Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[pottsy]

Just out of interest, is there any way I can work out 'approx' what my upcoming OWA in J, would have cost had I paid for it?

Mel-Amm, Tlv-Cmn, Fco-Hkg, long stop, Hkg-Lhr, Lhr-Mel

Have tried on QF website using multi-city but no luck (perhaps due to the land sectors flights?).

 

[flychrisfly]

?

Isn't that what I said?

Oh dear, it looks like it doesn't it! Apologies, and glad we came to the same conclusion!

 

[Jacques Vert]

Oh dear, it looks like it doesn't it! Apologies, and glad we came to the same conclusion!

No worries.

 

[bookworm]

Thank you so much for the 4am call tip.
I called around 4.15am Perth time and had a one minute wait. Added on a leg painlessly, and am awaiting the ticket which she said would occur within 24 hours. I see my points have been deducted, however credit card has not.

Thus far booked in J 2 tickets:-
PER-HKG-NRT-SEA (combination of CX and JL)
HND-SFO (JL)

Waiting to book my final legs towards end of October.

 

[p--and--t]

Just out of interest, is there any way I can work out 'approx' what my upcoming OWA in J, would have cost had I paid for it?

Mel-Amm, Tlv-Cmn, Fco-Hkg, long stop, Hkg-Lhr, Lhr-Mel

Have tried on QF website using multi-city but no luck (perhaps due to the land sectors flights?).

One world site.

 

[zoom&boom]

Now I’m getting worried. CC has not been debited....To the Batphone

Well the Saga is almost over. This was my first OWA and it’s not over yet. I’ve managed to book the first half and will book the second half in six month. Thanks to this forum I was able to achieve what I wanted. Booked so fa:

SIN-HEL AY
LHR-JFK BA
JFK-NRT JL
JFK-BKK. JL

long stopovers and then will book
BKK-Europe or Africa-SIN to complete the trip.

With out boring you all, these were some of my experiences.

I found the SMS way to be time consuming and was told that you couldn’t book further ahead than 353 days...
First call to CC was advised by both an agent and then a Supervisor the ticketing date will not change when you add flights.

Second call to CC seemed to go smoothly with everything apparently booked and then just waiting for the ticket to be issued. After a day with no action on the CC and no email I called again.

Third call to the CC resulted in “ah I can see why this has not gone through. I’ll fix this up immediately and the tickets will be issued in 2-24 hour. In fact I‘ll refer this to a higher authority and they will be issues ASAP“...Still nothing after 24 hours.

Fourth call to CC Finally an agent was able to review the booking, deduct the additional points and have the ticket issued. Certainly a relief to finally get that email.

Thanks to the knowledge of the forum was was able to persist and call again when I was pretty sure I was being given incorrect info.
I was surprised by the level of apparent incompetence of some of the agents. I usually called between 6-7AM and never had to wait for more than 2 minutes.

All’s well that ends well but it was a struggle.

 

[Azusa]

I have been with their sms since 11 this morning, two agents and still couldn’t manage the search after explicitly provided date,flight number and time, didn’t know sms is this hard

 

[Azusa]

I am hoping someone can help shed some light. So I am looking for LAX to MCO seats on 30/08/2020. Qantas site said yes on AA2279, both econ and business, agent said no because he searched for ORL, I asked to search MCO again they said they know what I want but still no. I am not sure if I can trust them. It’s been so many hours now

 

[gilldo]

Booked so fa:

SIN-HEL AY
LHR-JFK BA
JFK-NRT JL
JFK-BKK. JL

long stopovers and then will book
BKK-Europe or Africa-SIN to complete the trip.

Are you travelling HEL-LHR via surface or non-OW carrier?

NOTE: If you fly from a non-UK destination and transit the UK on way to JFK taxes should be much lower (strange UK charge).

I assume the BKK leg is from NRT not LHR.

Sounds great - good luck with it.

 

[gilldo]

I am hoping someone can help shed some light. So I am looking for LAX to MCO seats on 30/08/2020. Qantas site said yes on AA2279, both econ and business, agent said no because he searched for ORL, I asked to search MCO again they said they know what I want but still no. I am not sure if I can trust them. It’s been so many hours now

Maybe check AA website - you can check mile redemption flights quite easily.

 

[pottsy]

One world site.
[/QUOTe
Thanks. Can I use it even if this isn't a RTW plan?

 

[Azusa]

Maybe check AA website - you can check mile redemption flights quite easily.

Thanks gilldo! yes i checked AA and they are available which is really weird, i am still on sms with the qantas guys and it looks like i am passed on a 3rd person...

They quoted me over the capped points and I asked why, they went to check and then now changed back to the capped level but i still need them to confirm the other flights...

is almost 8 hours on sms back and forth with them, boy this is exhausting

 

[Azusa]

After 8.5 hours finally its done! i think I am being passed onto yet another agent in the sms chat and looks like he/she knows what they are doing.
The flights from LAX to MCO which they previously adamantly said its not available, now this agent can book it for us no issues, I am not sure if they just reappeared in their system or someone punched in the wrong airport code (the first agent insisted there was no flights to go to ORL and when i said its MCO i wanted they said its the same)

The good news is for everyone else following, if your first booking is pre the points change regardless if you have capped it or not, it will cap at the old points, mine finally capped at 280k and there is only one more flight to go.

