Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[fastferret]

Time to make a booking with the exact flights wanted, then change dates only to revalidate and not trigger a re-issue/re-price!

Can you elaborate on this a little please Kangol.

I'm planning a 280k with 3 trips. DPS-Europe-SYD June-July 2020; SYD-Asia-BNE or MEL April 2021 and finishing SYD-BME May 2021.

Are you saying that I will keep the points cost to 280k + change fees but I would have to book specific flights for all of these before 18 Sep 2019, using "dummy" dates available before 18 Sep and changing to the dates I want as they become available?

My worry with this is I would be locking myself into specific routes and not have the flexibility to jump on alternates that show availability when I want to fly. I'd be stuffed if seats on my chosen flights didn't appear later for around my intended departure dates.

 

[Guvner]

Long time reader, first time poster.

After all the great advice on this thread i was able to book an OWA for my upcoming honeymoon next year.

SYD-HKG-JFK-LHR-LGW-VCE-FCO-SIN-SYD

I ended up paying just under $1600 in taxes and fees. I believe that might be on the more expensive side, but didn't want to miss out on the available seats.

Was that $1600 each or for the two of you?

 

[Familyman1]

My wife, daughter and I am about to start our first business class OWA next Monday (daughter in economy). It was a huge effort to get the award seats during school holidays. But a problem has arisen: last night I noticed that my wife has an extra letter in her first name on the e-ticket: Jaccqueline instead of Jacqueline. I rang Qantas today and got someone from the Manila office I think. He said the only solution was to cancel the ticket and the flights and re-book them. I said that I don't want to do that (knowing that it was a very dangerous think to attempt) and that I would think about it.
Based on what I have read on the web, this 1 letter mistake probably won't prevent my wife from getting on her flights. Sounds like it could cause some hold-ups at check-in/passport control which we can probably live with.
Can any experts on this issue or people with experience please advise what they would do in this situation.

 

[blacknwhite]

My wife, daughter and I am about to start our first business class OWA next Monday (daughter in economy). It was a huge effort to get the award seats during school holidays. But a problem has arisen: last night I noticed that my wife has an extra letter in her first name on the e-ticket: Jaccqueline instead of Jacqueline. I rang Qantas today and got someone from the Manila office I think. He said the only solution was to cancel the ticket and the flights and re-book them. I said that I don't want to do that (knowing that it was a very dangerous think to attempt) and that I would think about it.
Based on what I have read on the web, this 1 letter mistake probably won't prevent my wife from getting on her flights. Sounds like it could cause some hold-ups at check-in/passport control which we can probably live with.
Can any experts on this issue or people with experience please advise what they would do in this situation.

The name on the ticket has to be exactly as the name on the passport and cannot be one letter wrong.
The laws were changed in March this year.
Ring Qantas and find out how much it costs to change the name before you fly out..Should be just a name change fee not cancelling the ticket.
PS I work at the airport.

 

[madrooster]

Time to make a booking with the exact flights wanted, then change dates only to revalidate and not trigger a re-issue/re-price!

Depends on the change. See a few posts above.

Virtually all changes will trigger a re-price unless you've flown the first segment.

It's not necessarily the best thing to do to deliberately try and avoid the points rise if you aren't strapped for points.

For example if you can't get the date that you want for a given flight, you're then up for lost time / hotel costs etc. if your intention was to be elsewhere. This is especially true for smaller routes - you could be waiting a week or more.

I can understand a situation where someone has virtually cleaned their account out to get the 280k award - you don't have much choice there.

 

[Familyman1]

The name on the ticket has to be exactly as the name on the passport and cannot be one letter wrong.
The laws were changed in March this year.
Ring Qantas and find out how much it costs to change the name before you fly out..Should be just a name change fee not cancelling the ticket.
PS I work at the airport.

OK thanks. I think that correcting a typo in a name on an e-ticket would involve just paying a fee if only one airline (Qantas) is involved. But because I have used multiple airlines on my itinerary (as do most people with OWA bookings), I believe it's not as easy as just paying one fee.
Can you tell me more about the changes in March this year. Is there absolutely no flexibility at check-in now? I'm starting to think this one letter typo is going to cost me big-time if we can't start this OWA trip on Monday.

