Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[sudoer]

however apparently not able to use web chat when outside Australia

That's correct.

would much prefer to try via the web chat option and wondering if anyone might know how I could do this

Do you have access to a VPN with exit node in Australia? I've used Torguard to appear in other countries, but YMMV.

Avoid free VPN services - if you're not paying, you (/your data) are the product.

 

[QFFBNE]

Looking for some advice booking AA SFO to JFK next September?

Using the various advice in this thread I have almost completed booking multi-city booking for two pax in J leaving mid Sept 2019 and returning mid Oct 2019
Route is:
BNE/SYD/SFO - QF booked
SFO/JFK _ AA not booked
JKF/LHR - BA booked
London to Paris - train
CDG/FCO - BA not booked
FCO/DOH/HKG/BNE - QR to HKG (16 hour stopover) then CX to BNE all booked

BNE/SFO was easy to book, as was JFK to LHR.

Plenty of options available for the Paris to Rome leg so I wont bother booking until I finalise the itinerary to save 5,000 point change fees.
We wanted to do QR on the return from Rome to Brisbane and could get J seats as far as Singapore but of course its the leg into Australia that's the hardest. Ended up having a stop over in HKG which although short is no problem and J all the way.

However The only flights I haven't been able to get yet are the SFO/JFK leg. AA are the only Oneworld partner we can use (5 flights a day) but still no award seats showing up for the 15th/16th or 17th of Sept. Does anyone have any idea when AA release their award seats or their availability?

Also for those having trouble getting through to QFF I usually ring around 6.30 am and have at the most a 5 minute wait on hold. Have to give credit too because every single operator has been brilliant to deal with..

 

[rock86]

Looking for some advice booking AA SFO to JFK next September?

Using the various advice in this thread I have almost completed booking multi-city booking for two pax in J leaving mid Sept 2019 and returning mid Oct 2019
Route is:
BNE/SYD/SFO - QF booked
SFO/JFK _ AA not booked
JKF/LHR - BA booked
London to Paris - train
CDG/FCO - BA not booked
FCO/DOH/HKG/BNE - QR to HKG (16 hour stopover) then QF to SYD all booked

BNE/SFO was easy to book, as was JFK to LHR.

Plenty of options available for the Paris to Rome leg so I wont bother booking until I finalise the itinerary to save 5,000 point change fees.
We wanted to do QR on the return from Rome to Brisbane and could get J seats as far as Singapore but of course its the leg into Australia that's the hardest. Ended up having a stop over in HKG which although short is no problem and J all the way.

However The only flights I haven't been able to get yet are the SFO/JFK leg. AA are the only Oneworld partner we can use (5 flights a day) but still no award seats showing up for the 15th/16th or 17th of Sept. Does anyone have any idea when AA release their award seats or their availability?

Also for those having trouble getting through to QFF I usually ring around 6.30 am and have at the most a 5 minute wait on hold. Have to give credit too because every single operator has been brilliant to deal with..

If you can't get direct SFO-JFK flights may be beneficial looking connecting via one of AA domestic hubs ie. DFW, ORD, CLT, PHX

 

[QFFBNE]

If you can't get direct SFO-JFK flights may be beneficial looking connecting via one of AA domestic hubs ie. DFW, ORD, CLT, PHX

Thanks I'll have a look at those. AA are showing plenty of availability for all classes on those dates, just no award seats (any class) showing up in the Qantas system yet. We can go Y if that's all that's available but will keep trying.

 

[cjd600]

Looking for some advice booking AA SFO to JFK next September?

Using the various advice in this thread I have almost completed booking multi-city booking for two pax in J leaving mid Sept 2019 and returning mid Oct 2019
Route is:
BNE/SYD/SFO - QF booked
SFO/JFK _ AA not booked
JKF/LHR - BA booked
London to Paris - train
CDG/FCO - BA not booked
FCO/DOH/HKG/BNE - QR to HKG (16 hour stopover) then QF to SYD all booked

BNE/SFO was easy to book, as was JFK to LHR.

