Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[Kendall Roy]

OK, after multiple calls and some manual handling, finally managed to get this issued:

AKL-MEL
MEL-SYD-HND
HND-SYD (2 Months)
SYD-ADL-DOH-FRA
MXP-HKG-SYD-AKL (Will likely no show the last leg)

34.5K miles and around $1600 NZD in taxes. Some positioning flights are required which I'll tie in with business trips.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

OK, after multiple calls and some manual handling, finally managed to get this issued:

AKL-MEL
MEL-SYD-HND
HND-SYD
SYD-ADL-DOH-FRA
MXP-HKG-SYD-AKL (Will likely no show the last leg)

34.5K miles and around $1600 NZD in taxes.

Did you ever find out what the problem was?

 

[Kendall Roy]

Did you ever find out what the problem was?

Computer just didn't like it, so human intervention and rule book checks were required.

 

[There'sOnlyOneJimmy]

Not sure. I got what was called a travel document. Had all the flights on listed as confirmed and sent from amadeus.com

If you don’t have a document with an e-ticket number on it (it will start with 081-), then you should call and ask for it to be ticketed.
There are numerous tales of woe on this forum regarding award seats being lost from unticketed itineraries. Once lost, there’s no guarantee (and sometimes no hope) of getting them back again...

 

[GaryLG]

If you don’t have a document with an e-ticket number on it (it will start with 081-), then you should call and ask for it to be ticketed.
There are numerous tales of woe on this forum regarding award seats being lost from unticketed itineraries. Once lost, there’s no guarantee (and often no hope) of getting them back again...

Thanks. I am waiting for a call back to sort out a couple of minor wrinkles so I'll ask then.

Mind you this was a call I made at 8am and they quoted a 30 min - 1 hour wait so still waiting!!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks. I am waiting for a call back to sort out a couple of minor wrinkles so I'll ask then.

Mind you this was a call I made at 8am and they quoted a 30 min - 1 hour wait so still waiting!!

What sort of minor wrinkles?

 

[GaryLG]

What sort of minor wrinkles?

Trying to get a QF flight for my daughter where she will get a seat allocation with a bassinet (flight changes are locked for me) and trying to sort out why I cannot do seat allocations on all our QF flights. All strange as before the help desk made some changes we could do this.

 

[DC3]

I can see on my bookings that BA flights and seat requests have to be dealt with on their site and and a reference number is provided (and you pay for it) but what about JL flights?

Use the QF PNR for JL

Edited

 

[GaryLG]

Use the QF for JL

Yes got there thanks though as I posted above no luck on seat allocation.

 

[adenda]

Post by @Mr H had me keen make my own and thank the community for the endless knowledge you all provide. I'm usually just a lurker and the info helped me lock in a J trip for myself and SO last month for the 2nd half of 2022.

Itinerary:
SYD-HKG-JFK (CX)
JFK-MAD (IB)
MAD-FCO (IB)
CDG-DOH-DXB (QR Qsuites)
DXB-DOH-NRT (QR Qsuites)
HND-SYD (JAL)

I have chosen to fly with Iberia as it significantly reduced the taxes and fees compared to BA.

However I am having some issues trying to select seats for my parter on their flights. By logging into RJ, I was able to select seats for all our flights but was only able to select seats for myself on IB flights.

Trying to sort this out has started to make me doubt my decision to fly with them. It is almost impossible to contact IB. I was only able to get through with a twitter DM with a response a month later, which didnt solve the problem. I get that its a first world problem having issues sorting out our seats but im now more so concerned about how reliable they will be and how Id get in contact with them if we ran into urgent issues.

Can anyone that has had IB on their OW award provide any insight into their experience with them. Also, has anyone run into seat selection issues with them and how were they sorted?

Regarding seat selection, I had similar issues recently that I finally got sorted by using MMB on various OW airline websites. I usually find RJ is the most reliable site followed by MH.
If you can only select for yourself - as was my experience - log in to RJ using your SO's surname and only select their seat for one flight and then exit. Repeat for other flights. That should allow their seat selection to be made. Then do the same for your seats - using your surname of course.
It mightn't be necessary to do it one flight at a time but I did it that way to be sure and it worked.

As a side note, I had some IB flights in our itinerary that I couldn't make any selections for - even using RJ. The seat maps wouldn't even load. I managed to get this sorted by using CX - which only allows you to select Window or Aisle. But what that does is actually give you seemingly randomly allocated seats which you can then change on RJ.

