Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[Fifi2207]

Can anyone advise how they have gone with changing a OneWorld Classic Reward. When booked we took roughly any dates we could get but now I found our “same” flights out of Syd 3 days earlier which is what we wanted.
I rang Hobart today but they advised they would have to cancel whole trip to reticket and there was a real risk I could loose all my other legs if some other agent swooped in and took them. I just cannot believe they cannot somehow ‘hold’ my current bookings during this process. I said nope can’t risk that!
I've looked online and all the legs i want are still available apart from two - which I have currently got seats on.
I read the warnings about not risking amending but.......

Definitely do not cancel the whole thing. It is very unlikely all seats would come back into inventory if you did.

Are you sure it was Hobart that told you that? I don't think it is right firstly, and surprised someone from the Hobart team would say it.

Also you may like to post this query in the big OWA thread as it has more visibility and more OWA-specific knowledge.

I believe its been moved there, thanks! Always hard to decide where to post.
I believe it was Hobart and I did query the advice and he said another operator will likely take those seats do. I am going to call back up in the morning as the seats are still there.

 

[DC3]

I rang Hobart today

So, you have a Hobart phone number? I wish that I had the Hobart number.

 

[Fifi2207]

I assume that's rhetorical! We spoke about the weather and a couple of hotels in Hobart.

 

[elanshin]

I assume that's rhetorical! We spoke about the weather and a couple of hotels in Hobart.

Given i called not for OWA but an imminent flight delay change and got a very inexperienced aussie sounding girl, there might be a bunch of new operators in Aus right now (maybe in response to surveys and promises to bring more of the call centres back home).

This does mean just because they're aussie sounding doesn't mean they're good.

 

[DC3]

This does mean just because they're aussie sounding doesn't mean they're good.

And, there are Aussies living and working in NZ and Fiji. What stops them from working in a Call Centre?

But many don’t ask to which Call Centre they are speaking, preferring to guess afterwards.

 

[AussieByrd]

Welcome to the unfortunate world of not being able to (most of the time) get consultants who really should know and be able to help with this stuff.

One shouldn't need to have status to be able to get a consultant who can :
#1 - See the reward seats you can see online (and then depending on this),
#2 - Change seats / flights for reward bookings, irrespective of whether it is part of a OWA or not.

It's ridiculous that only Hobart and Auckland "co-incidentally" have full awards visibility and availability including what's shown online. I had a well documented business OWA experience last year in which I called Qantas well over one hundred (yes, 100+) times to get some simple changes done.

ie. Initial booking - only JQ economy was available so I booked it to ensure I had a flight home. Then kept checking the Qantas website almost daily to see if there were any newly released award seats. Found a QF business one - great! So I call up and attempt to change it, only to be told any of the below BS responses:

- The award seats showing online are for new bookings only and can't be added to your existing booking (The most common response)
- There are no award seats available on the day you're requesting for (even despite me looking at the very award seat I want on my computer / phone during the call!)
- We only have revenue / commercial fares available for the flight number you're looking at
- You are not allowed to change, only cancel altogether for a refund minus a cancellation fee

Sometimes it took 15+ calls just to get a change done, and sometimes I had no luck at all so I gave up for that day.

Then a few days / weeks / months later when new seats show up, I try again and again most of the time without much luck. Incredibly frustrating.

I know it's hard to get a OWA itinerary (even a 132.4k economy one) at the best of times, but you just have to try to do what you can online yourself, without having to call up to get changes done.

I feel you... I've been working on an economy OWA for a few months now... currently on hold on call attempt number 4 for this afternoon to add more flights (this is my third set of changes). This time around I've mostly been getting the "those rewards seats are only available for new bookings" line. But I've frequently had the "you can't make changes to that booking" line. So, so frustrating.

 

[MelbFlyer]

I feel you... I've been working on an economy OWA for a few months now... currently on hold on call attempt number 4 for this afternoon to add more flights (this is my third set of changes). This time around I've mostly been getting the "those rewards seats are only available for new bookings" line. But I've frequently had the "you can't make changes to that booking" line. So, so frustrating.

Sorry to hear you've had to go through this BS as well.

If a reward seat is available online, there's literally no reason it shouldn't be able to be used for existing bookings. It defies belief.

Try calling 13 12 11 if not already - I got through to a premium consultant a handful of times.

 

[AussieByrd]

Sorry to hear you've had to go through this BS as well.

If a reward seat is available online, there's literally no reason it shouldn't be able to be used for existing bookings. It defies belief.

Try calling 13 12 11 if not already - I got through to a premium consultant a handful of times.

Thanks, appreciate that... gave it a call, but no luck. I'm getting "I can't see that availability" now, despite the fact that I'm looking right at it! Will give it one or two more tries, then try an early morning call tomorrow.

