Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[Kangol]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

I would have thought that for the SYD-AKL run, LA availability would show on QF. If not, then perhaps try BA? FWIW I don't think you'll have too much trouble finding availability on that sector.

Ah, I had some issues with my browser and it is showing on the QF site for QF321 SYD-AKL, it's just that there is no availability on my preferred date. I will look at other dates though.

 

[Meggsy]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

I believe the issue was that 2 oneworld carriers other than Qantas need to be used to make it a oneworld award. If AA/US merge then that's only one carrier.

Would flights on US count as 1 of the 2 oneworld carriers though when they are not part of oneworld. Genuine question as I thought affiliates did not count, only members.

 

[vetrade]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Would flights on US count as 1 of the 2 oneworld carriers though when they are not part of oneworld. Genuine question as I thought affiliates did not count, only members.

Affiliates do count, Meggsy

 

[Meggsy]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Affiliates do count, Meggsy

Thank you for that Vetrade. Never too old to learn something new. That will make a lot of difference to my planning now as i was excluding affiliates on my incorrect belief.

 

[madrooster]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

If it's of any use to you, CX fly YVR-JFK and LA fly SYD-AKL. Perhaps you could incorporate one of those legs.

JJ also fly YYZ-JFK but it's not daily.

 

[Kangol]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Would flights on US count as 1 of the 2 oneworld carriers though when they are not part of oneworld. Genuine question as I thought affiliates did not count, only members.

Currently, US are part of OW. They left *A to join OW to facilitate with the AA merger. When it happens, US will no longer exist.

JFK is going to blow out the mileage unfortunately..

 

[humblemark]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Great thread - I'm starting to plan my first One World Award. Booking in stages seems the best way to go, especially as some of the routes that I'm interested in would need to be done by phone. If a booking is partially made but the additional flights that I am waiting to open up do not eventuate what is the cancellation cost (i.e. worst case scenario if no alternatives can be found)? Is it applied to the entire set of flights (i.e. 5000 points in total) or to each individual flight sector. I assume the former but double checking before I start lining things up.

 

[madrooster]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Currently, US are part of OW. They left *A to join OW to facilitate with the AA merger. When it happens, US will no longer exist.

JFK is going to blow out the mileage unfortunately..

A potential answer to your problem...

BNE QF LAX (stop 1)
LAX QF x/SYD QF x/AKL LA SYD (stop 2)
SYD QF x/LAX AA DEN (stop 3)
DEN AA x/LAX QF BNE

33712 miles

Rearrange as required to suit your itinerary. You'll need a commercial ticket to get to SAN or just get a rental car and do the 2 hour drive each way.

 

[Kangol]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

A potential answer to your problem...

BNE QF LAX (stop 1)
LAX QF x/SYD QF x/AKL LA SYD (stop 2)
SYD QF x/LAX AA DEN (stop 3)
DEN AA x/LAX QF BNE

33712 miles

Rearrange as required to suit your itinerary. You'll need a commercial ticket to get to SAN or just get a rental car and do the 2 hour drive each way.

Thanks, but there are a few issues:
- I don't want to pay for an F award to have any of the long haul legs in J
- Going to BNE is out of the question and not needed (Oz base is in SYD)
- I already have DEN-xLAX-SYD all in F booked and need those dates (especially to start in DEN) and am planning on adding segments after those two.

I started another thread and it looks like the best option is to book it before the US->AA change and then revalidate/change dates where possible. This is a gamble though.

The SYD-AKL-SYD is a killer at 1343 miles each way.
SYD-LAX is 7502 miles and SYD-DFW is 8589 according to MM.
Even if I took out the LAX-SAN legs at 109 miles and put in the SYD-AKL-SYD, I am still >200 miles over.

The planned routing is 34,967 according to MM and 34,918 according to GCM.

 

[madrooster]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

I started another thread and it looks like the best option is to book it before the US->AA change and then revalidate/change dates where possible. This is a gamble though.

Be careful with this as they will be changing everyone over to AA flight numbers so you will need to ensure that the whole thing is ticketed before this change happens.

 

[pjm99au]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Just finished booking my first 280K reward trip and wanted to send out my thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread.

The trip is for our 20th Wedding Anniversary next year so I was restricted with dates, it is only a quick trip so as not to leave the kids for too long and I had left it a bit late (relatively speaking). I found the BA website very helpful for the Europe to Asia legs which the QF site struggled with as well as the Award Nexus site (free community account through AFF).

