Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[flightobserver]

UL fly MLE-CMB and also CMB-CAN direct

 

[fairbasa]

Finally about to book the oneworld flight, just got two questions to confirm it is ok?

My first part of the itinerary is for flights in February to March, and the second part of the itinerary is for flights in October/November next year, can I confirm that I can book the first part now to secure the seats and only book the second half later this year when the reward inventory is loaded into the system? That should be fine as long as I book my second half of the booking before I take my first flight right?

Secondly, this is my current itinerary for the first half, does this look reasonable?
MEL-ADL-DOH (stopover 1) - MLE (stopover 2, will book a separate ticket for MLE-CMB as Emirates cannot be included in this booking) - CMB - HKG - CAN (stopover 3)

This means I have 2 stopover left and I will book a separate ticket to return home from CAN - MEL, then in October I will start the trip again from HKG to Europe before coming back to Australia, so something like this:
HKG-LHR (stopover 4) - CDG - NRT (stopover 5) - MEL

The biggest risk I can see is the separate ticket for MLE-CMB, as I won't be protected in the case of IRROP, but I just can't find any space from MLE-HKG...

It looks like you're all over it. The direct Oneworld options from MLE are HKG, DOH, CMB and LGW if they're of any help.

 

[Daver6]

It looks like you're all over it. The direct Oneworld options from MLE are HKG, DOH, CMB and LGW if they're of any help.

I thought The Maldives was part of the Qatar boycott? Ie, no QR flights from DOH to MLE.

 

[fairbasa]

They are...but lets hope that's temporary.

Edit: Interestingly, I just looked at random dates next year and there's QR award seats available. If the issue isn't resolved by then, maybe you could lean on QF to request some invol seats on CX?

 

[glasszon]

Thanks all, is the DOH MLE flight ban currently in effect? I just checked google and it looks like the flight was on schedule yesterday.

 

[fairbasa]

Interesting - looking at Flightaware's log it does seem unaffected by the ban.

 

[pike81]

Hi, this is my first post while i'm trying to plan a trip for 4, so apologies if i'm not up on the acronyms!

We are looking at flights around late Aug next year to the US, 2 adults and 2 kids, in economy. We will be jumping around a bit on flights, and although we won't be making the best use of the 140k points, (nowhere near the distance) at this stage i think it is the best option (points rich but cash poor!). I have been going round in circles for weeks, reading different forums, searching BA, AA, QA sites, and I'm almost ready to give up before i've started! They don't make it easy!

My tentative plan is
MEL -NRT
NRT-ORD
ORD - BHM
MCO-JFK
YYZ-LAX-MEL

Some of the questions i have come across are:
1. Some of the AA flights have no milesAAver fares at all. (this is checking on AA), is this correct, of if i call, would they see any i can't?
2. Where i can find some, there are only 3 reward seats available. These are seats that have only just been released. Are 3 reward seats in economy the max they release?
3. We are only QFF Bronze, but my dad is Gold. If we transfer our points to him, can we get better options/access?

4. Further to this, the flights i'm looking at are JA and AA. Do you have to include Qantas? I'd prefer to fly back AA because of the taxes if we can. The rules were a bit vague on '2 airlines other than qantas'...
5. Given we need 4 seats for each flight, i'm nervous about booking once they are all released. Can you book them all individually then merge them into the Oneworld Classic Reward at the end? If we did that, would we get less points/fees if we booked under the Gold member rather than bronze?

I have other questions about trying to maximise value of the booking, but i'll save that til i can get some of the basics!

Thanks in advance

 

[fairbasa]

1. This is common. AA release their seats sporadically, and when they do they can go quickly. Your best shot at getting MilesAAver awards is signing up to ExpertFlyer and setting up an alert when seats become available on your chosen flight(s). Set up a few to give more of a chance.

2. Varies by route, grab what you can while you can. It's very possible they'll release more later once the loadings are better known. But remember, you can't make changes to your booking after your first flight has been taken.

3. Definitely for QF, but I don't believe it impacts availability on partners. Others might know more here.

4. You need to book two airlines other than QF. Including QF or not is totally up to you, provided you book at least two others.

5. Book seats as soon as they become available. Once other seats are released, ring up and change your booking to add the next legs. Don't make lots of different bookings or it won't qualify for this 140k fare. Adding flights/changes will cost 5k per person per change (ie per person per phone call) + $60 per call, so try to consolidate changes as much as possible. This is where Economy awards can become poor value because you could end up paying 4x lots of change fees per person to get the flights you want + taxes.

Not sure exactly what you mean with the last question, but booking as Gold vs Bronze will make no difference to the cost and as award fares they're not eligible for any point/SC earn.

 

[fairbasa]

Forgot one thing:

It's worthwhile piecing together your itinerary online using the multi-city tool and comparing the outright cost with points+pay with the award cost (including taxes). In Economy, sometimes the taxes, change and booking fees make the award flights more expensive overall including the added hassle of trying to actually get the seats.