Sooo close to have the deal sealed... fingers crossed!

And thank you to all for your help, i could not have done it and maintain some level of sanity without you!

 

[zoom&boom]

Are you travelling HEL-LHR via surface or non-OW carrier?

NOTE: If you fly from a non-UK destination and transit the UK on way to JFK taxes should be much lower (strange UK charge).

I assume the BKK leg is from NRT not LHR.

Sounds great - good luck with it.

Ops I meant NRT-BKK on JL.
My HEL-LHR will probably be using BA points. I couldn’t see this flight on QF.
Thought about Europe- LHR-JFK but didn’t think Mrs Zoom would wear it. The concept of two holidays on the one booking was enough for the initial attemp.

 

[Sumnerned]

Just completed another one of these (in Y) today. An exhausting business, (about a two hour wait for a call-back, about an hour and a half talking/on hold, and another 30 mins or so for a final confirmation) but a few things I noted. 1. Latam will still be in OneWorld until the second half of next year, and are still offering award seats. I am on them late July from Buenos Aires to Auckland via SCL. 2. There was great reluctance to accept cash payment for the service fee. 3. There was great reluctance to use the post Sept points table as the original booking was pre changes. 4. The Credit card was charged immediately, so I am hopeful the rest will follow OK. 5. Although she had incorrect information, the consultant was quite prepared to investigate my queries/disagreements fully and in a cooperative manner. 6. We already knew what flights we wanted and that part was a breeze, about 5 mins, all the rest was about money!
This trip is nothing fancy, but still represents a really useful award for us:
AKL-SYD-KAN(Osaka)
KAN-LHR
LHR-Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires-SCL-AKL

Thanks again to the experts on this thread, it gives one so much confidence when negotiating these deals

 

[bookworm]

Thank you so much for the 4am call tip.
I called around 4.15am Perth time and had a one minute wait. Added on a leg painlessly, and am awaiting the ticket which she said would occur within 24 hours. I see my points have been deducted, however credit card has not.

Thus far booked in J 2 tickets:-
PER-HKG-NRT-SEA (combination of CX and JL)
HND-SFO (JL)

Waiting to book my final legs towards end of October.

An update on this:-

The painless turned into an extremely painful ouch!!!

After a few hours wait; no credit card deduction and some weird point movements, I logged onto the CX app and was warned that my flights were not confirmed and would be removed. Which they were. However the JL flight remained.

I had read months ago on this forum of CX flights disappearing when adding on new flights, and forgot about the urgent reminders to insist upon waiting on the line until the tickets were issued.
So this a warning to anyone else.

I communicated this via sms and asked for my CX legs to be re-instated.
As per recent posts, this took ages, and a few agent changes.(almost 8.5 hours)
TBH, everyone was very polite and appeared to be earnest in their wish to assist.
After repeating myself too many times to count, I was informed that the route was not possible.
So I asked why, given this was a OWA?

Then they tried re-instated my flights, however one flight was changed, giving me 65 minutes to make the connection from HKG to Tokyo. Upon querying, they insist this is ample time.

Also this flight lands in HND, and the next departs NRT, so I've got to make my way there. Furthermore I now have a 20 hour transit, necessitating a hotel booking, as I land at 21.35. (My original booking gave me a 12 hour transit)
I also discovered this flight was in Y , and requested J, which they changed.

First world problems.
Exhausting nonetheless.

I'm dreading adding on my final sectors in 2 weeks, fearing that the CX flights will disappear again.

But all in all,I feel so extremely fortunate and privileged to be given this awesome opportunity, and so thankful to all the forum members who share their knowledge so freely.

 

[11sjw]

Glad you got it fixed. Good luck on the upcoming additions!

 

[DC3]

… The painless turned into an extremely painful ouch!!! ...

Thank you for posting of your experience and the warning to others.

Unfortunately, not constantly monitoring progress (i.e., minute by minute), regardless of the inconvenience, may cause bookings to be lost.

The e-ticket reissue is essential, as without it, we don't have a ticketed itinerary. The bookings are all re-ticketed on each change that is made. Each airline in the revised (rebooked) itinerary needs to provide confirmation, before each reissue, although this is mostly automated. Any hiccup at the QF end regarding inputting the revised details or charges may cause some airlines (and not just CX) to cancel the seats pretty quickly (within hours).

I never accept being told to wait for 24-48 hours, or longer, for the new e-ticket. Bookings may be lost way before then. I now wait for no more than 30 minutes. Yes, under 30 minutes and then phoning again, I've been advised of glitches which would never have allowed re-ticketing until intervention. It may all go smoothly, but I now assume that it won't.

So, just repeating, re-ticketing needs to be constantly monitored and followed up. I've had several glitches with QF input not being done correctly, but managed to get the e-tickets reissued multiple times within 10-15 minutes, each time, once followed up.

Edit: My credit card charges are instantaneous, so I know that something is wrong when the card doesn't get a hit.

 

[bookworm]

Thank you so much for all the tips.

Hopefully I, and other posters will derive great benefit.

 

[p--and--t]

I had read months ago on this forum of CX flights disappearing when adding on new flights, and forgot about the urgent reminders to insist upon waiting on the line until the tickets were issued.
So this a warning to anyone else.

Note the warning should not be just for CX - it should be look for any discrepancy and any missing sectors (my "dropped off" sector was a JAL flight)