Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[MEL_Traveller]

If I search the QF website while logged in (SG) for 2x seats in J I see classic award availability on a QF NRT-MEL flight, but when I've called up to add them to my Oneworld award the operator says those seats aren't there, saying something vague about them being waitlisted.

She can see them on the website too but can't add them to my booking. She said if I tried to book them separately on the website it would error out (which I haven't tried because I didn't want take those seats out of inventory (if they exist)). I tried with another operator (same call centre I think) and got the same response.

Is it worth trying again with another operator or is this likely an instance of phantom availability on the QF site?

This is the ‘only available for new bookings’ excuse.

The seats aren’t phantom. Operators will tell you the seats are phantom, or that their system is updated more frequently than ours, or whatever… but it’s just their way of trying to get out of the call with any excuse.

I can’t remember what the solution is for this… I think operators have to search via a certain method… hopefully so,eo me will chime in with that soon!

 

[logos 01]

This is the ‘only available for new bookings’ excuse.

The seats aren’t phantom. Operators will tell you the seats are phantom, or that their system is updated more frequently than ours, or whatever… but it’s just their way of trying to get out of the call with any excuse.

I can’t remember what the solution is for this… I think operators have to search via a certain method… hopefully so,eo me will chime in with that soon!

Thanks @MEL_Traveller. Yes hopefully someone has some tips for getting around this issue (apart from QF actually investing in their IT back end, which clearly has issues!).

 

[SunnyS]

This is the ‘only available for new bookings’ excuse.

The seats aren’t phantom. Operators will tell you the seats are phantom, or that their system is updated more frequently than ours, or whatever… but it’s just their way of trying to get out of the call with any excuse.

I can’t remember what the solution is for this… I think operators have to search via a certain method… hopefully so,eo me will chime in with that soon!

I’ve just booked and made changes to an existing reward booking this week and managed to get around this.

The trick is to ask the operator to search for the flight using only the departure airport and destination airport. If they search for the individual flights within the route they can’t find the reward seats. For example, if you’re flying JNB to GVA via LHR, ask the operator to look for a flight from JNB to GVA. If they look for the JNB to LHR and LHR to GVA flights individually they won’t find the reward seats.

I received this advice from Qantas’ X (Twitter) account and it worked twice for me this week. Hopefully this helps

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I’ve just booked and made changes to an existing reward booking this week and managed to get around this.

The trick is to ask the operator to search for the flight using only the departure airport and destination airport. If they search for the individual flights within the route they can’t find the reward seats. For example, if you’re flying JNB to GVA via LHR, ask the operator to look for a flight from JNB to GVA. If they look for the JNB to LHR and LHR to GVA flights individually they won’t find the reward seats.

I received this advice from Qantas’ X (Twitter) account and it worked twice for me this week. Hopefully this helps

That’s possibly part of the solution But in the case immediately above, and others as well, passengers are just looking to add single sectors anyway… so MEL-NRT.

I’m pretty sure there was a workaround mentioned previously for those circumstances.

 

[logos 01]

That’s possibly part of the solution But in the case immediately above, and others as well, passengers are just looking to add single sectors anyway… so MEL-NRT.

I’m pretty sure there was a workaround mentioned previously f9rmthose circumstances.

Indeed, so it should work.

A further update, another flight option HKG-BNE came available with CX. So I decided to go with that. Rang up and they added the flights (I couldn't get BNE-MEL despite availability showing on the website because "new bookings only", but they offered BNE-SYD-MEL so I said fine).

But they can't price the itinerary and calculate the taxes. The 2nd consultant I spoke to today (who least seemed to know and understand the Oneworld Award and it's rules), confirmed that my booking complies with the rules, but he just couldn't get it to price. He spoke to "offline teams" who got him to try various things with no joy. Neither he nor the 'offline teams' he spoke to could give a reason why I couldn't book. He agreed that it the points should be the same (318k pp) so I just need to pay the additional taxes.

All he could do is escalate it to a case manager. He gave me a case number and said someone would be in touch. An hour later I get an email from about my case saying "for upcoming bookings ring QF on 13 13 13 for assistance". Sigh. So ring back again..... 3rd consultant same problem, can't price it.

"Oh you have too many stopovers, you can only have 5."
"I only have 5."
"No you have 6, you go back to Melbourne."
"That's not a stopover, that the end of the itinerary."
"Yes you're right".

She said someone would call me back in 15-20, it's been 40mins and counting. I'm thinking she might have just wanted to get me off the phone

Once again in case I'm missing something my booking is:
MEL-HKG-TFU (stop 1)
surface
PVG-HEL-ARN (stop 2)
surface
BER-HEL-MAD (stop 3)
MAD-AMM-IST (stop 4)
IST-AMM-RUH-HKG (stop 5)
Now Trying to add
HKG-BNE-SYD-MEL (home)

I thought I felt frustrated when award seats were saying available but weren't. Now they're there but saying we still can't do it is beyond infuriating.

 

[NTflyer]

Completed my first OWA ticket at 4 am this morning for myself and Mrs NTflyer. It has been a long three days on the phone to get to this point. Thanks to all the people who have contributed to this site; I could not have achieved this booking without all your valuable insights. Had plenty of operators say your route does not fit the rules, and then they would read off the T&C of the Oneworld explorer version or what the rules are around stopovers. Had about 10 operators hang up on me (or the line just magically drops out) and others who promised call backs but they never called back. The last call to confirm everything took 4 hours and 37 minutes, as we had issues with flights disappearing, and then about one and a half hours for the credit card payment to work, but just after 4 am, the payment went through, and it was almost instantly ticketed.