 

[blacknwhite]

OK thanks. I think that correcting a typo in a name on an e-ticket would involve just paying a fee if only one airline (Qantas) is involved. But because I have used multiple airlines on my itinerary (as do most people with OWA bookings), I believe it's not as easy as just paying one fee.
Can you tell me more about the changes in March this year. Is there absolutely no flexibility at check-in now? I'm starting to think this one letter typo is going to cost me big-time if we can't start this OWA trip on Monday.

Hi Familyman
I suggest to ring Qantas again and ask.I don’t work for them(Qantas) but l know that it changed because of the APIS-Advanced passenger information system .All airlines have to send 100%information that is sent when they swipe your passport.I think this would be the same for them.
Ring and ask Qantas what you should do.

 

[stoodamire]

Was that $1600 each or for the two of you?

Each unfortunately

 

[Familyman1]

Hi Familyman
I suggest to ring Qantas again and ask.I don’t work for them(Qantas) but l know that it changed because of the APIS-Advanced passenger information system .All airlines have to send 100%information that is sent when they swipe your passport.I think this would be the same for them.
Ring and ask Qantas what you should do.

Thanks Blacknwhite. I rang Qantas again and they told me that the only other option besides cancelling all flights and trying to re-book them is for me to contact each airline on the booking and tell them to make a note about the typo in the name. So I rang BA and was told that this is not a big problem and that Qantas just have to tell the OneWorld office about the problem so that they can then contact all 6 airlines on my booking to get them to correct the typo. My problem now is going to be getting Qantas to do that (given that none of the Qantas reps I have spoken to have considered that option). I'm on hold now to qantas so I'm just hoping I get a competent rep.

 

[appaz]

Thanks Blacknwhite. I rang Qantas again and they told me that the only other option besides cancelling all flights and trying to re-book them is for me to contact each airline on the booking and tell them to make a note about the typo in the name. So I rang BA and was told that this is not a big problem and that Qantas just have to tell the OneWorld office about the problem so that they can then contact all 6 airlines on my booking to get them to correct the typo. My problem now is going to be getting Qantas to do that (given that none of the Qantas reps I have spoken to have considered that option). I'm on hold now to qantas so I'm just hoping I get a competent rep.

Qantas customer service is terrible, the phone centre is a joke and the latest QFF "enhancements" laughable, business class sub standard, catering getting worse and worse. The cost cutting never ends, $300+ million profit annually from QFF apparently isn't enough!

After my next 2x OWA bookings I'm done with QFF

 

[fastferret]

I'm quickly throwing together a 280k to Europe next June/July to beat the program changes.
This morning I've booked ;-
SYD-HKG-BKK CX
BKK-DOH-MLA QR
MLA-LGW & LHR-CFU BA

Late July I hope to book
CFU-LHR BA
MXP-DOH-SIN QR
SIN-SYD QF, CX or other alternatives

LGW-LHR is less than 24 hours so I understand this counts as a transfer. Can anyone confirm this?

 

[Kangol]

Virtually all changes will trigger a re-price unless you've flown the first segment.

It's not necessarily the best thing to do to deliberately try and avoid the points rise if you aren't strapped for points.

For example if you can't get the date that you want for a given flight, you're then up for lost time / hotel costs etc. if your intention was to be elsewhere. This is especially true for smaller routes - you could be waiting a week or more.

I can understand a situation where someone has virtually cleaned their account out to get the 280k award - you don't have much choice there.

I've not made changes to bookings after the first segment, but have done so before flying the first segment, where only a date change has resulted in a "straight swap" (their words) and no re-pricing. Can't remember if the ticket number changed.

Are you saying flying the first segment, then making changes, would be beneficial in this regard?

 

[madrooster]

I've not made changes to bookings after the first segment, but have done so before flying the first segment, where only a date change has resulted in a "straight swap" (their words) and no re-pricing. Can't remember if the ticket number changed.

Are you saying flying the first segment, then making changes, would be beneficial in this regard?

The rules are that if you haven't flown the first segment the whole thing gets repriced as of the date you make the change. Now whilst it is true that many staff take the lazy route and don't reprice it - you can't exactly guarantee that you would get someone who doesn't reprice it.

