Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[johnrm]

Re: Oneworld RTW 140,000 point fare

Hi

I am new here so apologies if this has been answered.

The QF site states to the affect that RTW tickets cannot be booked using points and must be paid for with a credit card.

Can someone explain please? Was planning to take the (approx) 140000 points RTW.
Many thanks.

 

[JohnK]

Re: Oneworld RTW 140,000 point fare

Not sure where you saw that but it is simply not true.

Go into 'Award Bookings' and click on multi-city. It will then give you a list of segments (I think 3) with dates and the option to add/delete further segments. Put in your destinations and make sure you check 'Flexible with dates' option and it should start giving you flight availability or it may simply say flight not available. The error messages are very poor but you get to understand them once you have used it enough times.

Once you have satisfied the basic conditions it will morph into a Oneworld award which costs 140,000 QFF points in economy.

Some of the basic conditions are itinerary must be under 35,000 miles, 16 sectors/segments, 5 stopovers, at least 2 Oneworld carriers other than QF, no codeshare flights on non-Oneworld carriers.

Note that it does not have to strictly be a RTW itinerary.

- It can be one way from Australia to USA via Asia and Europe but the distance will be calculated back to Australia.
- It can be a return to Europe via Asia or the USA in both directions

 

[OzziTravellers]

Re: Oneworld RTW 140,000 point fare

Hi

I am new here so apologies if this has been answered.

The QF site states to the affect that RTW tickets cannot be booked using points and must be paid for with a credit card.

Can someone explain please? Was planning to take the (approx) 140000 points RTW.
Many thanks.

Hi JohnRM,

I booked a RTW flight this week for 140000 pts per passenger so definitely can be done as a OneWorld award. The rules are different though to what you see as the OneWorld Explorer tickets - 5 stopovers, 16 segments, 35000 mile maximum, must use at least 2 Oneworld airlines.

There are quite a few ideas in this thread (including my path) about where you could go using the points.

Good Luck and Happy Planning.

Cheers...

 

[BillW]

Re: Oneworld RTW 140,000 point fare

Thanks to everyone. From the combined inputs from you, I went the Multi-city way and was easily able to put together a plan. SYD - JNB QF; JNB - MUR BA; MUR - LHR BA; LHR - BOM BA; BOM - HKG CX; HKG - SYD CX. For 140,000 points.

The multi-city planner does not seem to give you as many options and destinations as the OneWorld online planner and you can't choose your airline in the planning stage, only in a later stage. If not happy, you have to retrace many steps. I would have liked to use partner Royal Jordanian to have got from London to India via the Middle East but their main hub, Amman, is not a destination offered.

But anyway, a part of the objective has been conquered. With these bones, do you suggest that I tackle Qantas by phone to make refinements?

 

[JohnK]

Re: Oneworld RTW 140,000 point fare

How were you able to choose MRU as a departure airport? I was having extreme difficulty yesterday.

I think now that you an itinerary in mind it is probably best to call QF and see what else they can offer. They will be offer to the RJ flight via AMM if there is availability.

 

[BVT]

Re: Oneworld RTW 140,000 point fare

Maybe if Havana, Cuba is out, Cuba, New York might have to do...
Winter in the Sun - Weekend in New York - Weekend in New York — Sounds and Tastes of Old Cuba - NYTimes.com

I found it impossible to fly in and out of HAV with One World, for a reasonable price, that suits my schedule. I am happy to be proved wrong, on this.

The easiest option - for me - is YYZ/HAV/YYZ with Air Canada.

 

[BillW]

Re: Oneworld RTW 140,000 point fare

How were you able to choose MRU as a departure airport? I was having extreme difficulty yesterday.

I think now that you an itinerary in mind it is probably best to call QF and see what else they can offer. They will be offer to the RJ flight via AMM if there is availability.

John, just wanted you to know that your tips have been really helpful. I have now demonstrated to myself that RTW by OneWorld can be in fact a circle, or even return. Don't worry about MRU. Perhaps it was because I projected it quite afew months out.

Bill

 

[Jacques Vert]

Re: Oneworld RTW 140,000 point fare

I found it impossible to fly in and out of HAV with One World, for a reasonable price, that suits my schedule. I am happy to be proved wrong, on this.

The easiest option - for me - is YYZ/HAV/YYZ with Air Canada.

We went to HAV from MAD with IBERIA on a RTW. Very nice flight in J on an A340. Left with Mexicana to MEX (not possible at present AFAIK).

