Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[Ultan Lankford]

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

So finally got through and went away to add flights to my ticket but hit a problem. When I tried to book two seperate segments the lady on the other end could not do so. Is this is what we call a married segment where there is a restriction on it? This is with QR by the way.
The only way I can see availability is to use the multi city fare tool which splits the flight up. Availability galore but, having it as a one way only shows limited availability.

Would a 24 hour stop over fix this? The person on the other end didn't seem to be the most knowledgeable in fairness so speaking to someone else may make things clearer for me.

 

[N860CR]

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

So finally got through and went away to add flights to my ticket but hit a problem. When I tried to book two seperate segments the lady on the other end could not do so. Is this is what we call a married segment where there is a restriction on it? This is with QR by the way.
The only way I can see availability is to use the multi city fare tool which splits the flight up. Availability galore but, having it as a one way only shows limited availability.

Would a 24 hour stop over fix this? The person on the other end didn't seem to be the most knowledgeable in fairness so speaking to someone else may make things clearer for me.

24 hour stop will fix it, but you'll lose one of your stops.

I'm traveling SYD-DOH-NBO on one of these tickets and instead of having a nice connection in DOH, I'm stuck spending 24 hours there

 

[EestiTiger]

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

So finally got through and went away to add flights to my ticket but hit a problem. When I tried to book two seperate segments the lady on the other end could not do so. Is this is what we call a married segment where there is a restriction on it? This is with QR by the way.
The only way I can see availability is to use the multi city fare tool which splits the flight up. Availability galore but, having it as a one way only shows limited availability.

Would a 24 hour stop over fix this? The person on the other end didn't seem to be the most knowledgeable in fairness so speaking to someone else may make things clearer for me.

I think I am going to hit the problem next week when I try to book LAX-HKG-BNE on CX. I have 'saved' a stop for this scenario, but was wondering...

If I fly CX LAX-HKG and connect with QF HKG-BNE, will that get around the married segment issue?

 

[cjd600]

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

I think I am going to hit the problem next week when I try to book LAX-HKG-BNE on CX. I have 'saved' a stop for this scenario, but was wondering...

If I fly CX LAX-HKG and connect with QF HKG-BNE, will that get around the married segment issue?

Yes, it will

 

[EestiTiger]

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

Yes, it will

Thanks cjd600

 

[melbkate]

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

Thanks cjd600 - so the flights I am looking at online show lots of availabilty. I am waiting on some bonus points to come through to have enough for 2 J fares. Will it be cheaper for me (in terms of points as well as $) to book it all together online? Or will it make no difference therefore I should start now? If I start now and book a flight home to MEL from FCO it also creates it in Euros. Will this make a difference?

Also, aside from avoiding LHR are there any other airports to avoid re taxes etc? Or the cheapest? We are looking at something like MEL-SIN-DOH-MAD-BIQ-NCE-FCO-DOH-MEL in May June. We may even go to Europe via Chennai India. Or come home that way. Only going to Asia and Western Europe. Not the Americas or Africa.

This is typically done when dates pass and subsequent legs you require are released (or better flights become available to what you have already booked
- just call up and have Qantas add/change the leg(s). They can look for you but it is best if you have identified what you want, and can 'feed' then dates/flight numbers
- more legs you can do at once the better as the 3500pts (soon 5000) is only charged once per booking no matter how many legs you add/change on that call
- they will process the taxes, and points required for the leg(s) you are adding
- once your trip reaches 280k (assuming J), the points wont continue to rise, assuming all other award rules remain satisfied

 

[cjd600]

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

Thanks cjd600 - so the flights I am looking at online show lots of availabilty. I am waiting on some bonus points to come through to have enough for 2 J fares. Will it be cheaper for me (in terms of points as well as $) to book it all together online? Or will it make no difference therefore I should start now? If I start now and book a flight home to MEL from FCO it also creates it in Euros. Will this make a difference?

Also, aside from avoiding LHR are there any other airports to avoid re taxes etc? Or the cheapest? We are looking at something like MEL-SIN-DOH-MAD-BIQ-NCE-FCO-DOH-MEL in May June. We may even go to Europe via Chennai India. Or come home that way. Only going to Asia and Western Europe. Not the Americas or Africa.

Its cheaper (points wise) to book it all together online if you can as you aren't paying any 3500 x 2 change fees each time you make an addition.
Obviously a risk that available flights may disappear if you wait for the rest to be released....depends how confident you are the 'lots of availability' will remain vs how many points you have to burn on 3500 x2 each addition if done bit by bit.
If you book FCO-MEL now, yes, you'll pay Euro now. When you add your other legs (incl starting from MEL, it should all recalculate in AUD, incl the EUR equivalent you have paid).

