Oneworld RTW award?

[AndyGoodyear]

With the changes in the QFF program (expensive ASA's and even classic awards being much higher) it seems like a good way to burn the remaining points - soon when a couple more flights credit - will be to take one of the One World awards. I have seen people post here about different One World awards, but as a complete newbie to this could someone with more knowledge than I, point me in the right direction? Are these booked through Qantas.com and what are the awards that are available.

In case I am being dim (which could well be the case) and there is a thread here explaining it in newbie terms, I would be happy to read through it

Thanks.

 

[AndyGoodyear]

I've edited this post.

Even though I know there is a sticky on this subject - it starts with people talking about the award with background knowledge. I have no knowledge on the Oneworld Explorer aside from the fact I know it is RTW. Just looking for simple info on the amount of points it costs (are they set fees for Y and J) and how I look/book. I have read through a huge amount of that thread and tried using the multi-city option on Qantas.com and have even selected 'flexible dates', but all I get is either 'no flights available on your dates' (even though I have selected flexible) or a points burn of 190,000+ even though I am following the rules which have been stated.

Again, sorry of this sounds dim.

 

[Febs]

OneWorld Explorers are set at 140,000 for Y and 280,000 for J. There are rules as you mentioned (must be QF + at least 2 other OW carriers, I think 5 stopovers etc..) and generally if you meet them all, the online booking engine will limit or reduce the points to 140,000/280,000.

I've booked 3 or 4 of them over the years (best use of points IMO), and I've always found it best to spend the extra 2,500pts per person and call up. Usually all sorted in one phone call. My approach is usually:
- Use the OneWorld RTW tool to plan my itinerary - Plan & book online - oneworld
- Call up QFF and see how close I can get to said itinerary under the rules of the "OneWorld Explorer". This is where the phone call comes in handy, as, if I have say 6 stopovers, they can suggest which flight I should pay extra for to limit the number of points (i.e. a shorter, 8k points flight).
- (and when the inevitable LAX-SYD is unavailable, request a WP seat be made available, and if not, put up with LAX-AKL, BNE or MEL )

I've been able to get some pretty great itineraries for around 150,000 points (i.e. one extra flight paid for on QFF points).

Cheers,
- Febs.

 

[Isochronous]

Someone claimed on the ASA thread that oneworld explorer awards might be increased in points price. What is this allegation based on?

 

[dajop]

The thread on this topic has a wealth of information but it may also be confusing.

One point - bear in mind these awards are not "round the world" tickets but merely multi-sector tickets. This may sound pedantic, but this is an important distinction, that can work to advantage, as unlike "round the world tickets" you are not forced to travel in one direction around the world. So you could travel to Europe via Asia in both directions (eg stopping over in Singapore one way and Tokyo the other), or at the extreme (just to really confuse you!) you can travel back and forth between continents as long as you don't go back to the country you started from and do use a different stopover every time (I've done Asia-North America-Asia-Australia-Asia-Australia-Asia).

 

[deejo77]

Someone claimed on the ASA thread that oneworld explorer awards might be increased in points price. What is this allegation based on?

They were having a dig - there is no 31 November

 

[deejo77]

Don't use EMIRATES - they don't count. Stay under the miles limit. Eg of one I was playing with yesterday:

[h=2]Your Flights 3 Adults [/h][TABLE="class: MsoNormalTable"]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

Flight 1 ​

[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

From ​

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[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

To ​

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[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

Flight ​

[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

Travel Class ​

[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

Award Type ​

[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

Baggage ​

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]Mon 3 Mar 14
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]00:50 Brisbane Duration: 8h 35m
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]07:25 Hong Kong Stops: 0
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]CX156
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]Economy
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]oneworld
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"][TABLE="class: MsoNormalTable"]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]Adult :
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]20 kg
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]18:00 Hong Kong Duration: 3h 10m
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]21:10 Beijing (Capital International) Stops: 0
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]KA904
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]Economy
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"][TABLE="class: MsoNormalTable"]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent, colspan: 7"]· = Flight Operated by Cathay Pacific
· = Flight Operated by Dragonair
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