The things you learn!

 

[Kendall Roy]

Yes got there thanks though as I posted above no luck on seat allocation.

Also having this problem with JL.

 

[esther_a]

I'm planning my second OWA. This time I'm aiming for 3 vacations, starting outside of Australia so I can return twice (one stopover in MEL, the other in SYD).
I believe I should choose a starting point that
a) is easily accessible from Australia with a cheap flight
b) would reduce the overall taxes payable
From reading this thread, I see Manila, Auckland and Bali have been used.
What others would you recommend trying?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I'm planning my second OWA. This time I'm aiming for 3 vacations, starting outside of Australia so I can return twice (one stopover in MEL, the other in SYD).
I believe I should choose a starting point that
a) is easily accessible from Australia with a cheap flight
b) would reduce the overall taxes payable
From reading this thread, I see Manila, Auckland and Bali have been used.
What others would you recommend trying?

I think AKL is the best - high frequency of flights, relatively cheap for a full service carrier including bags, easy to navigate when you're there. (Bali you could end up on Jetstar, Manila is not the easiest place to transit or be if there is a problem with your flight, etc)

 

[vetrade]

If you don’t have a document with an e-ticket number on it (it will start with 081-), then you should call and ask for it to be ticketed.
There are numerous tales of woe on this forum regarding award seats being lost from unticketed itineraries. Once lost, there’s no guarantee (and sometimes no hope) of getting them back again...

I learned recently (with help from this thread) that you can get the eTicket numbers from the AY and QR websites (and others apparently) by logging in with the booking reference.
The mere fact you can get this number is also confirmation that the booking has, in fact, ticketed

 

[GaryLG]

I learned recently (with help from this thread) that you can get the eTicket numbers from the AY and QR websites (and others apparently) by logging in with the booking reference.
The mere fact you can get this number is also confirmation that the booking has, in fact, ticketed

Not JL unfortunately.

Started to think I should have stayed on hold this morning as I still haven't heard back!

 

[mulubinba]

I learned recently (with help from this thread) that you can get the eTicket numbers from the AY and QR websites (and others apparently) by logging in with the booking reference.
The mere fact you can get this number is also confirmation that the booking has, in fact, ticketed

I have Qantas award flights next year on JAL. I was able to select seats on the JAL website. I also noticed they displayed the status as “ticketed” which was reassuring.

 

[GaryLG]

I have Qantas award flights next year on JAL. I was able to select seats on the JAL website. I also noticed they displayed the status as “ticketed” which was reassuring.

You have done better than me! Do you have your e-ticket number already?

 

[mikeQFF]

Regarding seat selection, I had similar issues recently that I finally got sorted by using MMB on various OW airline websites. I usually find RJ is the most reliable site followed by MH.
If you can only select for yourself - as was my experience - log in to RJ using your SO's surname and only select their seat for one flight and then exit. Repeat for other flights. That should allow their seat selection to be made. Then do the same for your seats - using your surname of course.
It mightn't be necessary to do it one flight at a time but I did it that way to be sure and it worked.

As a side note, I had some IB flights in our itinerary that I couldn't make any selections for - even using RJ. The seat maps wouldn't even load. I managed to get this sorted by using CX - which only allows you to select Window or Aisle. But what that does is actually give you seemingly randomly allocated seats which you can then change on RJ.

The things you learn!

Thank you sooo much!!! This clever little trick worked, im super impressed and thankful that you managed to figure that out.

The first method worked for the JFK-MAD flight.
Second one with CX worked for the MAD-FCO one but it wouldnt let me edit with the 2nd passengers logins on RJ. I had to randomise it on CX until we got a seat we liked and then edited mine on RJ to the seat next to hers.

 

[GaryLG]

Regarding seat selection, I had similar issues recently that I finally got sorted by using MMB on various OW airline websites. I usually find RJ is the most reliable site followed by MH.

Give the posts having success with this strategy I thought I might try it and while it failed it told me I still needed to pay! I have paid so clearly something is unfinished and I really do need to talk to Qantas!

 

[jkcfc]

For the positioning flights, can I make a booking on the Qantas website to include a domestic flight, then ring up and remove the domestic leg and keep the international booking?

e.g:
MEL-BRIS
DOH-SIN-MEL