Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[Jacques Vert]

Hi everyone,
I have begun the process of planning my next 140k trip and was wondering, do you have hints or tips for minimising costs in the Middle East? My partner and I are keen to visit the UAE and Jordan in January but the prices have proven eye wateringly expensive. current plan is:
MEL-HKG (QF)
HKG-CMB (CX)
CMB-DXB (UL)
DXB-AMM (RJ)
AMM-DOH (QR)
DOH-ADL (QR)
ADL-MEL (QF)

The reason we are coming back via Doha has been that it is all I seem to be able to find at the end of January (end of school holidays so peak period). Grateful for any and all advice.

Taxes and surcharges are high on QF, CX & QR - try to avoid them if you can. RJ are low.

Also taxes are much lower starting in HKG or MNL. You could consider a positioning flight to one or other of those (or somewhere else in Asia).

Hope this helps.

JV

 

[Aussiejosh]

Hi everyone,
I have begun the process of planning my next 140k trip and was wondering, do you have hints or tips for minimising costs in the Middle East? My partner and I are keen to visit the UAE and Jordan in January but the prices have proven eye wateringly expensive. current plan is:
MEL-HKG (QF)
HKG-CMB (CX)
CMB-DXB (UL)
DXB-AMM (RJ)
AMM-DOH (QR)
DOH-ADL (QR)
ADL-MEL (QF)

The reason we are coming back via Doha has been that it is all I seem to be able to find at the end of January (end of school holidays so peak period). Grateful for any and all advice.

You could try Amm to Tel Aviv and then use CX to HKG then to MEL.

Which places do you plan to have a stopover in?

 

[Wanderlust_tim]

You could try Amm to Tel Aviv and then use CX to HKG then to MEL.

Which places do you plan to have a stopover in?

Thanks, I hadn't considered the Tel Aviv option.

We had planned on stopping in each place. However we're not really wedded to any particular destinations other than Amman and Dubai.

 

[Daver6]

Thanks, I hadn't considered the Tel Aviv option.

We had planned on stopping in each place. However we're not really wedded to any particular destinations other than Amman and Dubai.

From my experience, taxes on the RJ AMM - TLV sector (in J at least) are sky high!

 

[p--and--t]

Help Requested

I am starting to plan my second 280K trip and have struck a snag.

The Qantas Site doesn't appear to acknowledge that Havana Airport exists?

My secondary regular go-to for finding award flights is the BA site, but it also says Havana does not exist?

I know for sure there are regular direct flights by one world airlines AY (from Helsinki) and AA (from Miami) and IB (from Madrid)

Any tips on how I can research potential award seats on AY and AA flights if they don't come up in the QF or BA search engines?

 

[Aussiejosh]

Help Requested

I am starting to plan my second 280K trip and have struck a snag.

The Qantas Site doesn't appear to acknowledge that Havana Airport exists?

My secondary regular go-to for finding award flights is the BA site, but it also says Havana does not exist?

I know for sure there are regular direct flights by one world airlines AY (from Helsinki) and AA (from Miami) and IB (from Madrid)

Any tips on how I can research potential award seats on AY and AA flights if they don't come up in the QF or BA search engines?

They do show on AA search engine. My guess it would be cause of all the travel restrictions.

Give Qantas a call otherwise use the webchat - Engagement Window

 

[knobbs]

Hey Guys,

We have almost got the final booking done for my RTW trip next year in J. However it seems Qantas agents and the Qantas website do not agree with each other. I am stuck in JFK trying to get back to BNE in Business from 24/25/26th July 2019.

My last call I spent 3hrs on the phone (including on hold bleh) to only have the agent after routing me from JFK to HKG to SIN and then that was as close as they could get me in business. To be told he will have to charge me extra because of all the flights, mind you I was still under 16 segments and 35k miles. Which he then went silent and hung up after I asked him to calculate how much.

The Qantas website shows there are flights from JFK->LAX->BNE with reward seats available, and have been for a few days. When I question the agents about this they keep saying they have the 'live' system and the website can be out of sync sometimes. Really after several days the website is still out of sync? Or they will say some flights aren't eligible for my booking because they are code share, but they still show up in the points search on the Qantas site?

Can anyone help me out with the flights from JFK->BNE getting in by the 28th of July? For some reason any of the reward flights that I find on the Qantas website seem to be 'valid' for a RTW booking.... I am starting to give up hope

 

[Aus ATC]

Hey Guys,

When I question the agents about this they keep saying they have the 'live' system and the website can be out of sync sometimes. Really after several days the website is still out of sync?

There does seem to be a disconnect between the website and the 'live' system. I could not complete a booking on the website and when I called, the problem was with a QF flight availability (BNE-HKG). But the agent pushed a few buttons and somehow it worked. Sorry this info does not help your predicament, but perhaps reinforces the IT challenges in QF....

