Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[DC3]

Surprisingly no. I believe they are still not operating.

I read where one had recently reopened, but not sure whether it was Manila or Cape Town.

 

[Maybloomer]

If you can get to the credit card entry page, you're looking good! Look forward to hearing about your itinerary and trip.

Thanks. Started the ball rolling the other day with an online booking. J class Sydney-Doha via Hong Kong for late June 2021. Few days in Doha then Doha-Moscow. Finalised the booking there until the next legs become available in 3-4 few weeks when I should be able to add to the itinerary free (under Oct 31 deadline)

Tickets came through after 2 days (a really really friendly Qantas rep rang ME apologising for the delay, an issue at their end). Next step is to book Copenhagen-Madrid-Mexico City-Tokyo-Sydney (Moscow-Copenhagen via trains and ferries). I did have trouble dummy booking Latin America cities online but will try through the phone, otherwise it’ll be Dallas-Tokyo, own flights from Mexico-Dallas

Booked as a Gold FF member.

 

[DC3]

.... J class Sydney-Doha via Hong Kong ....

Tickets came through after 2 days (a really really friendly Qantas rep rang ME apologising for the delay, an issue at their end) ....

Monitoring e-ticket issue is very important. Whenever my e-tickets have not come through within about 30 minutes, there has always been “an issue at their end”. Not to say that e-tickets cannot be delayed in the queue for some valid reason, but well worth watching, because without the e-ticket you have nothing. Particularly important with some airlines, as they may drop-off within 24 hours, or so.

 

[Maybloomer]

Monitoring e-ticket issue is very important. Whenever my e-tickets have not come through within about 30 minutes, there has always been “an issue at their end”. Not to say that e-tickets cannot be delayed in the queue for some valid reason, but well worth watching, because without the e-ticket you have nothing. Particularly important with some airlines, as they may drop-off within 24 hours, or so.

Yep, sigh of relief when they come through. The issue was that they had originally assigned a lesser point value to the booking than it should’ve been, about 25K points less. Moot issue as it’ll cap out at 318K once I finish my itinerary and the agent confirmed as such.

 

[Ktan89]

Booked as a Gold FF member.

No wonder they contact you back. If it was a lowly bronze, they would've just waited until you started wondering.

Hope all goes well. Sounds like a good itinerary

 

[Kangol]

Has anyone received an outcome from their TI about cancelled partially flown OWA itineraries?
Or still in the process of finalising the claim?
Mine turned out as expected.

 

[get me outta here]

There is a general thread on TI refunds.

Has anyone received an outcome from their TI about cancelled partially flown OWA itineraries?
Or still in the process of finalising the claim?
Mine turned out as expected.

 

[Maybloomer]

No wonder they contact you back. If it was a lowly bronze, they would've just waited until you started wondering.

Hope all goes well. Sounds like a good itinerary

Thanks. Just hope we're all flying in 12 months time. Pleasing thing so far is that I could go to the Cathay and Qatar websites and enter the Qantas booking Ref No and see our booking - including the option to select seats on Cathay and seat preference (aisle or window) on Qatar. After entering the preference, we were given what was probably indicative seat numbers (e.g. 5A and 4B on HGK-DOH which seem like Q-Suites with some luck)

 

[ozflier]

Qatar fly their 777 with suites from HKG to Doha and certainly are scheduled to do so next Feb and March.
Your seats are on the side and back to back .
There are options to have side side seating centrally eg 3E /F - they can be virtually be converted to a double bed.(SeatGuru Seat Map Qatar Airways)
However , you need to contact Qatar to arrange this - ie cannot be done on line.

 

[soh]

Looks like I have managed to extend my J trip >12 months. First sector was AKL-HKG in December 2019 and my final sector was to be a SYD-SIN-SYD on BA in September 2020. Got an email from QF last week advising they had cancelled my final BA flights and to give them a call. Asked the question if I could extend the date due to COVID and they said my ticket was valid through to May 21. Opted for dates in April 21 for NSW school holidays and new tickets were issued. I still doubt I will be using them in April but I was surprised to see the date extension.

 

[garvani]

Can someone explain why LATAM is still appearing in searches? AFAIK they left oneworld 2 months ago. Still seeing them as an available option for a booking in July 2021 from Santiago to Auckland.....
Edit: So i went to the LATAM site and found this:

We know how important it is for you to maintain your benefits and the level of your experience. For this reason we are working so that, after the departure of oneworld, agreements with most airlines (British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian, S7Airlines and SriLankan Airlines) are maintained.

These benefits are:

• Access to their destination network
• VIP Lounge access
• Agreements for earning and redeeming miles
• Recognition of elite members and delivery of associated benefits

Does that mean we can still actually use them for RTW bookings?

 

[There'sOnlyOneJimmy]

Can someone explain why LATAM is still appearing in searches? AFAIK they left oneworld 2 months ago. Still seeing them as an available option for a booking in July 2021 from Santiago to Auckland.....

