Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[Danger]

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

As a novice, planning a rather involved RoundTheWorld trip of 15 segments in J over some 2 months for 2 of us.

Looking at availability, will need to book early hence I should be booking over time. To save multiple assisted booking charges, my idea is to book as much as I can on-line as seats are released and then add in ones not visible on Qantas via phone assist later on, e.g. JBN-LVI-JBN. Is that the correct approach?

Just to be clear, are you booking a paid oneworld Explorer ticket? It sounds like you are. This thread discussed the Qantas five stop oneworld award (frequent flyer) ticket.

 

[ablecookie]

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

As a novice, planning a rather involved RoundTheWorld trip of 15 segments in J over some 2 months for 2 of us.

Looking at availability, will need to book early hence I should be booking over time. To save multiple assisted booking charges, my idea is to book as much as I can on-line as seats are released and then add in ones not visible on Qantas via phone assist later on, e.g. JBN-LVI-JBN. Is that the correct approach?

Definitely to redeem FF Points for the trip, hence wanting to jump in early for the limited availability.

 

[vetrade]

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

As a novice, planning a rather involved RoundTheWorld trip of 15 segments in J over some 2 months for 2 of us.

Looking at availability, will need to book early hence I should be booking over time. To save multiple assisted booking charges, my idea is to book as much as I can on-line as seats are released and then add in ones not visible on Qantas via phone assist later on, e.g. JBN-LVI-JBN. Is that the correct approach?

Ablecookie, with a 280K OW RTW award you can only make your first booking online - all subsequent additions or changes to flights can only be done over the phone. That first booking may involve multiple flights but I suspect you may think that it's OK to book multiple flights online as they are released (i.e. as separate bookings) with the intention of getting them combined into a single award booking later on but you can not do that. It's not possible to merge two or more bookings into a single award itinerary either by doing it yourself online or via the call centre.

Depending on which airlines you intend using (which determines when flights are released) it will probably be inevitable that you will need to stump up for some change fees. If you are confident that some sectors will have good availability you might be able to combine adding those flights by delaying until some later flights are released. This is not without risk though. Maybe post your proposed itinerary with details of dates and airlines etc. so we can comment specifically.

 

[ablecookie]

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

Thanks Vetrade for your response/advice. Will go ahead as advised and lock in early, not worth missing out for the sake of saving some points.

Thanks again.

 

[ejd711]

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

So have used the 140k awards twice now in 2003 and 2013 and think they are tops. The first one WAY before I stumbled on AFF just in time for the second trip.
1st trip: MEL-BKK-x LHR-DUB-BCN...LHR-CPT-JNB-xSYD-MEL
2nd trip: MEL-HKG-xHEL-OSL...LHR-xMAD-LIS...BCN-NYC-xLHR-DBX-MEL

Now have 280k points and business is looking tempting given the price of taxes in general.

What I'm wondering is what hard-to-get-to-places have people used this award for?

I'm thinking some more out there places it could be used for - maybe Easter Island (IPC), Reykjavic, and probably an overland trip between Tanzania and Victoria Falls. What far flung places have people managed to get to on a 140/240k award?

Current thoughts are:
BNE-xMEL/xPER-xDOH-NBO...VFA-xLHR-xBER-KEF (Iceland - AB) ... ?-xMAD-HAV-xLIM-GRU...EZE-xSCL-IPC-xSCL-xSYD-BNE

Likely chances of getting all those flights... err... could be pushing my luck. Not even sure yet if LanPeru release award seats on HAV-LIM. I could fly MAD-Central America and find way from there.

Whoops - just went onto Milecalc and it's 8,000 miles over the limit. Ok - will be making some modifications there!

But any others been to any of the more unusual destinations?

Cheers!

 

[Captain Halliday]

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

My head is spinning digesting this thread. As there's no QFi ex DRW (except East Timor) does a stop on the way count?

For example, if I wanted to book DRW-LAX I'd have to go via an east coast port. Let's say SYD for the sake of the example. Does SYD count as one stop and LAX as stop two, or would LAX be counted as my first of five?

 

[vetrade]

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

My head is spinning digesting this thread. As there's no QFi ex DRW (except East Timor) does a stop on the way count?

For example, if I wanted to book DRW-LAX I'd have to go via an east coast port. Let's say SYD for the sake of the example. Does SYD count as one stop and LAX as stop two, or would LAX be counted as my first of five?

Depends on the timing of your flights. If you departed SYD to LAX on the same day you flew in from DRW (i.e. prior to midnight) it would be counted as a transit rather than a stopover. Normally a transit is anything less than 24 hrs but domestic flights in Oz need to be on the same day to be transits - after midnight and it's a stopover.

