Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[MEL_Traveller]

Hello, I have a question on RTW with qantas points. I planned a trim following the article by pointhacks that was posted this year. However, after posting the plan onto rtw.oneworld website, it says that it is invalid 'Your trip must include a trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific crossing and you may cross each ocean only once. Please select a different destination.'.

As I could not find this anywhere in the article, is it safe to assume that the article is missing this rule? My plan was:
SYD - KL - Hong Kong - Japan - Helsinki - Zurich - London - Taipei - Singapore - KL - SYD

Different products!

A ‘round the world’ fare - paid with $$ - comes with routing conditions.

A qantas oneworld award on points does not have the same conditions.

You can’t plug a qantas award itinerary into the paid $$ website.

 

[BriarFlyer]

@Magicturtle8 Have another look at the Point Hacks article -- or the AFF version which includes a section on how to book. Not on the Oneworld website, but by using the Qantas multi-city tool.

 

[smellan]

Hi Everyone,

I have been following this post for last 12 months and learnt so so much so thank you. its almost time for me to start booking our Qantas one world trip. Couple of questions...

1. Has anyone seen flights that are available on this option from Vancouver to Anchorage- everything I read suggests there should be with alaskan airlines and searching on google flights they are regular but on the Qantas website I always have no joy even searching.

2a. When I come to book our OWA I will start the booking prior to the points cap changing but the second part of the booking I will be booking when the points price cap goes up (there is 3 of us travelling so around 100,000 difference before the penalties for changing the booking- know unlikely but learnt lots from you all and done some dummy options and managed to get 3 seats previously on my dummy runs!).
Would I be better doing the first half of the booking where we want to go and then just other random legs that meet the criteria before the points cap change so we techically have a full booking and then when the legs come up that we want later in the month cancel these 'dummy' legs and add the other legs we want?
b. When cancelling and adding legs is it 5k points per flight per person per change or 5k per person and you make as many changes as you need as long as its all at the same time in the same phone call?

Thanks so much in advance
Sarah

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I did a quick search for random dates YVR-ANC and it’s coming up every single day. Some days in economy only, some days with business class as well. The flights are routing via SEA.

 

[ozflier]

Re your first question.
To get from Vancouver to Anchorage on Alaskan Airlines , you need to fly via Seattle.
Alaskan rewards were available - I flew LAX-SEA-ANC late last year and had minimal issues getting biz rewards as long as you are a little flexible.
Re change fees - its 5000 points per person no matter how many flight changes are involved.

 

[Dib80]

Please can someone help!

I attempting to achieve a oneworld Classic Rewards RTW ticket, split into two “holidays”.

I have booked the first holiday & we are due to depart outside AUSTRALIA (repositioning flight to HNL) 2 JUNE 2025. I’m now wanting to add an Asia leg in March 2026 returning to AU to complete the ticket.

Qantas has advised me that all travel must be completed within 12 months or the original TICKET DATE, which was 23 August 2024.

Hence we can’t add the new flights as they are beyond the permitted ticket validity period which would end 22 August 2025.

My understanding however, is that the entire itinerary must be booked BEFORE DEPARTURE i.e., 2 JUNE 2025, and all travel must be completed within 12 months, i.e., by 1 JUNE 2026.

13.3.4 of the T&Cs seems very clear seems very clear: Flight Reward tickets will be valid for one year from the original ticketed DEPARTURE DATE and all travel must be completed within 12 months of first DEPARTURE, unless otherwise specified

HELP! Do I pursue this with Qantas or give up

 

[PlaneCrazy]

The call centre agent I spoke to yesterday advised that FJ won't be available for points capping until the end of June.

That's odd as in April I assisted a client with a booking that included FJ and it was capped at 318k points in J.

 

[elanshin]

Please can someone help!

I attempting to achieve a oneworld Classic Rewards RTW ticket, split into two “holidays”.

I have booked the first holiday & we are due to depart outside AUSTRALIA (repositioning flight to HNL) 2 JUNE 2025. I’m now wanting to add an Asia leg in March 2026 returning to AU to complete the ticket.

Qantas has advised me that all travel must be completed within 12 months or the original TICKET DATE, which was 23 August 2024.

Hence we can’t add the new flights as they are beyond the permitted ticket validity period which would end 22 August 2025.

My understanding however, is that the entire itinerary must be booked BEFORE DEPARTURE i.e., 2 JUNE 2025, and all travel must be completed within 12 months, i.e., by 1 JUNE 2026.

