Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[exceladdict]

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

Hi there!
I am heading over to NY to live for 3 months and am planning to head to singapore/europe on the way (hmmm...on the way....)

I am looking at the 140,000 One world award and am thinking the following trip ADL-SYD-SIN-LHR-JFK-ADL

I am looking at economy, so there is quite a lot of inventory available.

My options are looking like the following:

QFXX: ADL - SYD
QF5 or BA16 - SYD- SING
BA12: SING-LDN
or
CX176+ CX251:SING-HKG-LDN
or
EK353+EK9:SING-DUB-LDN


AA105 or BA174: LDN to NY
QF12 +QF739 NY-SYD-ADL
or
CX841+CX173:NY-HKG-ADL

I have changed up with a few combos, and some of them push me over the miles travelled limit. The fee is around about $700-900 range depending on the combo of flights. The questions I have are:
1 - Recommend any flights in there I take/avoid?
2 - I have heard to avoid BA as much as possible. Is this also the same with AA? If so, is there a better route out of Europe to NY? I am happy to make my way to another city in Europe.
3 - If I need to change the date of my flight back to Adelaide, will it be easier to do that on a QF flight, rather than the CX? And is that a matter of changing it online and paying the points change fee.
4- Are you peeps legends for helping me out? (I already know the answer is yes!)

Thanking all of you in advance.

1) QF and BA will have large surcharges. Perhaps try CX via HKG to LHR, where you could go direct from ADL, or even QF to SIN then AY via HEL.
2) yes, and IB via MAD, AY via HEL to JFK. Even QR via DOH.
3) I don't believe you can change once a journey starts.
4) it's up to the questioner to say if the answer is useful

 

[vetrade]

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

Hi there!
I am heading over to NY to live for 3 months and am planning to head to singapore/europe on the way (hmmm...on the way....)

I am looking at the 140,000 One world award and am thinking the following trip ADL-SYD-SIN-LHR-JFK-ADL

I am looking at economy, so there is quite a lot of inventory available.

My options are looking like the following:

QFXX: ADL - SYD
QF5 or BA16 - SYD- SING
BA12: SING-LDN
or
CX176+ CX251:SING-HKG-LDN
or
EK353+EK9:SING-DUB-LDN


AA105 or BA174: LDN to NY
QF12 +QF739 NY-SYD-ADL
or
CX841+CX173:NY-HKG-ADL

I have changed up with a few combos, and some of them push me over the miles travelled limit. The fee is around about $700-900 range depending on the combo of flights. The questions I have are:
1 - Recommend any flights in there I take/avoid?
2 - I have heard to avoid BA as much as possible. Is this also the same with AA? If so, is there a better route out of Europe to NY? I am happy to make my way to another city in Europe.
3 - If I need to change the date of my flight back to Adelaide, will it be easier to do that on a QF flight, rather than the CX? And is that a matter of changing it online and paying the points change fee.
4- Are you peeps legends for helping me out? (I already know the answer is yes!)

Thanking all of you in advance.

Firstly, EK is not a OW airline so you can't fly with them on a OW reward. Those fees of $700 - 900 seem low to me especially as you have a stop & departure (as opposed to a transit) from London (LHR) where there are quite expensive airport departure taxes. BA also tend to have higher taxes than most airlines. AA's fees are low in comparison and I prefer their in flight service too. I routinely fly between Europe and NY on IB via Madrid although this is primarily because I'm usually looking to book 2 x J reward seats and IB tend to have better availability - plus they have a good long haul product (their intra-Europe quality is average though). Maybe keep IB as an option - alternatively there are flights from CDG to JFK as another option.

The itinerary you posted should be within the distance limits - I didn't check it but the route from NY - HKG - ADL on CX would be longer than flying JFK - LAX - SYD - ADL

My guess is that if you need to change flights to ADL you might find CX has better availability but I don't have personal experience flying into ADL from HKG. You can book your initial flight/s online but you can't make any changes to a OW reward itinerary online - all additions or changes must go through the call centre - the fee is 3500 points plus $80 for a Y award each time you make changes.