Plenty of options available for the Paris to Rome leg so I wont bother booking until I finalise the itinerary to save 5,000 point change fees.
We wanted to do QR on the return from Rome to Brisbane and could get J seats as far as Singapore but of course its the leg into Australia that's the hardest. Ended up having a stop over in HKG which although short is no problem and J all the way.

However The only flights I haven't been able to get yet are the SFO/JFK leg. AA are the only Oneworld partner we can use (5 flights a day) but still no award seats showing up for the 15th/16th or 17th of Sept. Does anyone have any idea when AA release their award seats or their availability?

Also for those having trouble getting through to QFF I usually ring around 6.30 am and have at the most a 5 minute wait on hold. Have to give credit too because every single operator has been brilliant to deal with..

AA availability is pretty dry trans-con USA. Those dates have been released (or non-available).
Check for LAX-JFK, theres some indirect mixed-class seats on your dates.Or a rare direct J flight if you can do 14th.
Need to tack SFO-LAX on obviously

 

[QFFBNE]

If you can't get direct SFO-JFK flights may be beneficial looking connecting via one of AA domestic hubs ie. DFW, ORD, CLT, PHX

AA availability is pretty dry trans-con USA. Those dates have been released (or non-available).
Check for LAX-JFK, theres some indirect mixed-class seats on your dates.Or a rare direct J flight if you can do 14th.
Need to tack SFO-LAX on obviously

Thanks for that. I took your advice and ended up booking two J seats with AA SFO-ORD-LGA. Not the best flights being a day later, overnight and very tight transit time in ODR (37 mins) but at least we can get to New York around the date we wanted. Had to push back the JFK-LHR flight by one day as well but we always knew we would have to be flexible.

I did have a mild heart attack when somehow the FCO-DOH-HKG booking was dropped from the itinerary during all this but only realized after hanging up. I was frantically trying to get on to QFF to get them reinstated with me in the hold queue for QFF on one phone, in the call-back queue on another and also using on-line chat to try and get the seats back before they were snapped up by someone else. Fortunately a separate Qantas service officer somehow noticed that the changes hadn't been completed properly and rang me off her own bat to sort it out. Brilliant service and she had it all fixed in about 5 minutes with her last words of advice begin to ALWAYS make sure the ticket has been finalized and issued before finishing.

The only flights not yet booked are CDO-FCO with BA (wont even think about Iberia) but no hurry with those and will book later down the track or when/if the direct SFO-JFK seats become available. Also still going to try for a simpler last leg FCO-DOH-SYD-BNE with QR/QF to miss the overnight in HKG but all in all we are very happy with what we already have with J bookings confirmed all the way. Taxes and charges have been expensive at over $1,800 each but we are flying around the world, where we want, when we want, with who we want and business class so not complaining.

Main lessons learnt are get in early and keep trying, be flexible and have options, make sure you have extra points available for several 5,000 points/person/change if you need to, and make sure your bookings are fully ticketed before hanging up.

 

[ellen10]

Well done QFFBNE, its always a stressful process but its a good feeling when it all comes together.

 

[flychrisfly]

The only flights not yet booked are CDO-FCO with BA (wont even think about Iberia) ...

What's wrong with IB? According to SeatGuru they seem to have an extra inch of pitch in J... Just curious as about to book flights with an IB or BA option.

 

[dcvr]

Just wanted to say a huge thanks to the countless people who have contributed to this wiki and thread. I managed to book 2xJ RTW for 280k pts recently (all online!) for what's mainly a UK trip early next year, and it just wouldn't have been a consideration without the great help and advice here. You guys rock

For the curious:
MEL-KUL - MH
KUL - CMB - UL
CMB - LHR - UL
LHR - HND - JL
NRT - MEL - JL

Avoiding QR and BA certainly made a huge difference to the fee $$$s.

Not the most complex itinerary, but I'm choosing to ignore the points spent and thinking of the $ cost as being the cost of the flights, which makes them outrageously cheap.