13.3.4 of the T&Cs seems very clear seems very clear: Flight Reward tickets will be valid for one year from the original ticketed DEPARTURE DATE and all travel must be completed within 12 months of first DEPARTURE, unless otherwise specified

HELP! Do I pursue this with Qantas or give up

Whoever you spoke to is misinformed. You have 12months from the start of the journey to complete it. You have understood it correctly to mean June 1 2026.

The only thing to note is that its impossible to book exactly 12m out so your practical end date would be around end of April 2026 or start of May 2026.

I booked my Dec 30 2024 flight around October then around mid December 2024 added a whole host of flights the last of which is Nov 27 2025 to turn it into a OWA.

 

[TwistedEL]

That's odd as in April I assisted a client with a booking that included FJ ant it was capped at 318k points in J.

That's disappointing, I was on the phone for hours to him (Hobart) before I got that response. In the end I had them unlock direct flights back from west coast USA just to complete the trip before I lose my WP next month. He assured me I could change it after June if I could still find flights. The other option he gave me was to find another 200,000 points to book the FJ seats uncapped (J) and call back after June to get them refunded. I wasn't super optimistic about that actually happening.

 

[elanshin]

The FJ question can easily be solved. I'm just out right now but if you just do a dummy booking in Y including a FJ segment, it should easily show whether the system accepts FJ or not for OWA.

 

[TwistedEL]

The FJ question can easily be solved. I'm just out right now but if you just do a dummy booking in Y including a FJ segment, it should easily show whether the system accepts FJ or not for OWA.

It definitely doesn't online

 

[flapper]

Please can someone help!

I attempting to achieve a oneworld Classic Rewards RTW ticket, split into two “holidays”.

I have booked the first holiday & we are due to depart outside AUSTRALIA (repositioning flight to HNL) 2 JUNE 2025. I’m now wanting to add an Asia leg in March 2026 returning to AU to complete the ticket.

Qantas has advised me that all travel must be completed within 12 months or the original TICKET DATE, which was 23 August 2024.

Hence we can’t add the new flights as they are beyond the permitted ticket validity period which would end 22 August 2025.

My understanding however, is that the entire itinerary must be booked BEFORE DEPARTURE i.e., 2 JUNE 2025, and all travel must be completed within 12 months, i.e., by 1 JUNE 2026.

13.3.4 of the T&Cs seems very clear seems very clear: Flight Reward tickets will be valid for one year from the original ticketed DEPARTURE DATE and all travel must be completed within 12 months of first DEPARTURE, unless otherwise specified

HELP! Do I pursue this with Qantas or give up

This is not uncommon incorrect info given by the OS call centres. When dealing with them and you get a response that doesn't seem right always HUACA.

 

[Dib80]

Whoever you spoke to is misinformed. You have 12months from the start of the journey to complete it. You have understood it correctly to mean June 1 2026.

The only thing to note is that its impossible to book exactly 12m out so your practical end date would be around end of April 2026 or start of May 2026.

I booked my Dec 30 2024 flight around October then around mid December 2024 added a whole host of flights the last of which is Nov 27 2025 to turn it into a OWA.

Yes and that’s probably ok because all travel will be completed within 12 months days the ticketed date.

I’ve been communicating with qantas via the business chat and normally they’re pretty helpful but I keep getting conflicting information. This morning I’ve received this:

As advised previously, before travel commences, the ticket is valid for 12 months from first ticket issuance date (23 August 2024) and once travel commences, the ticket validity will change to 12 months from the first date of departure (02 June 2025).

It's correct that your ticket was reissued on 30 April 2025, however if this was a commercial ticket and not a oneworld Classic Flight reward booking, the ticket validity could have been extended by upgrading the fare type originally booked to a higher fare type and reissuing the ticket.

However, this doesn't apply to Classic Flight reward bookings.

You can add all the sectors to show travel to be complete by 22 August 2025 and once you've flown the first flight, you can change the dates and times of the flights to complete travel before 02 June 2026. Please note that the tickets will then have to be reissued before 22 August 2025, once the changes are made. A change fee of 5000 points will apply each time, changes are made to the booking. If you would like to go ahead with this, advise us of the new dates, so that we can quote you the number of points required.

 

[elanshin]

Yes and that’s probably ok because all travel will be completed within 12 months days the ticketed date.

