Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[Danger]

I'm planning to book the below RTW trip (business class) for the end of next year:

1. MEL-CMB via SriLankan Airlines - stop 1
2. CMB-DOH-AMM via SriLankan Airlines/Royal Jordanian - stop 2
3. AMM-CAI - surface sector
4. CAI-LHR-HEL via British Airways/Finnair (Economy) - stop 3
5. HEL-DOH-JFK via Qatar Airways - stop 4
6. JFK-MIA-EZE via American Airlines - stop 5
7. SCL-MEL via Qantas?

All the flights are available for booking on the Qantas website except for the last 2 segments. The JFK-MIA and MIA-EZE flight don't seem to be available until next month (furthest date shown is early Nov). The SCL-MEL flight seems to be very unavailable right now. The most far out I can find is in August and it's the SCL-SYD-MEL with Qantas.

Does this sound like a good plan:

1. Book all the flights up until the JFK-MIA-EZE segment
2. Pay 5k points next month to add the JFK-MIA-EZE segment
3. Pay another 5k points when the final leg (SCL-MEL) becomes available (might not be until middle of next year from the looks of it)

I'm a bit worried about the SCL-MEL route. Does anyone know how flight availability for this route will look like next year given LATAM has exited Oneworld? I'm hoping for a flight back to Melbourne either on a Friday or Saturday.

Thank you.

FIrst, it looks like you just scrape in on the mileage front at 34,796 according to gcmap.com. However, SCL-MEL is only operated by LATAM and by the time you fly the airline will no longer be a oneworld member which means you will need to look at an alternate route as it won't be possible to include it a new booking (or change the affected flight on an existing booking) once it says goodbye. South America to Australia doesn't give many options, the only easy one being SCL-SYD on QF. However, you don't have the mileage to add in the SYD-MEL, even as a surface sector. If you changed CAI-LHR-HEL to something like CAI-CPH/MUC/FRA/TXL-HEL, you'd save a few miles, as would flying out of AMM (i.e. returning to AMM after CAI but on your dime, as a separate flight). The biggest mileage saver would be by flying HEL-JFK direct or even HEL-ORD-JFK. Other options that I suspect would save quite a few miles include HEL-MAD/LHR/FCO/CDG/MXP/BCN-JFK.

As to your questions, yes, book all the flights now to lock them in. Yes, pay the 5K change fee when the other flights become available but my guess is North America-South America are popular routes so you may need to be flexible with routings which will require having some miles up your sleeve. And, yes, you could proceed with booking the SCL-MEL on LA once it becomes available. However, once LA leaves oneworld you would not be able to touch that flight, other than drop it for an entire new flight using a oneworld airline.

 

[DC3]

Hesitation often results in losing availability for the proposed dates. Someone else will take them.

The OneWorld Award is very generous, considering what is provided. The change cost of 5,000 points/passenger/phone call is minimal, really.

 

[acinod]

FIrst, it looks like you just scrape in on the mileage front at 34,796 according to gcmap.com. However, SCL-MEL is only operated by LATAM and by the time you fly the airline will no longer be a oneworld member which means you will need to look at an alternate route as it won't be possible to include it a new booking (or change the affected flight on an existing booking) once it says goodbye. South America to Australia doesn't give many options, the only easy one being SCL-SYD on QF. However, you don't have the mileage to add in the SYD-MEL, even as a surface sector. If you changed CAI-LHR-HEL to something like CAI-CPH/MUC/FRA/TXL-HEL, you'd save a few miles, as would flying out of AMM (i.e. returning to AMM after CAI but on your dime, as a separate flight). The biggest mileage saver would be by flying HEL-JFK direct or even HEL-ORD-JFK. Other options that I suspect would save quite a few miles include HEL-MAD/LHR/FCO/CDG/MXP/BCN-JFK.

As to your questions, yes, book all the flights now to lock them in. Yes, pay the 5K change fee when the other flights become available but my guess is North America-South America are popular routes so you may need to be flexible with routings which will require having some miles up your sleeve. And, yes, you could proceed with booking the SCL-MEL on LA once it becomes available. However, once LA leaves oneworld you would not be able to touch that flight, other than drop it for an entire new flight using a oneworld airline.

