Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[Warragul]

It is a trade-off between 1 and 2.

If you have a large number of points that you're happy to burn on change fees, option 2 is the safest. If you are tight on points, you may need to gamble and take option 1.

Also remember that flight award availability is scarce and unpredictable. You may struggle to get flights on NRT-MEL for example because QF/JL are not reliably releasing seats into/out of Australia — some days they are, some days they are not.

The fewer phone calls you make means fewer chances for stuff ups as well.

My experience was to book leg by leg as they became available, though. I had watched the likely flights for a few days or a week before intended travel date to try to get a handle on what becomes available and how long they were lasting. For me the criticial ones (long distance) were disappearing within hours of appearing so thought it safer to get them as soon as.

These were on QF/JL/AT who first release seats around the 350 day mark ( for those lucky to have Status of gold and up), so other carriers like AA weren't in the mix. Naturally something may come up much closer to travel date, but didn't want to take that chance.

I did all the booking in Sept/Oct and didn't get hit with the 5K change fee for adding flights, which the fine print to that offer doesn't say is eligible for the 'free' change. So maybe it is or maybe I had a bit of luck. I don't think there is one 'perfect' way of getting this done, a better web site would help though. I managed to to pretty much get what I wanted and when, a few cities that were not the first choice but places new to us and excited for the journey to commence.

CBR-SYD-JFK
JFK-CMN
CMN-BCN-AMM
AMM-FRA
FRA-NRT
ITM-HND-SYD-CBR

Midnight UTC seems to be when initial availability pops up each day, although I had several contact centre staff they couldn't see the flights for a few hours after that - whether true or user error I don't know.

 

[levelnine]

For anyone looking for those rare business class seats into/out of Australia, Qantas has loaded a heap of award availability on its restarted HKG flights from February 2023.

 

[PaulyB]

Always learning....
Is there any known way around a connected series of flights with JAL on a OWA Business Class booking? I just tried canceling 2 legs that are not needed and have discovered that my entire return journey from Helsinki with JAL would need to be canceled because they are all connected.
I don't mind but getting J out of London/Europe next Oct is not easy!

 

[levelnine]

I just tried canceling 2 legs that are not needed and have discovered that my entire return journey from Helsinki with JAL would need to be canceled because they are all connected.

Sounds like a married segment issue, which means your only option is to cancel the entire leg and hope the segment you need goes back into award inventory. If it is an important part of your trip, I would be extremely reluctant to take that risk because there is a good chance it will not go back into award inventory.

 

[tooten69]

Sounds like a married segment issue, which means your only option is to cancel the entire leg and hope the segment you need goes back into award inventory. If it is an important part of your trip, I would be extremely reluctant to take that risk because there is a good chance it will not go back into award inventory.

Agree!!! However I had this with two CX legs which one agent said it was a married segment and another agent managed to change the one leg I wanted.... changed it from economy to business. But be careful as no guarantee it will go back into availability..

 

[PaulyB]

Sounds like a married segment issue, which means your only option is to cancel the entire leg and hope the segment you need goes back into award inventory. If it is an important part of your trip, I would be extremely reluctant to take that risk because there is a good chance it will not go back into award inventory.

Totally understood. Thank you. One question. If I found an alternative out of London to Tokyo, is there anything stopping me doing the cancel and the new booking at one time even if it was the same airline?

 

[levelnine]

If I found an alternative out of London to Tokyo, is there anything stopping me doing the cancel and the new booking at one time even if it was the same airline?

No. Why would there be? Simply tell the agent you want to make a change to an existing booking, with that change being the removal of one leg and the addition of another.

 

[PaulyB]

No. Why would there be? Simply tell the agent you want to make a change to an existing booking, with that change being the removal of one leg and the addition of another.

Yes. Just double-checking. So many rabbit holes.....

 

[PaulyB]

No. Why would there be? Simply tell the agent you want to make a change to an existing booking, with that change being the removal of one leg and the addition of another.

Just an update. I just booked a homeward-bound trip from Frankfurt to Tokyo direct with JAL in J. Cancelled the married flights. Excellent outcome assuming it is successfully ticketed! Now I have to keep the eagle eyes out for a flight home from Tokyo in either PE or J. It may not happen overnight, but it will happen...

Good fortune to have made the original booking before the end of Sept.

 

[Warragul]

I've found myself in a similar situation, where a SYD-CBR hop was added to the itinerary and received an eticket email. Yet CMT did not have a ticket number for that last flight, all the others did. On closer inspection the eticket number had not changed since the previous change.

