Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[ozflier]

Hi, you confirm what a lot of us realise - award flights are few and far between at the moment and in the short to medium term future.
I would be concerned with your SYD-MEL connection - in the current flying environment , it is too tight at least from the hold baggage getting there point of view.
I would look at paying for an earlier flight to give you some more wriggle room if delays occur.
I would not be too confident Qantas would or could find alternative flights to get you thru to Dublin in a timely fashion if you didn't make Melbourne on time.

 

[vetrade]

cathalm8, like ozflier I'd be concerned at your present arrangements.
QF has disruptions / cancellations occurring ATM because flight crew are regularly unavailable at short notice because of Covid and isolating rules.
Then there's you luggage in MEL...........a 1hr 30min transit time in MEL isn't enough. Melbourne is one of the airports struggling with a lack of baggage handlers so your luggage is at risk of not making the Doha flight even if you do - and keep in mind that you're flying during a very busy school holiday period.

In these Covid times 90 minute connection times are risky anywhere so I'd look for any alternative to get yourself on an earlier award flight to MEL, even if that meant flying the day before and overnighting there. I wouldn't just pay for an earlier flight because if you're a no-show on your award flight you risk the rest of your itinerary being cancelled.

 

[cathalm8]

cathalm8, like ozflier I'd be concerned at your present arrangements.
QF has disruptions / cancellations occurring ATM because flight crew are regularly unavailable at short notice because of Covid and isolating rules.
Then there's you luggage in MEL...........a 1hr 30min transit time in MEL isn't enough. Melbourne is one of the airports struggling with a lack of baggage handlers so your luggage is at risk of not making the Doha flight even if you do - and keep in mind that you're flying during a very busy school holiday period.

In these Covid times 90 minute connection times are risky anywhere so I'd look for any alternative to get yourself on an earlier award flight to MEL, even if that meant flying the day before and overnighting there. I wouldn't just pay for an earlier flight because if you're a no-show on your award flight you risk the rest of your itinerary being cancelled.

Thanks for your responses. If I find an earlier reward flight are you suggesting that I replace the existing reward flight to Melbourne with it? There is an earlier rewards flightgoing at 6am that morning so I would have a full day in Melbourne. Is it possible to replace the existing rewards flight with that flight? And if I did would I need to collect my bags and re-check-in for the international Qatar flight?

 

[vetrade]

Thanks for your responses. If I find an earlier reward flight are you suggesting that I replace the existing reward flight to Melbourne with it? There is an earlier rewards flightgoing at 6am that morning so I would have a full day in Melbourne. Is it possible to replace the existing rewards flight with that flight? And if I did would I need to collect my bags and re-check-in for the international Qatar flight?

In your circumstances I'd definitely take the 6am flight. We fly OS from SYD soon and have chosen to fly from MEL the day before to avoid the same type of delay or cancellation risks you are facing. Half a day sitting around MEL airport isn't ideal but it will give you peace of mind.
Normally I'd expect your bags to be interlined but I'm not sure whether you'd have to collect them in MEL and re-check them nowadays. I would suggest that you ask someone at the SYD check-in counter, but you'd probably struggle to find anyone these days. Hopefully someone on this thread who knows for sure can chime in with the answer.

 

[flapper]

Thanks for your responses. If I find an earlier reward flight are you suggesting that I replace the existing reward flight to Melbourne with it? There is an earlier rewards flightgoing at 6am that morning so I would have a full day in Melbourne. Is it possible to replace the existing rewards flight with that flight? And if I did would I need to collect my bags and re-check-in for the international Qatar flight?

If it's less than 24 hours it is considered as transit so bags can be checked through to final destination. I have had overnight transits and bags were always checked to final destination.

 

[kctt]

7th call to Cape Town: No wait time. Agent asked me to provide details of itinerary for verification purpose
Ticket is not issued 48 hours after 6th call
I told him previous agent put my booking in queue to be ticketed in 24-48 hours but it did not happen.
I asked him to get in touch with support or ticket team to get the ticket issued. He replied saying travel is not imminent so he's not allowed to phone ticket team. He will save some change and put booking in ticket queue and it should be processed in 48 hours.
At the end of the call, a QANTAS ITINERARY email sent from [email protected] to my email with details of flight in text format.
I'm wondering if ticket process is automatic or someone in ticket team has to review and issue ticket?

8th call to Fiji on Monday 27/6: about 30 minutes waiting in queue. Agent got my booking details from input QFF number and did not ask anything for verification.
I asked what's the status of my booking when previous agent said it will be ticketed in 24-48 hours.
Agent checked with Support and said it's in queue to be processed. Travel is not imminent so booking is still in queue. Ticket should be completed this week. She will check everyday and will give me a call back before the end of this week or when ticket is issued.

 

[cathalm8]

In your circumstances I'd definitely take the 6am flight. We fly OS from SYD soon and have chosen to fly from MEL the day before to avoid the same type of delay or cancellation risks you are facing. Half a day sitting around MEL airport isn't ideal but it will give you peace of mind.
Normally I'd expect your bags to be interlined but I'm not sure whether you'd have to collect them in MEL and re-check them nowadays. I would suggest that you ask someone at the SYD check-in counter, but you'd probably struggle to find anyone these days. Hopefully someone on this thread who knows for sure can chime in with the answer.