The final route was not what I had originally planned and sourced, as I ran into too many operators telling me they can't see any availability, but I could see plenty via the Qantas website.

Here is the trip for April/May 2026, all flights are business and just over 31K in miles
SIN-KUL (MH), KUL-DEL (MH), DEL-HEL (AY), HEL-JFK (AY) (Stop 1) JFK-MEX (AA) (Stop 2) MEX-BOG (surface segment) BOG-MAD (IB), MAD-LHR (IB) (Stop 3), LHR-BER (surface segment) BER-HEL (AY), HEL-ICN (AY) (Stop 4), ICN-CMB (UL), CMB-MLE (UL) (Stop 5) MLE-CMB (UL), CMB-SIN (UL)

Taxes came in at $1635.30 each, which was probably higher than what I expected but I am not going to complain.

 

[Dmac59]

Completed my first OWA ticket at 4 am this morning for myself and Mrs NTflyer. It has been a long three days on the phone to get to this point. Thanks to all the people who have contributed to this site; I could not have achieved this booking without all your valuable insights. Had plenty of operators say your route does not fit the rules, and then they would read off the T&C of the Oneworld explorer version or what the rules are around stopovers. Had about 10 operators hang up on me (or the line just magically drops out) and others who promised call backs but they never called back. The last call to confirm everything took 4 hours and 37 minutes, as we had issues with flights disappearing, and then about one and a half hours for the credit card payment to work, but just after 4 am, the payment went through, and it was almost instantly ticketed.

The final route was not what I had originally planned and sourced, as I ran into too many operators telling me they can't see any availability, but I could see plenty via the Qantas website.

Here is the trip for April/May 2026, all flights are business and just over 31K in miles
SIN-KUL (MH), KUL-DEL (MH), DEL-HEL (AY), HEL-JFK (AY) (Stop 1) JFK-MEX (AA) (Stop 2) MEX-BOG (surface segment) BOG-MAD (IB), MAD-LHR (IB) (Stop 3), LHR-BER (surface segment) BER-HEL (AY), HEL-ICN (AY) (Stop 4), ICN-CMB (UL), CMB-MLE (UL) (Stop 5) MLE-CMB (UL), CMB-SIN (UL)

Taxes came in at $1635.30 each, which was probably higher than what I expected but I am not going to complain.

Well done @NTflyer
Great to see the perseverance paid off.

 

[shankoz]

4th consecutive OWA in J ticketed this morning, getting in before the change in redemption rates Though of course didn’t all go smoothly. Had a pre-existing PNR with 2x U seats released for SYD-YVR and a flight home from HKG-PER (all done by Hobart). Called this morning to build out the rest of the itinerary and to change the HKG-PER to two days earlier (availability seen online). The first South African agent gave me the dreaded “only for new bookings”. Despite my protestations, would not progress it further so hung up.

After 5x further attempts over the next 35 mins (each time getting SA/Fiji and hanging up immediately) on my 6th go, I got Hobart. The lovely Charlotte immediately processed all the additional flights and changed the HKG-PER date no questions asked. Even said “I’m going to stay on the line to ticketing otherwise Cathay Pacific will drop off”. Ended the call with me profusely thanking her for her help.

Final itinerary:
- PER-SYD-YVR (stop 1)
- YVR-YYZ (surface)
- YYZ-HEL-ZRH (stop 2)
- ZRH-HEL (stop 3)
- HEL-KIX (stop 4)
- KIX-HKG-PER (end)

The ability to seat release the SYD-YVR leg undoubtedly is a luxury and is probably the thing I value about WP status the most. The moral of the story for me today - HUACA until you get Hobart!

 

[Matt_01]

My question is not about booking it is about longe access. The OW rules say:

"Connecting between oneworld marketed and operated flights: First and Business Class customers connecting on the same day of travel, or before 06:00am the following day, can access the lounge when travelling between an international long haul (a oneworld international long haul flight is defined as an international flight marketed and operated by any oneworld carrier with a scheduled flight time longer than 5 hours) and an international short haul or domestic flight (and vice-versa)."

Mrs&MissM are currently booked on JL51 which arrives around 06:20 (SYD), I need to get them back to ADL. If I just book them on a seperate PNR SYD-ADL on the day they arrive in SYD will they get access to the lounge under these rules or does the SYD-ADL sector have to be in the same booking as HND-SYD. This is a new thing to consideras I have dropped from P1 so MrsM is also dropping in status and by the time she flys will be back to PS.

 

[Mr H]

The moral of the story for me today - HUACA until you get Hobart!

It is nice for you that this is an option. Most of us cannot do this and have to know how to maximise our outcomes through ZA, Fiji or Manila.

Post automatically merged: Today at 4:35 PM

If I just book them on a seperate PNR SYD-ADL on the day they arrive in SYD will they get access to the lounge under these rules or does the SYD-ADL sector have to be in the same booking as HND-SYD.

they will get access but they would need to retain their boarding passes from the previous flight to show at the lounge.

 

[shankoz]

It is nice for you that this is an option. Most of us cannot do this and have to know how to maximise our outcomes through ZA, Fiji or Manila.

Very true. I fully appreciate the awesomeness of the Hobart team having done my first OWA without status and struggling with overseas call centres and lost flights because of ticketing delays (I ended up sending multiple emails to Qantas because of their ticketing issues and someone from Hobart rang me back - that’s the first time I ever spoke to their call centre). It is a real shame Qantas don’t invest more resources into their local (and for that matter their overseas) call centres.

None of this would be possible though without this forum! Stumbled across this thread a few years ago and so glad I did. Very grateful to everyone who posts here for all their advice/tips/tricks.