Feb 16
SYD - LHR QF (Stop)
LHR - CDG BA (Stop)
CDG - DOH QR (Transit)
DOH - HKG CX (Stop)
HKG - MEL CX (Transit)
MEL - SYD QF

Fees and Taxes $1,392.55 pp

The QF booking process was very good. One call, 10 minutes on the phone and the booking was complete.

Thanks again - your contributions made this possible

 

[adelee]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

The QF booking process was very good. One call, 10 minutes on the phone and the booking was complete.

Well done, on both your trip, and scoring a good QF phone operator!

 

[Henk]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Hi Friends,

I'm planning to book a OW RTW in J for 280K for July 2016. The most probable itinerary would look like: SYD-SFO-YYZ-MSY-DUS-WAW-SYD, leaving SYD first week of July 2016. There seem to be SYD-SFO in J available for my dates in July 2016 and would like to jump on one of them, but don't know how to proceed to the next step without knowing what is available, because the other flights are later than 365 days from now? Should I just call QF and do it on the phone? Is there a way to start the process online to secure the desired flight that is now available and then complete the itinerary later on? Thanks for your help.

 

[vetrade]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Hi Friends,

I'm planning to book a OW RTW in J for 280K for July 2016. The most probable itinerary would look like: SYD-SFO-YYZ-MSY-DUS-WAW-SYD, leaving SYD first week of July 2016. There seem to be SYD-SFO in J available for my dates in July 2016 and would like to jump on one of them, but don't know how to proceed to the next step without knowing what is available, because the other flights are later than 365 days from now? Should I just call QF and do it on the phone? Is there a way to start the process online to secure the desired flight that is now available and then complete the itinerary later on? Thanks for your help.

Hi Henk. The first leg can be booked online and all additions/changes after that need to be via the QF call centre. You should grab the SYD - SFO J seats while you can - availability is not likely to last, especially as it's a new service. Because J seats often get snapped up quite quickly most people find they have to add flights to their itinerary as they are released. This can get a bit complicated because different OW airlines release their flights at a varying number of days before. QF are 353 days, AA are 330 days etc. There won't be any point in calling "QF and doing it on the phone" before the flights are released because they won't be able to "see" availability ahead of release anyway.

Have you used the OW interactive planning tool to work out exactly what flights and airlines are available? Only asking because there are no direct flights between some of the cities in the itinerary you posted e.g. MSY - DUS and DUS - WAW. I think you really do need to look at working out each of the flights required (plus contingency options) first.

Maybe post a comprehensive itinerary with all the flights and which OW airlines fly them so that we can readily give you advice as to what will or won't work.

 

[Ken1]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

I've just booked the first flight to start our 280K J OW award for next July. Later next month I will be adding a BA flight for LCY-ZRH, on the day I return from a cruise. I am trying to decide which flight to book - 12:55 or 15:50. The ship is scheduled to arrive back at 5am and we can disembark between 6 and 10am so the 12:55 should be okay if the ship arrives back on time.

It's never happened to me but I have read that if you don't show for a flight the rest of your itinerary is cancelled but if say you knew of a delay, if for some reason the ship was delayed, and notify the airline before the flight time that you can't make that flight do they always still cancel the rest of the itinerary, even if you tell them you still want to do the rest of the flights you have booked, and you have notified them before the flight, rather than just being a no show? Has anyone using 280K OW awards ever missed a flight in the middle of their itinerary and if so what happened?

 

[vetrade]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

I've just booked the first flight to start our 280K J OW award for next July. Later next month I will be adding a flight for LCY-ZRH, on the day I return from a cruise. I am trying to decide which flight to book - 12:55 or 15:50. The ship is scheduled to arrive back at 5am and we can disembark between 6 and 10am so the 12:55 should be okay if the ship arrives back on time.

It's never happened to me but I have read that if you don't show for a flight the rest of your itinerary is cancelled but if say you knew of a delay, if for some reason the ship was delayed, and notify the airline before the flight time that you can't make that flight do they always still cancel the rest of the itinerary, even if you tell them you still want to do the rest of the flights you have booked, and you have notified them before the flight, rather than just being a no show? Has anyone using 280K OW awards ever missed a flight in the middle of their itinerary and if so what happened?

