Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[Captain Halliday]

Hi all,
Currently on my first ever OWA trip with my partner in J. Thanks again for all the help from this thread!

I booked a second J OWA as a backup just in case something went wrong. Fortunately I didn't need it and cancelled it online (through MMB) on the 24th of April.

It's been 2.5 weeks and I haven't received a refund of points or fees. What's the expected time period for a refund?

Haven't even got an email or anything (but it has vanished from MMB).

Thanks!

Points is usually 24-72 hours.

So I’d be calling about that.

The cash component was “up to eight weeks” at the height of covid and they might still give you that line.

But if you’re calling to chase up the points (which you need for another booking right? ).. then it can’t hurt to ask about the cash at the same time.

 

[algae]

Points is usually 24-72 hours.

So I’d be calling about that.

Ah, yes. Definitely worth checking in about my 636,000 points then!

Can't call as I'm overseas at the moment. Do they have an email that is useful at all?

 

[Captain Halliday]

Ah, yes. Definitely worth checking in about my 636,000 points then!

Can't call as I'm overseas at the moment. Do they have an email that is useful at all?

If you don’t actually need the points for another booking… or the cash to pay for your current one… why not just enjoy the trip and deal with it when you get home?

 

[pjm99au]

I called about some missing refunded points the other day and was told it had gone into a manual review process with 1500 requests ahead of it!

 

[algae]

I called about some missing refunded points the other day and was told it had gone into a manual review process with 1500 requests ahead of it!

Ah, no stress then.
Just wanted to make sure it wasn't some classic Qantas kerfuffle that will make my life harder the longer I leave it!

Cheers all!

 

[Kerrodt]

Hi all,
Currently on my first ever OWA trip with my partner in J. Thanks again for all the help from this thread!

I booked a second J OWA as a backup just in case something went wrong. Fortunately I didn't need it and cancelled it online (through MMB) on the 24th of April.

It's been 2.5 weeks and I haven't received a refund of points or fees. What's the expected time period for a refund?

Haven't even got an email or anything (but it has vanished from MMB).

Thanks!

You didn't cancel the backup booking after the first scheduled flight departure date of this backup booking did you?

 

[Daan]

Quick question on some advice but:
Could you skip a leg on a connecting flight?

I currently have
Sydney - HK
(In between I'd have to find my own travel from HK to SIN)
Singapore - HK - Johannesburg

Could I potentially stay in HK if my SIN-JNB was booked with the HK one in transit? What happens if I miss a flight within my itinerary?

 

[motef]

Quick question on some advice but:
Could you skip a leg on a connecting flight?

I currently have
Sydney - HK
(In between I'd have to find my own travel from HK to SIN)
Singapore - HK - Johannesburg

Could I potentially stay in HK if my SIN-JNB was booked with the HK one in transit? What happens if I miss a flight within my itinerary?

If you miss a flight (on purpose or without it not being the airlines fault) then the remainder of your itinerary is cancelled

 

[Daan]

If you miss a flight (on purpose or without it not being the airlines fault) then the remainder of your itinerary is cancelled

Aight thanks!

 

[Mr H]

Quick question on some advice but:
Could you skip a leg on a connecting flight?

I currently have
Sydney - HK
(In between I'd have to find my own travel from HK to SIN)
Singapore - HK - Johannesburg

Could I potentially stay in HK if my SIN-JNB was booked with the HK one in transit? What happens if I miss a flight within my itinerary?

You can have a land sector if that’s what you book. It counts as one of the stopovers. But you can’t miss a booked flight. If it is before travel, you may be able to cancel a booked flight (subject to married sector rules) but you’d then run the gauntlet of re-ticketing.

 

[jdmmps]

Hi AFF Community,

How I wish I found you earlier. I’m in a world of pain with trying to book OWR flight. I was attempting to do business (318k) but not enough reward seat availability so have settled for trying to book it as a economy reward (132.4k). I’ve spent and this no exaggeration, over 30hrs on 100+ phone calls. Happy to share phone logs. I’ve been hang-up on over 70% of those calls as soon as I mention I’m trying to book a OWR.

