Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[Danger]

. . . But I can clearly book it online, I am staring right at it, I say. A bit of investigation, and the response comes back that IB are blocking these releases for dropping into existing bookings, and only allowing allocation for new bookings. I seem to remember a similar comment not too far back in this thread, maybe for AA or some other airline . . .

That is very interesting. Ironically, the comment you're thinking of was made by me:

Thanks to ExpertFlyer a number of seats on AA flights in J have opened up on an existing oneworld five stop award. I called Qantas to move into the higher cabin but after a lengthy hold I was told it can't be done on an existing booking; the only way those seats can be secured is if they are booked as a new itinerary. The agent said there are some airlines that it can be done for but this is one of the airlines it can't be . . .

It's worth noting I won on this. I pushed and pushed until the agent - reluctantly - got his supervisor to send it to the oneworld help desk to look into. I also convinced the agent to grab the available award seats on a new, standalone reservation that could then be moved into the existing award booking, pending the help desk's input. But I had to fight to get Qantas to do that. The agent basically said 'Bugger off. It can't be done'. I'm firmly of the belief it's a system limitation, not an example of other oneworld airlines blocking award space for certain carriers.

Damn Qantas is just so frustrating.

 

[cjd600]

That is very interesting. Ironically, the comment you're thinking of was made by me:



It's worth noting I won on this. I pushed and pushed until the agent - reluctantly - got his supervisor to send it to the oneworld help desk to look into. I also convinced the agent to grab the available award seats on a new, standalone reservation that could then be moved into the existing award booking, pending the help desk's input. But I had to fight to get Qantas to do that. The agent basically said 'Bugger off. It can't be done'. I'm firmly of the belief it's a system limitation, not an example of other oneworld airlines blocking award space for certain carriers.

Damn Qantas is just so frustrating.

Ha, so it was! I do remember you got the outcome, even though searching back through the thread whilst i was in the midst of battle wasnt a priority. The lady agent I had this evening was the most knowledgeable and helpful of the 3 over the last 2 days, tried "one more way" and one other way" which had me hoping that she had worked out the result that you received on the same issue.But, alas....
The fact that 3 different agents gave me 3 different reasons/excuses for not being able to add the flights showing on their website indicates there is a bit of a problem at least on one side of the phone.
Anyway, going from IB to AY is no big drama, slightly more EUR ++, but not significant. Very frustrating to have a trip planned (prebooking) within an inch of its life over many months of studying release patterns, timings,volumes, to end up having no confidence that what the QF website is telling you has any bearing on the actual. Depending who answers the phone.
Why TF one cannot just add flights online to the existing booking online and pay the associated ++ is beyond me. Can't be that hard.

 

[Aussiejosh]

That is very interesting. Ironically, the comment you're thinking of was made by me:



It's worth noting I won on this. I pushed and pushed until the agent - reluctantly - got his supervisor to send it to the oneworld help desk to look into. I also convinced the agent to grab the available award seats on a new, standalone reservation that could then be moved into the existing award booking, pending the help desk's input. But I had to fight to get Qantas to do that. The agent basically said 'Bugger off. It can't be done'. I'm firmly of the belief it's a system limitation, not an example of other oneworld airlines blocking award space for certain carriers.

Damn Qantas is just so frustrating.

Similar to my issue with award booking for Japan Airlines NRT-YVR. Saw availability online yet the agent could not find it on his system. So I asked if I booked it online if he could move all the other flights to new booking and he said yes.

Had to ring up to chase taxes refund on old booking but other than that everything got sorted. So it's not impossible.

 

[sudoer]

the Asia to SYD part could be an issue.

Ask QF to open up space on SYD-HKG perhaps?

 

[bobcat]

Hi all,

This is my first attempt at planning and booking a RTW trip. Business for 2 pax (more than a little bit worried about finding availability). We're pretty flexible on cites and dates, so hopefully that helps.

Appreciate any and all feedback you have re:
*Should we book each leg individually or would you recommend booking in blocks? Which legs do you think will cause the most angst??
*Any recommendations regarding itinerary (be it flight times, routes, aircrafts, carriers or anything else)?
*How troublesome is it to switch dates/flights should we wish to do this later?
*Any other pointers for somebody booking their first RTW redemption trip. Appreciate we will need to get skates on given planned departure date.

Rough dates (2019)
Oct 3: SYD to NRT (Qantas or Japan Air)
Oct 12: NRT to FCO (Cathay, less than 24-hour stopover in Hong Kong ... if not possible, Qatar via Doha)
Nov 3: FCO/MXP to LIS/OPO (Iberia)
Nov 12: OPO/LIS to BOS (Iberia or AA, less than 24-hour stopover in Madrid)
Dec 10: DFW to SYD (QF)
Stopovers (5): Tokyo, Rome, Lisbon/Porto, Boston, Dallas
Approx total distance (including surface sector BOS to DFW + transit): 27,480 miles (Great Circle Mapper)

Cheers
bobcat

 

[flapper]

Hi all,

This is my first attempt at planning and booking a RTW trip. Business for 2 pax (more than a little bit worried about finding availability). We're pretty flexible on cites and dates, so hopefully that helps.