I think that LATAM is still a Qantas Partner, even though it’s no longer a OneWorld member.
So you can still use QFF points to book on LATAM, but not as part of a OW Classic Award.
One option is to book the LATAM leg(s) outside of the OWCA itinerary as a ‘Surface Sector’.

 

[garvani]

Ahh ok gotcha, thanks for that. Unfortunately thats a rather long surface sector and i won't have the miles, this will need to be part of the OWCA.
Right upto my bronze availability on the 9th July 2021 theres a meager selection of Qantas flights (via Syd) and all of them are economy only. However im not actually needing to book for July 2021, this actual flight will occur April 2022 (just going through my planning for the 100th time), hopefully in the next 10 months some J availability opens up

 

[GaryLG]

A few questions I hope I haven't missed the answers to.

1. I was testing some itineraries and got Emirates flights included as Qantas code shares.

I know Emirates isn't part of OW but are these okay to use? Any issues or problems?

2. I'm thinking of a split trip (first half mainly Europe, second Japan/Asia and being Melbourne based I thought I might get either leave from Melbourne and end in say Singapore for the first half and then buy a separate ticket to Melbourne return and then the second half of the trip.

So firstly, is that better or would it be better to start by flying to Singapore on a separate ticket and making Singapore the launch point of my OWA?

Or should I choose a different city?

Lastly, if I started in Singapore (or wherever), could I fly in and out of Melbourne several times and not fly the last leg on my OWA itinerary?

Thanks

 

[DC3]

... I was testing some itineraries and got Emirates flights included as Qantas code shares.

I know Emirates isn't part of OW but are these okay to use? Any issues or problems?

2. I'm thinking of a split trip (first half mainly Europe, second Japan/Asia and being Melbourne based I thought I might get either leave from Melbourne and end in say Singapore for the first half and then buy a separate ticket to Melbourne return and then the second half of the trip.

So firstly, is that better or would it be better to start by flying to Singapore on a separate ticket and making Singapore the launch point of my OWA?

Or should I choose a different city?

Lastly, if I started in Singapore (or wherever), could I fly in and out of Melbourne several times and not fly the last leg on my OWA itinerary?

oneworld airlines, only. No partners (such as EK, LATAM, WS)

Keep in mind that for any city, you may transit twice, plus stop-over once, except for the origin city. When you return to the origin, your trip is finished.

You may only depart once from the city/country of origin.

Although you are meant to fly all segments, perhaps at least let the airline know that you are ‘unable’ to take the final flight, as a courtesy. I’m unsure of the legalities.

Edited

 

[ozflier]

2. I'm thinking of a split trip (first half mainly Europe, second Japan/Asia and being Melbourne based I thought I might get either leave from Melbourne and end in say Singapore for the first half and then buy a separate ticket to Melbourne return and then the second half of the trip.
This is similar to what I am hoping to do next year - Sydney to europe back to Singapore paid fares to Sydney and back to Singapore and then back to the OWA, spend some time in Asia and China then back home.
Another option for a mid point is Auckland - closer flying time to Australia but a long trek ( ie lots of miles) onto Europe. Maybe ok if one of the trips is to the Americas.

 

[flychrisfly]

Lastly, if I started in Singapore (or wherever), could I fly in and out of Melbourne several times and not fly the last leg on my OWA itinerary?

You don't have to fly back to your starting point but the distance to that point will still be counted. Just don't book it.

 

[GaryLG]

oneworld airlines, only. No partners (such as EK, LATAM, WS)

I understand that. Just the first time I tried a trial run I thought I was getting EK flights with QF codes though that didn't happen just now. Maybe wishful thinking!

Keep in mind that for any city, you may transit twice, plus stop-over once, except for the origin city. When you return to the origin, your trip is finished.

You may only depart once from the city/country of origin.

Okay so just to make it more precise

Let's say I book a one way flight to Singapore and start there.
End to Europe and fly back to Melbourne

9 months later leave Melbourne for Japan and then fly back to Melbourne and stay.

I've checked mileage and even including a return to Singapore it is fine.

Although you are meant to fly all segments, perhaps at least let the airline know that you are ‘unable’ to take the final flight, as a courtesy. I’m unsure of the legalities.

Edited

As flychrisfly suggests I won't book it if I don't need to.

Does that all sound fine?

 

[GaryLG]

This is similar to what I am hoping to do next year - Sydney to europe back to Singapore paid fares to Sydney and back to Singapore and then back to the OWA, spend some time in Asia and China then back home.
Another option for a mid point is Auckland - closer flying time to Australia but a long trek ( ie lots of miles) onto Europe. Maybe ok if one of the trips is to the Americas.

Thanks.

I'm still weighing up whether to try next year or wait till 2022.

I don't think Auckland is the best option for me but I am open to alternatives to SIN. Maybe KL or CGK or DPS?

 

[DC3]

.... Does that all sound fine?

SIN-(xx_/yyy in Europe)-zzz-MEL-Japan-MEL. Seems all good As long as you can get availability for the flights/routes that you are planning to take and that you are happy with the mileage cap and the other rules.

And no transit in SIN of course.

Once booked, you may make as many changes to the booking until 31/10/20 without penalty, according to QF.