Flight 2 ​

[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

From ​

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[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

To ​

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[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

Flight ​

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[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

Travel Class ​

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[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

Award Type ​

[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

Baggage ​

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]Fri 7 Mar 14
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]11:35 Beijing (Capital International) Duration: 8h 50m
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]14:25 Helsinki Stops: 0
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]AY52
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]Economy
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]oneworld
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"][TABLE="class: MsoNormalTable"]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]Adult :
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]1 piece
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]17:55 Helsinki Duration: 1h 10m
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]21:05 St Petersburg Stops: 0
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]AY2169
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]Economy
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"][TABLE="class: MsoNormalTable"]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent, colspan: 7"]· = Flight Operated by Finnair
· = Flight Operated by Flybe
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

Flight 3 ​

[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

From ​

[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

To ​

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[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

Flight ​

[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

Travel Class ​

[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

Award Type ​

[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

Baggage ​

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]Wed 12 Mar 14
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]08:05 St Petersburg Duration: 2h 20m
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]07:25 Berlin (Tegel) Stops: 0
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]AB8487
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]Economy
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]oneworld
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"][TABLE="class: MsoNormalTable"]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]Adult :
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]1 piece
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]08:35 Berlin (Tegel) Duration: 1h 25m
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]10:00 Budapest Stops: 0
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]AB8636
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]Economy
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"][TABLE="class: MsoNormalTable"]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent, colspan: 7"]· = Flight Operated by Air Berlin
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

Flight 4 ​

[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

From ​

[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

To ​

[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

Flight ​

[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

Travel Class ​

[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

Award Type ​

[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

Baggage ​

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]Thu 27 Mar 14
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]12:55 Prague Duration: 2h 10m
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]14:05 London (Heathrow) Stops: 0
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]BA855
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]Economy
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]oneworld
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"][TABLE="class: MsoNormalTable"]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]Adult :
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]1 piece
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]18:20 London (Gatwick) Duration: 1h 25m
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]19:45 Edinburgh Stops: 0
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]BA2942
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]Economy
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"][TABLE="class: MsoNormalTable"]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent, colspan: 7"]· = Flight Operated by British Airways
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

Flight 5 ​

[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

From ​

[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

To ​

[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

Flight ​

[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

Travel Class ​

[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

Award Type ​

[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

Baggage ​

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]Thu 10 Apr 14
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]11:30 Paris (Charles De Gaulle) Duration: 10h 55m
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]15:25 Dallas Fort Worth Stops: 0
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]AA49
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]Economy
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]oneworld
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"][TABLE="class: MsoNormalTable"]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]Adult :
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]2 pieces
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]21:55 Dallas Fort Worth Duration: 15h 05m
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]05:00 Sat Brisbane Stops: 0
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]QF8
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]Economy
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"][TABLE="class: MsoNormalTable"]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent, colspan: 7"]· = Flight Operated by American Airlines
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent, colspan: 7"]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
Checked Baggage Allowance
Free Baggage allowance included in your fare applies to Adults and Children. Visit checked baggage for details.
Additional checked baggage allowances are available for Platinum, Gold, and Silver Frequent Flyers and Qantas Club members on Qantas operated services.
Important Information
· = Qantas flight
· = Flight Operated by Cathay Pacific
· = Flight Operated by Dragonair
· = Flight Operated by Finnair
· = Flight Operated by Air Berlin
· = Flight Operated by British Airways
· = Flight Operated by American Airlines
· = Flight Operated by Flybe
Terminal Information
Qantas flights QF1 - QF399 depart from and arrive at the International Terminals. All other Qantas flights depart from and arrive at the Domestic Terminals.
[h=2]Total Price[/h]

Points available ​

524,332

Number of seats ​

3
[TABLE="class: MsoNormalTable"]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

​

[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]

Points & Card Payment​

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]Trip Price for - 3 x Adults:
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]420,000
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]Total Trip Price:
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]420,000
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]Points required
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]420,000
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]Points balance after this booking
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]Card Payment *
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: transparent"]$3703.80 (AUD) so $1234 each
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
* Includes taxes, fees and carrier charges except any local airport fees collected at time of check-in. Includes taxes, fees and carrier charges except any local airport fees collected at time of check-in.

