody.

 

[knightfall88]

You found award space for both SYD-DOH-LHR legs in F?
Thought they didn't release DOH-LHR QR F awards to anybody.

I left out some details. You're probably right. DOH-LON had to be either DOH-HEL (Helsinki) in F then HEL-LON in Business. Or DOH-LON direct in Qsuites. I opt for the Qsuites.

 

[knightfall88]

Just a quick update on this one ('overshooting' original departure city at end of trip). Today we received a proactive call from QF saying that our itinerary actually wasn't possible, and that the system had ticketed it anyway was just a system limitation that they had to manually flag and sort out on our booking.
A big relief - I didn't quite believe the 2 reps who said it was AOK to 'overshoot', and I was worried it would only be picked up properly at the last minute.
Anyways, James from the Hobart contact centre fixed it all up magnificently and has saved the day - he is a customer service legend and a OWA expert. I wish we had his direct number - this trip would have been finalised months ago.

Can you explain this overshooting the original city? I think I may encounter this issue down the track.

I am from Sydney but will depart to Europe from Perth (will buy my own ticket to Perth likely) but I was hoping to return from my whole OWA trip direct to Sydney. I thought as long as I am under the miles, it's an easy problem to solve.

 

[Kangol]

Can you explain this overshooting the original city? I think I may encounter this issue down the track.

I am from Sydney but will depart to Europe from Perth (will buy my own ticket to Perth likely) but I was hoping to return from my whole OWA trip direct to Sydney. I thought as long as I am under the miles, it's an easy problem to solve.

Frequent Flyer Terms and Conditions | Qantas

These Terms and Conditions form the basis of Qantas Frequent Flyer, to protect both Members and the Qantas Group.

www.qantas.com

14.3.5 A Classic Flight Reward Itinerary must contain no more than one departure from the city or country of first departure on that Itinerary.

 

[knightfall88]

Frequent Flyer Terms and Conditions | Qantas

These Terms and Conditions form the basis of Qantas Frequent Flyer, to protect both Members and the Qantas Group.

www.qantas.com

14.3.5 A Classic Flight Reward Itinerary must contain no more than one departure from the city or country of first departure on that Itinerary.

Thanks. Understood. Essentially he was departing from Sydney twice which is a nono even though his second Sydney departure was a transit stopover.

 

[Danger]

I've been helping a colleague put one of these together. He emailed QFF to try to get a definitive answer on the surface sectors (wrongly) being considered as two of the five stops:

"With respect to the oneworld classic five stop award, I am aware that surface sectors are permitted and that the distance between the two points is counted in the 35K maximum mileage. However, can you please confirm that only the disembarkation point is counted as a stop, not both the disembarkation point and the next port of embarkation? For example, if I was to fly SINMEL and then make my own way to BNE before travelling BNEAKL, could you please confirm that only MEL is counted as one of the five stops and not both MEL and BNE?

Speaking of outsourcing, here's the response:

"The stop over will count as one trip due the booking that you have paid. If you stop over in another country or city to your next connecting flight to your destination, that will count as one trip."

That's copied verbatim from the email he got from QFF. Please tell me he and I aren't the only ones who cannot fathom what the heck the Manila agent is trying to say.

 

[aikman]

I've been helping a colleague put one of these together. He emailed QFF to try to get a definitive answer on the surface sectors (wrongly) being considered as two of the five stops:

"With respect to the oneworld classic five stop award, I am aware that surface sectors are permitted and that the distance between the two points is counted in the 35K maximum mileage. However, can you please confirm that only the disembarkation point is counted as a stop, not both the disembarkation point and the next port of embarkation? For example, if I was to fly SINMEL and then make my own way to BNE before travelling BNEAKL, could you please confirm that only MEL is counted as one of the five stops and not both MEL and BNE?

Speaking of outsourcing, here's the response:

"The stop over will count as one trip due the booking that you have paid. If you stop over in another country or city to your next connecting flight to your destination, that will count as one trip."

That's copied verbatim from the email he got from QFF. Please tell me he and I aren't the only ones who cannot fathom what the heck the Manila agent is trying to say.

You will only use one of your stopovers but it also means you cannot stop over in either BNE or MEL again.

 

[zoom&boom]

Have I just made the biggest Rookie Mistake ever....

As part of my planned trip, the first sectors were hopefully SIN-HEL-ARN. My problem is that I could only ever book SIN-HEL at -361 on AY. When I waited for the HEL-ARN sector the next day to book multi city SIN-HEL-ARN, SIN-HEL was then not available. I booked SIN-HEL as a single trip as this was not a multi cities. It is a Classic Reward. Am I able to add to this sector as my sectors become available at-361/360? I couldn’t use QR as I need to use them later on in the itinerary.

Can someone please put me out of my misery either way....

Thanks
Zoom

 

[flychrisfly]

Have you tried to book it online?

I agree with some others who have suggested that mileage may be the issue. Although Great Circle Mapper calculates it at 34,521 I've seen a couple of instances recently where QF has been 50miles+ more than GCmap. This seems to be a growing issue with Oneworld Awards.

My GC map shows 34959, which is close to the limit and will differ to QF's calculations. Maybe pay for the LYS side trip separately or do BOS before YYZ? Also, the claim about having too many stopover is ridiculous for two reasons: a) as discussed above, it's a rubbish explanation, and b) it would only bring you to 5 stop overs, as the final destination is not included in that count.