Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[Ross Pringle]

Some advice /opinion please on the following route for April to September next year. Spending 6 weeks in Italy/Greece/Crete then 5 weeks Finland including Moscow/St Petersburg then off to Nth America for about 10 weeks. I found these business award flights

DPS-(DOH) -FCO Qatar
Surface
ATH - HEL Finnair
Surface
HEL -(ORD) - LGA Finnair
Surface
SFO-(BNE) -PER Qantas
end of trip PER-DPS taken as surface.
These only comes to 28,550 miles by gcm and around $1300 taxes and fees (Qatar is $530!!).

Should I just go ahead and book this and later add internal flights especially for USA/Canada?

Thanks

 

[BriarFlyer]

I would book what's available now -- I presume you're happy with these options -- because they may not all be available tomorrow or next week or in a month's time.

 

[pyffii]

Im am experienced in booking QF FF award tickets in J and planning next years trip to Europe to begin our cruise....Can find availability for two from MEL to FCO on CX but NOTHING is available from Europe back to Melbourne 353-361 days out from today.....Availability seems to have dried up recently and there is nothing from HKG or NRT back to Melbourne where marriage segment comes into play big time....There is of course plenty of availability on China Eastern but not prepared to fly with them !!!
Appreciate any ideas and help...Cheers

 

[jkcfc]

Got through to the Steven in Auckland this morning at 5.30am. Changes weren’t processed correctly as feared.

'I don't know why they didn't issue the ticket while you were on the phone'. Took the opportunity to add the final 2 legs I needed as he seemed to know what he was talking about.

After adding the flights it was coming up as 318,000 points per passenger and the agent said he was asking for assistance from a senior consultant because after reading the rules he believed it should still be 280,000 points per passenger – I confirmed when I first made the changes that I was quoted a 5,000 per passenger change fee and recalculated taxes.

Quite a few back and forths during the 2.5 hours on the phone followed by a 2 hour break while the taxes were re-calculated before Steven called me back. He had ticketed all the flights and upon checking my email, the new itinerary and e-tickets were there. Pretty happy with his help even though it was a long process.

Was told there would be a refund on the taxes but have a pending authorisation on my card – will follow this up if it ends up charging.

Thanks again to your responses last night which got me to get back on the phone to sort it all out.

 

[Azusa]

Im am experienced in booking QF FF award tickets in J and planning next years trip to Europe to begin our cruise....Can find availability for two from MEL to FCO on CX but NOTHING is available from Europe back to Melbourne 353-361 days out from today.....Availability seems to have dried up recently and there is nothing from HKG or NRT back to Melbourne where marriage segment comes into play big time....There is of course plenty of availability on China Eastern but not prepared to fly with them !!!
Appreciate any ideas and help...Cheers

Which city are you trying to fly back to mel from?
I just booked NRT-MEL two days ago when the flights were released I booked them right away, and I agreed they seemed to have dried up, you might need to be prepared to transit in a couple of cities to make your way back. I also don’t want to fly China eastern and China eastern also not part of one world as far as I know so it will break the fare

 

[Jacques Vert]

Yes; China Eastern can not be included in a Oneworld Award!

 

[pyffii]

Which city are you trying to fly back to mel from?
I just booked NRT-MEL two days ago when the flights were released I booked them right away, and I agreed they seemed to have dried up, you might need to be prepared to transit in a couple of cities to make your way back. I also don’t want to fly China eastern and China eastern also not part of one world as far as I know so it will break the fare

I dont mind where in Europe I depart from but it appears that married segments are preventing JAL "J" from being available ex Tokyo...There is zero availability from QF and CX ex LHR and a few isolated BA "J" awards also from LHR but in truth the availability is only good on IB ex Madrid but cant get home from NRT so might just have to request from QF to release some seats....and the points needed for a return is just shy of 780000 whilst if I can create 3 stop overs and turn it into a One World RTW points will be capped at 622000 for the two of us

 

[BriarFlyer]

What date are you looking for, pyffii? As Azusa indicated, you can generally find 2 x J NRT-MEL at release time. 9/10 and 10/10 both appear to have availability, and JL414 HEL-NRT on 8/10 with a good connection in NRT or, if there's a married-segments prob booking this combo, add a stopover and try JL773 on 10/10. Or there's an AY flight. Or IB ex MAD.

