RTW on award points

[sarahfoley]

Hi everybody

Was wondering if anyone can help- I'm wanting to book a trip on award points from Perth to Rome to Vancouver to Santiago and back again to Perth (visiting all within a month) or if easier, Perth to Rome to Santiago to Perth. Spoke to someone at Qantas and they said this was possible and that when the seats for the date that I want to leave come out (wanting to leave April next year) I should book it as if I was doing the whole trip within a few days and then extend it as seats for later dates are released.

I'm just a bit worried about whether this will actually happen- is it likely that I'll book it as if I'm doing it within a week and then try to extend it and there won't be seats released in the time frame I'm wanting?

Hope this isn't a really silly/often asked question- I'm not very cluey about all this- have read the other posts here but don't think any of them were relevant to this question...

Would really appreciate any advice!

 

[johnsmith]

Hi everybody

Was wondering if anyone can help- I'm wanting to book a trip on award points from Perth to Rome to Vancouver to Santiago and back again to Perth (visiting all within a month) or if easier, Perth to Rome to Santiago to Perth. Spoke to someone at Qantas and they said this was possible and that when the seats for the date that I want to leave come out (wanting to leave April next year) I should book it as if I was doing the whole trip within a few days and then extend it as seats for later dates are released.

I'm just a bit worried about whether this will actually happen- is it likely that I'll book it as if I'm doing it within a week and then try to extend it and there won't be seats released in the time frame I'm wanting?

Hope this isn't a really silly/often asked question- I'm not very cluey about all this- have read the other posts here but don't think any of them were relevant to this question...

Would really appreciate any advice!

yes you can book the dates to within a week as you have stated. I have done this before with no problems and I have changed my booking sometimes 3 times per week just to get the exact date and flight times I want. You can change the flight times but if you change the route then you may have to use more points to reissue the ticket. I only fly economy class and I have always managed to book the exact flight times I want with my points. Some people expect to ring up the day before and get the flights they want but if you give plenty of notice you should have no problem.

 

[NM]

This will require the Qantas OneWorld Award which has some slight differences in the rules that you need to understand. With the OneWorld Award you cannot make any changes to any flights once you commence the journey. That means if you miss a flight for any reason (illness, traffic jam, sleep in etc) you have to get yourself to the next destination on your own. So make sure you have an appropriate travel insurance policy that will cover that award restriction.

You certainly can book as recommended and change the dates as the later flights become available. But note that availablity for Qantas flights should be loaded into the system 330 days before departure, this may not be the case for non-Qantas flights. And obviously many of your flights will not be on Qantas. You may be better to work the other way and route Perth to Santiago first, then Vancouva, then Rome, returning on a Qantas flight to PER (via London).

That way you can book the Qantas flights 330 days out, while the LA flight trans-Pacific may not be available that far ahead of time. You should ask the Qantas agent about when the other airline award availability is loaded into the system.

If you hold Platinum or Gold FF status with Qanats you will have greater access to economy award seats. The whole process is much easier for economy seats, while business and first class seats can be much harder to score.