Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[Ken1]

FWIW I don't know why you mentioned EK, they are not part of OW and not bookable under this award.

Did you look at JL flights?

I realise that EK are not part of OW so can't be used on this award but was just mentioning that there are a lot of EK flights available at the moment for SYD-LHR, but nothing for CX or BA that I could have used with this award, and that QF showed up with flights available for one day that worked out well with our plans, so we went with that despite the high taxes. If there had been flights from anywhere in Europe back to SYD still available we would have booked those and would not have necessarily needed to use the OW 280K Award but since we couldn't find anything I booked to fly via YYC. I love visiting Banff so it was certainly no hardship deciding to travel home that way. My wife does not want to be away any longer than this so we can't get the full benefit of 5 stopovers on a OW Award but this still gives us good value for 280K being able to fly home via YYC.

I haven't looked at JL flights - I logged in to BAEC and CX AM as well as QF but nothing is showing in any of those. I've just set up a JL account and keyed in January 5 as an example date and it tells me I can only book up until December 27, 330 days out so I'll have to check over the next couple of weeks. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[lolouni]

Nearly completed my first 280K booking, for me and my wife.
I just wanted to share my experience, as this site was incredibly helpful, hope my experience can help someone else too.

Frustrating and nervous from time to time yes, but I have to confess that I really enjoyed the process - it has become my hobby.
Checking availability, talking to QF CSR, create mock itinerary, etc. I'm kind of sad actually as the fun part is over.
I'm sure a lot will agree, planning is fun part indeed. The moment I get onboard and start the journey half of fun is already gone......

#Full Itinerary
FEB 2017 GMP-HND-LHR JL // CDG-HKG(x)-MEL CX
JAN 2018 MEL-HKG-DXB CX - DXB-DOH-BUD QR // VIE-DUS AB // DUS-LHR-ICN BA

As you can see, I tried to divide whole trip into 2, so I can have 2 holidays essentially. It was challenging to organise as seat release date is tight from each airlines while I need to complete whole journey within 12 month. 34981 miles in total, Tax and surcharge is $1136 pp.

#Episode
- First leg booked was CDG-HKG-MEL as I wanted to fly JL, which releases their seats later than CX. When I found JL leg seat was released on my desired date in BA search, I started calling QF. Unfortunately I found QF CSR is hit and miss. Both online chat and phone. I guess it took me more than 5 CSR until I met someone who finally found the seat on JL flight. The one who made the JL booking, he didn't struggle at all, was able to see availability straight up and proceeded smoothly - while others were trying this and that but insisting there is NO availability. If they don't give you what you know it is there, hang up and call again.

- I lost opportunity to fly QR 380. At one stage I have secured MEL-DOH on QR. Plan was to add DOH-BUD later. However when I rang up and tried to add, the system said "Not available for exchange". There was definitely available seats on DOH-BUD, so the CSR CANCELLED my 2 seats on MEL-DOH and tried to book in one queue. Seat was cancelled but it didn't come back to inventory. She booked on revenue(!!!!) seat while put a request to Oneworld helpdesk with screen shots and booking details to revert it back to my original award booking. 5 days waiting, calling every day to check if there is any update, finally QR replied the request has been rejected. Thus alternative route, MEL-HKG-DXB-DOH-BUD. Also It was frustrating to hear all different advises from each CSR, some says within 24 hours some says it takes at least a week to get an answer from Oneworld helpdesk. I'm under impression of that QR is somewhat dodge. If a booking is not ticketed in a timely manner, they will simply cancel it without notice - many horror stories around. If you plan to include QR leg, I would suggest to be vigilant to secure it.

- Due to excessive tax and surcharge I tried to avoid BA, but since original plan(//MEL-DOH-BUD-VIE-DUS-HKG-TPE-ICN) was altered, to make it under 35000 miles I had to make a choice between AY and BA. Both expensive, but at least BA releases J cls. AY never makes J seat available on HEL-ICN leg. Note that BA charges 55 GBP for seat selection, for business class which I think it's absurd.


Well this was my first 280K booking experience. Hopefully QF doesn't devalue their program anytime soon so I can do it again.
If you have any questions feel free to ask, would be more than happy to answer.

Bon voyage!