Good pick up on the mileage being over if I do SCL-SYD-MEL instead of SCL-MEL (which seems to be almost certain looking at historical Friday/Saturday availability).

For a lot of the routes you mentioned, I can't seem to find them on the Qantas website (e.g. CAI-CPH/MUC/FRA/TXL-HEL)

The reason I booked HEL-DOH-JFK is because the HEL-JFK direct is only available in economy and is a long flight. The tax is only $185 more but I trade a night in New York for essentially free accommodation on the best business class flight. How is the HEL-JFK economy flight?

I think what I can do is fly CAI-ATH and then ATH-HEL (only available Tue/Fri) on the Aegean using my own money. This would put me to 33,659 miles since AMM-HEL would count as a surface sector. Could that work? The added benefit is I also get another stopover.

EDIT: Also how come for MIA-EZE, the direct flight appears when I just search one-way but doesn't show when I add it to a multi-trip itinerary (e.g. on 5 Nov)? Will I be ok if I call up to book?

 

[mrsterryn]

Just booked Syd Europe to USA and back home
Legs included first, business and premium economy on the last leg home from Tokyo
Now I can just monitor daily to see if another better leg turns for the return leg home ?
I have capped out at 455000
So the only cost would be 5000 points ?
I have finally spent almost all of my points

 

[There'sOnlyOneJimmy]

Just booked Syd Europe to USA and back home
Legs included first, business and premium economy on the last leg home from Tokyo
Now I can just monitor daily to see if another better leg turns for the return leg home ?
I have capped out at 455000
So the only cost would be 5000 points ?
I have finally spent almost all of my points

Correct: Only 5,000 points per passenger, regardless of how many changes/additions/deletions you make to the itinerary during the one call.
However, there may also be a money cost/benefit if the fees/fines/taxes/carrier charges/etc. change as a result of the changes you make.

 

[onetonnerodeo]

Evening all. New member here, first post so go easy on me

I've almost accumulated all the points I need to give this multi-trip ticket a crack, be great if someone could give their thoughts on my planned itinerary, including any suggestions, hiccups, etc. The stumbling block is basically the second 'section'. I would prefer "option 1", but there are no direct flights showing between GRU-BOG and most transits are via Miami or Madrid, which defies logic and adds high unnecessary 'miles'.

I realise "option 2" basically backtracks me, and involves a HUGE ground journey, albeit would cover off some anticipated plans for sightseeing along the way (i.e. salt flats, Atacama). If I were to 'stop' in SCL on the way over from Melb and go by ground north and then east, I'd run out of stopovers for the entire trip as I'd probably need to 'use' one from EZE or MVD to get to GRU. As context, there will be a lot of extended time in certain places, as opposed to trying to leverage the 24hr transit legs.
-----------

Option 1	Option 2
MEL-SCL-MVD (airport transit)	MEL-SCL-GRU (airport transit)
GRU - MIA(?)- BOG (airport transit)	ANF - LIM - BOG (airport transit)

--*either of the above options continue as follows*--
BOG - MIA
JFK - BCN
AMS - HKG - BKK
BKK - MEL
​

*edit - as a final note, all LATAM flights expected before Oct phase out

 

[squid01]

Have almost worked out the specifics of my flights and looking to book within the next week or so.

All the flights are available through the qantas site. I search each leg individually and can go to the next page and see taxes etc. but when I plug them all into the multi city search to string it together, I get an error message saying something about no availability. It lets me select each of the exact same flights, points cap out then I try to go to the next page but get that error.

Also, would I be correct in saying the sum of the taxes when I search each individual leg would be the exact same as when they are all together in a oneworld award?

The flight from JFK to ATH has very high taxes ($540 for two people on Iberia). Is this because of Iberia or because flying out of JFK?

 

[exceladdict]

Evening all. New member here, first post so go easy on me

I've almost accumulated all the points I need to give this multi-trip ticket a crack, be great if someone could give their thoughts on my planned itinerary, including any suggestions, hiccups, etc. The stumbling block is basically the second 'section'. I would prefer "option 1", but there are no direct flights showing between GRU-BOG and most transits are via Miami or Madrid, which defies logic and adds high unnecessary 'miles'.