I was hoping to get some advice from this forum if my planned trip is even possible to be booked as an OWR, as I get a different response from Qantas depending on who I speak to.

I live in Syd, so I’ll be booking a separate positioning flight to get me to Manila. My OWR booking looks like this:

• MNL- HND
• NRT – SFO
• LAX – BNE (Break in oz for 3mths. Then resume travel to Europe from BNE)
• BNE – HKG
• HKG – LHR (stopover in HKG less than 24hrs)
• LHR – SIN (stopover in SIN less than 24hrs)
• SIN – SYD (Final port city)
• SYD – MNL (I have included the mileage between these 2 ports to ensure it falls within the 35k miles)

Total mileage for this booking including ground sectors between (HND -NRT, SFO – LAX, SYD - MNL) is 34,212

The supervisors that have tried to assist are in a world of pain and in the end most of them give up and just don’t bother to call me back. The most recent supervisor trying to assist me (based in Cape Town) said she sought advice from the RTW team today, who confirmed its valid itinerary for OWR, but supervisor is still not able to provide the correct points quote and taxes (in PHP). I have managed to find reward seats for all the sectors. I’m now at the point where I don’t trust anything anyone is telling me and feel like the people in this forum would be more knowledgeable than most working at QANTAS. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Can anyone see an issue as to why it wouldn’t be quoting as a OWR? Any suggestions as to how I could make it work?

 

[yaksha98]

Hi AFF Community,

How I wish I found you earlier. I’m in a world of pain with trying to book OWR flight. I was attempting to do business (318k) but not enough reward seat availability so have settled for trying to book it as a economy reward (132.4k). I’ve spent and this no exaggeration, over 30hrs on 100+ phone calls. Happy to share phone logs. I’ve been hang-up on over 70% of those calls as soon as I mention I’m trying to book a OWR.

I was hoping to get some advice from this forum if my planned trip is even possible to be booked as an OWR, as I get a different response from Qantas depending on who I speak to.

I live in Syd, so I’ll be booking a separate positioning flight to get me to Manila. My OWR booking looks like this:

• MNL- HND
• NRT – SFO
• LAX – BNE (Break in oz for 3mths. Then resume travel to Europe from BNE)
• BNE – HKG
• HKG – LHR (stopover in HKG less than 24hrs)
• LHR – SIN (stopover in SIN less than 24hrs)
• SIN – SYD (Final port city)
• SYD – MNL (I have included the mileage between these 2 ports to ensure it falls within the 35k miles)

Total mileage for this booking including ground sectors between (HND -NRT, SFO – LAX, SYD - MNL) is 34,212

The supervisors that have tried to assist are in a world of pain and in the end most of them give up and just don’t bother to call me back. The most recent supervisor trying to assist me (based in Cape Town) said she sought advice from the RTW team today, who confirmed its valid itinerary for OWR, but supervisor is still not able to provide the correct points quote and taxes (in PHP). I have managed to find reward seats for all the sectors. I’m now at the point where I don’t trust anything anyone is telling me and feel like the people in this forum would be more knowledgeable than most working at QANTAS. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Can anyone see an issue as to why it wouldn’t be quoting as a OWR? Any suggestions as to how I could make it work?

Which airlines are you flying?

and any reason why you can’t book this online if you have all the segments planned with availability ?

When calling the contact centre best not to tell them it’s a OWA just say you want to make changes to your booking and add the segment flight by flight with dates and flight numbers. It should price in their system

 

[jdmmps]

Which airlines are you flying?

and any reason why you can’t book this online if you have all the segments planned with availability ?

When calling the contact centre best not to tell them it’s a OWA just say you want to make changes to your booking and add the segment flight by flight with dates and flight numbers. It should price in their system

Its more than 6 sectors. Website crashes.

JL, JL, QA, CP, BA, QA

 

[yaksha98]

Its more than 6 sectors. Website crashes.

