re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread
Thank you Vetrade and Colleagues - I am particularly grateful for the PMs listing posters own personal experiences trying to use their QFF points for international awards.
Herewith my latest Oneworld Award Quest Update
Well, I have reached the "Catch 22" of South American OWA bookings.
In fact there are a couple
1-maximum stopover/transfer rule is a killer for South America. Entry and exit to South America from Australia have to be via Santiago Chile ( of course you can always fly via Asia if you can get the flights on American to get to a USA gateway city. -So lets do the calculations:The maximum stopover allowed in SCL is ONE. Maximum transfers in any city is TWO. If you want to go to Easter Island, you have to go and return via SCL – there goes two of the above three! Of course you might be greedy enough to want to go to go somewhere else in South America, you have used your third stopover / transfer in SCL.
2- the “you can’t have two sectors with the same flight number” rule. What do I mean? I had booked a direct flight SCL to Punta Arenas as part of the OWaward – it was available for one day only – this was lost because , as my bookings have to be managed in Auckland* see below)!!!, by the time the ticket was issued- usually takes 3-4 days , someone else had seen the award seats, taken them and we had none. In any case , and please ignore my bitterness, I did manage to find flight SCL- PMC- PUQ on the correct day albeit with a 4 hour break at Peurto Montt (PMC). I can't change the day because if they connection in SCL is over 24 hours ,it becomes a stopover and that is against the RULES( see #1 above) Anyway, a few days later , there a much better connection on that day , with only a 45 minute wait at PMC. Now here the RULE comes into play! The LAN flight SCL-PMC-PUQ on which there are award seats on both sectors share the same flight number. It is against the RULE – no two sectors with the same flight number.Bad luck.
3-because there are few award flights on the same day for travel Australia to from Santiago, it is likely one of the long legs will be missing from the booking – I have collected flights GIG to SCL on the way back plus AKL-BNE . But no SCL-AKL leg ( in any class)– this counts as another stopover out of the five until the SCL-AKL flight comes thru if it does. So now all the 5 stopovers are gone! I simply cannot book any more internal flights until the SCL-AKL flights come up. Internal flghts on LAN and TAM appear only fleetingly and once appeared are gone- so virtually no chance of any adding extra internal flights.
I would dread to think of the uproar if QFF members had to confront the same hassles that I have had with this OW booking- I have to say I was warned by members in this thread . I just could not conceive that QFF rules and availability would make life so difficult.
I have encountered several really helpful and competent agents who have gone beyond the cause of duty to try and help me out-but QFF rules , which seem to be designed for continents with plenty of flight options, apply also to South America with very restrictive ones. I have written twice to QFF with positive suggestions re this situation but of course no response!
Each time I ring QFF I have to re-explain some of the complexities of QFF South American award bookings. eg AKL-SCL-AKL are searched for under the LAN number unlike SYD-SCL-SYD which is under the QF codeshare. Similarly, apart from flights between major centres , the agent needs to search for the required oneway sector as part of a return trip eg they won’t find AEP-IGR unless searced as AEP-IGR-AEP.
Unfairly ,I have, in the past suggested, that Qantas Elites were treated more generously than those of us who earn their points via purchases, credit cards etc. From the private messages I have received , it seems that I am wrong – ie all attempting to use their QFF points for non economy seats for more than one pax with even the slightest flexibility are screwed! Only attempts at booking a OWA to Africa gets close to the hassles of one to South America.
Qantas just keeps going along its merry uncaring way – no number of new expensive ads is going to undo the ripoff that is the QFF program and the poor perception that it creates!
Ozflier
*As the very rude unhelpful opiniated female QFF agent assured me – this was my fault – I had the nerve to start my initial booking in Auckland ( currently living in BNE).( Several of you know this woman , indeed I have been messaged her name) . Why was it my fault? Well out of Brisbane you have to fly BNE-AKL-SCL( unless you can get SYD-SCL) . When I initially found the AKL-SCL flight ,there were no seats out of Brisbane within 24 hours – if I took a BNE-AKL seat more than 24 hours away- I would have used up one of my 5 allowed stopovers! So my initial booking was from AKL- so all ticketing, bookings calculations etc now go thru the AKL QFF office! Taxes,surcharges etc charged in NZD and then I am charged the conversion fee to AUD by AMEX. This process can take up to 4 days and according to agents , during this time , desired award seats that were available and booked are not guaranteed until ticketed – ie you can lose them and I have!
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