How old are the kids also? I know my brother found when he went to book for his child QF charged the full award cost in points, but had he paid for the fare he would have received a reasonable discount.

 

[pike81]

Thanks Fairbasa. Sorry my last question wasn't clear. I meant with the change fees you mentioned, if it is a Gold member booking do they waive some points they charge for change or the call fee? Or is it just that some are waived if you are booking the first or business cabin (i think i have seen this mentioned).
Cheers

 

[pike81]

I don't know if it is me, but the multi city tool is horrible. It only give me errors. Obviously it won't even show the JA flights anyway, but even if i skipped that and did a direct flight, it yells at me as soon as i tried putting in any major cities, eg MEL-DFW-ORD-MEL.

Kids will be 5/6 (turning 6 during the trip) and 8.

 

[fairbasa]

Thanks Fairbasa. Sorry my last question wasn't clear. I meant with the change fees you mentioned, if it is a Gold member booking do they waive some points they charge for change or the call fee? Or is it just that some are waived if you are booking the first or business cabin (i think i have seen this mentioned).
Cheers

Fees are the same irrespective of status. Points component of change fee is the same for all cabins, but premium cabins aren't hit with the $60 phone fee.

I don't know if it is me, but the multi city tool is horrible. It only give me errors. Obviously it won't even show the JA flights anyway, but even if i skipped that and did a direct flight, it yells at me as soon as i tried putting in any major cities, eg MEL-DFW-ORD-MEL.

Kids will be 5/6 (turning 6 during the trip) and 8.

Yea, it can be horrible. You might have to ring up for the quote.

 

[Kangol]

Has anyone recently added a CX long haul flight, HKG to USA on an Australian POS oneworld award (ie. award starts in Australia)?
Taxes were just under $800 for that one segment. Called up to check and they said although it sounded high, it was due to CX YQ.
Doesn't quite add up with the wiki...

 

[madrooster]

Has anyone recently added a CX long haul flight, HKG to USA on an Australian POS oneworld award (ie. award starts in Australia)?
Taxes were just under $800 for that one segment. Called up to check and they said although it sounded high, it was due to CX YQ.
Doesn't quite add up with the wiki...

Outright incorrect. Call again...

 

[Danger]

Has anyone recently added a CX long haul flight, HKG to USA on an Australian POS oneworld award (ie. award starts in Australia)?
Taxes were just under $800 for that one segment. Called up to check and they said although it sounded high, it was due to CX YQ.
Doesn't quite add up with the wiki...

Wow. What madrooster said.

 

[Kangol]

I called again, spent a bit of time with the premium desk.
The similar CX flight booked online as a one way has taxes of less than $80, approximately a tenfold difference.
Was told that when the flight is reticketed when I added one segment, the YQ for the entire ticket is recalculated. I think this has been mentioned here before.
Prior to this, I had 2x longhaul QF F and 1x longhaul JL F flights, with 2x BA club Europe flights originating outside of the UK (so no APB).
These had a combined YQ of ~$385. The new YQ is ~$965.
The phone agent wasn't able to see the detailed YQ breakdown but gave me a list of all the taxes which were $20 off the mark on the ticket.
Was told I could follow it up with customer care, which I will.
Not sure how they can come up with an extra $580 in YQ. It was originally ticketed earlier this year, so even with currency fluctuations it does not explain the ~$500 difference. Something else must have been added which I'm not aware about - did QF/JL/BA raise their YQ this year?
I wonder if a YQ breakdown can be obtained - surely there would be a way to do this?

 

[madrooster]

I wonder if a YQ breakdown can be obtained - surely there would be a way to do this?

Was your PNR originally created by telesales? If yes, send me the record locator. QF telesales don't have the system functionality to tell you the fuel surcharge breakdown but native Amadeus users can pull it.

 

[Kangol]

Was your PNR originally created by telesales? If yes, send me the record locator. QF telesales don't have the system functionality to tell you the fuel surcharge breakdown but native Amadeus users can pull it.

The first leg was an online booking, so no (I'm guessing that's what you mean?).
Are you able to look at the same info if a PNR was created online?

 

[madrooster]

The first leg was an online booking, so no (I'm guessing that's what you mean?).
Are you able to look at the same info if a PNR was created online?

No. Only if the booking was created over the phone initially.

 

[glasszon]

I tried to book MEL-ADL-DOH-MLE-CMB-HKG-CAN trip using the Qantas multi-city tool but it give this error message just before payments, is this related to phantom space or I need to book this via the phone? I can see the seat availability on BA as well.

Qantas.com flight search error: We are unable to confirm the fare for the flights you have selected from the airlines we search. Please cancel these segments and choose a different fare or flights and resubmit your confirmation request. (15012-1009)