Appreciate any and all feedback you have re:
*Should we book each leg individually or would you recommend booking in blocks? Which legs do you think will cause the most angst??
*Any recommendations regarding itinerary (be it flight times, routes, aircrafts, carriers or anything else)?
*How troublesome is it to switch dates/flights should we wish to do this later?
*Any other pointers for somebody booking their first RTW redemption trip. Appreciate we will need to get skates on given planned departure date.

Rough dates (2019)
Oct 3: SYD to NRT (Qantas or Japan Air)
Oct 12: NRT to FCO (Cathay, less than 24-hour stopover in Hong Kong ... if not possible, Qatar via Doha)
Nov 3: FCO/MXP to LIS/OPO (Iberia)
Nov 12: OPO/LIS to BOS (Iberia or AA, less than 24-hour stopover in Madrid)
Dec 10: DFW to SYD (QF)
Stopovers (5): Tokyo, Rome, Lisbon/Porto, Boston, Dallas
Approx total distance (including surface sector BOS to DFW + transit): 27,480 miles (Great Circle Mapper)

Cheers
bobcat

Hi all,

This is my first attempt at planning and booking a RTW trip. Business for 2 pax (more than a little bit worried about finding availability). We're pretty flexible on cites and dates, so hopefully that helps.

Appreciate any and all feedback you have re:
*Should we book each leg individually or would you recommend booking in blocks? Which legs do you think will cause the most angst??
*Any recommendations regarding itinerary (be it flight times, routes, aircrafts, carriers or anything else)?
*How troublesome is it to switch dates/flights should we wish to do this later?
*Any other pointers for somebody booking their first RTW redemption trip. Appreciate we will need to get skates on given planned departure date.

Rough dates (2019)
Oct 3: SYD to NRT (Qantas or Japan Air)
Oct 12: NRT to FCO (Cathay, less than 24-hour stopover in Hong Kong ... if not possible, Qatar via Doha)
Nov 3: FCO/MXP to LIS/OPO (Iberia)
Nov 12: OPO/LIS to BOS (Iberia or AA, less than 24-hour stopover in Madrid)
Dec 10: DFW to SYD (QF)
Stopovers (5): Tokyo, Rome, Lisbon/Porto, Boston, Dallas
Approx total distance (including surface sector BOS to DFW + transit): 27,480 miles (Great Circle Mapper)

Cheers
bobcat

AY NRT to FCO on 12 Oct 2019 in J are available today if you want to lock in that segment.

 

[knobbs]

I have most of my flights book but just trying to fiddle with getting home. I am leaving JFK to BNE (hopefully). However at the time of booking could only get to HKG in J. I was told I can't get the only economy seat from HKG to SIN as I had already had a transit through HKG on my way out and it is backtracking.

On the phone just now, after the first 2 agents hung up I was told I can't fly into JFK and leave from La Guardia as this would be considered a 6th stopover (despite the airports being in the same city). Anyway my flight from I was looking at was La Guardia to Dallas, Dallas to Syd then BNE. The agent went on to explain that if I find my own way from JFK to Dallas it would be fine and could book those flights I listed all the way home, how is that different to a stopover?

They went on to tell me how if I wanted to book that last leg, DFW-SYD-BNE it would be $900 AUD in taxes (difference between JFK-HKG and this flight) per person??? How can it be that much? I checked the google matrix and it only showed around $100 in taxes. Is there another way to calculate the taxes?

 

[jetpack]

As a guide, booking a separate award for DFW-SYD-BNE you get charged USD314.

 

[ellen10]

I have most of my flights book but just trying to fiddle with getting home. I am leaving JFK to BNE (hopefully). However at the time of booking could only get to HKG in J. I was told I can't get the only economy seat from HKG to SIN as I had already had a transit through HKG on my way out and it is backtracking

So you can't transit through the same airport?
I am transitting through HKG on the way to Dublin and was looking at transitting through HKG on the way back.

 

[flapper]

So you can't transit through the same airport?
I am transitting through HKG on the way to Dublin and was looking at transitting through HKG on the way back.

Yes, you can transit twice in one city.

 

[ellen10]

Yes, you can transit twice in one city.

Phew!! thanks for replying. Had me worried for a while!