Another option is HAV-SCL with LAN

JV

 

[Dantine]

Re: Oneworld RTW 140,000 point fare

Hello, lonnnnng time lurker. Thanks to all your tips, I just turned a planned holiday to South America into a Grand Tour of the Pacific.

New goal is to get another 80k points by end of the year to be able to do it in J!

 

[sarvowinner]

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

Hi

I'm playing around with a Oneworld Award (Y) for my daughter. She is currently doing a roadtrip through the States and is joining us in October in Tuscany to help out with our cooking school. She and her friend will park their 1985 Dodge Ram campervan for a couple of weeks before returning. Their plan is to head up to Toronto. Prodigal daughter will then fly to Brisbane join us for Xmas. The next stage in her grand plan is to be in Edinburgh for the festival then look for work in London.

I've played around with routings but keep breaking the Qantas booking machine They are currently in Texas heading around the southern states. I think MIA is best to fly start from as she can fly back to MCO & her friend can drive up and pick her up.

This is my current routing: MIA-LHR-MXP (Stopover) - MXP-JFK-MCO (Stopover) - YYZ-LAX-BNE (Stopover) - BNE-HKK-LHR (Stopover) Including the unused (or she may even use it) final leg LHR-MIA the total kilometers add up to 54,772 - the maximum allowed is 56,315.

However, according to the rules, we must include the land segment MCO-YYZ. This isn't on the OW Interactive map so I deducted the distance MIA-MCO from YYZ-MIA and this amounts to 1,648 and we only have a balance of 1,543 kms. At a pinch, she can get an awards flight YYZ-ORD and that will reduce the open jaw distance.

Johnk or anyone else - does this a) meet all the rules?
b) are they vigilant in enforcing the land segment rule?
c) will YYZ be another stopover?
d) is there any other solution that will save that 105kms?
Thanks
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[JohnK]

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

Johnk or anyone else - does this a) meet all the rules?
b) are they vigilant in enforcing the land segment rule?
c) will YYZ be another stopover?
d) is there any other solution that will save that 105kms?
Thanks

If I undestand correctly the routing would be MIA-LHR-xMXP-JFK-xMCO-xYYZ-LAX-xBNE-HKG-xLHR-MIA. I am not sure why your daughter would be returning back to the USA a second time when the objective is to be in Edinburgh. Anyway

Stopovers even with a surface sector look OK but that distance is 35,064 miles which is over the maximum permissible. Also I believe you are missing some transit points which is going to increase the distance even more.

A few points (I hope I got them right)

a) Surface sectors do count towards total distance and sector count
b) I don't think you can start in USA go to Europe return to USA and eventually end up back in USA. I may be wrong but it should start pricing at the sector level rather than Oneworld award once you have returned to country of origin.
c) Is there a direct flight from MXP-JFK? Or via LHR?
d) Remember that you are allowed 2 transits in any one city and the third must be a stopover.

What I would suggest is a cheap one-way from the USA to MXP or even LHR and then start the Oneworld from there and finish it back up in GLA later.

Something like this should work even with surface sector

MXP-LHR-JFK-xMCO//xYYZ-ORD-LAX-xBNE-xHKG-xLHR-GLA. This routing is only 26,021 miles and obviously can have some more transits even though you have reached the 5 stopovers.

Hope that helps....

 

[sarvowinner]

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

If I undestand correctly the routing would be MIA-LHR-xMXP-JFK-xMCO-xYYZ-LAX-xBNE-HKG-xLHR-MIA. I am not sure why your daughter would be returning back to the USA a second time when the objective is to be in Edinburgh. Anyway

She wants to finish her road trip before returning to Australia for Xmas - Edinburgh isn't on the agenda until April 2012.

Stopovers even with a surface sector look OK but that distance is 35,064 miles which is over the maximum permissible. Also I believe you are missing some transit points which is going to increase the distance even more.

Where do you find the distances in miles. When I use the OW Interactive map I get kms.

I don't think I'm missing any transit points? American Airlines flies directly MXP-JFK

A few points (I hope I got them right)

a) Surface sectors do count towards total distance and sector count
b) I don't think you can start in USA go to Europe return to USA and eventually end up back in USA. I may be wrong but it should start pricing at the sector level rather than Oneworld award once you have returned to country of origin. (I haven't seen this rule - do you know where I can find this in fine print? It does blow my whole concept out of the water).
c) Is there a direct flight from MXP-JFK? Or via LHR? See above
d) Remember that you are allowed 2 transits in any one city and the third must be a stopover.

What I would suggest is a cheap one-way from the USA to MXP or even LHR and then start the Oneworld from there and finish it back up in GLA later. That's a great option.