If I did go down on the 6am flight would there be anything stopping me leaving the airport, and going into Melbourne and then coming back later for the flight?

 

[jeza]

Thanks for your responses. If I find an earlier reward flight are you suggesting that I replace the existing reward flight to Melbourne with it? There is an earlier rewards flightgoing at 6am that morning so I would have a full day in Melbourne. Is it possible to replace the existing rewards flight with that flight? And if I did would I need to collect my bags and re-check-in for the international Qatar flight?

@cathalm8 sorry to read that your J flights were cancelled.

When you booked the flights was it booked as 1 single flight SYD-MEL-DOH-DUB or 2 separate flights? ie Flight 1 SYD-MEL Flight 2 MEL-DOH-DUB

If it was booked as a single flight then Married Segments may be an issue.

What are Married Segments?

Image: Adobe Stock. If you've ever booked a flight, chances are you've come across the issue of "married segments". But what are they, and how do they

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[vetrade]

If I did go down on the 6am flight would there be anything stopping me leaving the airport, and going into Melbourne and then coming back later for the flight?

Can do that if you wanted.

 

[cathalm8]

@cathalm8 sorry to read that your J flights were cancelled.

When you booked the flights was it booked as 1 single flight SYD-MEL-DOH-DUB or 2 separate flights? ie Flight 1 SYD-MEL Flight 2 MEL-DOH-DUB

If it was booked as a single flight then Married Segments may be an issue.

What are Married Segments?

Image: Adobe Stock. If you've ever booked a flight, chances are you've come across the issue of "married segments". But what are they, and how do they

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Hi I booked it online as one single flight booking. Does that mean I could have problems replacing the first flight between Sydney and Melbourne?

 

[vetrade]

...........If it was booked as a single flight then Married Segments may be an issue.

What are Married Segments?

Image: Adobe Stock. If you've ever booked a flight, chances are you've come across the issue of "married segments". But what are they, and how do they

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

If married segments come into play at all they would relate to the MEL - DOH and DOH - DUB flights. The SYD - MEL flight won't be "married" to the another flight even if they were booked together.

Married segments are about two flights with the same airline. You wouldn't have a QF flight "married" to a QR one.

 

[cathalm8]

cathalm8, like ozflier I'd be concerned at your present arrangements.
QF has disruptions / cancellations occurring ATM because flight crew are regularly unavailable at short notice because of Covid and isolating rules.
Then there's you luggage in MEL...........a 1hr 30min transit time in MEL isn't enough. Melbourne is one of the airports struggling with a lack of baggage handlers so your luggage is at risk of not making the Doha flight even if you do - and keep in mind that you're flying during a very busy school holiday period.

In these Covid times 90 minute connection times are risky anywhere so I'd look for any alternative to get yourself on an earlier award flight to MEL, even if that meant flying the day before and overnighting there. I wouldn't just pay for an earlier flight because if you're a no-show on your award flight you risk the rest of your itinerary being cancelled.

Just going back to this original comment. Lets say for example I do make the 90 min connection in Melbourne but my bags don't. Will the luggage not just get sent on one of the next flights and delivered to me at my final destination?

 

[vetrade]

Just going back to this original comment. Lets say for example I do make the 90 min connection in Melbourne but my bags don't. Will the luggage not just get sent on one of the next flights and delivered to me at my final destination?

Good luck with that. There was another thread recently about a guy flying from Tassie to London whose bag went missing in SYD. It eventually made it to LHR a few days after he had already left London.

 

[cathalm8]

Good luck with that. There was another thread recently about a guy flying from Tassie to London whose bag went missing in SYD. It eventually made it to LHR a few days after he had already left London.

Yeah doesn't sound great hey

 

[jeza]

Hi I booked it online as one single flight booking. Does that mean I could have problems replacing the first flight between Sydney and Melbourne?

@vetrade I believe knows the ins & outs of these better than me so their advice is much more likely on the money

I did find an older thread which discusses this a bit.

Award Booking - Married Segments?

Hi all, I'm looking at booking flights from AU to Europe next year. I've searched for AUS to Europe and can't find any results on the days I'm looking at when I do a simple one-way award search. However I've done a multi-city search and can see availability from AUS to HKG on Cathay Pacific...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[cathalm8]

Good luck with that. There was another thread recently about a guy flying from Tassie to London whose bag went missing in SYD. It eventually made it to LHR a few days after he had already left London.

The other concern as well is even if I I do take the 6am flight I still run the risk of luggage being misplaced in Melbourne airport, as it will be sitting there for 14 hours before next flight takes off.

 

[vetrade]

The other concern as well is even if I I do take the 6am flight I still run the risk of luggage being misplaced in Melbourne airport, as it will be sitting there for 14 hours before next flight takes off.

True, but what alternative do you have which would involve less risk?

 

[cathalm8]

True, but what alternative do you have which would involve less risk?

Very little if any

 

[aikman]

Very little if any

If your main concern is your flight being cancelled then just arrive at SYD early. With departures every 30 mins I'm sure they can put you on an earlier flight if your flight does get cancelled.

 

[ellen10]

Yes @cathalm8 I would be cautious in trying to change my flight and get it reticketed, especially with QR flights involved. If the ticketing takes too long you may lose your QR flights. Aikman's suggestion may be a good option.