Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[flychrisfly]

If anyone has any other suggestions on getting back to Perth, happy to take it.

Yes, if you see a flight that works, take it. Don't jump on this (or any) forum and ask questions, etc just book it.

 

[weststigers]

Sorry for the big write up but I’m very frustrated and would very much appreciate some help:

I’ve spent the past few weekends putting together a RTW itinerary from my honeymoon, which we’ve been credit card churning for, for the past few years. I booked the first half 2 weeks ago and have spent 6 hours + on the phone to Qantas this weekend trying to book the second half. However, they kept getting errors and couldn’t tell me why. Finally they were able to tell me that I had too many stopovers. They are counting, what the my research seems to suggest is a layover, as a stopover.

I land at HKG at 20:25 and leave the next day at 17:50 (both flights with Cathay). They said this counts as a stopover and not a transfer. I was under the impression that under 24 hours was a transfer. The Qantas staffer clearly wasn’t sure why it wasn’t, but he was mentioning that only under 12 hours is a transfer and also mentioned something about if you have to pick up your bags, then it counts as a stopover.

As I mentioned I fly from HKG with Cahtay, arriving in Washington DC (Dulles Int.) at 21:45. I then leave a the next day at 18:34 from Washington DC (Regan) on an AA flight, arriving at JFK at 20:03. Again they count this as a stopover.

But I’m doing BA2 from JFK, landing in London (City) at 6:50 and leave later that day at 20:35 from London (Heathrow) on a BA flight. This apparently is just a transfer. Despite the fact that it is over 12 hours and I would have to collect my bags to change airports, which goes against the what the Qantas staffer said.

The only thing I can thing of is the first two are over night stops in their respective cities (albeit less than 24 hours) but the last one is a only over the same day. Any ideas?
Thanks!

 

[Lomandriel]

All - good news, we put in our booking tonight! We stumbled upon an issue whereby once we proceed past to the traveller info page with our itinerary my name prefills my first and last name as per my QFF. It says to match your passport and being somewhat nervous my Given name has both first and middle name as one line. Very annoying - legacy of my parents/upbringing unfortunately!

By changing the name it prompts an error about losing baggage entitlements and what not? Has anyone got any idea what this is? I'm abit freaked out, we ended up confirming the forfeiture of these entitlements and proceeded to input my full given name (including the middle name). So far the actual flights baggages show up on the booked itinerary on the oneworld award.... but it seems the "booking" the wife has her QFF showing and mine fails to update or link. No doubt due to my middle name not matching?

I can't see any easy way to update the QFF online, all FAQs are more for those who married and need to submit need marriage deeds for proof, as opposed to my initial registration/QFF setup not having my full given name.

Has anyone else encountered this issue, and is there anything to worry about by modifying my name and prompting the "loss of baggage entitlements" warning message?

Total taxes were $3,071.84 between both of us. Flight 1: Per-Tokyo (via HK) on Cathay.
Flight 2: Tokyo (narita) to Helsinki direct on finnair
Flight 3: Reykjavik (Iceland) to Oslo one way on BA (via london I believe).
Flight 4: We booked Oslo to Copenhagen. This is one area of issue. We couldn't proceed to the booking (error message) when inputting Bergen to Copenhagen. Mrs reckons the train ride from Oslo to Bergen will be worth departing from Bergen instead rather than originally Oslo onto CPH. Not sure how much of a good idea this is in winter as not much to see i presume? Summer/spring must be magnificent otherwise?

Anyhow we booked Oslo - Copenhagen in order to get the booking to not "error out". Qantas fb messenger chat appear to be ok with amending the Bergen-Copenhagen in with a waived fee. Although every new message you get is frustratingly a new assistant - so very hard to get consistent responses.

Either flight via Finnair. The Bergen uses some widerhole by finnair???

Flight 5: Copenhagen - Zurich (via london heathrow British airways)
Flight 6: Zurich to Perth via Doha on Qatar.

That's it! How did we do? $3k in taxes seems a fair bit so not sure we 'maximised' the most. But frankly it's a huge weight seemingly off the shoulder without worrying about months and months of planning like others. Luxury in that sense?

My only worry is what have i done by changing my traveller name to add more detail... and ensuring Bergen to CPH is substituted in for Flight 4. We will need to book internal flights between our Helsinki arrival and Iceland departure (we will cover Lapland, Talinn/estonia, and Sweden, before flying to Iceland). So the issue will be not having business class baggage to match our arrival and departure flights... Hopefully flights out of our own pocket won't cost too much!

Thanks for all the advice. Any other tips now that we've booked? Presumably get a good travel insurance sorted straight away incase of flight changes/cancellations early on? No need for more than a one liner, otherwise I'll take it outside given Off topic. Thanks again for all the help and patience with suggestions and tips.

 

[Kiwifruit]

Do a search for "Norway in a Nutshell" as it's a great way of getting from Bergen to Oslo (or vice versa). I did it in winter and it was still spectacular.

