Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[MEL_Traveller]

Ta for that info.
Do you mean the flight changes will occur between now and september or will be announced in that period and will occur post september.
I have several intra USA flights coming up so would be interested to know.

They will occur.

Usually no announcement, but u will normally get an email from Qantas. Better to be proactive so you can make sure you have the best replacement flights for ur plans.

 

[Aristotle9]

but u will normally get an email from Qantas.

Yup can confirm, around 5-7 or so over 6 months. All auto handled n ranging from 5-30 mins, terminal, aircraft etc. In my case last one was a favorable change to a direct flight on a non MAX8

 

[Spacetravel]

So I am currently "mid trip" of my OWA. Just received the dreaded "We've had to make some changes to your flight" email. Turns out they cancelled an upcoming segment on BA. I have LHR > BER which is right after my LAX > LHR flight. No alternatives are offered but it says they are looking for alternative flights and will email me once they do. I don't believe this will happen in my favour so about to call QF to get a new flight asap.

Because I am already mid trip how restricted will I be in finding a replacement flight? Do I need to find an award seat between LHR to BER within 24 hours of arriving in LHR (as this was a transit)? or because it was involuntary can I route via another airport/ take longer than 24 hours to transit LHR?

By mid trip I mean I have already flown some flights in this booking. The affected flights don't occur until 30th of May so I do I have some time.

 

[Mr H]

So I am currently "mid trip" of my OWA. Just received the dreaded "We've had to make some changes to your flight" email. Turns out they cancelled an upcoming segment on BA. I have LHR > BER which is right after my LAX > LHR flight. No alternatives are offered but it says they are looking for alternative flights and will email me once they do. I don't believe this will happen in my favour so about to call QF to get a new flight asap.

Because I am already mid trip how restricted will I be in finding a replacement flight? Do I need to find an award seat between LHR to BER within 24 hours of arriving in LHR (as this was a transit)? or because it was involuntary can I route via another airport/ take longer than 24 hours to transit LHR?

By mid trip I mean I have already flown some flights in this booking. The affected flights don't occur until 30th of May so I do I have some time.

There are multiple daily BA flights on that route so the likely outcome is you would be offered the next available flight. I think you are unlikely to be able to create a sixth stopover or make a major itinerary change, but you never know. Prepare options for (a) what you want most, and (b) what would be within the OWA rules and roll the dice.

 

[squid01]

I am looking at booking for September departure, route not 100% sorted just yet. Was going to book some flights to lock them in as availability is scarce. If I want to say remove one of those flights and add another in its place (ie- change route), will they need to reissue the ticket again and hence be a potential for me to lose the other flight(s) which I didn’t want changed?
Does it cost anything to cancel or amend a OWA booking? If I cancel then how long may it take to get all the points refunded?

Also, if I book individual segments on the OWA (ie book ADL to KUL and also KUL to BKK instead of just ADL to BKK) then will my bags be checked all the way through from ADL to BKK? Doing some research people say if it is on the “same ticket” they will. Essentially is the OwA booking just on one ticket? Or do they mean I will still have to book the ADL to BKK path instead of breaking it up?

Thanks!

 

[Ponky]

WIth the AA flight changes, if you are happy with them is it just a case of do nothing, or do you need to contact Qantas and confirm you are happy with them?

 

[vetrade]

So I am currently "mid trip" of my OWA. Just received the dreaded "We've had to make some changes to your flight" email. Turns out they cancelled an upcoming segment on BA. I have LHR > BER which is right after my LAX > LHR flight. No alternatives are offered but it says they are looking for alternative flights and will email me once they do. I don't believe this will happen in my favour so about to call QF to get a new flight asap.

Because I am already mid trip how restricted will I be in finding a replacement flight? Do I need to find an award seat between LHR to BER within 24 hours of arriving in LHR (as this was a transit)? or because it was involuntary can I route via another airport/ take longer than 24 hours to transit LHR?

By mid trip I mean I have already flown some flights in this booking. The affected flights don't occur until 30th of May so I do I have some time.