I realise "option 2" basically backtracks me, and involves a HUGE ground journey, albeit would cover off some anticipated plans for sightseeing along the way (i.e. salt flats, Atacama). If I were to 'stop' in SCL on the way over from Melb and go by ground north and then east, I'd run out of stopovers for the entire trip as I'd probably need to 'use' one from EZE or MVD to get to GRU. As context, there will be a lot of extended time in certain places, as opposed to trying to leverage the 24hr transit legs.
-----------

Option 1	Option 2
MEL-SCL-MVD (airport transit)	MEL-SCL-GRU (airport transit)
GRU - MIA(?)- BOG (airport transit)	ANF - LIM - BOG (airport transit)

--*either of the above options continue as follows*--
BOG - MIA
JFK - BCN
AMS - HKG - BKK
BKK - MEL
​

*edit - as a final note, all LATAM flights expected before Oct phase out

I'm not too familiar with south America, so will leave that to the experts, but welcome and no need to be scared - it's a bit nicer than whingepool, reddit or ozbargain here

Have almost worked out the specifics of my flights and looking to book within the next week or so.

All the flights are available through the qantas site. I search each leg individually and can go to the next page and see taxes etc. but when I plug them all into the multi city search to string it together, I get an error message saying something about no availability. It lets me select each of the exact same flights, points cap out then I try to go to the next page but get that error.

Also, would I be correct in saying the sum of the taxes when I search each individual leg would be the exact same as when they are all together in a oneworld award?

The flight from JFK to ATH has very high taxes ($540 for two people on Iberia). Is this because of Iberia or because flying out of JFK?

1. Does it go to the pricing page correctly to show taxes? If not, I'd suggest it is a phantom availability issue. Wait an hour, clear cache, try again (to ensure your previous sessions aren't holding seats). If still no good I'd suggest one or more legs aren't actually open. You can validate this according to BA, AA or by contacting the call centre. Note that if you do book via call centre, you should ask for fee to be waived because website didn't work.
Edit: If you suspect a particular leg is causing it try leaving that leg off and see if you can book it. Of course it could just be the website struggling, too.
2. Taxes are not necessarily the sum of the parts (in most cases will certainly not be). Airlines charge different fees depending on your start location, which determines policies and taxes. For example starting in Australia is one of the most expensive. MNL is the cheapest origin last time I did an in depth comparison
3. It has been some time since I checked an Iberia flight but yes found their taxes to be ridiculous in some cases (jfk-mad if I recall correctly)

 

[squid01]

1. Does it go to the pricing page correctly to show taxes? If not, I'd suggest it is a phantom availability issue. Wait an hour, clear cache, try again (to ensure your previous sessions aren't holding seats). If still no good I'd suggest one or more legs aren't actually open. You can validate this according to BA, AA or by contacting the call centre. Note that if you do book via call centre, you should ask for fee to be waived because website didn't work.
Edit: If you suspect a particular leg is causing it try leaving that leg off and see if you can book it. Of course it could just be the website struggling, too.

I changed the route and it will now go through to the booking/taxes page when I try to book all at once to make the full award.

However the taxes seem kind of high.....for the below itinerary I am getting $2,686.14 in taxes for two people ($1,343.07 each). This is all in economy. When I search the legs individually it comes to approx $1,867.00 for two people. So for it to jump another thousand just when I string all the flights together seems like a crazy jump, there must be something I am missing?

Can I get some advice on how I can minimise the taxes here please? (Note: all taxes figures in the below are for two people).