 

[JohnM]

Travel insurance is, of course, essential. However, award bookings are refundable, less a moderate points penalty, should you cancel.

 

[flychrisfly]

Sorry for the big write up but I’m very frustrated and would very much appreciate some help:

I’ve spent the past few weekends putting together a RTW itinerary from my honeymoon, which we’ve been credit card churning for, for the past few years. I booked the first half 2 weeks ago and have spent 6 hours + on the phone to Qantas this weekend trying to book the second half. However, they kept getting errors and couldn’t tell me why. Finally they were able to tell me that I had too many stopovers. They are counting, what the my research seems to suggest is a layover, as a stopover.

I land at HKG at 20:25 and leave the next day at 17:50 (both flights with Cathay). They said this counts as a stopover and not a transfer. I was under the impression that under 24 hours was a transfer. The Qantas staffer clearly wasn’t sure why it wasn’t, but he was mentioning that only under 12 hours is a transfer and also mentioned something about if you have to pick up your bags, then it counts as a stopover.

As I mentioned I fly from HKG with Cahtay, arriving in Washington DC (Dulles Int.) at 21:45. I then leave a the next day at 18:34 from Washington DC (Regan) on an AA flight, arriving at JFK at 20:03. Again they count this as a stopover.

But I’m doing BA2 from JFK, landing in London (City) at 6:50 and leave later that day at 20:35 from London (Heathrow) on a BA flight. This apparently is just a transfer. Despite the fact that it is over 12 hours and I would have to collect my bags to change airports, which goes against the what the Qantas staffer said.

The only thing I can thing of is the first two are over night stops in their respective cities (albeit less than 24 hours) but the last one is a only over the same day. Any ideas?
Thanks!

Very hard to comment on a problem with your whole trip when you've only described bits and pieces. Having said that, < 24 hours is a transit regardless of a change of date (spanning midnight) or picking up bags or not - the stops you've described are the method people use add a destination to their Oneworld Awards without using a stopover.

 

[Jacques Vert]

Sorry for the big write up but I’m very frustrated and would very much appreciate some help:

I’ve spent the past few weekends putting together a RTW itinerary from my honeymoon, which we’ve been credit card churning for, for the past few years. I booked the first half 2 weeks ago and have spent 6 hours + on the phone to Qantas this weekend trying to book the second half. However, they kept getting errors and couldn’t tell me why. Finally they were able to tell me that I had too many stopovers. They are counting, what the my research seems to suggest is a layover, as a stopover.

I land at HKG at 20:25 and leave the next day at 17:50 (both flights with Cathay). They said this counts as a stopover and not a transfer. I was under the impression that under 24 hours was a transfer. The Qantas staffer clearly wasn’t sure why it wasn’t, but he was mentioning that only under 12 hours is a transfer and also mentioned something about if you have to pick up your bags, then it counts as a stopover.

As I mentioned I fly from HKG with Cahtay, arriving in Washington DC (Dulles Int.) at 21:45. I then leave a the next day at 18:34 from Washington DC (Regan) on an AA flight, arriving at JFK at 20:03. Again they count this as a stopover.

But I’m doing BA2 from JFK, landing in London (City) at 6:50 and leave later that day at 20:35 from London (Heathrow) on a BA flight. This apparently is just a transfer. Despite the fact that it is over 12 hours and I would have to collect my bags to change airports, which goes against the what the Qantas staffer said.

The only thing I can thing of is the first two are over night stops in their respective cities (albeit less than 24 hours) but the last one is a only over the same day. Any ideas?
Thanks!

This is an issue that comes up from time to time when booking (or changing a booking) over the phone. The Qantas agent is wrong, wrong, wrong; but there is no point arguing with them, just HUACA. It seems to me that some (many) agents confuse the booking rules for a paid RTW and an Award booking; poorly trained and don't know their stuff.

Unfortunately, it is possible that the agent you spoke to has made notes on your "file" and you will get a similar response when you call back. I've had this happen to me. In fact, in my case, the agent referred it to a supervisor who put a note to say that my itinerary was not valid and that no agent was to allow it! In the end, I cancelled the itinerary and booked a different trip.

This is one of the reasons I am now saving KF miles instead.

 

[weststigers]

Very hard to comment on a problem with your whole trip when you've only described bits and pieces. Having said that, < 24 hours is a transit regardless of a change of date (spanning midnight) or picking up bags or not - the stops you've described are the method people use add a destination to their Oneworld Awards without using a stopover.

This is an issue that comes up from time to time when booking (or changing a booking) over the phone. The Qantas agent is wrong, wrong, wrong; but there is no point arguing with them, just HUACA. It seems to me that some (many) agents confuse the booking rules for a paid RTW and an Award booking; poorly trained and don't know their stuff.

