Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[Mr_Tee]

Managed to get my first “RTW” itinerary booked, so thanks to those that helped above.

Also made my first attempt at adding additional flights to the booking via the call centre with no luck…the operator was adamant that it wouldn’t let them price the change because you “can’t add additional flights after booking”.

Decided to give FB messenger a go instead and to my surprise it was quite painless!

Mentioned that I had issues with the call centre actioning my request, provided all of the required details and they called me back to authorise the request and pay the additional taxes. Received my updated E-Ticket within 20-30 minutes!

Obviously YMMV, but may be a good option for those struggling with the call centre.

Awesome outcome with FB Messenger.

What contact details did you use on FB Messenger?

 

[casket_kite_2z]

Awesome outcome with FB Messenger.

What contact details did you use on FB Messenger?

Surprisingly straight through the main Qantas Facebook page

 

[Adju]

Hi everyone,
I'm now trying to make itinerary from Perth to Lima(Peru), then to Canada, to Tokyo, and back to Perth.
I have been able to find the flights from PER to LAX (via Nadi), however I just can not go anywhere further beyond LAX.
I'm even thinking of organise own segment between LAX to Lima (hopefully AA flight be available for QFF, though).
So PER-LAX-some Canadian airport (Vancouver, Montreal etc)-Tokyo- PER. This doesn't look too complicated, however seems impossible to find reward flights.... Any advice??
Thank you in advance!

 

[casket_kite_2z]

Hi everyone,
I'm now trying to make itinerary from Perth to Lima(Peru), then to Canada, to Tokyo, and back to Perth.
I have been able to find the flights from PER to LAX (via Nadi), however I just can not go anywhere further beyond LAX.
I'm even thinking of organise own segment between LAX to Lima (hopefully AA flight be available for QFF, though).
So PER-LAX-some Canadian airport (Vancouver, Montreal etc)-Tokyo- PER. This doesn't look too complicated, however seems impossible to find reward flights.... Any advice??
Thank you in advance!

What dates are you looking to travel?

I managed to get some flights from Vancouver to Japan last week for late April 2026

 

[Aeryn]

Is there a reason you want to go via LAX? Last week there was availability from SYD-SCL from which should be easy to get a connection to LIM.

 

[Adju]

Is there a reason you want to go via LAX? Last week there was availability from SYD-SCL from which should be easy to get a connection to LIM.

It doesn’t have to be LAX.
I didn’t have any luck finding flights to SCL ….
The error message (change your departure or arrival city and try again) comes up for the search SYD-SCL.

 

[Adju]

It doesn’t have to be LAX.
I didn’t have any luck finding flights to SCL ….
The error message (change your departure or arrival city and try again) comes up for the search SYD-SCL.

Oh, hang on… when I deleted Perth departure it is showing SYD-SCL .
I will search further using this route. Thank you for the advice!

 

[Captain Halliday]

Hi everyone,
I'm now trying to make itinerary from Perth to Lima(Peru), then to Canada, to Tokyo, and back to Perth.
I have been able to find the flights from PER to LAX (via Nadi), however I just can not go anywhere further beyond LAX.
I'm even thinking of organise own segment between LAX to Lima (hopefully AA flight be available for QFF, though).
So PER-LAX-some Canadian airport (Vancouver, Montreal etc)-Tokyo- PER. This doesn't look too complicated, however seems impossible to find reward flights.... Any advice??
Thank you in advance!

Since LA left Oneworld, South America is a desert for these redemptions.

Is there a reason you want to go via LAX? Last week there was availability from SYD-SCL from which should be easy to get a connection to LIM.

There are no direct OW options SCL-LIM as far as I know.

Perhaps you mean the OP buy a revenue fare outside this award, which would be easy enough.

Oh, hang on… when I deleted Perth departure it is showing SYD-SCL .
I will search further using this route. Thank you for the advice!

Your only options into LIM on a OW airline are AA from MIA or IB from MAD.

 

[Aeryn]

Perhaps you mean the OP buy a revenue fare outside this award, which would be easy enough.

Yep intra south american airfares are relatively inexpensive, also option of separate award ticket outside the OWA for that leg on Latam who are still a partner.

 

[shuuy]

LAX is tough on oneworld to Canada as it's really only LAX-YVR.

DFW, ORD, JFK/LGA may be easier on AA
SEA on AS may open up more opportunities (YVR, YYC, YYZ).

Would you consider an open jaw (into US, you make your way to Canada, and then YVR/YYZ-Japan?)

 

[madrooster]

I recently helped ticket the following:

SYD QF YVR
SEA AA X/ORD AA BUF
JFK BA X/LHR BA CDG
MAD CX HKG
CAN CX X/HKG CX JNB
JNB QF SYD

34503 miles by GCMap

This routing breaks general IATA backtracking rules so the GDS refuses to price it and it had to be ticketed manually.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I recently helped ticket the following:

SYD QF YVR
SEA AA X/ORD AA BUF
JFK BA X/LHR BA CDG
MAD CX HKG
CAN CX X/HKG CX JNB
JNB QF SYD

34503 miles by GCMap

This routing breaks general IATA backtracking rules so the GDS refuses to price it and it had to be ticketed manually.

While oneworld awards aren’t bound by IATA rules, or backtracking, is this a case that the system is still applying RTW rules anyway, and blocking ticket issue?

 

[logos 01]

Hi Everyone,

This morning I got a notification of flight changes to my Oneworld Classic Award. Nothing major.
But my question is whether I need to contact QF to get my booking re-ticketed?

Changes are:
RJ110 - Arrival time changed by 5mins
RJ165 - Departure time changed by 10mins
RJ730 - Departure time changed by 10mins.
No changes to dates, flight numbers, airports etc.