 

[AndyGoodyear]

OneWorld Explorers are set at 140,000 for Y and 280,000 for J. There are rules as you mentioned (must be QF + at least 2 other OW carriers, I think 5 stopovers etc..) and generally if you meet them all, the online booking engine will limit or reduce the points to 140,000/280,000.

I've booked 3 or 4 of them over the years (best use of points IMO), and I've always found it best to spend the extra 2,500pts per person and call up. Usually all sorted in one phone call. My approach is usually:
- Use the OneWorld RTW tool to plan my itinerary - Plan & book online - oneworld
- Call up QFF and see how close I can get to said itinerary under the rules of the "OneWorld Explorer". This is where the phone call comes in handy, as, if I have say 6 stopovers, they can suggest which flight I should pay extra for to limit the number of points (i.e. a shorter, 8k points flight).
- (and when the inevitable LAX-SYD is unavailable, request a WP seat be made available, and if not, put up with LAX-AKL, BNE or MEL )

I've been able to get some pretty great itineraries for around 150,000 points (i.e. one extra flight paid for on QFF points).

Cheers,
- Febs.

Thanks Febs. I was originally using the one world RTW planner and that is great advice to then call up with that info. So if you add another flight (for say a 6th stopover), that will also be charged in points? This is good.

Out of interest is there a ballpark figure for taxes/fees on top of this or are they included (I wish). And I presume you do not earn QFF points?

 

[AndyGoodyear]

The thread on this topic has a wealth of information but it may also be confusing.

One point - bear in mind these awards are not "round the world" tickets but merely multi-sector tickets. This may sound pedantic, but this is an important distinction, that can work to advantage, as unlike "round the world tickets" you are not forced to travel in one direction around the world. So you could travel to Europe via Asia in both directions (eg stopping over in Singapore one way and Tokyo the other), or at the extreme (just to really confuse you!) you can travel back and forth between continents as long as you don't go back to the country you started from and do use a different stopover every time (I've done Asia-North America-Asia-Australia-Asia-Australia-Asia).

Thanks for that - definitely a wealth of knowledge on that thread. I read through about 40 pages but got myself very confused! I didn't realise it diod not have to be RTW - this works out even better for my plans. Thanks again.

 

[AndyGoodyear]

Don't use EMIRATES - they don't count. Stay under the miles limit. Eg of one I was playing with yesterday:

Just out of interest - where did you put the itinerary together so successfully? On Qantas.com using the multi-city?

I don't know if it is issues with the new booking engine, but I enter my flights and tick 'classic awards only' and 'flexible with dates' and it either comes back and says there are no classic awards available or the points rack up way too high. The majority of the time though it is saying 'no points available' and I have tried 4-5 sets of dates all for next year.

Do you have any tips for finding these flights on the multi-city planner?

 

[deejo77]

Just out of interest - where did you put the itinerary together so successfully? On Qantas.com using the multi-city?

The majority of the time though it is saying 'no points available' and I have tried 4-5 sets of dates all for next year.

Do you have any tips for finding these flights on the multi-city planner?

I use Multi-city planner and I have a play - classic and flexible dates - I use only 5 flights and only have one or two open jaws. If you give me the cities you need and in the correct order with a time frame I am happy to go look for you. Otherwise post your high points itinerary here so we can have a look to see if you have picked correct airlines (one world not Qantas partners) and see if you are under the mileage.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Just out of interest - where did you put the itinerary together so successfully? On Qantas.com using the multi-city?

I don't know if it is issues with the new booking engine, but I enter my flights and tick 'classic awards only' and 'flexible with dates' and it either comes back and says there are no classic awards available or the points rack up way too high. The majority of the time though it is saying 'no points available' and I have tried 4-5 sets of dates all for next year.

Do you have any tips for finding these flights on the multi-city planner?