 

[DontGetMeStarted]

well done, it can be a daunting task but satisfying when its all done. I will need to commence trying to book my next one in a few months as need to be back in the UK for April 2018 for a wedding and then a holiday one the way back to OZ

 

[flychrisfly]

Note that BA charges 55 GBP for seat selection, for business class which I think it's absurd.

They don'tcha
They don't charge if you have OneWorld status... Sapphire and above (QF Gold and above) I believe.

 

[snabbu]

Great first post lolouni and welcome to the forums.

 

[lolouni]

They don't charge if you have OneWorld status... Sapphire and above (QF Gold and above) I believe.

Perfectly true.
Unfortunately not the case for me. Typical point rich status poor here

 

[Captain Halliday]

Hello brains trust!

I'm after suggestions on a possible change to my J OW award.

Here's what I have so far - booked and ticketed:
cash fare DRW-SIN
SINxDOH-VCE on QR (stop 1)
VCE-FRA (own arrangements)
FRA-HKG on CX (stop 2)
HKGxCNS-BNE on CX (stop 3)
BNE-LAX on QF (stop 4)
LAX-LAS-NYC-YVR-LAX (own arrangements)
LAX-BNE-DRW on QF (end)

34996 miles, but with an available stopover.

The last part, LAX-BNE-DRW was booked in Y just to validate the route. However, T-353 has passed and no J seats for 3 pax have appeared +/-oneweek of 18 Jan, 2018.

Best option I can find seems to be LAXxHKG-SIN and then a cash fare SIN-DRW.

SYD or MEL adds too many miles.
LAXxDOH-DPS too many miles
LAX-xHKG-KUL available but cash fare is more than via SIN.
LAXxHKG-CNS is too many miles.
I can't find any JL availability.

Any other ideas or do I take LAXxHKG-SIN?

If so I figure I'll add LAX-LAS with my spare miles extra stopover to save a few bucks.

Brilliant ideas welcome.

 

[appaz]

Hi All,

I'm going to start putting flights on hold.

Any tips on the process or do I just start booking flights via the QF website and it will max out at 280k pp (J)?

 

[snabbu]

Hi All,

I'm going to start putting flights on hold.

Any tips on the process or do I just start booking flights via the QF website and it will max out at 280k pp (J)?

You reserve the seats using the award search, not actually putting them on hold. You are booking the seat.

Many people book their first segment on the day the seat becomes available and call up to add on segments as they find them. Personally I've only ever booked a complete itinerary in one go, then made slight changes as required.

As long as you follow the rules in the wiki at the top of the thread you will max out at 280k points.

 

[appaz]

Is there any trick to making sure it links up together or just go for gold and start booking legs in any order?

 

[appaz]

FYI my trip will be:
PER-KUL - revenue

OW 280k award oct/nov 17
KUL-CMB UL J
CMB-MLE UL Y stop
MLE-DOH QR J
DOH-CPH QR J stop
PRG-HEL AY J
HEL-SIN AY J stop

SIN-PER - revenue
PER-SIN - revenue

280k award continued dec/jan 17/18
SIN-NRT JL J stop
NRT-YVR JL J stop
LAX-HKG CX J
HKG-KUL KA J

KUL-PER revenue

Am I breaking any rules?

 

[Radio8tiv]

Hi All,

I'm going to start putting flights on hold.

Any tips on the process or do I just start booking flights via the QF website and it will max out at 280k pp (J)?

If the flights you want are available book as many as you can/like through the multi-city tool on the qantas site

Is there any trick to making sure it links up together or just go for gold and start booking legs in any order?

just go for it, as long as you stay within the rules the points will add up to 280k then you will get the remainder of the flights at no extra points, they will recalculate the taxes after every addition or change. However every time you ring up to add more flights there will be a 5k points fee

FYI my trip will be:
PER-KUL - revenue

OW 280k award oct/nov 17
KUL-CMB UL J
CMB-MLE UL Y stop
MLE-DOH QR J
DOH-CPH QR J stop
PRG-HEL AY J
HEL-SIN AY J stop

SIN-PER - revenue
PER-SIN - revenue

280k award continued dec/jan 17/18
SIN-NRT JL J stop
NRT-YVR JL J stop
LAX-HKG CX J
HKG-KUL KA J

KUL-PER revenue

Am I breaking any rules?

the trip looks pretty good, might steal some of the ideas on that one for my next one, no problems on transits, stops, segments, or distance

 

[SOPOOR]

Hey everyone. Sorry but I stopped at about page 100

420k points for first class.