I’ve been communicating with qantas via the business chat and normally they’re pretty helpful but I keep getting conflicting information. This morning I’ve received this:

As advised previously, before travel commences, the ticket is valid for 12 months from first ticket issuance date (23 August 2024) and once travel commences, the ticket validity will change to 12 months from the first date of departure (02 June 2025).

It's correct that your ticket was reissued on 30 April 2025, however if this was a commercial ticket and not a oneworld Classic Flight reward booking, the ticket validity could have been extended by upgrading the fare type originally booked to a higher fare type and reissuing the ticket.

However, this doesn't apply to Classic Flight reward bookings.

You can add all the sectors to show travel to be complete by 22 August 2025 and once you've flown the first flight, you can change the dates and times of the flights to complete travel before 02 June 2026. Please note that the tickets will then have to be reissued before 22 August 2025, once the changes are made. A change fee of 5000 points will apply each time, changes are made to the booking. If you would like to go ahead with this, advise us of the new dates, so that we can quote you the number of points required.

As i mentioned, OWA is probably the worst understood product by QF staff mainly because of how complex it can get and even senior Hobart staff can get it wrong.

In this case though its pretty clear that your understanding is fine. There's lots of examples of it in this thread including my own. As mentioned my current OWA was definitely going to have it's last leg past the date i booked the first flight. Just double checked it booked very late Oct 2024. First flight 30Dec 2024. Modified on 27 Dec 2024 with additional 10 flights last of which will be 27 Nov 2025.

 

[Dib80]

As i mentioned, OWA is probably the worst understood product by QF staff mainly because of how complex it can get and even senior Hobart staff can get it wrong.

In this case though its pretty clear that your understanding is fine. There's lots of examples of it in this thread including my own. As mentioned my current OWA was definitely going to have it's last leg past the date i booked the first flight. Just double checked it booked very late Oct 2024. First flight 30Dec 2024. Modified on 27 Dec 2024 with additional 10 flights last of which will be 27 Nov 2025.

Thank you. How on earth do I find an agent that understands how it works?? The Business Chat are adamant I have to book flights for travel before August 22 (12 months from original ticketing), then I can change the dates (paying another 5,000 points p.p change fee!) once I've taken the first flight on the ticket. How ridiculous. I was talking to a call centre agent yesterday, added all the flights, then she tells me "it's not permitted" and her advice from the support team is that 'once a classic rewards flight is booked, it can't then be turned into a classic rewards RTW ticket'. GAAAARRGHHHHH!!! I'm apparently getting a call back from a supervisor within 24 hours, if you believe that. I'm based in Hobart. If only I could speak to a local agent.

Post automatically merged: May 5, 2025

This is not uncommon incorrect info given by the OS call centres. When dealing with them and you get a response that doesn't seem right always HUACA.

Thank you. May I ask what is HUACA?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thank you. How on earth do I find an agent that understands how it works?? The Business Chat are adamant I have to book flights for travel before August 22 (12 months from original ticketing), then I can change the dates (paying another 5,000 points p.p change fee!) once I've taken the first flight on the ticket. How ridiculous. I was talking to a call centre agent yesterday, added all the flights, then she tells me "it's not permitted" and her advice from the support team is that 'once a classic rewards flight is booked, it can't then be turned into a classic rewards RTW ticket'. GAAAARRGHHHHH!!! I'm apparently getting a call back from a supervisor within 24 hours, if you believe that. I'm based in Hobart. If only I could speak to a local agent.

Post automatically merged: May 5, 2025

Thank you. May I ask what is HUACA?

Hang Up And Call Again.

 

[Dib80]

Hang Up And Call Again.

Time of day doesn't make a difference?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Time of day doesn't make a difference?

Not really, just a case of finding the right agent that knows what to do.

 

[Dib80]

Not really, just a case of finding the right agent that knows what to do.

Thanks MEL_Traveller. I'll keep trying.

 

[bobcat]

Hello all, I'm starting the long trek to what will hopefully be my second RTW booking. This thread was an incredible source of help in 2018-19, thanks again to everyone.

Apologies for a rookie question ... but wanted to clarify rules re surface sectors (and whether they're still counted as a stopover).

For example, if we fly into CDG, spend a week in France then catch the train to London and fly out of LHR a few weeks later ... would this count as (a) 1 surface sector or (b) 1 stopover + 1 surface sector?

Also, I have no status and have noticed the availability for business to Singapore & Tokyo from anywhere in Australia on any date is now pretty grim (certainly relative to what it was 6 years ago).

Does anybody have any recent experience managing to add one of these legs to an itinerary? TIA