 

[hanrahs]

Been having all sorts of struggles finding a route into the balkans due to AY's and S7's married segments, basically given up and are travelling from Saint Petersburg to Helsinki on our own dime. First half of the ticket finalised this morning.

So far we have
PER-HKG-NRT on CX,
23:45 hour layover in Tokyo
NRT-VOO on S7
train to helsinki
HEL-DVB on AY
make own way to paris
CDG-DOH-SIN

end of first trip
award flight SIN-PER

plan is to add a second trip something along the lines of
SIN-DOH-IST, QR
BEY-AMM-MCT RJ
DOH-PER on QR (or maybe through SE Asia as it can be difficult to get DOH-PER, which would make too many segments and cause a small rethink

there is one other issue with this, 3 layovers in DOH... just wondering if I make my own way to DOH from MCT would it count as a layover or a stopover, i have no more stops up my sleeve... have other ideas but this is the preferred if possible. comes in at about 33500 miles

 

[Guvner]

Just wanted to say a huge thanks to the countless people who have contributed to this wiki and thread. I managed to book 2xJ RTW for 280k pts recently (all online!) for what's mainly a UK trip early next year, and it just wouldn't have been a consideration without the great help and advice here. You guys rock

For the curious:
MEL-KIA - MH
KIA - CMB - UL
CMB - LHR - UL
LHR - HND - JL
NRT - MEL - JL

Avoiding QR and BA certainly made a huge difference to the fee $$$s.

Not the most complex itinerary, but I'm choosing to ignore the points spent and thinking of the $ cost as being the cost of the flights, which makes them outrageously cheap.

KIA?
What was the total of fees and taxes?

 

[cjd600]

KIA?
What was the total of fees and taxes?

Am assuming Kuala Lumpur given the airline...

 

[dcvr]

Am assuming Kuala Lumpur given the airline...

Apologies, yes... KUL.

Taxes and fees were $800pp. It was $625 more each if we'd gone CMB-DOH with QR and then DOH-LHR with BA, which was all that was available when I first looked.

 

[QFFBNE]

What's wrong with IB? According to SeatGuru they seem to have an extra inch of pitch in J... Just curious as about to book flights with an IB or BA option.

I read a few reviews and it seems they have a bad reputation for delays/cancellations and very poor customer service so just decided not to risk it.

 

[cjd600]

I read a few reviews and it seems they have a bad reputation for delays/cancellations and very poor customer service so just decided not to risk it.

I was mulling over IB to JFK v AY to JFK.
A travel industry freind said "Don't even think about IB", more for the service aspect.
But, they have new A350 on that route, I said.
No, dont even think about it he said.

 

[pyffii]

We've used IB on more than a few occasions and havent had any issues with them across both short haul and long haul and next April we are flying with them JNB-MAD-ATH rather than flying BA because of the bigger and better J seat

 

[madrooster]

I was mulling over IB to JFK v AY to JFK.
A travel industry freind said "Don't even think about IB", more for the service aspect.
But, they have new A350 on that route, I said.
No, dont even think about it he said.

I would rather ticket my pax on AY than IB given similar timings to be honest, so I can echo the sentiment.

 

[jetpack]

NRT-VOO on S7
train to helsinki

Vladivostok to Helsinki overland? That sounds like an epic journey.

 

[hanrahs]

Vladivostok to Helsinki overland? That sounds like an epic journey.

We drove from London to Mongolia via the Caucasus and the Stan's a few years back and had a great time, and decided its time to do the "return" journey (well as far as helsinki) via Russia on the train. Looking forward to it.

 

[hanrahs]

A question I had that may get lost in an earlier post, I understand that I can have two layovers (less than 24 hrs) and 1 stop over (more than 24 hours) at a particular city. When traveling to that city overland does that count as the longer or shorter stop?

edit... after playing around with the Qantas booking system it looks like if you travel overland to a city it treats it as a layover (less than 24 hours)