Something like this should work even with surface sector

MXP-LHR-JFK-xMCO//xYYZ-ORD-LAX-xBNE-xHKG-xLHR-GLA. This routing is only 26,021 miles and obviously can have some more transits even though you have reached the 5 stopovers.

Hope that helps....

Thanks JohnK - you are so helpful.

When I try to choose flights, I get as far as YYZ-LAX - it's a direct flight, I get the error message "You can only permitted to depart from your city of origin once." I'm not sure why? I've tried your itinerary and on the final LHR-GLA I get "Invalid travel class redemption". Very frustrating. I'm going to leave this until tomorrow as the site is throwing up lots of glitches tonight.

 

[JohnK]

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

Apologies for getting MXP-JFK wrong. I had no idea AA serviced that route.

I don't know why the Oneworld planner is in kms but the limit is 35,000 miles or 56,315 kms and surface segments are allowed but count towards the total mileage.

When I try to choose flights, I get as far as YYZ-LAX - it's a direct flight, I get the error message "You can only permitted to depart from your city of origin once." I'm not sure why? I've tried your itinerary and on the final LHR-GLA I get "Invalid travel class redemption". Very frustrating. I'm going to leave this until tomorrow as the site is throwing up lots of glitches tonight.

I think that is misleading error message trying to tell you that you are trying to enter/exit your country of origin more than once. I don't know where it is written in the terms and conditions but I do not believe you can leave your country of origin once you have returned and have never been successful. Try out some different combinations.

Not sure what is wrong with LHR-GLA. Should be OK but again that is only a short flight and perhaps can be booked separately.

Here are the main terms and conditions for Oneworld award bookings and just scroll down to 14.5.

 

[dajop]

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

I think that is misleading error message trying to tell you that you are trying to enter/exit your country of origin more than once. I don't know where it is written in the terms and conditions but I do not believe you can leave your country of origin once you have returned and have never been successful. Try out some different combinations.

This is a general rule for all classic awards (including the oneworld award):

14.3.5 A Classic Award Itinerary must contain no more than one departure from the city or country of first departure on that Itinerary.

To allow multiple entries into the US, the trip would need to start from Mexico or Canada (and not transit the origin country on return to US).

 

[JohnK]

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

It was in the terms and conditions right in front of me and I missed it!

To allow multiple entries into the US, the trip would need to start from Mexico or Canada (and not transit the origin country on return to US).

Interesting suggestion, and one I did not think of earlier, but may not help in this itinerary.

 

[JohnK]

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

No. Travel does not need to be in one direction.

A Oneworld award can be a series of one-way flights, return flights, round and round in a circle as long as it meets the mileage, sector, stopover and carrier conditions. One thing to note is if not finishing the itinerary in port/country of origin then mileage would be calculated to port/country of origin.

P.S. I should have quoted the post that had now disappeared. Still the answer I provided is still relevant....

 

[sarvowinner]

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

This is a general rule for all classic awards (including the oneworld award):



To allow multiple entries into the US, the trip would need to start from Mexico or Canada (and not transit the origin country on return to US).

14.3.5 A Classic Award Itinerary must contain no more than one departure from the city or country of first departure on that Itinerary.

OK - missed that T&C on country - certainly saw the city.

Thanks JohnK & dajop. Back to the drawing board.

 

[LLance]

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

How do people book for 140,000 points?

Everytime I do the points calculator for 3/4 stops: Syd>HK>London>LA>Syd it comes to a lot more than 140k points.

Is something wrong with my itinery or are the points calculator inaccurate?

 

[Flashback]

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

How do people book for 140,000 points?

Everytime I do the points calculator for 3/4 stops: Syd>HK>London>LA>Syd it comes to a lot more than 140k points.

Is something wrong with my itinery or are the points calculator inaccurate?

You need to use at least 3 different carriers e.g. CX, BA, QF, AA

 

[serfty]

How do people book for 140,000 points?

Everytime I do the points calculator for 3/4 stops: Syd>HK>London>LA>Syd it comes to a lot more than 140k points.

Is something wrong with my itinery or are the points calculator inaccurate?

See these earlier posts:

Use the 'multi' option. When you add a trip on a the second different oneworld carrier (other than Qantas), it will automatically become a 'oneworld' award itinerary with the up to 140K pp rate.

Try SYD-(CX)-xHKG-(CX)-LHR-(AA)-LAX-(QF)-SYD.

You can tell when the online award booking engine decides you have qualified for a oneworld award when the award type changes from:

Qantas/Partner Award

to

oneworld Award