2. Taxes are not necessarily the sum of the parts (in most cases will certainly not be). Airlines charge different fees depending on your start location, which determines policies and taxes. For example starting in Australia is one of the most expensive. MNL is the cheapest origin last time I did an in depth comparison
3. It has been some time since I checked an Iberia flight but yes found their taxes to be ridiculous in some cases (jfk-mad if I recall correctly)

Would it make any difference if I booked the award through the Qantas site but used a VPN to make it think I am in another country (which may calculate differently)? Or am I missing the point there completely? haha

 

[onetonnerodeo]

thanks for the welcome exceladdict - all good, I'm sure in time someone might have some advice on the itinerary, otherwise, happy to chance it, haha

squid01 - just a general observation, I believe Qantas and Qatar are two of the most expensive airlines for taxes based on the routes you anticipate on flying. On the SYD-LAX route have you noticed any AA flights? That might help lower taxes by a bit if I'm not mistaken. As for Rome-KL, you might want to see if Malaysia Airlines has anything in/around that date, although that might mean a long flight. I think you could save a bit if either of those options come up, but as you'll notice, I'm fairly new here myself so don't take my word for it

edit - of course, Qantas/Qatar service/convenience may be more important to you than any potential tax savings

 

[squid01]

thanks for the welcome exceladdict - all good, I'm sure in time someone might have some advice on the itinerary, otherwise, happy to chance it, haha

squid01 - just a general observation, I believe Qantas and Qatar are two of the most expensive airlines for taxes based on the routes you anticipate on flying. On the SYD-LAX route have you noticed any AA flights? That might help lower taxes by a bit if I'm not mistaken. As for Rome-KL, you might want to see if Malaysia Airlines has anything in/around that date, although that might mean a long flight. I think you could save a bit if either of those options come up, but as you'll notice, I'm fairly new here myself so don't take my word for it

edit - of course, Qantas/Qatar service/convenience may be more important to you than any potential tax savings

Thanks! I was aware about that with Qantas but wasn’t sure with Qatar.

Unfortunately my route for Rome to KL only has Qatar and BA. I search on the Qantas, JAL and BA sites for availability.

I heard BA is bad for taxes too,are they worse than Qatar? It would mean going via London too which may put me over the miles limit.

Hoping someone has some creative work around to see how I can minimise my taxes. Am flexible with dates and specific cities. And am baffled as to why there is a $1k difference in tax when I do them individually and when I do them all together?

 

[exceladdict]

Can a wiki be created for this thread? If so, I'm happy to give it a go, provided some of the members more informed on this product can double-check.

There used to be one and it's now here: Oneworld Award (140K/280K/420K) Planning (wiki content) | Australian Frequent Flyer

 

[exceladdict]

squid01 - just a general observation, I believe Qantas and Qatar are two of the most expensive airlines for taxes based on the routes you anticipate on flying. On the SYD-LAX route have you noticed any AA flights? That might help lower taxes by a bit if I'm not mistaken. As for Rome-KL, you might want to see if Malaysia Airlines has anything in/around that date, although that might mean a long flight. I think you could save a bit if either of those options come up, but as you'll notice, I'm fairly new here myself so don't take my word for it

edit - of course, Qantas/Qatar service/convenience may be more important to you than any potential tax savings

Thanks! I was aware about that with Qantas but wasn’t sure with Qatar.

Unfortunately my route for Rome to KL only has Qatar and BA. I search on the Qantas, JAL and BA sites for availability.

I heard BA is bad for taxes too,are they worse than Qatar? It would mean going via London too which may put me over the miles limit.

Hoping someone has some creative work around to see how I can minimise my taxes. Am flexible with dates and specific cities. And am baffled as to why there is a $1k difference in tax when I do them individually and when I do them all together?

Have a look at the old wiki (linked above) which has some outlined surcharges that @madrooster (iirc) helped collate. Most of those are in J/F but it shows you a comparison. In summary, yes, Qatar are very expensive.

Would it make any difference if I booked the award through the Qantas site but used a VPN to make it think I am in another country (which may calculate differently)? Or am I missing the point there completely? haha

unfortunately, no, it's based on the city of departure. If you depart Australia first, you pay the Australia fees and taxes....

I changed the route and it will now go through to the booking/taxes page when I try to book all at once to make the full award.

However the taxes seem kind of high.....for the below itinerary I am getting $2,686.14 in taxes for two people ($1,343.07 each). This is all in economy. When I search the legs individually it comes to approx $1,867.00 for two people. So for it to jump another thousand just when I string all the flights together seems like a crazy jump, there must be something I am missing?