 

[gfraser]

My wife and I are planning the following trip for November/December 2020.
25/11 MEL ( or SYD ) - SCL (Transit)
26/11 SCL - BUE
9/12 BUE to either FRA or TXG
22/12 FRA ( or TXG ) - JFK
26/12 JFK - SFO
29/12 SFO - MEL ( or SYD )
We only have approx 400,000 QF points and wish to go J, which would entail one Rewards ticket and one bought ticket. Could a TA give me a ball-park price for a J ticket? If the cost is prohibitive, our only option is to get 2 Y Award tickets.
Also I would appreciate a strategy for getting the Reward Bookings and any suggestions on " left-field" options.
Thank you

 

[futaris]

You need to fly in a continuous direction on a DONE4 paid ticket. e.g. keep flying east. Can't cross the Pacific more than once.

You might be able to do it in a 34k or 39k Global Explorer ticket:

Great Circle Mapper gives slightly over 29k miles...

 

[Princess Fiona]

From the T & Cs (emphasis added):

14.7.5 Subject to this clause 14.7, the following changes are permitted to a Classic Flight Reward flight before departure of that flight, provided the entire booking contains only Flight Segments that are within Australia, and will incur a Change Fee (see the Fee Schedule) per passenger:

(a) change to flight number;
(b) change to date of travel;
(c) change to class of travel; and
(d) change to a direct or indirect Segment routing without a Stopover (provided the origin and destination cities remain unchanged) or airline.

14.7.6 Subject to this clause 14.7, the following changes are permitted to a Classic Flight Reward flight before departure of that flight, provided the booking contains one or more Flight Segments that are not within Australia, and the Flight Segment(s) being changed do not include a partner airline that requires a ticket to be reissued for the change. Any such change will incur a Change Fee (see the Fee Schedule) per passenger:

(a) change to flight number; and
(b) change to date of travel.

So, in answer to your question (and assuming you have an international segment which, of course, is what this thread is all about), my understanding is:

• After you have departed on your first leg, you can change the date and or time of a flight (changing the time will usually result in a change of flight number);
• After you have departed on your first leg, you cannot change the flight route, or class of travel, or carrier...

Data point. Have flown the first 3 sectors of a OW 420K F Award.
Last night Expert Flyer alerts showed two seats open in F AA JFK-LAX, was booked in J on that sector on a different flight.
Initially told they could change it but the points cost would rise to the new 455K, I queried if that was correct, supervisor consulted and the flights were changed. Only the change fee in points paid.

 

[Jacques Vert]

Data point. Have flown the first 3 sectors of a OW 420K F Award.
Last night Expert Flyer alerts showed two seats open in F AA JFK-LAX, was booked in J on that sector on a different flight.
Initially told they could change it but the points cost would rise to the new 455K, I queried if that was correct, supervisor consulted and the flights were changed. Only the change fee in points paid.

Well there you go; QF at their inconsistent best.

About 18 months ago I was in the situation where I needed to change a flight to a later date after +1 fell ill in Sth America. I spoke to QF on at least 6 occasions and on each and every occasion I was told "no problem", then put on hold, and then advised that I could only change the date and time, and only if there was availability on the same carrier, in the same class and on the exact same route.

Of course, finding availability in J, SCL-AKL on LA, is difficult at the best of times and turned out to be impossible at short notice; and they would not allow a change to Y as it was a change of class.

So I guess the real answer is, like many things with the QF call centre, it depends on which agent answers the phone.

I'm glad things worked out in your case.

 

[soh]

Well there you go; QF at their inconsistent best.

About 18 months ago I was in the situation where I needed to change a flight to a later date after +1 fell ill in Sth America. I spoke to QF on at least 6 occasions and on each and every occasion I was told "no problem", then put on hold, and then advised that I could only change the date and time, and only if there was availability on the same carrier, in the same class and on the exact same route.

Of course, finding availability in J, SCL-AKL on LA, is difficult at the best of times and turned out to be impossible at short notice; and they would not allow a change to Y as it was a change of class.

So I guess the real answer is, like many things with the QF call centre, it depends on which agent answers the phone.

I'm glad things worked out in your case.

From what I can see in T&C's (14.7.6) is that once you have flown the first sector on an international booking you can only change the flight number and date. You can't change the class, route or airline. As ever it seems to depend who you get through to at the time...

As a data point I made a change yesterday using the QF app to a couple of BA sectors on an upcoming 280K and was only charged the usual 5K per person. No jump to 318K.

