Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[BillW]

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

I am putting together a oneworld 140,000 point return trip from Syd and would like others' experiences please on which stops offer the lowest charges and taxes. I need to land anywhere in Europe, then go to Egypt. If I need a stopover to make the points work, then I need that too. The usual candidates are Bangkok or Hong Kong but it could be Amman or anywhere. I am happy for wherever the cheapest taxes are. Bill

 

[Jacques Vert]

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

I am putting together a oneworld 140,000 point return trip from Syd and would like others' experiences please on which stops offer the lowest charges and taxes. I need to land anywhere in Europe, then go to Egypt. If I need a stopover to make the points work, then I need that too. The usual candidates are Bangkok or Hong Kong but it could be Amman or anywhere. I am happy for wherever the cheapest taxes are. Bill

Avoid Heathrow.

 

[JohnK]

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

I am putting together a oneworld 140,000 point return trip from Syd and would like others' experiences please on which stops offer the lowest charges and taxes.

At a guess I would say it may best to route via the USA as theoretically there should be less taxes and surcharges on AA flights although I am not sure about AA flights across the Atlantic.

If Egypt is the destination you want then it would be Ok to transit London as long as you do not stopover. I believe the passenger duty is not that high for economy class travel anyway.

Generally you should expect to pay close to $1,000 in taxes and surcharges although I have seen some of the smaller itineraries get away with $700-$800 in taxes and surcharges.

Personally I would maximise the itinerary to take in more places and not worry about a few hundred dollars.

 

[Kendall Roy]

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

On an award related matter, does anyone know what tool QF uses to calculate miles? Reason I ask as I've populated a valid OW award itinerary for around 34,500 miles via GC Mapper, however QF are stating that the miles are over the 35K threshold? Any ideas?

 

[serfty]

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

Qantas have their own defined distances between ports, which may vary from GCmap.

What are those in question?

 

[Kendall Roy]

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

Qantas have their own defined distances between ports, which may vary from GCmap.

What are those in question?

Have PM'd you. Cheers!

 

[serfty]

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

Hmmm ... changing -LHR-MXP- to -LHR-BER-MXP- should only add 533 miles to the route. (595+521-583)

LHR (51°28'39"N 0°27'41"W)

MXP (45°37'50"N 8°43'41"E)

(SE)

[TD="align: right"]130.3°[/TD]

[TD="align: right"] 583 mi[/TD]

LHR (51°28'39"N 0°27'41"W)	BER (52°31'N 13°24'E)	(E)
BER (52°31'N 13°24'E)	MXP (45°37'50"N 8°43'41"E)	(SW)

[TD="align: right"]77.6°[/TD]

[TD="align: right"] 595 mi[/TD]

[TD="align: right"]205.8°[/TD]

[TD="align: right"] 521 mi[/TD]

Have you tried contacting Qantas Frequent Flyer and asking?

 

[BillW]

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

Is it as simple as anywhere but LHR?

Are Rome, Frankfurt, Paris, Bangkok, Singapore, HK all much the same, charges wise?

 

[JohnK]

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

Hmmm ... changing -LHR-MXP- to -LHR-BER-MXP- should only add 533 miles to the route. (595+521-583)

I don't have the routing used for GCM but if that routing was ~34,500 miles and the difference you mention is 533 miles then that is over the 35,000 miles as stated by Qantas.

Is it as simple as anywhere but LHR?

Are Rome, Frankfurt, Paris, Bangkok, Singapore, HK all much the same, charges wise?

Generally the biggest charge in taxes and surcharges is the fuel levy. So if you are going to go to Europe then that would be 4 sectors and I assume >$500.

Then you have departure taxes to add on to that as well. I think Australia is $38 (may have gone up now) and places like Thailand departure tax is 700 baht.

Once you start to build an itinerary you will notice taxes and surcharges increase with each sector added....

 

[serfty]

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

I don't have the routing used for GCM but if that routing was ~34,500 miles and the difference you mention is 533 miles then that is over the 35,000 miles as stated by Qantas.
...

~34,200 to ~34,700 ...

 

[JohnK]

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

Is there a land sector in there somewhere? Another transit point missed? Not returning back to the point of origin?

If all looks OK then I would try again with another agent....

 

[tallboy]

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

Is it as simple as anywhere but LHR?

Are Rome, Frankfurt, Paris, Bangkok, Singapore, HK all much the same, charges wise?

I would agree that LHR should be avoided unless you need to go there and that including it generally inflates taxes.

Try booking an itinerary using LHR as your European 'hub', then compare with others such as HEL, or perhaps also BER now that air berlin has joined the oneworld fold.

I travel from South America to Europe about once a year and often fly into Europe with IB via (one of my favourite airports) MAD. A few times I have compared options for virtually the same itinerary using BA via LHR and IB via MAD and the tax difference has been considerable.

Plus I then get the chance to stop over in MAD, catch up with some amigos and spend the difference on tinto and tapas

YMMV.

tb

 

[Kendall Roy]

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

Try booking an itinerary using LHR as your European 'hub', then compare with others such as HEL, or perhaps also BER now that air berlin has joined the oneworld fold.