JL, JL, QA, CP, BA, QA

Possibly book the sectors you can online and then call to add the remaining ones ?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Possibly book the sectors you can online and then call to add the remaining ones ?

This. Book the first 5 sectors on line if 6 causes it to crash. Call and say you’d like to add flights to an existing booking. Read out the dates and flight numbers.

The itinerary may not price correctly on line, but will price correctly once the OWA conditions are met.

 

[algae]

You didn't cancel the backup booking after the first scheduled flight departure date of this backup booking did you?

It was cancelled a month before the first flight.

I finally got a confirmation email from Qantas that "Your refund has been processed".

Still haven't received the points or $$. But that's some movement at least.

 

[Hutto]

I just cannot get an answer from Qantas customer service operators about booking a "one world RTW classic reward flights", specifically Business class. So hoping you can direct me to an answer.
If numerous rules are meet, eg travel less than 3500 miles, only book on one-world partner airlines etc etc then up to 16 segments with 5 stopovers business class travel can be booked and the 'cost' is capped at a total of 318000 frequent flyer points.
As the travel can be booked over a 12 month period I am currently looking a booking the 1st leg of my travel. However the total cost of these flights will only total approximately 280000 frequent flyer points.
My question is if I book these '1st leg' flights now (that do not total more than 31800 points), then add further flights to the itinerary in several months, will the system recognise the booking as qualifying as a "one world RTW classic reward flights", and cap the total points at 318000?

 

[yaksha98]

I just cannot get an answer from Qantas customer service operators about booking a "one world RTW classic reward flights", specifically Business class. So hoping you can direct me to an answer.
If numerous rules are meet, eg travel less than 3500 miles, only book on one-world partner airlines etc etc then up to 16 segments with 5 stopovers business class travel can be booked and the 'cost' is capped at a total of 318000 frequent flyer points.
As the travel can be booked over a 12 month period I am currently looking a booking the 1st leg of my travel. However the total cost of these flights will only total approximately 280000 frequent flyer points.
My question is if I book these '1st leg' flights now (that do not total more than 31800 points), then add further flights to the itinerary in several months, will the system recognise the booking as qualifying as a "one world RTW classic reward flights", and cap the total points at 318000?

Yes provided you meet all the conditions for the OWA fare and the changes are made before you take the first flight

 

[motef]

I just cannot get an answer from Qantas customer service operators about booking a "one world RTW classic reward flights", specifically Business class. So hoping you can direct me to an answer.
If numerous rules are meet, eg travel less than 3500 miles, only book on one-world partner airlines etc etc then up to 16 segments with 5 stopovers business class travel can be booked and the 'cost' is capped at a total of 318000 frequent flyer points.
As the travel can be booked over a 12 month period I am currently looking a booking the 1st leg of my travel. However the total cost of these flights will only total approximately 280000 frequent flyer points.
My question is if I book these '1st leg' flights now (that do not total more than 31800 points), then add further flights to the itinerary in several months, will the system recognise the booking as qualifying as a "one world RTW classic reward flights", and cap the total points at 318000?

Do no ask call centre to book a RTW

Book the first flights you can in one go online and then as the remainder flights become available call the call centre and ask that you would like to add a flight to your exisiting booking. Again do not mention RTW or OWA, it doesnt matter. If your flights meet the criteria it will cap out at 318k points

 

[Warragul]

Do no ask call centre to book a RTW

Book the first flights you can in one go online and then as the remainder flights become available call the call centre and ask that you would like to add a flight to your exisiting booking. Again do not mention RTW or OWA, it doesnt matter. If your flights meet the criteria it will cap out at 318k points

Provided the agent does not say they cannot add a flight to the itinerary, you need to create a new one and we'll link them.

Had that a few times in the last couple of weeks, when I replied that most of the flights on that specific booking were manually added, they've gone and sought advice and come back and said yes we can. On one hand thats good to get past that, but then the dreaded ticketing issue looms if they manage to get the addtion done correctly - which to their knowledge could not be done up til a few minutes earlier.