Once a ticket is partially flown, you always backdate to historical pricing. This is an industry wide rule and it applies to all tickets. It protects you as far as fuel fines, taxes and even exchange rate.

 

[madrooster]

LGW-LHR is less than 24 hours so I understand this counts as a transfer. Can anyone confirm this?

Correct it'd be a transit and will not attract APD. Whilst you are nowhere near 16 segments, please be mindful of the fact a LGW-LHR transfer uses up 1 segment despite being a transit.

 

[fastferret]

Thanks. That's great. I didn't want it to be a stopover as I want to spend a couple of days in Singapore.

 

[motef]

Does anybody have any experience about reward availability from SIN to MLE in J?

I cant find any J availability on UL for SIN to CMB and only one seat in J on CMB to MLE.

Are there any other routes possible or is UL availability released at different times?

Thanks

 

[Daver6]

Does anybody have any experience about reward availability from SIN to MLE in J?

I cant find any J availability on UL for SIN to CMB and only one seat in J on CMB to MLE.

Are there any other routes possible or is UL availability released at different times?

Thanks

CX flies between HKG and MLE, but I don't think it is daily. Another option is QR via DOH.

I landed up booking MLE - CMB in Y and then CX J CMB - HKG - PER.

 

[Kangol]

The rules are that if you haven't flown the first segment the whole thing gets repriced as of the date you make the change. Now whilst it is true that many staff take the lazy route and don't reprice it - you can't exactly guarantee that you would get someone who doesn't reprice it.

Once a ticket is partially flown, you always backdate to historical pricing. This is an industry wide rule and it applies to all tickets. It protects you as far as fuel fines, taxes and even exchange rate.

Oh! So helpful, thanks.

 

[Familyman1]

Thanks Blacknwhite. I rang Qantas again and they told me that the only other option besides cancelling all flights and trying to re-book them is for me to contact each airline on the booking and tell them to make a note about the typo in the name. So I rang BA and was told that this is not a big problem and that Qantas just have to tell the OneWorld office about the problem so that they can then contact all 6 airlines on my booking to get them to correct the typo. My problem now is going to be getting Qantas to do that (given that none of the Qantas reps I have spoken to have considered that option). I'm on hold now to qantas so I'm just hoping I get a competent rep.

The latest on this issue is that I finally got lucky and was put through to the Australian Qantas office and was told that they can't do a "name correction" on my booking because certain airlines that I am using (Qatar & Malaysian) don't allow it. The only "solution" is for me to cancel the booking and re-book. This is obviously not a viable option because the seats probably would not be available after cancelling so I asked to talk to the call centre supervisor. She confirmed this.
So we now have to decide if we cancel our entire trip and cop the loss of $11000 in pre-booked holiday arrangements that can't be cancelled, or take the chance that we will get on the flights with the extra letter in my wife's first name on her eticket.
At least if we cancel now, we would save the 600,000 points and $4000 in taxes and fees from our flight bookings. If we are refused boarding during our trip we would lose that, plus have to pay for our flights home.
So there is a lot at stake here but I think we will start our OWA on Monday and hope logic prevails and a one-letter typo in an eticket doesn't cost us $20000 and 600,000 points. Wish us luck.
The message here for people with OWA bookings: check your eTickets carefully and early.

 

[flapper]

I'm quickly throwing together a 280k to Europe next June/July to beat the program changes.
This morning I've booked ;-
SYD-HKG-BKK CX
BKK-DOH-MLA QR
MLA-LGW & LHR-CFU BA

Late July I hope to book
CFU-LHR BA
MXP-DOH-SIN QR
SIN-SYD QF, CX or other alternatives

LGW-LHR is less than 24 hours so I understand this counts as a transfer. Can anyone confirm this?

Flying MLA to CFU via LGW & LHR with I assume an overnight stop at LHR seems a contrived way to get to CFU. Wouldn't it be easier to take a more direct route by buying a ticket? It will certainly save time, hassle and no overnight accommodation at LHR to pay for. I find it easier not to obsess and only take flights on the OWA if it is too much hassle to fly between the destinations I want to go to. Either that or I only go to destinations that are easy to get to on OW airlines.