Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[sergeyvzn]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Happy to stand corrected. So in the case of the OP, they could book the first sectors, then it would still count as a oneworld award, even though they aren't returning quite to the point of origin? Then book the rest later?

Actually now I think about it, I don't see any reason they couldn't do this. I think I was getting confused with oneworld explorer fares. Don't mind me.

Correct. In fact they can book just the very first sector as a classic award (not even a OW one) and then go on adding sectors each time paying 3.5k points change fee. I can remember someone here posting here about her intention to do exactly that

 

[nickfromeastryde]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Happy to stand corrected. So in the case of the OP, they could book the first sectors, then it would still count as a oneworld award, even though they aren't returning quite to the point of origin? Then book the rest later?

Actually now I think about it, I don't see any reason they couldn't do this. I think I was getting confused with oneworld explorer fares. Don't mind me.

I just added flights on when I did mine. Did SYD-JBG-CPT-JBG-DOH-CDG in one lot then booked VCE-LHR-IAD as a second and then waited very anxiously for my DFW-SYD flight to become available. Ended up costing me 280K plus 2 x 3.5K change fees for both Mrs Nick and myself but at a cost of 574K in points reckon I scored a bargain

The risk of missing the earlier flights by waiting is just too great.

 

[austravel]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Correct. In fact they can book just the very first sector as a classic award (not even a OW one) and then go on adding sectors each time paying 3.5k points change fee. I can remember someone here posting here about her intention to do exactly that

Can you add sectors online or would you have to ring up Qantas and ask them to do it therefore incurring the 8,000 point service fee in addition to the 3,500 change fee? When I asked the Qantas agent before he said that I would need to call up if I wanted to add sectors to a ticket.

 

[sergeyvzn]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Can you add sectors online or would you have to ring up Qantas and ask them to do it therefore incurring the 8,000 point service fee in addition to the 3,500 change fee? When I asked the Qantas agent before he said that I would need to call up if I wanted to add sectors to a ticket.

You will need to ring but you will only be charged 3.500 points. No 8.000 point fee applies as you can't do it online

 

[deejo77]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

hate to tell you but the 3500 and 8000 is charged on an economy 140K ticket if you want to change any of it.......the only reason I got this waived after the fact was Redroo and because Malaysian were giving full refunds on tickets after the second loss of plane occurred

 

[sergeyvzn]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

hate to tell you but the 3500 and 8000 is charged on an economy 140K ticket if you want to change any of it.......the only reason I got this waived after the fact was Redroo and because Malaysian were giving full refunds on tickets after the second loss of plane occurred

If something cannot be done online due to no fault of yours, Qantas waives the fee in 99% cases even if it's an economy 140 award

 

[ablecookie]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Doing some trial booking for coming 280k ticketing. I need a JL leg and couldn't find any under Qantas system, but logging into JAL membership logon, there's plenty.

Doesit mean the qantas system not showing everything or these award seats are only available to it's own members?

 

[vetrade]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Doing some trial booking for coming 280k ticketing. I need a JL leg and couldn't find any under Qantas system, but logging into JAL membership logon, there's plenty.

Doesit mean the qantas system not showing everything or these award seats are only available to it's own members?

QF never lists JL flights even though they will be available. You will have to book with QF via the phone and it'll help if you can tell the operator you know awards are definitely available on a specific flight & date.

 

[sergeyvzn]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Doing some trial booking for coming 280k ticketing. I need a JL leg and couldn't find any under Qantas system, but logging into JAL membership logon, there's plenty.

Doesit mean the qantas system not showing everything or these award seats are only available to it's own members?

Check if these JL seats show as available on BA, if yes - they will be available to Qantas

 

[Sumnerned]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

We are just getting started on planning our first of these OW awards, for early 2016. The information on this thread has been invaluable, thanks to all. Current thinking is to start in Spain and have stops in San Francisco, Dallas, Auckland (for several weeks), Japan, and Helsinki. We realise that a long stopover will mean we require changes by phone. We should have enough points to choose either Y or J, though incline towards Y. Any advice would be most welcome. Thanks

 

[mrdctau]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

I had a few nice little wins with my upcoming 280K award redemption which I'd originally booked as MEL-DOH-CMN(stop)-MAD(stop)-DFW(stop)-NRT-DEL(stop)-BKK-HKG-MNL(stop)-HKG-MEL.

First of all, when I originally booked it, I could only get J seats for DEL-HKG on the flight with the stop-over in BKK which was going to be quite a pain at some ungodly hour of the morning, but CX have ceased routing that flight via BKK so we were switched to a direct flight to HKG which also gives us an easier connection through to MNL.

Then the MAD-DFW flight on AA was cancelled and we were re-booked to travel via JFK, but at least they gave me F for the AA domestic flight, but I rang-up the QF call centre initially angling for a stop-over in NYC and then as we we fiddled around around with availability I decided to abandon DFW and just spend a few days in NYC and almost as an after-though I enquired about IB rather than AA for MAD-JFK as the timing was a little bit better for me and when they made that changed the taxes dropped by $450 each and the IB J product actually looks quite a bit nicer than AA with a 1-2-1 layout rather than 2-2-2.

