Oneworld award - web or call?

[rtyuiop]

Hi folks,

I'm looking at booking the delightful 280,000 point 35,000 mile J OW award soon for some flights mid-next year (basically, BNE-SYD-LAX-JFK-MCO-LHR-JNB-SYD-BNE), and to my amazement I can get most of the flights I want at the moment on the web site. I suppose it helps only needing one seat.

If that's the case when I actually book, is there any advantage to calling in about it and paying some extra points? Just about the only improvement I can hope for right now is to get J instead of premium econ for JNB-SYD - do the call centre folks see any inventory we can't?

Regards,

Danny

 

[Mal]

is there any advantage to calling in about it and paying some extra points? Just about the only improvement I can hope for right now is to get J instead of premium econ for JNB-SYD - do the call centre folks see any inventory we can't?

Unlikely on that route. If you are Platinum you can put a request in to free up a J class seat for redemption, but otherwise not really possible.

As a redemption where the least flying is often the best then I think you've done well. Don't want any side trips in Europe or the US perhaps or a visit to Broome/Darwin/Hobart etc? You still have a considerable set of spare miles available on that routing.

 

[rtyuiop]

Yeah, thought about stopping somewhere else, but aside from the US I'll be by myself, and the accommodation costs (and more leave from work) start adding up pretty fast!

Might end up using some extra miles on extra AA flights in the US. Depends on how much of a pain it ends up to coordinate with some folks I'm meeting over there.

Edit: only gold, unfortunately. I'm really surprised by availability on JNB-SYD. Seems to be plenty of Y+ but next to no J. And the J that is there is on the weekends... Weird.

Danny

 

[Mal]

Might end up using some extra miles on extra AA flights in the US. Depends on how much of a pain it ends up to coordinate with some folks I'm meeting over there.

Yeah, I understand where you're coming from (leave issues, travelling by yourself etc).

Just be aware (if you aren't already) that you'll probably end up travelling Economy on any side trips in the U.S. As they tend to have 2 class flights - Economy, First (excepting certain cross-country and international routes) you would need to book into the Economy flights or pay the points difference to F... not a good option.

 

[rtyuiop]

Yeah, I'm well and truly prepared for Y. I've never actually been in anything other than Y (well, on QF - oddly enough I've randomly scored both Virgin and AirNZ premium economy seats), despite doing enough flying to get to gold on mostly discount economy fares!

Danny

 

[simongr]

LAX-JFK will be three class so you should get J.

It will only I think be JFK-MCO that will be in whY.

 

[JohnK]

As a redemption where the least flying is often the best then I think you've done well.

Least flying is often the best on an award but not always. :shock:

Don't want any side trips in Europe or the US perhaps or a visit to Broome/Darwin/Hobart etc? You still have a considerable set of spare miles available on that routing.

I think one thing to be careful about Oneworld awards is that the routing is complete once the OP returns to the first city of departure.

Not an issue as the OP is in BNE and returns JNB-SYD so can add BME/DRW/HBA etc before returning to BNE.

 

[rtyuiop]

Argh! Well, it seems I left my booking a couple of days too late, and the J availability I was seeing for the transpac (I was actually hoping for SYD-SFO) is gone...

Am I likely to get anywhere by calling in, or is what you see on the award bookings engine all that's there?

 

[JohnK]

When I booked my Oneworld awards in 2007 and 2009 I saw availability fluctuate over a period of around 30 days from the time I started reserching to the time I booked. Each time towards the end I had thought I had left it too late but seats would become available again or I had to change the routing slightly.

From my exprience the availability we see on the QF website is not the same as the availability the consultants see. Obviously the front ends are not the same and in some cases the consultants see greater availability which would suggest the link from the QF award booking engine to the back-end database is not entirely accurate.

 

[Must...Fly!]

From my exprience the availability we see on the QF website is not the same as the availability the consultants see. Obviously the front ends are not the same and in some cases the consultants see greater availability which would suggest the link from the QF award booking engine to the back-end database is not entirely accurate.

In cases like this, tools like expert flyer can be invaluable, if you wish to plan exactly and just call and relay what you want to the agent on the phone.

There are cases where JQ domestic segments linking with QF international segments are available on the back end, but won't show on the front end when you search on the net.

 

[rtyuiop]

So I called in today, and it seemed like they could see exactly the availability I was online (with the exception of JAL flights which the site doesn't seem to bring up, but they couldn't anyway).

Pretty happy with the routing I got - I'll need to muck about a bit getting from Orlando to NYC to connect to London, but will get to try out BA's fancy pants all-business A318 service to London City (with an ex-Concorde flight number, I think... Sigh...). Only have a Y+ seat for the transpac and it goes into LAX (yuck!), but hopefully something will free up between now and then.

I should be able to select seats for BA flights online as a QF Gold, shouldn't I? Doesn't seem to be cooperating so far...

Danny

 

[straitman]

I should be able to select seats for BA flights online as a QF Gold, shouldn't I? Doesn't seem to be cooperating so far...

Danny

Previously it was OWE (Platinum) only though that may have changed.

 

[tuapekastar]

Reasonably sure I could select BA seats online as a QF Gold back in the middle of the year.

 

[JohnK]

Previously it was OWE (Platinum) only though that may have changed.

From memory I was able to select seats on BA flights as a QF Gold (and that was ~4 years ago) albeit not the premium seats in economy.

There is a thread on AFF and Flyertalk.

 

[rtyuiop]

From what I can figure out from Flyertalk, looks like it's supposed to work for us Golds too.

Just discovered I couldn't do it through the Qantas system, but seems to be working (albeit slllllooooowwwwlllly) on the BA site.

Danny

 

[kirk7]

yes- different booking numbers

 

[rtyuiop]

That's the weird thing - the booking reference I used on the BA site is the same!

 

[NM]

BA's seating pre-selection policy is that only the following criteria allow pre-allocation at no charge:

• First Class passengers (all booking classes)
• Club World (Business Class) passengers with J or C class bookings
• World Traveller Plus passengers with W class bookings
• World Traveller (Economy) passengers with Y class bookings
• OneWorld Emerald or Sapphire status members
• Passengers with special needs (e.g. disabilities) or travelling with infants

Other passengers can choose to pay for seat pre-selection at the following rates:

• £10 per person per sector in Euro Traveller and on domestic routes
• £20 per person per sector in Club Europe, World Traveller and World Traveller Plus
• £60 per person per sector in Club World

 

[Postcode]

I had a similar situation two weeks ago. I booked online. After my ticket didn't arrive via email after filling in the American rubbish I called QF.

All seats on airlines were 'reserved' by the QF rep but the bloke had no luck with BA. I tried to reserve a seat with BA online on the same trip. It asked for cash. After a few tries it recognised my status and I was able to request a seat.

Good luck.

Oneworld a business name but it's not always how the alliance goes about things.

 

[rtyuiop]

This is one of those times I'm glad to have status! Managed to score pretty much whatever seat I want on my BA flights, shame the same can't be said for QF .

Danny