 

[djkelly69]

If a reward seat is available online, there's literally no reason it shouldn't be able to be used for existing bookings.

There are reasons on some occasions (such as married sectors, divorced sectors or other forms of inventory management which might apply to a multi-segment flight booking that might not apply to the point to point flight you are searching for), but the agent should at least be able to articulate what the issue is.

IMHO this is the real problem, that they often don't know what the actual issue is, and have (either through training or experience) worked out giving that excuse or something similar gets people off the line and out of the too-hard basket.

 

[ozflier]

I've experienced this issue in the past and noted to the operator that i can see available reward seats but she ( or he) cant !
I'm not sure what the reason is but i've been told that they can directly access the airlines booking engine and that is what counts !

 

[Gromit]

I so want to scream at the Qantas multi flight tool. finally found all my connecting flights and qualify for 318k only to then get the dreaded.

• We are unable to confirm your selected flights. Select ‘Start over’ and choose alternative flights. (15079 - 23951 - 420)

This happens after entering passenger details to finalise the booking.

Any tips to resolve or identify the offending flight. flights are with Qantas, Malaysian and Japan Airlines or am I stuck with calling. tried a few variations and same result for all, obviously can't drop an airline as I then don't qualify.

 

[cjd600]

I so want to scream at the Qantas multi flight tool. finally found all my connecting flights and qualify for 318k only to then get the dreaded.

• We are unable to confirm your selected flights. Select ‘Start over’ and choose alternative flights. (15079 - 23951 - 420)

This happens after entering passenger details to finalise the booking.

Any tips to resolve or identify the offending flight. flights are with Qantas, Malaysian and Japan Airlines or am I stuck with calling. tried a few variations and same result for all, obviously can't drop an airline as I then don't qualify.

I'd call before one of the flights disappears....

 

[Fifi2207]

Sadly, I think you’ll may find from call centre one of the partner flights just does not exist for booking on their system - despite you seeing it and being able to get all the way through to try paying.
This happened to me on a Finnair leg.

 

[Mr H]

There a lot of phantom availability on JL right now.

 

[flapper]

QF has stopped triaging repeat callers to more experienced operators. They are also pushing staff to complete calls in under 10 mins maybe that's a reason why so many operators 'can't see' the reward availabilty we can.

https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/qantas-not-triaging-repeat-callers/?fbclid=IwAR08FvfPOsi7UOSYcG58AOHn46hwibsC-G2yOEbgZpLwH2nMs7VdfKu-4ME

 

[MelbFlyer]

QF has stopped triaging repeat callers to more experienced operators. They are also pushing staff to complete calls in under 10 mins maybe that's a reason why so many operators 'can't see' the reward availabilty we can.

Shooting themselves in the foot IMO.

I'm glad I've finished and don't have a OWA booking anymore - only just regular awards bookings with a simple 1-2 legs maximum per PNR - nothing like a 5-6+ leg OWA booking).

I'm yet to make any changes but if it's anything like the BS I had last year (having to call 100+ times to request just some simple changes done with award seats that are showing online), it will be painful to change.

 

[Mr H]

Every now and then, call centre agents tell you something that reveals how their processes work. Apologies if I am telling people something they already know.

I asked why my redemption booking had not been ticketed after three days when I had been told it would be done within 24-48 hours.I had stressed the importance of ticketing quickly to avoid losing the MH and CX flights in the booking.

I was told by an agent today (helpful and Fiji-based) that bookings are put into different queues according to how far away travel was. My travel commences in December so I had been put in the ultra-slow queue. The agent told me she had moved my booking to a fast queue and she would call me in 24 hours with a progress update.

I had thought that QF were (now) committed to ticketing award bookings quickly so I was surprised to hear of the slow queues.

 

[There'sOnlyOneJimmy]

My travel commences in December so I had been put in the ultra-slow queue.

You’re lucky; mine got put in the far-Q…

 

[madrooster]

I was told by an agent today (helpful and Fiji-based) that bookings are put into different queues according to how far away travel was. My travel commences in December so I had been put in the ultra-slow queue. The agent told me she had moved my booking to a fast queue and she would call me in 24 hours with a progress update.

I had thought that QF were (now) committed to ticketing award bookings quickly so I was surprised to hear of the slow queues.

This is correct... but for itineraries involving certain carriers, of which CX and MH are on the list, they're supposed to call their seniors to issue the ticket immediately.

 

[Catweazle]

Seems real tricky to get anything from MRU back to MEL, SYD, ADL or wherever on the east coast. Meanwhile, the QFF website isn't helping me much when it comes to searching for MRU to Asia where we could pick up a separate flight home to MEL on $$ or points. 2 pax traveling mid October. Thoughts? Playing around with honeymoon ideas.

Maybe this is a sign we should just stick to a top end QLD resort...