On calling Qantas, went through the process of putting the booking on the 'ticketing queue' and wait 48 hours, did this several times while keeping watch on the other flights (on AT/RJ and JL) with no new eticket issued. Received various reassurances that all is good and reasons as to what was happening and why - including a re price requiring 167000 points payment, didn't proceed with that option. After about 10 days no new eticket, but all the other flights are intact and ticketed (status on JL website is 'ticketed', the AT and RJ website still have the ticket number listed), an agent mentioned that unticketed status of the SYD-CBR flight will not affect the non QF flights and that the new eticket will be issued 'soon'. Who knows how accurate that is.

Anyway that was Monday and it is around 2 weeks since the last flight was booked. I'm giving it a little while before calling again, while being eagle eyed for changes on the other flights. None have changed to date..

FWIW, RJ changed some flight times last night which required ticket re-issue which prompted the SYD-CBR leg to be ticketed as well within 15 minutes of me confirming the changes, unexpected bonus.

 

[PaulyB]

FWIW, RJ changed some flight times last night which required ticket re-issue which prompted the SYD-CBR leg to be ticketed as well within 15 minutes of me confirming the changes, unexpected bonus.

That has been quite the journey.

 

[Warragul]

Indeed, can't wait fo the Northern Summer schedule changes to see how many tweaks are made.The drama involved with these bookings should not be there, many are due to lack of knowledge or experience of staff. If I hadn't read this thread prior to booking then I would have given up very soon noting some of the dodgy advice from call centre staff. Being on long term leave allowed the time to be consistently on the phone on the booking days.

 

[QFFBNE]

My recent experience with a very simple booking mirror's others on here. I wanted to book 2 x J BNE/LHR or SYD/LHR return for late next year. Started looking at availability about a month before flights are released to get an idea of what might be possible and it was VERY slim pickings. I was looking at any routing (eg SIN, HKG, Tokyo etc) so long as I could to LHR and home again. There was and still is almost no J availability on Qantas itself. Plenty of CX. JAL and some BA but simply no Qantas business class award seats. QF1/2 never appeared once in the multi-city tool.

Ended up booking BA15 on line as soon as they were released, and getting the return BA16 legs a month later by calling and booking over the phone at 10.02am on the day they were released. BA not my first preference due to outdated J cabin but third world problem; any layflat is better than the alternative. Was a bit surprised to say the least that after 'securing' the return seats the customer rep said she didn't need to take payment for the new flights (I asked) and that was it and hung up. The booking appeared in my FF app and online but of course, no E-ticket appeared so I rang again a couple of days later to be assured that it was all OK, the seats were booked, it would be ticketed in 3-4 business days, and I could pay the extra charges then (?) and was again hung up on. Quite how this was going to happen wasn't explained so, to my complete lack of surprise, the promised E-tickets again failed to turn up.
I rang again two days later and found a gem of a customer rep. She spent considerable time (45mins +) sorting it out, calculating correct points and charges (and taking payment this time) and double checking the booking allocation. This time I had my E-tickets within 5 hours.

In the end I have my 2 x J SYD/LHR return with BA, just over $3,000 in fees and charges (ouch) and on the days I wanted so it worked out pretty well. But ONLY because I spent a fair amount of time looking at what flights and routes might be available when seats opened up, and then followed up after the warnings on here. about ticket fails. 3 years ago I had no trouble booking 2 x J RTW, 5 airlines, 6 stopovers. This year I was relieved to get a booking using just one airline and one stopover. It's a lot harder than it use to be and less reliable, with a LOT less availability but still do-able. Double-check everything and ring every day until your tickets actually arrive.

 

[PaulyB]

Fact check please!
I made some changes yesterday and the booking had been sent off for ticketing.

After hanging up I noticed a better flight was available that I hadn't previously spotted. I rang back but was informed that I couldn't make the change until the original booking was ticketed.

Is that actually correct? I am sure I have done it before but perhaps I am mistaken. It was a while ago.

Thanks!

 

[DC3]

… was informed that I couldn't make the change until the original booking was ticketed.

Is that actually correct? …

Although I have not done this, there are reports, upthread, similar to your experience

 

[PaulyB]

Although I have not done this, there are reports, upthread, similar to your experience

Ah - thanks. Will explore...