 

[hutch]

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

Firstly, EK is not a OW airline so you can't fly with them on a OW reward. Those fees of $700 - 900 seem low to me especially as you have a stop & departure (as opposed to a transit) from London (LHR) where there are quite expensive airport departure taxes. BA also tend to have higher taxes than most airlines. AA's fees are low in comparison and I prefer their in flight service too. I routinely fly between Europe and NY on IB via Madrid although this is primarily because I'm usually looking to book 2 x J reward seats and IB tend to have better availability - plus they have a good long haul product (their intra-Europe quality is average though). Maybe keep IB as an option - alternatively there are flights from CDG to JFK as another option.

The itinerary you posted should be within the distance limits - I didn't check it but the route from NY - HKG - ADL on CX would be longer than flying JFK - LAX - SYD - ADL

My guess is that if you need to change flights to ADL you might find CX has better availability but I don't have personal experience flying into ADL from HKG. You can book your initial flight/s online but you can't make any changes to a OW reward itinerary online - all additions or changes must go through the call centre - the fee is 3500 points plus $80 for a Y award each time you make changes.

vetrade basically covered it all!

1. I would look at taking the SIN-HKG-LHR option on CX. Otherwise, maybe AY or QR. Avoid BA. CX would have the cheapest taxes though.
2. Agree on looking at Iberia... if you can't do Iberia, basically try to fly to the US from a non-UK port.
3. I don't think it matters much. If you need to change your booking, when you ring up you should be able to book whatever is available at the time (if anything!). Just because you book QF the first time, I don't think that means you're stuck with them if you change your booking.

 

[ablecookie]

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

Have been planning our next trip in 2017. Was looking at returning home to Perth, final stage of Doha-Colombo-Singapore-Perth. Everything looking OK previously, but logging in this morning, CMB-SIN flight disappeared. Actually all Sri Lankan flights have gone.

Is this a bug in the system or the airline no longer in Oneworld?

 

[hutch]

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

Have been planning our next trip in 2017. Was looking at returning home to Perth, final stage of Doha-Colombo-Singapore-Perth. Everything looking OK previously, but logging in this morning, CMB-SIN flight disappeared. Actually all Sri Lankan flights have gone.

Is this a bug in the system or the airline no longer in Oneworld?

Sri Lankan still in OW. I assume it's a bug or no longer available online.

 

[There'sOnlyOneJimmy]

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

Have been planning our next trip in 2017. Was looking at returning home to Perth, final stage of Doha-Colombo-Singapore-Perth. Everything looking OK previously, but logging in this morning, CMB-SIN flight disappeared. Actually all Sri Lankan flights have gone.

Is this a bug in the system or the airline no longer in Oneworld?

Not knowing your desired flight date, I have just checked on the BA website for flights CMB-SIN on 14 Feb 2017.
On both the 01:00 service, and the 12:10 service, it shows 5 Y seats available and zero J seats. My guess is that 5 is the most seats that will show at any one time.

If you want me to check specific dates (current latest date visible is 17 Feb 2017), let me know.
HTH
J

 

[ablecookie]

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

Not knowing your desired flight date, I have just checked on the BA website for flights CMB-SIN on 14 Feb 2017.
On both the 01:00 service, and the 12:10 service, it shows 5 Y seats available and zero J seats. My guess is that 5 is the most seats that will show at any one time.

If you want me to check specific dates (current latest date visible is 17 Feb 2017), let me know.
HTH
J

Thanks, early days yet, still working out our complete plan, good to know J is rather scarce!

 

[flychrisfly]

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

Yes. OK. I guess my main concern now is that, when I put all those flights into the qantas multi-city tool, it gives a lower amount for fees than I have been charged. I have been charged $71/person more than the qantas tool shows.

Fees and taxes change ALL the time, and sometimes they don't. You pay what they are at the time of your booking/ticketing. If you check back in a week it'll be a different amount.

I was lucky that during my last RTW booking process I scored a $700 refund of taxes. I called up recently to look at a change and those taxes seem to have been reinstated. So you win some and you lose some.

YMMV

 

[flychrisfly]

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

Have been planning our next trip in 2017. Was looking at returning home to Perth, final stage of Doha-Colombo-Singapore-Perth. Everything looking OK previously, but logging in this morning, CMB-SIN flight disappeared. Actually all Sri Lankan flights have gone.