Unfortunately, it is possible that the agent you spoke to has made notes on your "file" and you will get a similar response when you call back. I've had this happen to me. In fact, in my case, the agent referred it to a supervisor who put a note to say that my itinerary was not valid and that no agent was to allow it! In the end, I cancelled the itinerary and booked a different trip.

This is one of the reasons I am now saving KF miles instead.

It seems you're both correct. There was nothing wrong with the amount of stopovers. I ended up booking through the SMS service. It was much easier. The person I was talking to actually knew what he was talking about. He informed me the reason it wasn't working was it was just over 35000 miles total. Luckly no notes had been made on my file about this like Jacques suggested might be the case.

 

[weststigers]

To prove it really does matter who you get on the phone:

I tried to call Qantas but there was huge wait times. I requested a call back. Meanwhile I tried the SMS serivce. The SMS customer service rep was able to find the flights I wanted to add to my itinerary very quickly. As they were doing that I got the call back and the person on the phone couldn't find the exact same flights. I even looked them up whilst she was on the phone and could see them myself (which I let her know). I also asked her to simply read back to me the flights that I already had on my booking and she kept missing flights.

Hang up and call back is a hard pill to swallow when you've been on hold for over and hour or waiting for a call back for over 3 hours but it's worth it in the long run.

 

[MartyMan]

Just wondering, when adding extra sectors to an existing award booking, do you always keep the same original PNR number?

 

[Warren Mason]

We are booked on a Oneworld Reward flight where we are flying from Sydney to Adelaide and then have a 20 hour transit and then pickup a CX flight to Hong Kong and on to Rome. Does anyone know if Qantas will check the bags through to Rome or will we need to pick them up in Adelaide and then check them in again the next day with CX?

 

[jfl]

Just wondering, when adding extra sectors to an existing award booking, do you always keep the same original PNR number?

Correct, stays the same.

 

[jfl]

Well we've just booked the last business leg of our OW Classic Award. Thanks a lot to everyone here for the helpful tips and pointers, especially @JohnM .

HKG-NRT CX J
HND-SYD QF J

SYD-JNB QF Y (Not booked - hopefully there will be availability in Y otherwise we will book with cash)
JNB-LHR BA J
MXP-DOH-SIN QR J
SIN-SYD BA J

Total cost was 21,582 HKD (~AU$4000), and total miles came in at 34,878. Truly maximizing the award!

 

[madrooster]

We are booked on a Oneworld Reward flight where we are flying from Sydney to Adelaide and then have a 20 hour transit and then pickup a CX flight to Hong Kong and on to Rome. Does anyone know if Qantas will check the bags through to Rome or will we need to pick them up in Adelaide and then check them in again the next day with CX?

You will need to collect and recheck. ADL is not a 24 hour airport.

 

[Warren Mason]

You will need to collect and recheck. ADL is not a 24 hour airport.

Thanks. That works perfectly for me. It's going to be a long trip and some access to our bags will make life a bit easier.

 

[flapper]

To prove it really does matter who you get on the phone:

I tried to call Qantas but there was huge wait times. I requested a call back. Meanwhile I tried the SMS serivce. The SMS customer service rep was able to find the flights I wanted to add to my itinerary very quickly. As they were doing that I got the call back and the person on the phone couldn't find the exact same flights. I even looked them up whilst she was on the phone and could see them myself (which I let her know). I also asked her to simply read back to me the flights that I already had on my booking and she kept missing flights.

Hang up and call back is a hard pill to swallow when you've been on hold for over and hour or waiting for a call back for over 3 hours but it's worth it in the long run.

From my recent experience the SMS service is superior to the SA call centre. Last weekend I wanted to add a QR flight to my OWA 361 days out. Call centre insisted flights can only be booked 353 days out. I wanted to speak to Australian call centre but she claimed they were closed. I asked to speak to her supervisor but she just repeated flights can only be booked 353 days out. But I can book it online right now I insisted and did it just last month. Finally she looked up another system and claimed 2 J seats just became available. After all that she wanted to charge a 8,000 pt service fee on top of the 5,000 pt change fee.
Why do the agents lack such basic knowledge?
I found the SMS add the flights with little fuss. Although they still wanted to charge a 8,000 pt service fee for a J booking. How many people get charged this “in error”?

 

[jfl]

So I'm trying to get availability on SYD-JNB J for mid-April next year, which I will most likely not be able to get.

I do, however, have a friend with QFF Platinum. Would they be able to request two seats for me to add to my OW classic award? Or will this not work?

 

[cjd600]

So I'm trying to get availability on SYD-JNB J for mid-April next year, which I will most likely not be able to get.

I do, however, have a friend with QFF Platinum. Would they be able to request two seats for me to add to my OW classic award? Or will this not work?

No, I dont believe so

 

[jfl]

No, I dont believe so

Thanks, was worth a try!

 

[cjd600]

Thanks, was worth a try!

I wish it was possible!