LHR is the only airport I know that is one to avoid due to the departure tax. More so airlines to avoid due to high fuel surcharges, notably QF and BA, and to a lesser extent QR. CX and AA are pretty good.
Having said that, on my 4 x 280k J we are flying QR,BA,QF and flying out of LHR....so I don't necessarily practise what I preach in this respect....but getting 4 x J on same flights reduced choices somewhat

 

[flychrisfly]

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

LHR is the only airport I know that is one to avoid due to the departure tax. More so airlines to avoid due to high fuel surcharges, notably QF and BA, and to a lesser extent QR. CX and AA are pretty good.
Having said that, on my 4 x 280k J we are flying QR,BA,QF and flying out of LHR....so I don't necessarily practise what I preach in this respect....but getting 4 x J on same flights reduced choices somewhat

Note that LHR is only expensive for departures - transits and arrivals are not too bad.

 

[melbkate]

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

Thank you cjd600 that is a great help. What a great fare! I always though it was RTW and you had to go literally RTW so great to understand the difference as Asia and Europe all we are interested in at the moment. Kate

 

[cjd600]

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

Thank you cjd600 that is a great help. What a great fare! I always though it was RTW and you had to go literally RTW so great to understand the difference as Asia and Europe all we are interested in at the moment. Kate

Indeed...the main restrictions are the 35k mile limit (including any surface sectors) and max 5 stopovers (+24hrs), and at least 2 carriers other than QF (doesn't need to include QF)

 

[roomer]

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

just on hold with Qantas and being told that having made a booking via the multi city part that they aren't able to merge this with any new bookings to make it form part of the business class oneworld award for 280K!

please tell me that she is wrong

after 15 excruciating minutes

turns out the words I should have used is

"can I add more flights to my existing booking for it to qualify as a one world award booking"

can you tell I am new at this?

 

[travelislife]

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

just on hold with Qantas and being told that having made a booking via the multi city part that they aren't able to merge this with any new bookings to make it form part of the business class oneworld award for 280K!

please tell me that she is wrong

What are you asking? To merge 2 bookings? This is not possible.

To add segments to your existing booking, this is definitely possible.

 

[roomer]

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

What are you asking? To merge 2 bookings? This is not possible.

To add segments to your existing booking, this is definitely possible.

I honestly thought the meaning of using the word "merge" had the same effect - lesson learnt

turns out the words I should have used is

"can I add more flights to my existing booking for it to qualify as a one world award booking"

 

[Kangol]

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

I honestly thought the meaning of using the word "merge" had the same effect - lesson learnt

turns out the words I should have used is

"can I add more flights to my existing booking for it to qualify as a one world award booking"

Don't even mention "oneworld award". It might confuse them.
Just say you would like to make a change to your booking and add a few extra flights.
That way you pay the change fee.

Emphasis in bold.

 

[roomer]

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

Don't even mention "oneworld award". It might confuse them.
Just say you would like to make a change to your booking and add a few extra flights.
That way you pay the change fee.

Emphasis in bold.

Funny you you should say that, because after thinking that I would have thought she would have twigged to what I was after, I said ok then next time how should I make the request, and that was her suggestion. I'm puzzled as to why it there is this confusion, particularly when I drop the bit about the 280,000 points, would have thought that would have the penny dropping.

But thanks for the tip Kangol, Im writing it down on my notes

 

[prozac]

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

...

LHR is the only airport I know that is one to avoid due to the departure tax. ...

So no departure tax at MAN or EDI?

 

[Ultan Lankford]

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

So, managed to get my extra segments sorted. QR issues aside and long QF CS wait times, I spoke to a QR rep who seemed knowledgeable and helpful. When it comes to Qantas CS, its really god awful or very very good. Not much in-between. Their chat is terrible though, like so bad it even puts guys like Air Asia to shame in its badness.

Anyway, flights have been added to my PNR, which I can now see. With these being QR flights I asked them to be ticketed asap, which she said will be put into an urgent queue and also a manual oversight added as well as backup, which makes me confident.

How will I know that the flights have been ticketed though? Should they show an e-ticket number?

I can see my extra segments on checkmytrip.com but the only e-ticket number I see is the first leg, which is with LAN, three other legs are with QR and I cannot see any e-ticket number for them. So, I guess when I see an e-ticket number for these flights I know we are good? The thing is though, I booked two of the other QR legs ages ago and they were ticketed but can't really remember if they had an e-ticket number or not.

 

[madrooster]

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

So no departure tax at MAN or EDI?

UK APD applies for almost all ex-UK originating departures, be it LHR, LCY, MAN etc. ... with the exception of BFS.

 

[flychrisfly]

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

How will I know that the flights have been ticketed though? Should they show an e-ticket number?

The revised itinerary is emailed to you when the flights have been ticketed. And, yes, they'll have an e-ticket number.

Good luck with QR!

 

[ablecookie]

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

Does anyone have experience with S7 award booking?

Tried to book even on first day of release - 330 days ahead. The consultant said she can see the seats, but won't let her to book it, etc. Then, perhaps is because I have no status?