 

[vetrade]

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

ejd711, someone posted about flights to Reykjavic 2-3 months ago. From memory I think you can get there from HEL or London but there was a good reason why you should fly via London. Maybe do a search to find the relevant posts.

Places like Easter Island sound appealing but you may find that because they have few flights and often there's only one airline servicing them, there's very little chance of getting award seats - sometimes the airlines just don't release any awards on them at all. I guess they're called "hard-to-get-to places" for good reason.

Don't exclude the possibility of getting an award flight to somewhere relatively close to the hard-to-get place you want to get to and buying a separate ticket there if awards are not obtainable. This can work well in Sth America where a lot of local flights can be very cheap.

 

[JohnM]

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

So have used the 140k awards twice now in 2003 and 2013 and think they are tops. The first one WAY before I stumbled on AFF just in time for the second trip.
1st trip: MEL-BKK-x LHR-DUB-BCN...LHR-CPT-JNB-xSYD-MEL
2nd trip: MEL-HKG-xHEL-OSL...LHR-xMAD-LIS...BCN-NYC-xLHR-DBX-MEL

Now have 280k points and business is looking tempting given the price of taxes in general.

What I'm wondering is what hard-to-get-to-places have people used this award for?

I'm thinking some more out there places it could be used for - maybe Easter Island (IPC), Reykjavic, and probably an overland trip between Tanzania and Victoria Falls. What far flung places have people managed to get to on a 140/240k award?

Current thoughts are:
BNE-xMEL/xPER-xDOH-NBO...VFA-xLHR-xBER-KEF (Iceland - AB) ... ?-xMAD-HAV-xLIM-GRU...EZE-xSCL-IPC-xSCL-xSYD-BNE

Likely chances of getting all those flights... err... could be pushing my luck. Not even sure yet if LanPeru release award seats on HAV-LIM. I could fly MAD-Central America and find way from there.

Whoops - just went onto Milecalc and it's 8,000 miles over the limit. Ok - will be making some modifications there!

But any others been to any of the more unusual destinations?

Cheers!

I haven't used a 280K 'RTW' award but I am a long-term regular purchaser of DONEx's. I'd be inclined to use the 280K award to get long-haul to the main points, then just buy separate Y- fares to get to some of the unusual places - especially short distances like JNB-VFA-JNB. It's often what I do on my DONEx's to get the best value from them.

 

[ablecookie]

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

Depends on the timing of your flights. If you departed SYD to LAX on the same day you flew in from DRW (i.e. prior to midnight) it would be counted as a transit rather than a stopover. Normally a transit is anything less than 24 hrs but domestic flights in Oz need to be on the same day to be transits - after midnight and it's a stopover.

Query for vetrade on your post earlier today.

You mention domestic leg must be same day and not overnight. That's going to create an issue for me. I will need to fly from PER to SYD to catch the SYD-JNB flight leaving 11:50. With the 3 hrs difference in local times, will have to fly in a day earlier, as earliest same day flight will miss the JNB connection. Does that means my transit in SYD is counted as a stopover?

 

[adelee]

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

Query for vetrade on your post earlier today.

You mention domestic leg must be same day and not overnight. That's going to create an issue for me. I will need to fly from PER to SYD to catch the SYD-JNB flight leaving 11:50. With the 3 hrs difference in local times, will have to fly in a day earlier, as earliest same day flight will miss the JNB connection. Does that means my transit in SYD is counted as a stopover?

Hi Ablecookie. It certainly does. For domestic, both flights need to be on the same calendar day for it to be classified as a transit. Otherwise it's definitely counted as one of your 5 stopovers.

 

[ComeFlyWithMe]

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

Hi All,

I was able to snag the following, and while not exactly maximising the benefit, shaping up to be a good trip:

SYD(QF)BNE(CX)HKG(CX)JFK(IB)MAD(IB)BCN-Surface Sector(Driving to Valencia then Madrid)-MAD(IB)FCO(QR)DOH(QR)SYD

280k + $615.99 in taxes (each, booked for 2 pax). The taxes came down by almost $150 when I removed MAD as a stop and connected to BCN instead. Didn't charge me any change or service fees as WP.

Stops in HKG, JFK, BCN, FCO, stopover (18 hours) in DOH. I think I have an extra stop or two up my sleeve, but probably won't use them. The QR flights were a real boon!

 

[Danger]

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

Hi Ablecookie. It certainly does. For domestic, both flights need to be on the same calendar day for it to be classified as a transit. Otherwise it's definitely counted as one of your 5 stopovers.

I stand to be corrected but this is not my experience. Anything less than 24 hours, even when over two calendar days, is counted as a transit.