 

[bookworm]

Good Day,

Can I please ask someone to clarify?
If I land in Haneda and depart from Narita ( less than 24 hours later) , does this count as one or two transits in the same city?
Someone had mentioned in an earlier post that it counts as two.
Though to be honest, I will be departing again from Narita and the ticket has been issued.
It’s just that, I don’t want it to become an issue when I add on my final sectors next week. ( which will not include the above mentioned airports).

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

 

[Azusa]

Good Day,

Can I please ask someone to clarify?
If I land in Haneda and depart from Narita ( less than 24 hours later) , does this count as one or two transits in the same city?
Someone had mentioned in an earlier post that it counts as two.
Though to be honest, I will be departing again from Narita and the ticket has been issued.
It’s just that, I don’t want it to become an issue when I add on my final sectors next week. ( which will not include the above mentioned airports).

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

I have something similar but in london, it’s count as one, but some agents will say otherwise depending on who you get, if that happens hang up and call back.

 

[DC3]

... If I land in Haneda and depart from Narita ( less than 24 hours later) , does this count as one or two transits in the same city?
Someone had mentioned in an earlier post that it counts as two ...

As long as your transit in the same city is less than 24 hours. Whatever airport(s) should not make a difference.

Edit: one city = one transit. And, don’t be put off by SA or Manilla. . HUACA

 

[gilldo]

But if it's more than 24 hours, it should just be counted as a stopover in the one city (Tokyo). Less than 24 hours, it's a transit.

Places you should be careful with this sort of thinking include LA, SanFran, etc, as they have multiple airports, some of which are considered to be within the greater metropolis, others are considered to be separate cities (which would incur both a stopover where you land and a transit where you leave from).

 

[Danger]

My wife and I are planning the following trip for November/December 2020.
25/11 MEL ( or SYD ) - SCL (Transit)
26/11 SCL - BUE
9/12 BUE to either FRA or TXG
22/12 FRA ( or TXG ) - JFK
26/12 JFK - SFO
29/12 SFO - MEL ( or SYD )
We only have approx 400,000 QF points and wish to go J, which would entail one Rewards ticket and one bought ticket. Could a TA give me a ball-park price for a J ticket? If the cost is prohibitive, our only option is to get 2 Y Award tickets.
Also I would appreciate a strategy for getting the Reward Bookings and any suggestions on " left-field" options.
Thank you

Yes, a TA could give you an idea, pricing the trip as point-to-point flights rather than a round the world fare (which, as futaris points out, wouldn't work). Expect the cost to be quite high, though. Also note that LATAM is unlikely to be in oneworld come December 2020 which poses a problem, particularly for the SCL-EZE flight.

 

[cambriamarsh]

From what I can see in T&C's (14.7.6) is that once you have flown the first sector on an international booking you can only change the flight number and date. You can't change the class, route or airline. As ever it seems to depend who you get through to at the time...

As a data point I made a change yesterday using the QF app to a couple of BA sectors on an upcoming 280K and was only charged the usual 5K per person. No jump to 318K.

Further datapoints.

Just finished my first 280K trip, many thanks to all contributors to this thread for all the help, during which we changed a NAP-LGW on BA from Y to J the day before and a SYD-AKL on QF from Y to J a couple of days before. Change fee only charged, 280K cap remained intact.

I haven't applied my bush lawyer skills to the specific rule quoted but maybe there is room for interpretation. I wouldn't expect many call centre operators to know the rules in that much detail and would expect the system's logic would be the first port of call when deciding whether a change or routing is permissible.

 

[cambriamarsh]

Further datapoints.

Just finished my first 280K trip, many thanks to all contributors to this thread for all the help, during which we changed a NAP-LGW on BA from Y to J the day before and a SYD-AKL on QF from Y to J a couple of days before. Change fee only charged, 280K cap remained intact.

I haven't applied my bush lawyer skills to the specific rule quoted but maybe there is room for interpretation. I wouldn't expect many call centre operators to know the rules in that much detail and would expect the system's logic would be the first port of call when deciding whether a change or touting is permissible.

Another point of interest is that the NAP- LGW change from Y to J was done via the SA call centre which in this instance was very good.

I was requesting the change while on a bus between Sorrento and Positano and was just about there when the call dropped out. Much muttering. However when reception returned there was a message from the operator advising the change had been made at a cost of 5K per person and to call back if I wasn't happy. After all the other issues with SA operators I was VERY impressed, maybe these threads are being monitored and appropriate training administered.