Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[Mr H]

There looks to be pretty good AY availability for 3 PAX on the same flight SIN-HEL, HEL-CDG, then CDG-HEL-SIN, this of course may change in 6 months time.

There will be excellent availability in AY in the future once people twig that they have installed seats that don't recline.

 

[cambriamarsh]

They kind of are.

I don't think so!

 

[Mr H]

I don't think so!

But many of the greatest Australians come from New Zealand.

 

[ChrisMars]

The trip may shape up along these lines AKL-MEL-NRT-HND-SYD-HEL-CDG-HEL-SIN-SYD-(AKL, only there for the total miles calculation). According to GC Maps this comes in at 34621 miles I do not know how accurate this is and how it compares to QF miles calculations.

I don't have much experience, but the one OWA I booked had less than 50miles left according to GCmaps, and got ticketed without issues. Had to cancel since, and I only book simple awards one leg at a time for flexibility.

 

[Matt_01]

That makes it a bit easier having one person revenue, as I do find 2x J far more possible — the big challenge I've always encountered is getting flights in and out of Australia during school holidays. JL is fairly good, as was CX in the before times, but QF was pretty atrocious, but I guess that changes when you're P1.

For the QF reward flights, I would normally check online on the day seats were released and if I could not book them would request seat release. Requesting on the day of release worked for some routes while others I needed to wait a few days or longer. My plan has always been to get the reward seats for Mrs&MissM for a location that we were happy/ willing to go too, once these were locked in I would just sit back and wait for the J sales to come along and then book my flights. As a 3 PAX travelling group we realised long ago that x2 J rewards x1 J in revenue (J sale promotion) was often was around the same price, sometimes higher or lower than 3 in Y revenue when travelling in school holidays.

 

[Matt_01]

There will be excellent availability in AY in the future once people twig that they have installed seats that don't recline.

I am aware that AY have introduced this new seat type and looking at the reviews on YouTube (limited) seem to suggest it is not a bad product. Most of the reviews I have seen are relatively short flights between HEL-LHR or LHR-HEL (trial flights?). For the routes I am looking at these are night flights and as long both flights (SIN-HEL or HEL-SIN) are flat, no incline etc. happy to give it a whirl and see what happens.

 

[jkcfc]

Tempted to try again tomorrow and just test if it was the agent or the new cost of flying.

I called back and the agent said the direct flight is part of a married segment and that they would have to cancel our MEL-DOH flight and try to add it back manually and add the direct flight manually. Shut that concept down very quickly after reading about the married segments in the past.

Asked to have our Colombo to Male flight changed to business class as 2 seats opened up over night - got hung up on while they were calculating fare difference.

Called back and the next operator tried to put in for a business class upgrade rather than changing the existing seats to business. Finally she understood what I was asking to change but had troubles with the $20 payment for taxes. (why is it always sooooo painful)

She was adamant that ticketing for the change will take 24-48hrs. I asked if it will be a new e-ticket number or just an itinerary change and her response was 'I assume so because we changed the class'. Does anyone know if it will be a new e-ticket number?

So not the direct flight but guaranteed to have lounge access for the 2.5hr stopover in Colombo and business class on all flights for the trip.

 

[levelnine]

I called back and the agent said the direct flight is part of a married segment and that they would have to cancel our MEL-DOH flight and try to add it back manually and add the direct flight manually. Shut that concept down very quickly after reading about the married segments in the past.

Can you say a bit more about this? If MEL-DOH is married to DOH-MLE, why is that a problem? That's what you want, right? Or were you worried about the MEL-DOH segments not reappearing if they were cancelled?

 

[jkcfc]

Can you say a bit more about this? If MEL-DOH is married to DOH-MLE, why is that a problem? That's what you want, right? Or were you worried about the MEL-DOH segments not reappearing if they were cancelled?

Correct, once she said they would have to cancel the MEL-DOH to be able to book the direct flight DOH-MLE, I just couldn't take that risk of something going wrong and losing MEL-DOH.

I still don't have faith that they have changed our other flight to J even though its such a simple change.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I called back and the agent said the direct flight is part of a married segment and that they would have to cancel our MEL-DOH flight and try to add it back manually and add the direct flight manually. Shut that concept down very quickly after reading about the married segments in the past.

Asked to have our Colombo to Male flight changed to business class as 2 seats opened up over night - got hung up on while they were calculating fare difference.

Called back and the next operator tried to put in for a business class upgrade rather than changing the existing seats to business. Finally she understood what I was asking to change but had troubles with the $20 payment for taxes. (why is it always sooooo painful)

She was adamant that ticketing for the change will take 24-48hrs. I asked if it will be a new e-ticket number or just an itinerary change and her response was 'I assume so because we changed the class'. Does anyone know if it will be a new e-ticket number?

So not the direct flight but guaranteed to have lounge access for the 2.5hr stopover in Colombo and business class on all flights for the trip.

Change of class should just be a re-validation… same ticket number I would have thought?

 

[Mr H]

I called back and the agent said the direct flight is part of a married segment and that they would have to cancel our MEL-DOH flight and try to add it back manually and add the direct flight manually. Shut that concept down very quickly after reading about the married segments in the past.

Learning point: when offered something as part of a redemption booking, do not go away and think about it.

 

[ozflier]

Change of class should just be a re-validation… same ticket number I would have thought?