 

[Aussiejosh]

Hey Guys,

We have almost got the final booking done for my RTW trip next year in J. However it seems Qantas agents and the Qantas website do not agree with each other. I am stuck in JFK trying to get back to BNE in Business from 24/25/26th July 2019.

My last call I spent 3hrs on the phone (including on hold bleh) to only have the agent after routing me from JFK to HKG to SIN and then that was as close as they could get me in business. To be told he will have to charge me extra because of all the flights, mind you I was still under 16 segments and 35k miles. Which he then went silent and hung up after I asked him to calculate how much.

The Qantas website shows there are flights from JFK->LAX->BNE with reward seats available, and have been for a few days. When I question the agents about this they keep saying they have the 'live' system and the website can be out of sync sometimes. Really after several days the website is still out of sync? Or they will say some flights aren't eligible for my booking because they are code share, but they still show up in the points search on the Qantas site?

Can anyone help me out with the flights from JFK->BNE getting in by the 28th of July? For some reason any of the reward flights that I find on the Qantas website seem to be 'valid' for a RTW booking.... I am starting to give up hope

I had an issue a couple of weeks ago where I could see availability from Tokyo to Vancouver direct but when doing a multi-city search it wouldn't show. I proceeded to call qantas who said the flight is not available. I then said to him if I can book it online myself can I add my other flights onto that booking reference.

So ended up booking it online while I was on the phone. Gave him my booking reference number and he then transferred all the other flights over to it. Everything got ticketed. Now just waiting for the refund on taxes from original booking.

 

[exceladdict]

I had an issue a couple of weeks ago where I could see availability from Tokyo to Vancouver direct but when doing a multi-city search it wouldn't show. I proceeded to call qantas who said the flight is not available. I then said to him if I can book it online myself can I add my other flights onto that booking reference.

So ended up booking it online while I was on the phone. Gave him my booking reference number and he then transferred all the other flights over to it. Everything got ticketed. Now just waiting for the refund on taxes from original booking.

So just to confirm, you were able to add a seperately booked flight into an existing oneworld award?

 

[Aussiejosh]

So just to confirm, you were able to add a seperately booked flight into an existing oneworld award?

Well I asked first if I booked it online if he could add it and he said yes. Maybe it was only cause his end it was showing as not available. He then proceeded to move my other flights across to the new booking, then added the remainder of the new flights that I was after. Then charged the taxes for all the flights

I wouldn't risk doing it without being on the phone to them and asking them first though, as he had to waive the cancellation fee for the old booking as well as get refunded the orginal taxes. I chased up qantas this morning as the refund for the original taxes haven't been refunded, so apparently it has been processed now.

 

[Danger]

Thanks to ExpertFlyer a number of seats on AA flights in J have opened up on an existing oneworld five stop award. I called Qantas to move into the higher cabin but after a lengthy hold I was told it can't be done on an existing booking; the only way those seats can be secured is if they are booked as a new itinerary. The agent said there are some airlines that it can be done for but this is one of the airlines it can't be.

Has anyone heard of this rubbish before?

Qantas phoned back a few minutes ago to say they had been able to secure the seats from AA (translation: we fixed (at least temporarily) our broken system because, of course, the seats were there for the taking all along).

 

[MartyMan]

Woot I finally will have enough points to book 560K J oneworld awards next year, so preparing early. Only a lowly bronze with Qantas. I've been reading this thread and pretty much understand all the ins and outs of the rules.

As everyone seems to indicated its best to book the flight out of Australia first upfront, once available, and then add extra sectors later.

I just want to confirm, as long as you book the first flight on a one world airline e.g. just one way SYD- DOH on QR or SYD-HGK-AMS or CX for example, there is no issue converting that original one-way booking to the 560K oneworld award booking. (I understand 5K change fees etc)

So the normal rule of needing two different one world airlines don't have to be met for the first one-way flight, only when joining up all the remaining flights?

Cheers

 

[Danger]

Woot I finally will have enough points to book 560K J oneworld awards next year, so preparing early. Only a lowly bronze with Qantas. I've been reading this thread and pretty much understand all the ins and outs of the rules.

As everyone seems to indicated its best to book the flight out of Australia first upfront, once available, and then add extra sectors later.

I just want to confirm, as long as you book the first flight on a one world airline e.g. just one way SYD- DOH on QR or SYD-HGK-AMS or CX for example, there is no issue converting that original one-way booking to the 560K oneworld award booking. (I understand 5K change fees etc)

So the normal rule of needing two different one world airlines don't have to be met for the first one-way flight, only when joining up all the remaining flights?

Cheers

As far as Qantas is concerned, the flight in your situation will be a vanilla, one way award ticket. Nothing special about it. It only becomes the Qantas oneworld five stop award when you achieve two non-oneworld airlines and stay within all the other rules. For this reason it's entirely plausible that you may well need to expend over 280k per person initially. Those extra points will be refunded once the other criteria are met.

