Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[squid01]

Thanks again!

I may also include in this initial booking the flight out from Australia to KUL as there is limited availability there too. But if say I then want to change that KUL flight down the line but keep the other flight I mentioned, is there a chance that the original flight could drop off as it then needs to be re-ticketed (ie- isnt just adding on more flights but removing another flight)?

Sorry for the dumb questions here!

 

[Mr H]

Thanks again!

I may also include in this initial booking the flight out from Australia to KUL as there is limited availability there too. But if say I then want to change that KUL flight down the line but keep the other flight I mentioned, is there a chance that the original flight could drop off as it then needs to be re-ticketed (ie- isnt just adding on more flights but removing another flight)?

Sorry for the dumb questions here!

Your big risk is if you book two flights on the same airline with a layover of less than 24 hours. The two flights may get 'married' so that if you scrap one of them, you have to scrap the other one too. More than 24 hours gap or different carriers and there should be no worry about booked flights dropping off if you make changes - although incompetent agents in the overseas call centres seem to be able to make the most surprising mistakes.

 

[squid01]

Your big risk is if you book two flights on the same airline with a layover of less than 24 hours. The two flights may get 'married' so that if you scrap one of them, you have to scrap the other one too. More than 24 hours gap or different carriers and there should be no worry about booked flights dropping off if you make changes - although incompetent agents in the overseas call centres seem to be able to make the most surprising mistakes.

Thanks for the advice.

One more annoying question. If I booked just the one flight to placehold then next week want to add on just one more flight to the booking, can that be done online easily? Or will I have to deal with the call centre to add or remove any flights?

 

[Mr H]

Thanks for the advice.

One more annoying question. If I booked just the one flight to placehold then next week want to add on just one more flight to the booking, can that be done online easily? Or will I have to deal with the call centre to add or remove any flights?

Every single change will involve the call centre. And at some point QF will reintroduce the change fee - IIRC that's 6,000 points each time you change the booking, but this is on pause right now to get us booking again after Covid.

 

[cjd600]

Every single change will involve the call centre. And at some point QF will reintroduce the change fee - IIRC that's 6,000 points each time you change the booking, but this is on pause right now to get us booking again after Covid.

5000 to change, 6000 is to cancel, from memory. Still on hold until 30 June.

 

[Mr H]

5000 to change, 6000 is to cancel, from memory. Still on hold until 30 June.

You are correct - and charged per passenger.

 

[sudoer]

Technically the change/cancellation fee is supposed to apply to 2023 bookings ... but IME it's not being charged

 

[squid01]

Just booked the return leg flight now. Its only premium economy but the best I could get (rest of OWA will be J). I was thinking of putting a bunch of seat alerts on US to Aus flights for that week, see if anything pops up. Do you think that could happen or highly unlikely? Probably unlikely!

Thanks for all the help.

 

[Mr H]

Just booked the return leg flight now. Its only premium economy but the best I could get (rest of OWA will be J). I was thinking of putting a bunch of seat alerts on US to Aus flights for that week, see if anything pops up. Do you think that could happen or highly unlikely? Probably unlikely!

Thanks for all the help.

The people who seem most disappointed by OWA availability are those who want to travel to/from the US on QF metal.

 

[levelnine]

US to Aus flights

US to Aus is a hard sector to get OW reward flights. A lot of people end up routing through Asia (eg via Tokyo on JL). Something to keep in mind.

 

[Mr H]

US to Aus is a hard sector to get OW reward flights. A lot of people end up routing through Asia (eg via Tokyo on JL).

Or they go somewhere more interesting instead.

 

[cjd600]

US to Aus is a hard sector to get OW reward flights. A lot of people end up routing through Asia (eg via Tokyo on JL). Something to keep in mind.

Yeah, I have 4J on JL, SYD-HND-JFK and LAX-HND-SYD. Hopping to Europe from JFK, then back to LAX in the middle.

 

[squid01]

Or they go somewhere more interesting instead.

Spending a little time in Europe then a little in North American, making our own way through Central America to Bogotá. So the flight home has to be from US. Managed to get LAX to MEL in premium economy. There are actually One seat on each of the two daily flights to BNE but I don’t think the girlfriend would be too keen being on different flights nor would I.
No real availability via Japan too at that time, and routing there would put me well over the miles cap.

Might try and just buy an upgrade with points on that premium economy leg. Bad waste of points but I don’t really mind. Is an upgrade in that fashion hard to get?

Originally was doing this trip over 8 months in 2020 but had to cancel the day before in March when covid was blowing up. Doing a simmered down version this time over 14 weeks or so.

 

[jaseb]

If a PNR is altered are ticket numbers for all flights 'reissued'?
I had MXP-DOH-KUL booked and ticketed. I've just now added KUL-MEL.
KUL-MEL shows in MMB and CMT however ticket numbers are no longer visible for any of the flights.

 

[DC3]

KUL-MEL shows in MMB and CMT however ticket numbers are no longer visible for any of the flights.

But has it been re-ticketed yet?

 

[jaseb]

But has it been re-ticketed yet?

Additional dollars (taxes) were deducted from my bank card for the new flight but I don't see any ticket number on the new flight. More worryingly, the original flights, which prior to the call had ticket numbers attached to them now have no ticket numbers attached to them either

 

[FenderQF]

Hi Everyone, thanks to all of the great advice I have stolen over the years booking RTW trips.

Now I have another booked in J with the better half routing:
SYD - HND (JL)
HND - ORD (JL)
ORD - SJO (AA)
SJO - HEL via MIA (AA/AY)
HEL - DOH (QR)
DOH - SYD via BNE (QR/QF)

We are planning on travelling to Rovaniemi in Finland and would prefer to have the flight on the same ticket for obvious reasons, ie SJO - ROV via MIA/HEL and then the next leg being ROV - DOH via HEL. Should I risk the whole ticket and call QF to change the booking as there is now availability on connecting flights OR because of the horror stories of people losing their ticketed flights due to QF call center incompetency when changing bookings, should I just book the connecting flights and allow some extra transit time or a night in HEL? What would you guys do? Are the QF call center staff really that bad these days that this should even be a worry?

(sorry for the long winded post)

 

[Mr H]

Should I risk the whole ticket and call QF to change the booking as there is now availability on connecting flights OR because of the horror stories of people losing their ticketed flights due to QF call center incompetency when changing bookings, should I just book the connecting flights and allow some extra transit time or a night in HEL? What would you guys do? Are the QF call center staff really that bad these days that this should even be a worry?

I would call up and have the flights added, but before calling I would write down the extra flight numbers, dates, times and class. Then, when I call, I would open with "I want to add flights to an existing booking and here are the flight details...". The ones that go wrong seem to be where there is less certainty - the ones that start with "I wonder whether..." or "How can I..." or "How much would it cost to...".

But, be aware that since the special military operations started in the Ukraine, surcharges have gone up a lot - so adding flights to a pre-March booking may cause the tickets to be re-priced to the point that it would be cheaper to book revenue tickets to Rovniemi. And when you ask to compare prices and to go away and think about it, that is when bookings get lost.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Honestly it is likely going to be such a headache, why bother?

Be sure to take the train for the experience in at least one direction.

 

[DC3]

… Are the QF call center staff really that bad these days that this should even be a worry?

I suspect that you already have an answer to this.