I got a similar email a week ago but QF didn't contact me with new flight options, so expect to have to take the initiative yourself.
I rang them again 2 days ago and CSA said he would call me back after he checked if QR would release seats for us but I'm on hold again now 'cos, unsurprisingly, he hasn't called back.
There shouldn't be any problem in having a stop in LHR instead of a transit provided 1. you don't already have a LHR stopover and 2. you don't already have 5 stopovers in your itinerary. QF won't allow changes which exceed the 5 stopover rule. As Mr H said, there are plenty of alternate flights on that route and BA usually has good availability for intra-Europe flights (they may not show on the QF site but usually agents can find them OK)

 

[Spacetravel]

There are multiple daily BA flights on that route so the likely outcome is you would be offered the next available flight. I think you are unlikely to be able to create a sixth stopover or make a major itinerary change, but you never know. Prepare options for (a) what you want most, and (b) what would be within the OWA rules and roll the dice.

I got a similar email a week ago but QF didn't contact me with new flight options, so expect to have to take the initiative yourself.
I rang them again 2 days ago and CSA said he would call me back after he checked if QR would release seats for us but I'm on hold again now 'cos, unsurprisingly, he hasn't called back.
There shouldn't be any problem in having a stop in LHR instead of a transit provided 1. you don't already have a LHR stopover and 2. you don't already have 5 stopovers in your itinerary. QF won't allow changes which exceed the 5 stopover rule. As Mr H said, there are plenty of alternate flights on that route and BA usually has good availability for intra-Europe flights (they may not show on the QF site but usually agents can find them OK)

Thanks, I got off the phone with QF and the only flight available was the following day which creates a 6th stopover and 2 at LHR. They did give me the flight though and its now showing in my account. Do I have to worry QF system might catch up and cancel it or should I be in the clear now?

 

[vetrade]

Do I have to worry QF system might catch up and cancel it or should I be in the clear now?

All I can say is that it's very unusual for QF to break 2 of their own cornerstone OWA rules like that. Was the agent who booked that for you even aware that both the "1 stopover per city" and "maximum 5 stopovers" rules were being broken? Normally they would only allow something like that for last minute disruptions like a cancellation for mechanical reasons, such as, if you were actually already at LHR and they needed to get you to BER.
Bottom line is that I can't give you a definitive answer to your question, but if the ststem is going to reject those changes, my guess is that it will do so in a few days or less.

 

[Lynda2475]

WIth the AA flight changes, if you are happy with them is it just a case of do nothing, or do you need to contact Qantas and confirm you are happy with them?

My AA jfk -ord flight was changed from a very convenient 2pm to a less convenient 4:45pm ( means i'll be later for a dinner date), i just received an email advising the time change and a separate email with an updated e-ticket. Wasnt given any option to accept or reject the change.

Given all the drama to get the owa ticketed in the first place, i will wait and see if it changes again as still a few months away.

2pm was perfect, checkout at 11am, subway to jfk just shy of 1 hour, 1 hour to check in some lounge time. Later flight means lunch in city and more time waiting at the airport lounge.

 

[ausfox]

The changing of flights is not new. We were doing a status run via Las Vegas and fronted to the desk for an earlier flight. Told our original flight had changed forward 2 hours. We did get an earlier flight .

 

[vetrade]

The changing of flights is not new. We were doing a status run via Las Vegas and fronted to the desk for an earlier flight. Told our original flight had changed forward 2 hours. We did get an earlier flight .

Wow, fancy only finding out at the airport that your flight is departing 2 hrs earlier.

 

[Rach1616]

I've been researching for months and I'm almost ready to book OWA commencing in March/April 23. I've been trialling lots of options in Qantas multicity bookings and have a question about surface sectors. I know they are allowed and must be counted in total miles. Is there a limit on the number of surface sectors? I've read that there is no "official" limit on the number of surface sectors but also that there may be a limit of two surface sectors (possibly only for online bookings?). The 2 surface sector limit seems to align with the errors I'm getting when looking at itineraries via Qantas multicity booking tool. As soon as I add more than 2 surface sectors the tools errors out so hoping someone can clarify before I look at what else I could be doing wrong. Thank you.

 

[DC3]

Thanks, I got off the phone with QF and the only flight available was the following day which creates a 6th stopover and 2 at LHR. They did give me the flight though and its now showing in my account. Do I have to worry QF system might catch up and cancel it or should I be in the clear now?

My experience with AA, some years ago on a DONE4, was that once the trip had started, rules went out the window. When operational things went wrong, the airline moved me along in order to resume the trip, even though it meant exceeding the segment limit as well as the number of flights within the US.