So, no. No issue converting.

 

[ellen10]

In the midst of my planning and booking.
Is a land sector counted as a stopover?
!st stop Dublin
2nd stop London
3rd stop Innsbruck (this is a land sector between Innsbruck and Venice)
4th stop Lisbon
5th stop Madrid
6th stop land sector Madrid to Barcelona
Return flight home Barcelona to Sydney (I can only see these flights as a multi booking via Hong Kong)

Does this plan fit in with the rules?

 

[Danger]

In the midst of my planning and booking.
Is a land sector counted as a stopover?
!st stop Dublin
2nd stop London
3rd stop Innsbruck (this is a land sector between Innsbruck and Venice)
4th stop Lisbon
5th stop Madrid
6th stop land sector Madrid to Barcelona
Return flight home Barcelona to Sydney (I can only see these flights as a multi booking via Hong Kong)

Does this plan fit in with the rules?

From the wiki:

• Surface Segments are permitted as part of oneworld Classic Flight Reward Itineraries, but the distance between the disembarkation point and the next embarkation point will be included in the Reward Point zone calculation for that Itinerary.

If I've understood your proposed itinerary correctly, your third stop is Innsbruck/Venice and you're then flying VCE-LIS.

You are well under on the maximum mileage permissible of 35k. Here's a worsish case scenario: Great Circle Mapper.

 

[ellen10]

From the wiki:

• Surface Segments are permitted as part of oneworld Classic Flight Reward Itineraries, but the distance between the disembarkation point and the next embarkation point will be included in the Reward Point zone calculation for that Itinerary.

If I've understood your proposed itinerary correctly, your third stop is Innsbruck/Venice and you're then flying VCE-LIS.

You are well under on the maximum mileage permissible of 35k. Here's a worsish case scenario: Great Circle Mapper.

Thank you Danger for your reply .... I was hoping it was so. Yes we will be flying VCE-LIS.

 

[cjd600]

Woot I finally will have enough points to book 560K J oneworld awards next year, so preparing early. Only a lowly bronze with Qantas. I've been reading this thread and pretty much understand all the ins and outs of the rules.
As everyone seems to indicated its best to book the flight out of Australia first upfront, once available, and then add extra sectors later. Cheers

You should look to book the first available sector by release date (after doing your homework), not necessarily your first flight from Australia.
e.g. if flying AUS-Europe, you might find HKG/SIN/NRT - Europe with AY is the first leg released, and you can add the AUS-Asia leg to that booking once it is released (e.g. J on QF for Bronze will be abt 300-310 days, if available by that time).
As Danger alluded you don't even quote anything about 280k/560k award when dealing with QF, you just call to say you want to "make a change to an existing award booking", and give the flight details to be added (don't have to be sequential). The 'rules' should take care of themselves and automatically max out at the 280/560 (for 2 x J), as all rules are satisfied and this limit is reached. Plan when your hoped-for sectors are relased by doing dummy booking searches so you are ready to pounce sector by sector

 

[Wanderlust_tim]

Taxes and surcharges are high on QF, CX & QR - try to avoid them if you can. RJ are low.

Also taxes are much lower starting in HKG or MNL. You could consider a positioning flight to one or other of those (or somewhere else in Asia).

Hope this helps.

JV

Thank you all for the advice.

Just to close the loop, we wound up taking advantage of the recent 25% off Economy classic flight rewards and booked MEL-DXB-SEZ-DXB-SIN-MEL in January all on Emirates for $617 and 94,500 points each. We couldn't be happier. It saved $5000 net on the revenue price.

 

[Abrcrmb]

Thanks again to the tips and tricks in this thread. We had to get creative on our 4th and 5th 280K redemptions this time around, leaving it very late with only 8 weeks to departure!

Travelling together on the the Moscow, St Petersburg, Helsinki, London, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Tokyo and Osaka legs

#4 SWMBO: SYD>PEK>OVB>DME(QF+S7) / DME>LED(S7) / ground sector / HEL>LHR(AY) / LHR>HKG>MEL (BA+QF) / ground sector / BNE>NRT (QF) / NRT>CAN>KUL>SYD (JAL+MH) $1437 in taxes

#5 HWNTBA: DME>LED(S7) / ground sector / HEL>LHR(AY) / LHR>HKG>MEL (BA+QF) / MEL>SIN>NRT (QF+JAL) / ground sector / KIX>BKK>DOH (JAL+QR) / DOH>PEK (QR) $1,961 in taxes

Effectively two separate holidays on the one itinerary, Russia and Europe, then Japan and Middle East 6 months later.

Requested and received 2 x J seats be released on the HKG>MEL (QF) leg. Very happy with the QFF CSRs today!