Is this a bug in the system or the airline no longer in Oneworld?

Grab the seats when you can! No point waiting and hoping the seats will wait for you - they won't. Good luck!

 

[kimnkk]

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

Is it possible to select seats for QR flights?

I've logged in on their site but it throws an error when i try to select seats (tried multiple computers and over a few weeks).
The error is about entering my Frequent Flyer number too many times (but i dont have QR FF).

Thanks!

 

[exceladdict]

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

Is it possible to select seats for QR flights?

I've logged in on their site but it throws an error when i try to select seats (tried multiple computers and over a few weeks).
The error is about entering my Frequent Flyer number too many times (but i dont have QR FF).

Thanks!

It is. You may need to call QR to get their PNR, as opposed to the Qantas one.

 

[vetrade]

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

Is it possible to select seats for QR flights?

I've logged in on their site but it throws an error when i try to select seats (tried multiple computers and over a few weeks).
The error is about entering my Frequent Flyer number too many times (but i dont have QR FF).

Thanks!

QF and QR use the same PNR so you should be able to log into the Manage My Booking section of the QR website using that PNR and your surname. Do not enter your FF number (either QF or QR) unless you just want to confuse it!! If you are receiving an error message which prevents you getting into the seat map for a specific flight when you try to select seats it is probably because they either haven't specified the aircraft on your flight or there may have been a change of aircraft.

FWIW it is often possible to select seats on the QR website for nearly any of the airlines you might be using on a OW RTW reward even if you can't select seats for the same flights on that airline's own website or on the QF website. It's one of the quirks of QR's website and comes in very handy on occasions. I have used it for seats on IB and even for QF seats when the QF system malfunctioned repeatedly. One exception is BA because they require you to pay for advance seat selection even in J.

Edit:
I should add that if you get into the seat selection at QR for a particular flight and select your seats and then "save" them you might get an error message saying something like "seat selection not saved" or "seat selection unavailable for this flight". Don't worry about this message because if you just log out and then login again you will probably find that your selections have, in fact, been saved. If you can actually get into the section where the seat map displays then your selections will probably work from there.

 

[Coley]

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

Is anyone else having problems searching Qantas J award availability for 2017. For the last couple of days I have been unable to see any Qantas J award space on any international route in 2017? Only options that come up in the award calendar is when there is QR/BA/CX awards etc.

 

[Richard64]

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

Hi Coley,

where are you trying to go ? I can confirm there was availability for the JFK - SYD sector a week or so ago (for end of Jan 2017) - but its all gone now :-(

 

[Coley]

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

Hi Coley,

where are you trying to go ? I can confirm there was availability for the JFK - SYD sector a week or so ago (for end of Jan 2017) - but its all gone now :-(

I mean every route I search there is no J availability on any date in 2017. Its only happened in the last couple of days since point upgrades were announced. There is no availability on any international route in J on QF. I just wanted to see if other people are getting the same thing or its just me.
I've searched BNE-SIN, SYD-SIN, SIN-SYD, SYD-LAX-BNE, SYD-DFW-SYD, SYD-DXB etc.

 

[Doctore1003]

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

Odd. I just had a quick look and couldn't see any availability for Feb 2017 either, but there is some for late 2016 still (eg SYD-SIN).

 

[sanne]

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

Just looked SIN to BNE J. Has seats several days in FEB 17 on QF. Booked 2 tickets last week for FEB 20th 2017.

 

[Coley]

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

Just looked SIN to BNE J. Has seats several days in FEB 17 on QF. Booked 2 tickets last week for FEB 20th 2017.

If I search Feb 2017 (SIN-BNE) I can only see J availability on the 27th and 28th and neither of these are on QF.

 

[sanne]

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

This is what I can see. QF 52 J seat every day til 23rd Feb except Thursdays and Fridays. I am QF Gold so don't know if this makes a difference

 

[sanne]

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

Oops, sorry don't know how to transfer a screen shot. Anyway from 5th Feb - 23rd Feb there is availability of J on QF52 every day except Thursdays and Fridays.