 

[Rich]

Pardon me for asking because I am sure the answers are here in the 657 pages of this thread, but well, it is a lot to read and much will be out of date.
I am struggling to fully understand RTW on points. The only time I booked a RTW (on points) with QF was 16 years ago and I think it was one price for 3 continents and another for more continents, or something like that.
Why does the Qantas website site you can't book RTW when it appears that you can using multi-city? Playing around I find I can hit the 318k points (J) and it won't go over (unless I pick the wrong partner airlines or go over the maximum miles).
Are you limited to 6 segments? Looking on Expert Flyer at the most expensive cash RTW with QF you can have up to 16 segments.
Is it that you can have more, but you have to go through the lovely call centre?
Finally, what do people recommend is the best approach? Say I have a rough itinerary (but it is over a few months or more), should I book all legs as soon as they become available for awards and then modify them as seats are released for the actual dates I want, or just book flight by flight and build the trip up that way? Is there a points advantage to either? I am thinking both would incur a 5k hit each change so it wouldn't make a difference. I think 318k would probably end up being 338k, but I doubt I will have much choice (as a bronze) if I don't want to miss out.
Thanks!

 

[Danger]

Fact check please!
I made some changes yesterday and the booking had been sent off for ticketing.

After hanging up I noticed a better flight was available that I hadn't previously spotted. I rang back but was informed that I couldn't make the change until the original booking was ticketed.

Is that actually correct? I am sure I have done it before but perhaps I am mistaken. It was a while ago.

Thanks!

Two CPT agents have told me that in the past month. On both occasions, I've pushed back and the changes have been made then and there.

Pardon me for asking because I am sure the answers are here in the 657 pages of this thread, but well, it is a lot to read and much will be out of date.
I am struggling to fully understand RTW on points. The only time I booked a RTW (on points) with QF was 16 years ago and I think it was one price for 3 continents and another for more continents, or something like that.
Why does the Qantas website site you can't book RTW when it appears that you can using multi-city? Playing around I find I can hit the 318k points (J) and it won't go over (unless I pick the wrong partner airlines or go over the maximum miles).
Are you limited to 6 segments? Looking on Expert Flyer at the most expensive cash RTW with QF you can have up to 16 segments.
Is it that you can have more, but you have to go through the lovely call centre?
Finally, what do people recommend is the best approach? Say I have a rough itinerary (but it is over a few months or more), should I book all legs as soon as they become available for awards and then modify them as seats are released for the actual dates I want, or just book flight by flight and build the trip up that way? Is there a points advantage to either? I am thinking both would incur a 5k hit each change so it wouldn't make a difference. I think 318k would probably end up being 338k, but I doubt I will have much choice (as a bronze) if I don't want to miss out.
Thanks!

First, this thread relates to the Qantas oneworld classic award. There's no requirement to travel around the world. If you're looking for a paid fare, that offers more flexibility, you need to turn your attention to the oneworld Explorer or Global Explorer fares (which are also limited to 16 segments, a downside, I believe, of moving away from paper tickets to e-tickets some years ago). They are the ones published in ExpertFlyer.

Second, for the product discussed in this thread, you're limited to 16 segments, including surface sectors and a maximum of 5 stops.

Third, yes, book as soon as seats become available. Do not wait. Note that you'll be slugged several thousand QFF points per person, per change, so factor that into your calculations.

Fourth, if you're booking is going to end up being 338K, it's not a oneworld classic flight reward, which means you'll have more flexibility (like, for example, not being limited to 5 stops and 16 segments).

 

[Rich]

Thanks for the quick response Danger. A couple of things:

First, this thread relates to the Qantas oneworld classic award. There's no requirement to travel around the world.

Point taken. I guess I have read a few other articles (e.g. Pointhacks) which essentially describes these fares as "round the world, although you don't have to travel round the world".

Second, for the product discussed in this thread, you're limited to 16 segments, including surface sectors and a maximum of 5 stops.

So my real question is, is there a award option that is the equivalent of the RTW tickets (the answer to that I think is a big no and that would explain why the QF site says you can't book RTW there).

If you're booking is going to end up being 338K, it's not a oneworld classic flight reward

Actually I was illustrating what would happen with my 318k award J booking when I do say 4 x 5000 point changes (added segments).

 

[PaulyB]

Time for another Fact Check.

Is an e-ticket the same (or better) than receiving the PDF version from Qantas of the full itinerary?

I'm on a call today regarding changes to a OWA booking made 2 days ago with multi airlines and a little worried that the operator tells me it has been ticketed, was able to send me e-tickets but that (he says) the ticketing department need to send the PDF version.

That seems odd to me that he would not have access to a PDF version if it had been ticketed and my mind is racing that maybe it isn't ticketed yet. I am sure I have had an operator send me a PDF on another occasion.

He is "checking" while I write...

Oops. no - the call just dropped out... sigh. For the thousanth time in the last 2 months. (slight exaggeration but it feels like that)

Thanks!