Can I test book without enough points?

[PaulyB]

I have two questions - I am sure there is an answer somewhere but cannot find them so - here goes...

1. Am I able to test-book a OneWorld Classic Flight Reward if I don't have all the points in my account yet? I am only getting economy results Syd - Vancouver but have access to enough for 2 pple business class.
2. If I am booking outside the current flight period (ie my return is later than Sept next year) how do I go about making a complete booking?

Many thanks!

 

[tdimdad]

1. Travel agents would have tools to play with the potential booking options and create a PRN (booking) without ticketing it. But the ticketing rules usually force you within a few days to either pay & get it ticketed (confirmed) or let it expire or be cancelled. On your own through websites, you are bound to be able to do only confirmed bookings which then have their own cancellation rules & potential fees.

2. What you could do is to book an earlier return, something that fits the current booking window. When your desired return time is bookable, you change your booking respectively. However, you'll be at the mercy of whether any award seats are available at your desired time or what the ticket prices will be at that time.

 

[TheInsider]

1. Travel agents would have tools to play with the potential booking options and create a PRN (booking) without ticketing it. But the ticketing rules usually force you within a few days to either pay & get it ticketed (confirmed) or let it expire or be cancelled. On your own through websites, you are bound to be able to do only confirmed bookings which then have their own cancellation rules & potential fees.

2. What you could do is to book an earlier return, something that fits the current booking window. When your desired return time is bookable, you change your booking respectively. However, you'll be at the mercy of whether any award seats are available at your desired time or what the ticket prices will be at that time.

Travel Agents don't have access to reward seats through their GDS, it cannot be sold in.

Some good information in here though:

Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

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". Also note the following from the T&C review that comes up on Qantas.com if you have...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[MrJetset]

I have two questions - I am sure there is an answer somewhere but cannot find them so - here goes...

1. Am I able to test-book a OneWorld Classic Flight Reward if I don't have all the points in my account yet? I am only getting economy results Syd - Vancouver but have access to enough for 2 pple business class.
2. If I am booking outside the current flight period (ie my return is later than Sept next year) how do I go about making a complete booking?

Many thanks!

You can search each sector individually. The search engine will display all cabins, regardless of whether you have the correct amount of points or not.

The functionality you will not be able to use without the required amount of points is viewing the taxes for each sector.

1. Travel agents would have tools to play with the potential booking options and create a PRN (booking) without ticketing it. But the ticketing rules usually force you within a few days to either pay & get it ticketed (confirmed) or let it expire or be cancelled. On your own through websites, you are bound to be able to do only confirmed bookings which then have their own cancellation rules & potential fees.

2. What you could do is to book an earlier return, something that fits the current booking window. When your desired return time is bookable, you change your booking respectively. However, you'll be at the mercy of whether any award seats are available at your desired time or what the ticket prices will be at that time.

Firstly it’s a PNR. Secondly, both of your responses are irrelevant to the OP.

 

[PaulyB]

Thanks to all of you. Yes - I have watched and rewatched my 'How to Book a Qantas Oneworld Award' video from Matt in 2018 and explored the verrrryyyyy long Definitive thread but the answer to the issue of booking without enough points in the bank has eluded me.
Mr Jetset - you have helped with your answer. Clearly there are just no Business class seats on the dates I have been trying (using Americal Airlines (Syd - Vancouver)

I think the best step is indeed to book the trip and be willing to change the return flight at a cost as I will be coming back after. the currently displayed schedule.

Thanks again.

 

[tdimdad]

Firstly it’s a PNR. Secondly, both of your responses are irrelevant to the OP.

Out of interest and to learn, how would you handle the second question about timing?

The first one I admit my brains having missed the fact it's a reward booking and TA's being much stronger with the revenue ones.

 

[Mattg]

You can do a dummy booking with the multi-city tool and get right through to the page before it gives you an overview of the itinerary and the taxes/carrier charges. That's enough to know what is available and the number of points required.

 

[SYD]

Out of interest and to learn, how would you handle the second question about timing?

Book two seperate rewards. Outbound and inbound.

The catch is the return will be charged in a foreign currency for taxes/surcharges. Also, some destinations aren’t available for one way bookings online back to Oz.

Its also possible to call and have the return flight added to an existing outbound flight.

 

[PaulyB]

Book two seperate rewards. Outbound and inbound.

The catch is the return will be charged in a foreign currency for taxes/surcharges. Also, some destinations aren’t available for one way bookings online back to Oz.

Its also possible to call and have the return flight added to an existing outbound flight.

Gosh - that's an interesting idea. So, Tdimdad, you are saying book two different awards which would fit into a category of a lesser zone. It would depend on the mileages but I like how you are thinking! Not for us, unfortunately. Still best to do it all as a Zone 10.

 

[SYD]

Gosh - that's an interesting idea. So, Tdimdad, you are saying book two different awards which would fit into a category of a lesser zone. It would depend on the mileages but I like how you are thinking! Not for us, unfortunately. Still best to do it all as a Zone 10.

I think they’re just suggesting you book a return trip on dates that are within the booking window and then try and change the return (or possibly even both) as new dates open.

There‘s a bunch of problems with that approach. Delaying booking a return trip, you run the risk of missing award seats on the outbound dates as they open. General, advice here is if you see the flights/seats you want on a sector book it.

In theory, changing award dates, adding flights is all possible but recently there’s been a lot of reticketing stuff ups that have seen peeps lose their award seats.

 

[ronlon]

I have two questions - I am sure there is an answer somewhere but cannot find them so - here goes...

1. Am I able to test-book a OneWorld Classic Flight Reward if I don't have all the points in my account yet? I am only getting economy results Syd - Vancouver but have access to enough for 2 pple business class.
2. If I am booking outside the current flight period (ie my return is later than Sept next year) how do I go about making a complete booking?

If you have enough points for one passenger then do a dummy booking for that and test whether the points max out at the appropriate One World rate. If your September flight sector is yet to load on the system try an earlier date to ascertain the points required