Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[p--and--t]

Have a question about OWA.
I've got a wedding in Tuscany Sept '25 and have booked tickets there and halfway back
1st booking
SYD - HKG Cathay premium economy
HKG - HEL - FCO Finnair business

2nd booking
BLQ (Bologna) - LHR - DXB British business

I'm looking at Cathay flights back to HKG and then Qantas to SYD. If I managed to get this have I accidentally created a OWA trip? If so do I need to do anything to merge them all together to get the points cap or will it happen automatically?

Thanks for the help for this newbie!

The trip needs to be on a single PNR (six digit reference) for the points cap to apply. Otherwise they will be charged as separate bookings with no cap.

You will need to contact customer services to get changes made / add sectors / move sectors to different PNR. A change fee (in points) will apply.

 

[Sainter]

Thanks for clarifying! My brief read of this forum makes the venture seem highly dangerous that it'll fall to pieces over the phone. I have enough points to do everything without OWA and was prepared to without... I had just always assumed OWA literally had to go around the world so nice to know for the future

 

[Mr H]

You will need to contact customer services to get changes made / add sectors / move sectors to different PNR. A change fee (in points) will apply.

And a cancellation fee for even more points - unless you are fortunate enough to have a schedule change later on that lets you cancel for free,

It would be worth looking already for alternative flights home from Italy to get them added onto the first booking.

 

[DC3]

.. I had just always assumed OWA literally had to go around the world so nice to know for the future

However, Post # 1 covers this:

“Note that this is not exclusively a "Round The World" Award. While it can be so used, it can also be used for "Round Trips", "Circle" Trips or even "one-way trips" without actually going "Round The World".

 

[nickfromeastryde]

And a cancellation fee for even more points - unless you are fortunate enough to have a schedule change later on that lets you cancel for free,

It would be worth looking already for alternative flights home from Italy to get them added onto the first booking.

A question about "schedule changes". At the moment, I have actually booked 2 separate OWA's and will need to cancel one of them.

How big a schedule change is required that allows me to cancel for free. Does a 10 min flight change that impacts none of the other flights justify a free cancellation or does it need to be a major change that requires a change to the the whole schedule.

 

[Jacques Vert]

A question about "schedule changes". At the moment, I have actually booked 2 separate OWA's and will need to cancel one of them.

How big a schedule change is required that allows me to cancel for free. Does a 10 min flight change that impacts none of the other flights justify a free cancellation or does it need to be a major change that requires a change to the the whole schedule.

There's no set rule AFAIK and I have cancelled Award flights with a similar small change but it would look better if the change was something more significant. OTOH, it probably doesn't matter. I guess it depends on how long before the first flight on your itinerary and the chances of another involuntary change before then.

 

[Captain Halliday]

There's no set rule AFAIK and I have cancelled Award flights with a similar small change but it would look better if the change was something more significant. OTOH, it probably doesn't matter. I guess it depends on how long before the first flight on your itinerary and the chances of another involuntary change before then.

I agree with this.

I’d also add that even a 5 min change can be sufficient if it breaks MCT.

For example, I had SYDxHND-CTS.

QF retimed SYD-HND by 5 mins, but that was enough to break the QF-JL MCT in HND.

It allowed me to travel a day earlier, which I wanted, without a fee.

 

[Mr H]

A question about "schedule changes". At the moment, I have actually booked 2 separate OWA's and will need to cancel one of them.

How big a schedule change is required that allows me to cancel for free. Does a 10 min flight change that impacts none of the other flights justify a free cancellation or does it need to be a major change that requires a change to the the whole schedule.

Any schedule change at all will allow a free cancellation of an entire itinerary - even a 5 minute change. You will have the option to do it online. You don't need to plead your case even if you do have to phone up - it's just a computer says yes scenario.

I have done it myself.

 

[ChrisMars]

On that scheduled change topic, how quickly are we maint to cancel the booking for no fee?

 

[serfty]

You will need to contact customer services to get changes made / add sectors / move sectors to different PNR. A change fee (in points) will apply.

However, Post # 1 covers this:

“Note that this is not exclusively a "Round The World" Award. While it can be so used, it can also be used for "Round Trips", "Circle" Trips or even "one-way trips" without actually going "Round The World".

I'm currently on a Qantas oneworld classic award.
KUL-BKK-HKG-SIN-KUL.

40K points in economy.

This is Zone 3, 2401 - 4800 miles. The distance is 3575 miles, so had another 1225 in but could not fit in for a weekend circuit

The zones for four one way awards trip would have been 2, 2, 2 & 1. 12K, 12K, 12K and 10K, so 46K if booked that way.

 

[Mr H]

On that scheduled change topic, how quickly are we maint to cancel the booking for no fee?

You can leave it as long as you like so long as you don’t click to accept the changes.

 

[ChrisMars]

You can leave it as long as you like so long as you don’t click to accept the changes.

In some cases (from memory domestic award), Qantas just send a notification, and auto accept / auto reissue the flight. I am not sure canceling this flight online would not attract the points cancelation fee. Thoughts / experiences?

 

[sap1l]

You can leave it as long as you like so long as you don’t click to accept the changes.

I’ve been denied a change after a month - apparently “I should have called earlier”. This was through the call center though - I’m guessing doing it online removes the human factor.

 

[chiken_nugets]

Today I received a callback advising that after an internal review my proposed routing met the OW rules and an ITS ticket has been raised to rectify the problem. The AU-NZ flight would be a positioning and not part of the OW rules.

Did this ever get resolved @Matt_01 ?

I am getting an error when starting my itinerary from New Zealand.

 

[Mr H]

I've booked and paid ….

When you get a bank error in your favour it is seldom a good idea to ask questions about it in a public forum.

 

[JU581]

Are folks still getting the 3006 error whenever a Jetstar flight is in the result for a multi-stop search? I have tried in vain with QF to have it fixed.

 

[heytherehoney]

Hi all. I've been collecting points for a while and I'm now finally ready to book my first OW Classic Flight Reward.

I've seen the suggested 'hack' on the PointHacks website suggesting to start the trip overseas (book a cash fare to starting destination e.g. Asia) in order to get a second trip out of it within a year. Has anyone done this and would you recommend it? Not sure if I want to sit the repositioning leg to Asia in economy but I'm well under the 35K miles based on rough plan so would like to maximise it somehow.

I'm bronze and read that we can book reward flights up to 297 days in advance but I can view/book flights on Qantas site until Nov 2025 - is it just special/popular routes that are restricted to 297 days?

 

[sudoer]

I'm bronze and read that we can book reward flights up to 297 days in advance but I can view/book flights on Qantas site until Nov 2025 - is it just special/popular routes that are restricted to 297 days?

You can see partner awards without restriction.

You can't see Qantas operated awards more than 297 days out.

 

[Amanad78]

I've seen the suggested 'hack' on the PointHacks website suggesting to start the trip overseas (book a cash fare to starting destination e.g. Asia) in order to get a second trip out of it within a year. Has anyone done this and would you recommend it? Not sure if I want to sit the repositioning leg to Asia in economy but I'm well under the 35K miles based on rough plan so would like to maximise it sosomehow.

I'm doing this, first leg is booked from Singapore to Europe and back to Australia in Apr/May 2025. Next part of the trip will be (hopefully) Feb 2026 but given that we won't be able to book the flights until about Mar 2025 we have to be lucky to find flights before we set off in April.
We are repositioning to Singapore using Velocity Points on Singapore Airlines in business. Might cruise home from somewhere in South East Asia if we can line the dates up.

 

[RooFlyer]

Welcome to AFF @heytherehoney