Would not even contemplate the 12:55 flight - not enough margin for hold ups and you are relying on everything going smoothly. What if there's bad weather and the boat can't dock on time? Murphy's Law has a habit of biting people on the backside in such circumstances. As a general comment I think an allowance of around 12 hours for ship to flight (or, even better, an over-nighter) is a good rule-of-thumb. I would expect that there will be customs formalities after you disembark, travel time to the airport and don't forget the checkin time at the airport.

You won't be cut any slack if you notify the airline - they will accommodate you if they change/cancel a flight but if you miss the flight for any reason you're "history". The OW RTW rules state "no changes to your itinerary allowed after the first flight departs" - and that would apply to you. The reality is that there is no guarantee that a seat will be available on the next flight at the last minute........and they will not want to find an alternative for you if it's your fault you're not on the flight you have booked.

It sounds like you intend having quite a long trip anyway so I'd eliminate all the risk as far as is possible by spending a night in London and flying to ZRH the next day.

 

[Saintza]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Has anyone had any trouble with JL availability not appearing for Qantas staff? JL Y flights from NRT to YVR are showing up for a bunch of dates around May 10 - May 12 on the BA site and also the JL site (using Award Nexus) but when I phoned up Qantas to book they said they didn't see any of those awards available. Is there a way to find out which system is incorrect?

 

[Henk]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Hi

Thanks for that. I thought, I wasn't too bad at it (booking flights) until now. Anyway, I did give it a go and did not get far with the interactive planning tool, I therefore beg for further help. My first question is: Where do I "snap" and reserve the first flight before I call QF Premium desk and ask for further assistance? Is it on QF website or OW website? Is it the "Around the World" interactive tool that I have to use or the "Multi-City" one?

I have the following plan in mind:

SYD-SFO between 4-8 July 2016, (4-5 days in SFO.)
After 4-5 days in SFO I would like to spend another 5-7 days either in Chicago or Canada (YUL or YYZ) or in the south (SAT or MSY or MIA)
After some 10 days in the US, between 15-18 July continue to DUS or CGN.
DUS or CGN to WAW or WRO ON 20-21 July. (this is optional as I could take a LLC, but since I already have to RTW so it would be good for it to be in the itinerary.
WAW-SYD or DUS-SYD in the first week October 2016, between 3-7 October via either DXB or HKG or SIN or even JNB. If DUS was not a good one for departure, I could go for FRA but would prefer not to.

You said that some of the routes I mentioned earlier were not direct. Do they have to be direct in a RTW reward itinerary?

Thanks for your help.

 

[vetrade]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Henk, first up, book the SYD – SFO leg as a J classic award on the QF website. Depending on your dates and whether the Chicago or Canada flights have been released you might be able to add those sectors at the same time (as a multi city booking). If you’re looking at using AA for your US domestic flights they won’t be available until 330 days (maybe later) so there’s a good chance you will just need to book the SYD – SFO to start with.

A word of warning about AA award seats: most US domestic flights are only F or Y which means you would need to book into Y even though you’ll be on a J award. There is a J class on US – Canada flights but since AA and US joined forces early last year there has been a big change (reduction) in award seat availability. My experience is that you can often get 1 x J seat but not 2 – seems they want to discourage couples flying for leisure and give the seats to their solo AAdvantage travellers.

You don’t book awards on the OW website – AFAIK the RTW you see on the OW site is only for paid fares, not awards.

There is no specific OW RTW booking option on QF – you do it as a classic award and it will automatically swap to a OW RTW once you hit 280K points (assuming you have complied with all the rules regarding distance, stopovers etc.)

Regarding direct flights – RTW award flights definitely don’t need to be direct. I only mentioned that because you will need to consider what city/cities you can transit through to get to where you want to go. Thought will need to be given to which OW airlines you could use. This is where the OW interactive planner comes in very helpful. You also need to research if award seats are likely to be available on any route you select.

I’ll think about your European options.

 

[gbetox]

re: "oneworld" award (140K/280K/420K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Has anyone had any trouble with JL availability not appearing for Qantas staff? JL Y flights from NRT to YVR are showing up for a bunch of dates around May 10 - May 12 on the BA site and also the JL site (using Award Nexus) but when I phoned up Qantas to book they said they didn't see any of those awards available. Is there a way to find out which system is incorrect?

Same thing happened to me. I asked the phone assistant to double-check, and when she searched through "redemption" instead of "flight availability", she was able to see the seats and grab them.