 

[vetrade]

I've been researching for months and I'm almost ready to book OWA commencing in March/April 23. I've been trialling lots of options in Qantas multicity bookings and have a question about surface sectors. I know they are allowed and must be counted in total miles. Is there a limit on the number of surface sectors? I've read that there is no "official" limit on the number of surface sectors but also that there may be a limit of two surface sectors (possibly only for online bookings?). The 2 surface sector limit seems to align with the errors I'm getting when looking at itineraries via Qantas multicity booking tool. As soon as I add more than 2 surface sectors the tools errors out so hoping someone can clarify before I look at what else I could be doing wrong. Thank you.

Welcome to AFF Rach1616. Although there is no stipulated maximum number of surface sectors, the practical reality is that you can't have more of them than the 5 limit number of stopovers i.e., each surface sector has to be attached to the stopover city preceding it. There is no 2 surface sector limit for either phone or online bookings. The multicity tool has a meltdown if you try and enter more than 5 flights so I usually don't search for any more than 3 flights at a time, andonly rerely will I try and search for 4. That applies whether there are surface sectors involved or not and may explain why you are getting error messages.

Suggest you post your intended itinerary with details of your intended OW flights, transits and stopovers, and at which points you intend to have surface sectors. Doing that will make it much easier for people to scrutinise your trip and make suggestions.

 

[squid01]

I've been researching for months and I'm almost ready to book OWA commencing in March/April 23. I've been trialling lots of options in Qantas multicity bookings and have a question about surface sectors. I know they are allowed and must be counted in total miles. Is there a limit on the number of surface sectors? I've read that there is no "official" limit on the number of surface sectors but also that there may be a limit of two surface sectors (possibly only for online bookings?). The 2 surface sector limit seems to align with the errors I'm getting when looking at itineraries via Qantas multicity booking tool. As soon as I add more than 2 surface sectors the tools errors out so hoping someone can clarify before I look at what else I could be doing wrong. Thank you.

As mentioned you are probably putting too many segments into your search string on the Qantas site. I can search six segments but anymore and it freaks out.

One thing to note in the OWA limitations is that a surface sector counts as a segment (so add them to the number of flights you have) You are allowed a total of 16 segments so that could be a factor.

Question as it has been a while since I booked my last one, you don’t have to include a Qantas flight do you? Just so long as you have two other partner airlines you are all good? Or must you have a QF flight (I’m remembering not)?

 

[Jacques Vert]

Question as it has been a while since I booked my last one, you don’t have to include a Qantas flight do you? Just so long as you have two other partner airlines you are all good? Or must you have a QF flight (I’m remembering not)?

Correct. No need to include QF in your OWA.

 

[squid01]

I am looking at booking for September departure, route not 100% sorted just yet. Was going to book some flights to lock them in as availability is scarce. If I want to say remove one of those flights and add another in its place (ie- change route), will they need to reissue the ticket again and hence be a potential for me to lose the other flight(s) which I didn’t want changed?
Does it cost anything to cancel or amend a OWA booking? If I cancel then how long may it take to get all the points refunded?

Also, if I book individual segments on the OWA (ie book ADL to KUL and also KUL to BKK instead of just ADL to BKK) then will my bags be checked all the way through from ADL to BKK? Doing some research people say if it is on the “same ticket” they will. Essentially is the OwA booking just on one ticket? Or do they mean I will still have to book the ADL to BKK path instead of breaking it up?

Thanks!

Can anyone shine some light on these two points please? Thanks

 

[Mr H]

Can anyone shine some light on these two points please? Thanks

Your OWA is a single ticket. You can usually through check your bags for any connection that is less than 24 hours - although exceptions can apply (e.g. when transiting the US or when switching from international to domestic). Amending your OWA to add in flights becomes invisible once the change has happened, been paid for and ticketed. So there is no visible gap between flights added in earlier and later to the itinerary. You can change itineraries and there is usually a fee for doing this (5,000 points each time IIRC and 6,000 for cancellation - the rest of the points get returned quickly)) but these are currently waived because of Covid. I believe the change fees will be reintroduced soon.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Can anyone shine some light on these two points please? Thanks

Depending on the change they will need to reissue the tickets. If you are cancelling flights or changing routes this will likely need a reissue, and there can be problems associated with that, depending on the other carriers on the ticket. If some of those other carriers require immediate ticketing (or within 24 hours) and this is not done, the whole ticket could fall over, leaving you with nothing.

It’s a risk, but manageable if you keep in top of the reissue and make sure QF gets the new ticket out within the timeframes (may require repeated calls).

As for your though check of baggage, it means one ticket, not flights or flight segments. So going via KUL is fine, you will collect your bags only in BKK.