 

[blacknwhite]

Hi all!Hoping that someone can help me.We are booking for two people a 280,000 J class ticket and wanting to book 2 flights.One being Vancouver to Los Angeles and Los Angeles to Honolulu with American Airlines J class on the same day.I have tried to book the flights with Qantas twice and have not had success but I seem to be able to book online as a separate booking.
One agent told me that they use a different booking system to the one online?????The other said that because of marriage segments and AA won’t allow it.
Could someone tell me what I should do?

 

[knobbs]

Phew!! thanks for replying. Had me worried for a while!

That is what I told the agent, but they did not want to have a bar of it. Claimed it was backtracking, as I started from BNE to HND via HKG. Now getting back won't allow me past HKG for whatever reason. Even on a lowly Y flight (all the J are gone).

As a guide, booking a separate award for DFW-SYD-BNE you get charged USD314.

Maybe the agent misspoke saying it was $900 AUD/pp difference. Where it should be $900 AUD for 2x in taxes without taking in the difference? Otherwise that is some crazy taxing.

 

[cjd600]

I have most of my flights book but just trying to fiddle with getting home. I am leaving JFK to BNE (hopefully). However at the time of booking could only get to HKG in J. I was told I can't get the only economy seat from HKG to SIN as I had already had a transit through HKG on my way out and it is backtracking.

On the phone just now, after the first 2 agents hung up I was told I can't fly into JFK and leave from La Guardia as this would be considered a 6th stopover (despite the airports being in the same city). Anyway my flight from I was looking at was La Guardia to Dallas, Dallas to Syd then BNE. The agent went on to explain that if I find my own way from JFK to Dallas it would be fine and could book those flights I listed all the way home, how is that different to a stopover?

They went on to tell me how if I wanted to book that last leg, DFW-SYD-BNE it would be $900 AUD in taxes (difference between JFK-HKG and this flight) per person??? How can it be that much? I checked the google matrix and it only showed around $100 in taxes. Is there another way to calculate the taxes?

Hhmmm....a few things I disagree with there..

- backtracking is not relevant, and is fine
- I thought arrive/leave different airports in same city was fine (ie HND/NRT) and no extra stopover. Arriving say CDG then surface and leaving LHR doesn't count as 2 stopovers
- agree with Jetpack on the USD314 for J DFW-SYD-BNE....and thats standalone one way from DFW. For a ticket originating in AU I'd expect it to come out cheaper than that......certainly not AUD900!

 

[Captain Halliday]

Hi all!Hoping that someone can help me.We are booking for two people a 280,000 J class ticket and wanting to book 2 flights.One being Vancouver to Los Angeles and Los Angeles to Honolulu with American Airlines J class on the same day.I have tried to book the flights with Qantas twice and have not had success but I seem to be able to book online as a separate booking.
One agent told me that they use a different booking system to the one online?????The other said that because of marriage segments and AA won’t allow it.
Could someone tell me what I should do?

It depends if you want to stop in LAX.

Some airlines use Married Segment Control (MSC).

So to answer your actua question: If you want to go from YVR to HNL you need to search for flights from YVR to HNL.

Just because you can see YVR-LAX and LAX-HNL separately doesn’t mean you can book them because AA has married these segments.

 

[serfty]

Just because you can see YVR-LAX and LAX-HNL separately doesn’t mean you can book them because AA has married these segments.

Note however that if you see YVR-LAX and LAX-HNL with more than 24 hours in LAX then it becomes a stopover and you should be able to book separately.

That comes at the cost of using one of your stopovers of course.

 

[grant32]

Is this rule not being applied correctly when booking online, or have I misunderstood? "14.3.5 A Classic Flight Reward Itinerary must contain no more than one departure from the city or country of first departure on that Itinerary."

I've just gone through to stage just before payment with the following itinerary for 280k. Depart Sydney, stop in Melbourne... is this valid?
SYD-NRT (QF)
NRT-MEL (JL)
MEL-SIN-LHR (QF/BA)
LHR-FRA-HKG (BA/CX)
HKG-SYD (QF)

 

[cjd600]

Is this rule not being applied correctly when booking online, or have I misunderstood? "14.3.5 A Classic Flight Reward Itinerary must contain no more than one departure from the city or country of first departure on that Itinerary."

I've just gone through to stage just before payment with the following itinerary for 280k. Depart Sydney, stop in Melbourne... is this valid?
SYD-NRT (QF)
NRT-MEL (JL)
MEL-SIN-LHR (QF/BA)
LHR-FRA-HKG (BA/CX)
HKG-SYD (QF)

No good. You depart from AU twice.

 

[grant32]

No good. You depart from AU twice.

OK thanks. I guess the next stage (payment) would have failed then or booking cancelled at some point. Strange it let me price it up at 280K.

 

[cjd600]

Strange it has capped at the 280k....