I've had different experiences with this kind of class only change - one time no need for ticket change and another, the Agent insisted on reticketing. Luckily no need for an increase in taxes and fees.

 

[jkcfc]

I've had different experiences with this kind of class only change - one time no need for ticket change and another, the Agent insisted on reticketing. Luckily no need for an increase in taxes and fees.

I called back again as my credit card wasn't charged.

SA rather than Fiji this time.

Agent advised that as it is a change of class and not just an update to flight/departure date that it can't be re-validated and did need to be re-ticketed.

Said that somewhere along the way with changes that our tickets were in the automated queue but there was a glitch. He waited on hold with ticketing and took my cc details again and new ticket was in my inbox within 3 minutes of my card showing the charges taken.

Another 1hr 50mins but have the updated e-ticket and business class locked in on all legs. In hindsight could've got them to do the direct flight if I knew this simple change would cause similar issues.

Now there is no way I'm willing to touch the itinerary again with less than 2 weeks to go.

 

[Mr H]

Another 1hr 50mins but have the updated e-ticket and business class locked in on all legs. In hindsight could've got them to do the direct flight if I knew this simple change would cause similar issues.

Yes, you could have seen whether the direct flight really did have a married sector restriction or whether it was just an excuse provided by an agent for not doing something complicated. Just FWIW, I make a written list of things before I call the agent so I do not lose sight of my desired outcomes in preference order and the options I have identified to try to achieve those outcomes.

 

[Must...Fly!]

I would probably be inclined to believe the married sector restriction on QR-QR.

 

[bookworm]

Good Day .

BAGGAGE ALLOWANCE

I'm booked on a OWA in August, all in J , with the exception of 1 flight in Y.

I'll be using a combination of airlines,
Qantas PER - MEL
JAL MEL - NRT- LAX
AS LAX-LAS
AA SEA -ORD
Royal Jordanian ORD- QAIA-IST
Qatar IST-DOH-MEL-PER

Stopovers in LAS ; QAIA; IST & DOH

My ticket says 40kg allowance on Qatar, yet I'm allowed at least 2 x 32 kg on most of the other airlines.

Is this really the case? Please advise.

A pity I didn't plan my trip in the reverse order.

Thank you so much.

 

[Mr H]

Good Day .

My ticket says 40kg allowance on Qatar, yet I'm allowed at least 2 x 32 kg on most of the other airlines.

Is this really the case? Please advise.

According to the e-ticket:

Interline travel: Qantas baggage allowance may not apply. If your travel on this ticket involves more than one airline, the baggage allowance of the most significant carrier in your itinerary will apply to each journey, except in relation to travel to, from or within the USA. Under US DOT regulations, if your travel to, from or within the USA involves more than one airline, the baggage rules of one airline will apply to all of the flights in your itinerary. This is determined by the first carrier in your itinerary. For travel between Australia and the USA, usually (both not always) Qantas' baggage allowance will apply to the whole itinerary. ​

That reads to me as the allowance you have from Perth to Melbourne being the one you must carry through to the entire itinerary - but I am not a lawyer and this is not very clearly worded.

 

[Must...Fly!]

My reading is that QF allowance will apply for all flights except the last, where I think the JAL allowance might apply as it appears to be the MSC (first airline crossing from one IATA Traffic Area to another). But I'm relying on very old knowledge I haven't used in a while...

 

[Ponky]

So I’ve had my U-class OWA booked since December 21 for this September, commencing with a PER-MEL flight to connect with a JAL flight (MEL-NRT-SEA). Original booking had a 3-hour layover in MEL – plenty of time to transfer, even in the event of a delay from PER. A few weeks ago I get an email from Qantas saying they had cancelled my PER-MEL flight and we were now on a later flight, due to arrive in MEL 1 hour prior to my JAL flight. That being a crazy risky scenario (great work Qantas), we decide it’s best to change flights out of PER. The only direct flight with U availability leaves Perth at 6:00 am and arrives in Melbourne at 11:30, a good 13 hours prior to our JAL flight. No worries there as we can catch up with family in Melbourne for the day.

Made the call to Qantas and after 5 hours on the phone have successfully changed the PER-MEL flight, and added a flight home to Perth from Melbourne on our return leg (JFK-HND-NRT-MEL), which I wasn’t able to do when booking online originally. No changes to the JAL flights in or out of Australia, or to the host of internal USA flights booked on AA as part of the OWA. Total additional taxes/fees $12.50. Confirmation email to be sent 24-48 hours later.

So it’s now 5 days later and still no confirmation email. I haven’t had the additional fees/taxes charged to my card yet.

The updated flights are visible in My Bookings on the Qantas site, and they show up as being part of a single leg (i.e. Perth to Seattle, then New York to Perth coming home) but when I send myself a copy of the itinerary via MMB it still shows the original PER-MEL flight (the one that Qantas originally cancelled) and no return MEL-PER flight. The new flight details also show up on CheckMyTrip, and also on the “My Bookings” pages of both JAL and AA. The AA site shows my flights as “Ticketed”.

So I guess my question here is – is this likely to be a revalidation scenario or re-ticketing? Should I get back on the phone to Qantas or should I wait it out for a bit?

 

[Guvner]

Likely a re-ticketing delay. I had a similar issue with a OWA change a few weeks ago. Took 7 or 8 days to re-ticket.