Air Berlin flights on QF awards are nothing short of a joke. They will often work out around the same $ as the discount economy offering due to the +++++

 

[jveevers]

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

I just discovered the RTW via FF points. I was looking at PER-FLL return which is 128000 points + $800- approx.
Not I have found the RTW, I am looking at PER-FLL-NY-BAR-VEN-DUBAI-HK-PER. Thats 6 stopovers which is the maximum. Comes in at 140000 points + $1100-
So for an extra 12000 points and $300-, I can extend my trip by 5 destinations that I thought I would have to do at a later time as funds and points permitted. Its great as long as you have the time for all these places. I priced up the same itinerary using Qantas "oneworld" and it came to $9300-!!!.
With the FF RTW, you have to be prepared to fly a little further as not all flights are direct but if you have the time, no matter as costs no more.
I didnt see any availability issues with flights being available pretty well every day on each leg. Couple of times I had to adjust my stay by a couple of days either way but thats fine. So my 3 week trip to FLL for a cruise has turned into a 9 week trip, but I get to go to 5 other places that I planned for in the future. Just a matter of picking 6 places that you want to visit, being a little flexible, and off you go.

 

[Alanslegal]

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

Not I have found the RTW, I am looking at PER-FLL-NY-BAR-VEN-DUBAI-HK-PER. Thats 6 stopovers which is the maximum. Comes in at 140000 points + $1100-
So for an extra 12000 points and $300-, I can extend my trip by 5 destinations that I thought I would have to do at a later time as funds and points permitted. Its great as long as you have the time for all these places. I priced up the same itinerary using Qantas "oneworld" and it came to $9300-!!!.

Welcome to AFF and I definitely agree, these OneWorld awards are very good value. The main conditions is travel must be less than 35,000 miles, a maximum of 5 stopovers, up to 16 sectors all up, and it does not to be a Round The World itinerary. So in your case, you could have flown say Australia-South America-USA-Asia-Australia.

 

[jveevers]

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

Welcome to AFF and I definitely agree, these OneWorld awards are very good value. The main conditions is travel must be less than 35,000 miles, a maximum of 5 stopovers, up to 16 sectors all up, and it does not to be a Round The World itinerary. So in your case, you could have flown say Australia-South America-USA-Asia-Australia.

I found that I could do 6 stopovers. Unfortunately the booking process does not tell you how many km. between each (and how many you have used), so you never know if you have gone over the 35000km or still have heaps left.

What I dont understand is the 16 sectors, what exactly is a sector and how does it differ from a Stopover?

 

[JohnK]

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

Not I have found the RTW, I am looking at PER-FLL-NY-BAR-VEN-DUBAI-HK-PER. Thats 6 stopovers which is the maximum. Comes in at 140000 points + $1100-

Is one of those a transit of less than 24 hours?

I have never been able to have 6 stopovers on an itinerary without going over 140,000 QFF points so would be interested to see if you could get that ticketed.

 

[Alanslegal]

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

I found that I could do 6 stopovers. Unfortunately the booking process does not tell you how many km. between each (and how many you have used), so you never know if you have gone over the 35000km or still have heaps left.

What I dont understand is the 16 sectors, what exactly is a sector and how does it differ from a Stopover?

For mileage calculations I used Great Circle Mapper as a guide. Enter all of your route details and the mileage will be calculated.

Sectors are just a flight between two airports/cities. So SYD-MEL-ADL are two sectors for example. On these awards you can have 16 of them, however only 5 stopovers.

Stopopvers are considered when you are in or stopped in a City for more than 24 hours. Transits are less than 24 hours.

As a rough example, this is a 16 sector route: PER-ADL-SYD-LAX-DFW-FLL-DFW-NYC-MAD-BCN-VCE-LHR-DXB-BKK-HKG-SIN-PER however you can only stop >24 hours in 5 of those places. Apart from the 5 stopopvers, some people try to time their flights so that can stay in cities up to 24 hours eg. arriving 5pm, and depart 430pm the next day, so they can have close to a full day exploring whilst technically being in "transit" only.

I have never been able to have 6 stopovers on an itinerary without going over 140,000 QFF points so would be interested to see if you could get that ticketed.

I'm exactly the same. When I play with the booking tool and when the 6th stopopver is entered, the entire award recalculates and pushes the points required above the 140K required.

 

[jveevers]

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

Is one of those a transit of less than 24 hours?

I have never been able to have 6 stopovers on an itinerary without going over 140,000 QFF points so would be interested to see if you could get that ticketed.

I stand corrected. I tried today and with 6 stopovers it went to 220000 points.
Maybe yesterday when I did the dummy book, 1 of the stopovers was less than 24 hours.

So 5 stopovers max. is the go
Max. distance of 35000 I dont think would create too many difficulties.

Perth-Santiago-New York-London-Dubai-Hong Kong-Perth would be one of the longest and is about 31000.
Only if you wanted to go to North Canada or Russia would you run into mileage limits.

 

[Jacques Vert]

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

I stand corrected. I tried today and with 6 stopovers it went to 220000 points.
Maybe yesterday when I did the dummy book, 1 of the stopovers was less than 24 hours.

So 5 stopovers max. is the go
Max. distance of 35000 I dont think would create too many difficulties.

Perth-Santiago-New York-London-Dubai-Hong Kong-Perth would be one of the longest and is about 31000.
Only if you wanted to go to North Canada or Russia would you run into mileage limits.

When you only have 6 sectors, the mileage should not be a problem. It's when you use all 16 sectors and start criss-crossing back & forth that you will have an issue. On the One World site, it will come up with an error message when you go over your limit IIRC.

Enjoy the holiday and don't forget a trip report!

JV