The good news keeps coming as we could only get J seats on the earlier departing JL3 from JFK on the 787 with the angled neo shell seats which haven't had great reports; but I found out yesterday that NRT-JFK is one of only two routes that JAL will be flying early next year with their new 787s which will have Sky Suites by the time our trip comes along so we will have what many regard as the best J product in the skies for the longest sector of our holiday!

 

[mrdctau]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

We are just getting started on planning our first of these OW awards, for early 2016. The information on this thread has been invaluable, thanks to all. Current thinking is to start in Spain and have stops in San Francisco, Dallas, Auckland (for several weeks), Japan, and Helsinki. We realise that a long stopover will mean we require changes by phone. We should have enough points to choose either Y or J, though incline towards Y. Any advice would be most welcome. Thanks

If you have enough points for J, I'd definitely recommend it. Come up with some sort of valuation of your points based on how you acquired them and how you could potentially use them for things that you would ordinarily pay for and then work out the imputed cost of your proposed trip in Y & J and then ask yourself if $J - $Y is worth the luxury you will experience (and/or the pain and suffering you will avoid) for what will about 50-60 hours on planes and in airports. Try to get on the airlines with lower taxes, particular for your long-haul from Spain to USA for which IB will almost certainly be way cheaper. I could be wrong, but in my experience it's futile to try to book a big round-world trip online and the 6000 points to do it via a call centre is well worth it. You'll also find that if you book it close to a year out there will be schedule changes from the airlines anyway and when that happens you can ring up and tweak your itinerary for no charge most of the time.

 

[grussellt]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Doing some trial booking for coming 280k ticketing. I need a JL leg and couldn't find any under Qantas system, but logging into JAL membership logon, there's plenty.

Doesit mean the qantas system not showing everything or these award seats are only available to it's own members?

Sign up to Awardnexus and you can do quite a lot of searches for free - including JL.

 

[Sumnerned]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

If you have enough points for J, I'd definitely recommend it. Come up with some sort of valuation of your points based on how you acquired them and how you could potentially use them for things that you would ordinarily pay for and then work out the imputed cost of your proposed trip in Y & J and then ask yourself if $J - $Y is worth the luxury you will experience (and/or the pain and suffering you will avoid) for what will about 50-60 hours on planes and in airports. Try to get on the airlines with lower taxes, particular for your long-haul from Spain to USA for which IB will almost certainly be way cheaper. I could be wrong, but in my experience it's futile to try to book a big round-world trip online and the 6000 points to do it via a call centre is well worth it. You'll also find that if you book it close to a year out there will be schedule changes from the airlines anyway and when that happens you can ring up and tweak your itinerary for no charge most of the time.

Many thanks. The huge disparity in taxes etc is quite a trap for young players like me. I even thought AA was one of the cheap ones! My recent spend of points was on J MASA's SYD-LHR, but those days are gone. Learning quickly how limited the online system is, it could not do Seville to Dallas. Sorry to be slow responding, but just back from Cycle Queensland, great fun.

 

[ablecookie]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Was just on the phone to book my 280k flights.

I've checked availability via BA and others, but came to a dead stop, the girl keep saying non available and told me award seats shown up on other sites not necessarily available for booking with Qantas points!

Is that true?

 

[vetrade]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Was just on the phone to book my 280k flights.

I've checked availability via BA and others, but came to a dead stop, the girl keep saying non available and told me award seats shown up on other sites not necessarily available for booking with Qantas points!

Is that true?

Suggest you ring back and see what another operator has to say. If there are award seats available with any other OW airline you should be able to book them through QF with your QF points -that's what OW awards are all about! Maybe before doing that I suggest you check that the seats you are trying to book are the equivalent of classic awards and not the ineligible ASAs.

 

[Mattg]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Was just on the phone to book my 280k flights.

I've checked availability via BA and others, but came to a dead stop, the girl keep saying non available and told me award seats shown up on other sites not necessarily available for booking with Qantas points!

Is that true?

In some (rare) cases seats can show up which have recently been taking by someone else. When booking my oneworld award, a particular CX flight was showing up on the Qantas search but not available when I tried to book over the phone. Someone had already snagged the seat but it was still showing up for a short period of time.

 

[Jacques Vert]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

In some (rare) cases seats can show up which have recently been taking by someone else. When booking my oneworld award, a particular CX flight was showing up on the Qantas search but not available when I tried to book over the phone. Someone had already snagged the seat but it was still showing up for a short period of time.

When the agent is booking the flights on a RTW/award flight, they "grab" the seats as they go through your itinerary and then they are confirmed at the end of the process. I recently helped a friend with some flights and the process took over an hour (mainly as they were trying to add a second person after the first person booked - never a good idea).

It is my understanding from what agents and others have told me, that while the booking is "in process", the flights will still show on searches on QF, BA and others but are not able to be booked (as someone else has a hold/grab on them). As I have no inside knowledge I can't verify the accuracy of this, only report what I've been told.

JV

 

[ablecookie]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Another query.

How strict is the <24 hr transit stop is applied?

I am looking at an arrival in HKG at 14:30hr and departure at 14:50hr.

Will I be allowed to stop overnight and depart the following day without counting as another stopover?

 

[vetrade]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Another query.

How strict is the <24 hr transit stop is applied?

I am looking at an arrival in HKG at 14:30hr and departure at 14:50hr.

Will I be allowed to stop overnight and depart the following day without counting as another stopover?

My understanding is that they apply that rule to the minute so they won't ignore that extra 20 minutes.