For reference other airlines in the booking are: CX, AY, (IB under a AY flight number), QF.

I've accepted the changes online. But just a bit unclear exactly when re-ticketing is/isn't required.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Hi Everyone,

This morning I got a notification of flight changes to my Oneworld Classic Award. Nothing major.
But my question is whether I need to contact QF to get my booking re-ticketed?

Changes are:
RJ110 - Arrival time changed by 5mins
RJ165 - Departure time changed by 10mins
RJ730 - Departure time changed by 10mins.
No changes to dates, flight numbers, airports etc.

For reference other airlines in the booking are: CX, AY, (IB under a AY flight number), QF.

I've accepted the changes online. But just a bit unclear exactly when re-ticketing is/isn't required.

Minor changes usually mean the ticket is simply revalidated.

Major changes where a coupon has significantly changed usually require re-issue.

But it’s hard to tell these days… I had a 15 minute schedule change in TK and the whole ticket was reissued.

Ingenue, make a quick call to the call centre.

 

[logos 01]

Minor changes usually mean the ticket is simply revalidated.

Major changes where a coupon has significantly changed usually require re-issue.

But it’s hard to tell these days… I had a 15 minute schedule change in TK and the whole ticket was reissued.

Ingenue, make a quick call to the call centre.

Ah ok. Thanks @MEL_Traveller I'll give the call centre a quick just to be sure.

 

[jxv]

Managed to get my first “RTW” itinerary booked, so thanks to those that helped above.

Also made my first attempt at adding additional flights to the booking via the call centre with no luck…the operator was adamant that it wouldn’t let them price the change because you “can’t add additional flights after booking”.

Decided to give FB messenger a go instead and to my surprise it was quite painless!

Mentioned that I had issues with the call centre actioning my request, provided all of the required details and they called me back to authorise the request and pay the additional taxes. Received my updated E-Ticket within 20-30 minutes!

Obviously YMMV, but may be a good option for those struggling with the call centre.

I booked the first half of my third OW CR in July for May/June next year after I found that the old 318k points would be fixed, even when changes were made after the August devaluation.

It was now time to make some changes and add more flights for September and October. The call centres have improved: every time I called I got through to an agent nearly immediately. This compares favourably to the past when hold times measured in hours were common. What has not improved is the competence of the agents! In only one of five calls did I get someone who seemed to know how to do the changes, but he still got stuck in the end. The others came up with various explanations why the changes/additions could not be done.

For many years I have stubbornly rejected the idea of joining FB, but reading the experiences of some on this thread, I capitulated and joined yesterday. I sent a message with detailed information of what I wanted last night and this morning it was all sorted, I got a phone call for payment and I received the e-tickets within 20 minutes!

Thanks to all who posted here about their FB experience I got this sorted!

For interest's sake here is my itinerary:
May: MEL-CMB-DEL-HEL (stop 1)
HEL-BER (stop 2)
(surface segment)
June: BGO-HEL-BKK (stop 3)
(separate ticket BKK-MEL-BKK, June/Sep)
Sep: BKK-CMB-CDG (stop 4)
Oct: CDG-CMB (stop 5)
CMB-MEL

34076 miles, 5 stops, 2 transits and a stop for a few days in CMB. With the addition of a cheap separate ticket I got two European trips out of the one reward ticket.

 

[madrooster]

While oneworld awards aren’t bound by IATA rules, or backtracking, is this a case that the system is still applying RTW rules anyway, and blocking ticket issue?

The GDSes have RTW and circle trip modes which applies the normal IATA rules for commercial fares. When you do something that breaks those rules, eg. funky routings on redemptions that involve going back and forth between areas, it refuses to price because it fails the IATA rules. It doesn't inhibit ticketing as such... it just won't give you the taxes.

 

[Captain Halliday]

The GDSes have RTW and circle trip modes which applies the normal IATA rules for commercial fares. When you do something that breaks those rules, eg. funky routings on redemptions that involve going back and forth between areas, it refuses to price because it fails the IATA rules. It doesn't inhibit ticketing as such... it just won't give you the taxes.

No taxes on an OWA. I’m not seeing the problem.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The GDSes have RTW and circle trip modes which applies the normal IATA rules for commercial fares. When you do something that breaks those rules, eg. funky routings on redemptions that involve going back and forth between areas, it refuses to price because it fails the IATA rules. It doesn't inhibit ticketing as such... it just won't give you the taxes.

Is this what might be happening when folk are calling to add flights? And is there a way around this with the call centre?

Can you ticket without the price of taxes, or is that more of an agent thing rather than call centre?

 

[madrooster]

No taxes on an OWA. I’m not seeing the problem.

The system won't let you ticket it.

Is this what might be happening when folk are calling to add flights? And is there a way around this with the call centre?

Can you ticket without the price of taxes, or is that more of an agent thing rather than call centre?

I don't know first hand as I personally don't talk to any of the offshore centres other than AKL, but I suspect a lot of the offshore contact centre staff (except AKL) don't know how to do a ticket exchange correctly and that's where they stumble. In fairness, AKL and HBA aren't infallible either.

As a rule of thumb, if the itinerary priced correctly for the original prime issue ticket, generally ticket exchanges should be fairly painless as well except if you introduce a flight that is not correctly filed (eg. a lot of the IB-South America routes).

It's actually complex - there's also instances where the caller is wrong eg. they found BA availabilty or CX availability by searching on the BA/CX websites where their members get more favourable availability and obviously QF doesn't have access to that inventory. I could go on forever listing all the possible issues...