Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[MTAB]

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

Happy New Year to all.
I'm trying to a 140K trip for my wife and me. Any comments, suggestions and help from the collective wisdom of AFF would be most appreciated.
Here's what I would like to do:
Sep 02 CNS — QF799 — BNE
Sep 06 BNE — BA7407 — SIN — BA12 — LHR — BA233 — DME
DME — Own Arrangements — LED
Sep 18 LED — AY165 — HEL — AY659 — OSL
Sep 22 OSL— BA763 — LHR — BA1493 — GLA
GLA — Own Arrangements — DUB
Oct 18 DUB — AA723 — PHL — AA4560 — YYZ
Oct 29 YYZ — QF3246 — LAX — QF16 — BNE — QF782 — CNS

However although it looks fine to me (total miles about 29205; no more than two transits in same port; I have 305K points; etc) the Qantas tool wont process it on-line so it looks as though I'll have to try the phone route. I'll try and talk around the phone fee but I'm only LTG so I don't fancy my chances.

Can anyone see problems with the above?
Does anone knopw how I can actually check award availability for the flights I want?
What happens if I start on the phone and then have to give up as there are no flights available - will they still charge me the 2 X 7.5K phone booking fee?
Any comments, suggestions most welcome.
Thanks.

Total Miles 29205

 

[hutch]

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

Happy New Year to all.
I'm trying to a 140K trip for my wife and me. Any comments, suggestions and help from the collective wisdom of AFF would be most appreciated.
Here's what I would like to do:
Sep 02 CNS — QF799 — BNE
Sep 06 BNE — BA7407 — SIN — BA12 — LHR — BA233 — DME
DME — Own Arrangements — LED
Sep 18 LED — AY165 — HEL — AY659 — OSL
Sep 22 OSL— BA763 — LHR — BA1493 — GLA
GLA — Own Arrangements — DUB
Oct 18 DUB — AA723 — PHL — AA4560 — YYZ
Oct 29 YYZ — QF3246 — LAX — QF16 — BNE — QF782 — CNS

However although it looks fine to me (total miles about 29205; no more than two transits in same port; I have 305K points; etc) the Qantas tool wont process it on-line so it looks as though I'll have to try the phone route. I'll try and talk around the phone fee but I'm only LTG so I don't fancy my chances.

Can anyone see problems with the above?
Does anone knopw how I can actually check award availability for the flights I want?
What happens if I start on the phone and then have to give up as there are no flights available - will they still charge me the 2 X 7.5K phone booking fee?
Any comments, suggestions most welcome.
Thanks.

Total Miles 29205

QF multi city tool only really works with the most basic trips in my experience.

My comments are:

Unless something has changed, BA don't fly BNE-SIN... so it'll be QF.

Also, you have an awful lot of BA flights, who charge some pretty high taxes... is Cathay an option between BNE-LHR? (Also saves QF high taxes too). Or perhaps on the other end, look at the direct YYZ-HKG Cathay flight and then onto Cairns?

I would think most of the above flights (except for Finnair maybe) should be somewhat searchable on QF.

Whenever I've done something on the phone, I got charged the booking fee when you complete the booking. I understand it is 6,000pts per person.

 

[MTAB]

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

Many thanks for the information Hutch. I'll certainly look into your suggestions re minimising BA flights and trying to go to LHR via HKG.

 

[fastferret]

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

Does anone knopw how I can actually check award availability for the flights I want?

Join BA Avios. It's free and I found it really useful for searching available one world flights.

 

[hutch]

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

Join BA Avios. It's free and I found it really useful for searching available one world flights.

BA Exec club is indeed pretty good for searching... although, I had to be a resident of 'Austria'

 

[MTAB]

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

BA Exec club is indeed pretty good for searching... although, I had to be a resident of 'Austria'

Thanks fastferret and hutch for the suggestion, I've got plenty of Scottish relatives so I'll use one of their addresses in joining BA Avios.

 

[Aus ATC]

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

I will be providing some feedback to Qantas about the lack of notification of the schedule change. I would assume this is an automated process that applies anytime an itinerary is tampered with.

Just an update. I received a prompt response from Qantas, that said they had emailed me 3 times (they specified the dates) associated with the itinerary change. Funny that I didn't receive any of them - given I had previously received an itinerary change email (for a 5 minute rescheduling!) earlier in December.

 

[Aus ATC]

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

Also, you have an awful lot of BA flights, who charge some pretty high taxes... is Cathay an option between BNE-LHR? (Also saves QF high taxes too). Or perhaps on the other end, look at the direct YYZ-HKG Cathay flight and then onto Cairns?

I would agree with Hutch about using Cathay. We have booked a 6 leg OWA using them mostly (and IB) and paid less than $600 in taxes/surcharges per person.

 

[Deanwan]

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

Thanks guys for all your replies - i will continue to read the thread and get some ideas on the stopovers before posting for feedback.

Trip either in Dec16 or Jul17.