 

[ablecookie]

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

Hi Ablecookie. It certainly does. For domestic, both flights need to be on the same calendar day for it to be classified as a transit. Otherwise it's definitely counted as one of your 5 stopovers.

In my case, one leg is domestic, PER-SYD, then joining overseas leg of SYD-JNB next morning, ~16 hrs time. sill caught up in the above rule?

 

[adelee]

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

I stand to be corrected but this is not my experience. Anything less than 24 hours, even when over two calendar days, is counted as a transit.

Hi Danger. My understanding of this rule comes from personal experience (and you'll find it clearly stated in the rules)

The final legs of my J 280k trip next June involve ADL-DRW (STOP) DRW-ADL-MEL. The ADL-MEL leg is the next day as I can't make the final ADL - MEL flight in time afyer getting in from DRW.

I had this itinerary ticketted fine once, but it was pulled up by QF after I phoned through a second round of changes to other legs of the itinerary (no doubt a smart cookie in the ticketting dept picked up on it), and deemed to be invalid as it was taking my trip to 6 stops - they were very firm on the fact that a domestic transit must be same day - the number of hours (whether 16 or 3) doesn't come into it.

After several weeks of negotiating (and concern about the unticketted state of my ticket!), a kind supevisor in the call centre reticketed it and allowed me to leave the original flights in, presumably as it had already been ticketted. Interestingly, I found that very few QF staff were aware of the different rules between domestic and Intl stopovers - so it's possible that you might get lucky, but don't count on it.

 

[Danger]

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

Hi Danger. My understanding of this rule comes from personal experience (and you'll find it clearly stated in the rules)

The final legs of my J 280k trip next June involve ADL-DRW (STOP) DRW-ADL-MEL. The ADL-MEL leg is the next day as I can't make the final ADL - MEL flight in time afyer getting in from DRW.

I had this itinerary ticketted fine once, but it was pulled up by QF after I phoned through a second round of changes to other legs of the itinerary (no doubt a smart cookie in the ticketting dept picked up on it), and deemed to be invalid as it was taking my trip to 6 stops - they were very firm on the fact that a domestic transit must be same day - the number of hours (whether 16 or 3) doesn't come into it.

After several weeks of negotiating (and concern about the unticketted state of my ticket!), a kind supevisor in the call centre reticketed it and allowed me to leave the original flights in, presumably as it had already been ticketted. Interestingly, I found that very few QF staff were aware of the different rules between domestic and Intl stopovers - so it's possible that you might get lucky, but don't count on it.

Wow. Very interesting.

Makes it tough for plenty of passengers outside of the golden triangle to get to Sydney or Melbourne on the same calendar day in order to take a number of overseas flights, including SYD-JNB.

 

[ablecookie]

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

Looks like I better play safe and look for flights thru Doha, i.e. PER-DOH-JNB.

Wonder how many people got caught with this un-written rule!

 

[vetrade]

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

The nuances of the rules can be frustrating and confusing. With the discussion about same day domestic transits I got to thinking about our most recent award trip last April/May. We originally booked an early morning MEL - SYD flight to connect with our SYD - JNB departure at 9.50am on the same day but later decided to fly to SYD the day before so we could avoid the need to get up at 4am. At the time I didn't even give a thought to the possibility of the overnight being classed as a stopover and had no problem making this change despite the fact we already had 5 other stopovers on our itinerary - so obviously the overnight in SYD was counted as a transit rather than a stopover.

Maybe this same day domestic transit thing isn't rigorously applied and only becomes an issue if an eagle-eyed operator picks up on it. The other possibility is that a distinction is made between domestic-to-domestic flights as opposed to domestic-to-international or international-to-domestic ones. I'm not sure what the status quo is.

 

[madrooster]

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

In my case, one leg is domestic, PER-SYD, then joining overseas leg of SYD-JNB next morning, ~16 hrs time. sill caught up in the above rule?

Maybe this same day domestic transit thing isn't rigorously applied and only becomes an issue if an eagle-eyed operator picks up on it. The other possibility is that a distinction is made between domestic-to-domestic flights as opposed to domestic-to-international or international-to-domestic ones. I'm not sure what the status quo is.

You'll be fine with this as it's a domestic to international transit. For these, an overnight but < 24 hours is fine. The issue being discussed is domestic to domestic where an overnight counts as a stopover.

 

[dumdidum]

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

Hi guys,

Just wondering about the seating on a 140k economy round the world trip. Do I have to pay extra to select seats in advance? For some reason a couple of my legs have flights already selected for me, but not others, e.g. Qantas

When I try and select a seat on Qantas it says an additional $30 is required. Is this correct?

Thanks