Can I get some advice on how I can minimise the taxes here please? (Note: all taxes figures in the below are for two people).

As mentioned, it's the Australia tax. When you search the legs individually, you get the Australia tax for the flights departing AU; then the US tax for your trip to Mexico; Mexico for your trip to New York, and so on. So they don't add up to the overall cost.

If you want to work out the cost of the flights incrementally from the AU point of sale you can build the multi step trip one by one; however it won't be representative of any fees or charges that only apply once per itinerary, so your early flights may appear more expensive.

Your options are:
1. Start the award overseas - see this write up for examples why & how
2. Within your mileage limit, try removing the expensive airlines - as @onetonnerodeo suggested, try replacing the Qantas SYD<>LAX with an AA flight, see if you can swap that QR flight - you could do CX via HKG, JL via NRT, UL via CMB, etc. You may need to be flexible within Europe - maybe flying AY up to HEL first, flying them to Asia, and then connecting to an MH flight to KUL

These are very complicated products, and it can be tricky to get the most value. Hope these replies will help a little.

 

[_TheTraveller_]

Another experience with ex-MNL being re-priced, wanted to change my dates and my taxes went up from $729 to $1248. Not sure if it was worth it but it's all done now...

 

[exceladdict]

Another experience with ex-MNL being re-priced, wanted to change my dates and my taxes went up from $729 to $1248. Not sure if it was worth it but it's all done now...

That's ridiculous. $500?! I would write a complaint, if it's seriously only a date change

 

[_TheTraveller_]

That's ridiculous. $500?! I would write a complaint, if it's seriously only a date change

My apologies. I made some minor changes to the itinerary but I always thought taxes for AA flights were dirt cheap

MNL-SYD-BNE/BNE-ORD-SEA/SFO-SYD/SYD-HKG-cough/TYO-SGN/SGN-HKG-MNL to

MNL-SYD-BNE/BNE-ORD-YYC/SFO-SYD/SYD-HKG-cough/TYO-SGN/SGN-HKG-MNL.

Still on the phone as we speak but I'm hoping to request a breakdown of my taxes.

 

[exceladdict]

Wow. Wonder if it might be cheaper for you to book sea-yyc cash?!

If you're able to get a breakdown per flight, and compare it to before the changes, that would be very interesting to see. I wasn't given the info.

 

[Danger]

There used to be one and it's now here: Oneworld Award (140K/280K/420K) Planning (wiki content) | Australian Frequent Flyer

I wonder if that could be at the top of this thread. Isn't that where wikis usually go?

If there's an existing wiki, it doesn't seem like there's a need for another one.

I did try to open that page but got an AFF pop-up asking me to disable my ad blocker or add AFF to the whitelist, something I've never received before when logged in and with the premium subscription.

 

[exceladdict]

I wonder if that could be at the top of this thread. Isn't that where wikis usually go?

If there's an existing wiki, it doesn't seem like there's a need for another one.

I did try to open that page but got an AFF pop-up asking me to disable my ad blocker or add AFF to the whitelist, something I've never received before when logged in and with the premium subscription.

@support I believe wikis have changed with the move to xenforo? is there a better way we can keep this content accessible?

 

[support]

@support I believe wikis have changed with the move to xenforo? is there a better way we can keep this content accessible?

The page linked is a gazette page and isn't guaranteed ad-free for Silver/Gold subscribers. The only pages guaranteed ad-free are the community forums, because these are the Xenforo pages.

We did have the wiki running in Xenforo initially, but in the more recent update from April it wasn't ready yet and we found the wiki to be under utilised anyway. If there is demand for a collaboratively edited post/page then we shall look into it, but it was fairly niche when it was operational.

I do note that page is partially out of date, but it is maintained by the same team who run Frequent Flyer Solutions, so I would guess the focus has been on webinars and Award Flight Assist instead.

The best idea right now might be to report the first post with details of what needs to be updated, bearing in mind a moderator can copy and paste content but isn't likely to take directions to find the information themselves. If you are able to provide the whole text that should be replaced, it can be done so for easy access by others.