 

[Deanwan]

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

Vetrade has covered it all pretty well. I would just add that this is a "Oneworld Award", not a RTW ticket (more on that later)... and:

1. As you are doing an economy ticket, I would suggest trying to book the trip online using the QF multi-city tool (which doesn't work all the time - especially for complex bookings- but worth giving a go). If you can't book it online, I'd support vetrade's suggestion of working out your rough travel plans... perhaps booking the first flight online as a one way classic award and then calling QF and adding all your remaining flights at once... which will minimise fees/charges.
2. The one flight at a time is generally done with premium cabins because they get snapped up quickly and QF waives the service fee for premium cabins. Booking one flight at a time for economy bookings would end up being very costly. Also generally economy tickets hang around longer than premium cabins.
3. As mentioned, each OW airline is different. Qatar seems to be pretty close to 365 days out.
4. This is where the terminology of RTW & OW Award confuses many. If you choose the RTW option on the QF site, you are trying to book a Oneworld RTW ticket... there are conditions on these tickets (like you need to fly around the world) and you can't book these using points. You are trying to book a OW Award, which is a ticket that allows up to 35,000 miles of travel, but does not need to go around the world. You can try and do dummy bookings on the QF site, using the multi-city tool... but as mentioned it suffers from many IT issues.

Also gcmap may be a good tool for you.

Vetrade is like the knowledge god on these bookings... so perhaps work out a rough plan and post it here for review/tips/suggestions?

Thanks guys for response.

Hutch - when using the multicity tool on Qantas, do we need to select "Search Classic Flight Reward"?

 

[Jacques Vert]

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

Thanks guys for response.

Hutch - when using the multicity tool on Qantas, do we need to select "Search Classic Flight Reward"?

Yes you do; otherwise you are searching for a paid flight.

 

[JohnM]

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

Just an update. I received a prompt response from Qantas, that said they had emailed me 3 times (they specified the dates) associated with the itinerary change. Funny that I didn't receive any of them - given I had previously received an itinerary change email (for a 5 minute rescheduling!) earlier in December.

Did you check your junk email folder?

 

[flychrisfly]

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

Oct 29 YYZ — QF3246 — LAX — QF16 — BNE — QF782 — CNS

Can anyone see problems with the above?

FYI, QF3246 is an AA operated flight.
Normally I'd recommend avoiding a transit in the US as it's a lot of hassle for little gain, but YYZ has US pre-screening so you can get that all out of the way in Toronto and arrive in the US like a domestic passenger .

 

[MTAB]

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

FYI, QF3246 is an AA operated flight.
Normally I'd recommend avoiding a transit in the US as it's a lot of hassle for little gain, but YYZ has US pre-screening so you can get that all out of the way in Toronto and arrive in the US like a domestic passenger .

Thanks flychrisfly
I generally try to avoid USA, and LAX specifically, because of their airport procedures and I am not willing to pay for their pre-screening. The economics don't appeal and I don't get the logic that for a little money they will have laxer security! I'm sure the terrorists will work this out sometime.In this case I'm only transiting LAX as I must get back from YYZ (visiting family and friends) so any alternatives to do YYZ-CNS would be welcome.

 

[hutch]

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

Thanks flychrisfly
I generally try to avoid USA, and LAX specifically, because of their airport procedures and I am not willing to pay for their pre-screening. The economics don't appeal and I don't get the logic that for a little money they will have laxer security! I'm sure the terrorists will work this out sometime.In this case I'm only transiting LAX as I must get back from YYZ (visiting family and friends) so any alternatives to do YYZ-CNS would be welcome.

At Toronto everyone goes through US Customs on US bound flights. You don't need to pay for the privilege.

Ie last Year I flew YVR-YYZ-BWI.... the YVR-YYZ is normal domestic flight, I then go through US Customs (essentially enter the US) and arrive at BWI as a domestic passenger.

 

[celph]

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

Starting to put together an itinerary for a J OW Award for a honeymoon.
The plan basically is Maldives - Italy/Spain - NY - HKG - home

Looking at flights out from ADL. We could either go with CX or QR, QR preferred due to the new A350.

Two queries.

1) ADL-MLE can only be searched on QR as ADL-DOH then DOH-MLE. Does this still count as a transit if less than 24hrs?
2) There is no J availability on the Qantas award search but it does come up on the BA search engine. Is this bookable via QF?

 

[hutch]

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

Starting to put together an itinerary for a J OW Award for a honeymoon.
The plan basically is Maldives - Italy/Spain - NY - HKG - home

Looking at flights out from ADL. We could either go with CX or QR, QR preferred due to the new A350.

Two queries.

1) ADL-MLE can only be searched on QR as ADL-DOH then DOH-MLE. Does this still count as a transit if less than 24hrs?
2) There is no J availability on the Qantas award search but it does come up on the BA search engine. Is this bookable via QF?

Congrats.

1. Yes.
2. Can't book Qatar J online with Qantas. You need to ring up.

 

[celph]

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

Congrats.

1. Yes.
2. Can't book Qatar J online with Qantas. You need to ring up.

Thanks for that, so the J availability on the BA website is correct I assume?

 

[vetrade]

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

Thanks for that, so the J availability on the BA website is correct I assume?

Yes, very likely it is correct. The QF operator will be able to confirm the QR availability, and, since you can't book it online, ask for the online booking fee to be waived - high likelihood they will agree to it for you.

 

[madrooster]

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

Fra>Doh>Jnb. The Doh>Jnb flight has a later arrival and now doesn't arrive with enough time for my next flight on BA Jnb>Liv (separate ticket).

You'll need to depart FRA earlier most likely... is there award availability?