With all the "enhancements" to the booking engine on Wed it would not surprise me in the slightest if the OW bookings don't work
Previously booking online would entail searching for a multi city itinerary as a Classic/Partner Award and the individual points totals would add up on each segment until you hit the 140/280/420 barrier in terms of sectors and carriers and the booking engine would then show the correct One World amounts.

 

[AndyGoodyear]

With all the "enhancements" to the booking engine on Wed it would not surprise me in the slightest if the OW bookings don't work
Previously booking online would entail searching for a multi city itinerary as a Classic/Partner Award and the individual points totals would add up on each segment until you hit the 140/280/420 barrier in terms of sectors and carriers and the booking engine would then show the correct One World amounts.

Thanks. I used classic awards and on the couple of occasions I actually managed to find flights, the points were up to 200,000. I made sure I used Qantas and at least 2 partners (not Emirates) and that the miles were under the threshold. Funnily enough before the new booking engine I had problems with multi-cities. When booking a flight for my dad LHR-DXB-PER-SYD-LON, I would always get flights if I specified dates and didn't tick flexible, but get nothing if I selected 'flexible with dates'. Doesnt really make sense to me.

 

[AndyGoodyear]

I use Multi-city planner and I have a play - classic and flexible dates - I use only 5 flights and only have one or two open jaws. If you give me the cities you need and in the correct order with a time frame I am happy to go look for you. Otherwise post your high points itinerary here so we can have a look to see if you have picked correct airlines (one world not Qantas partners) and see if you are under the mileage.

Thanks. For now I was just trying to get the awards up - my dates or even month is not confirmed yet so I won't waste your time in looking for me - thanks though.

Just to let you know what I was looking at though, I tried March, April and May with the itinerary as follows:

SYD-LAX-LIM-GIG-LON-NRT-SYD

5 stopovers, miles under the threshold and flights with LAN, Qantas and BA. Still no joy.

 

[deejo77]

I agree with PF it is having a bad day today - I haven't been able to get it to work - I am sure Qantas is bending over backwards trying to "fix" issues with the "new" search engine

 

[Febs]

Thanks Febs. I was originally using the one world RTW planner and that is great advice to then call up with that info. So if you add another flight (for say a 6th stopover), that will also be charged in points? This is good.

Out of interest is there a ballpark figure for taxes/fees on top of this or are they included (I wish). And I presume you do not earn QFF points?

Yep you can book the extra flights however you like - on points (if award seats are available) or paid - whatever works out most economical. Sometimes short flights are $$$ (but have award seats for 8k pts) and sometimes longer flights are cheap, so it really depends on the flight.

Taxes for mine in the past have been around $800 - $1200 from memory. London adds a fair whack.

SYD-LAX-LIM-GIG-LON-NRT-SYD

5 stopovers, miles under the threshold and flights with LAN, Qantas and BA. Still no joy.

SYD-LAX could be the issue. I'd suggest calling up - you don't pay the 2,500pt fee until you actually book (and even then, sometimes they waive it).

Cheers,
- Febs.

 

[Limewood]

I was thinking of using it as a Circle Pacific instead of OW RTW like CNS/LAX/NYC/YVR/HKG/CNS.

 

[Princess Fiona]

I was thinking of using it as a Circle Pacific instead of OW RTW like CNS/LAX/NYC/YVR/HKG/CNS.

I have booked a similar routing for later this year.
The JFK-YVR doesn't show up online with CX, you need to call for that.

 

[Limewood]

I have booked a similar routing for later this year.
The JFK-YVR doesn't show up online with CX, you need to call for that.

What was routing seat class, price/points?

Wonder why AA doesn't JFK/YVR, maybe because it goes via DFW.

 

[Princess Fiona]

What was routing seat class, price/points?

Wonder why AA doesn't JFK/YVR, maybe because it goes via DFW.

The AA option does show up online via DFW, I think CX will probably be superior albeit less convenient flight times.
The route I have is SYD-LAX-MIA-JFK-YVR-HKG-MEL-SYD
280K and ~$900 taxes pp