I just Google the cost of the lowest first class Rte trip

And it's Swiss air at 11k with three stops..

Just for comparison. How much would adding the maximum destinations increase the fare by.

I'm just for personal reasons trying to work out what the best points to dollar ratio possible would range from

 

[landl]

Rang up yesterday to book the last legs of our RTW J trip 2017/2018. FYI:
BNE-ADE-DOH-ATH stop
AMS-LHR-MOS stop
MOS-HEL-TXL stop
TXL-JFK stop
JFK-YVR stop
LAX-HKG-CNS-BRIS 33,299miles

Could see the LAX-CNS availability as an award flight on QF website, however, when I rang was told the CSR couldn't see 2 x J on the HKG-CNS leg. She went off to speak to a supervisor and returned to say that some flights can't be booked if the trip originates in Australia (eg in this case, these could only be booked by either someone in the US or someone without an initial booking).
Was a little devastated as could not see any other way of getting home (and January seats are scarce) ... asked to speak to the supervisor who saved the day and booked us on the LAX-HKG leg and managed somehow (I couldn't see them on the screen) to find 2 x prem econ seats. She waived the change points and said she thought other J seats will come up for the final leg before we leave. This is the second RTW J class trip I've booked and my advice to newbies when getting a blanket no with QFF CSR is to either HUACA or ask (nicely) to speak to a supervisor. I think some of the CSRs don't have a detailed knowledge of the rules around these fares (not that this was the case this time).
I'd never come across this before though that some flights can't be booked even though you can see them as available. In know there are other foibles but is this one common knowledge?

 

[Radio8tiv]

Rang up yesterday to book the last legs of our RTW J trip 2017/2018. FYI:
BNE-ADE-DOH-ATH stop
AMS-LHR-MOS stop
MOS-HEL-TXL stop
TXL-JFK stop
JFK-YVR stop
LAX-HKG-CNS-BRIS 33,299miles

Could see the LAX-CNS availability as an award flight on QF website, however, when I rang was told the CSR couldn't see 2 x J on the HKG-CNS leg. She went off to speak to a supervisor and returned to say that some flights can't be booked if the trip originates in Australia (eg in this case, these could only be booked by either someone in the US or someone without an initial booking).
Was a little devastated as could not see any other way of getting home (and January seats are scarce) ... asked to speak to the supervisor who saved the day and booked us on the LAX-HKG leg and managed somehow (I couldn't see them on the screen) to find 2 x prem econ seats. She waived the change points and said she thought other J seats will come up for the final leg before we leave. This is the second RTW J class trip I've booked and my advice to newbies when getting a blanket no with QFF CSR is to either HUACA or ask (nicely) to speak to a supervisor. I think some of the CSRs don't have a detailed knowledge of the rules around these fares (not that this was the case this time).
I'd never come across this before though that some flights can't be booked even though you can see them as available. In know there are other foibles but is this one common knowledge?

not sure when you are going but in january I can see some availability for 2xJ on CX157 direct to BNE like on 24/1, 25/1

 

[madrooster]

not sure when you are going but in january I can see some availability for 2xJ on CX157 direct to BNE like on 24/1, 25/1

Married segment control is probably what is preventing any other option.

 

[landl]

not sure when you are going but in january I can see some availability for 2xJ on CX157 direct to BNE like on 24/1, 25/1

Thanks but too late for us unfortunately. Am OK though with what we have and will just keep an eye out for future releases. I've just never come across the notion that something that appears available on the Qantas website for award bookings is actually not available.

 

[CaptainCurtis]

Hey everyone,

Really appreciate the wealth of information in this thread. I haven't read through all of it, but its been interesting nonetheless. I was hoping to get some help with a round the world trip I'm looking to do starting in June of this year.

First up, I'll be travelling from Sydney to Perth ideally on the 23rd of June.
Next, I'd like to fly into Europe, arriving in London late June or early July. I'm not at all fussed where I stopover, but need to arrive in London by the 3rd of July at the latest.
Next, I need to fly into the West Coast of the US, either San Francisco or LA (or anywhere else along the West Coast) around the end of July. I have no time problems here, so wouldn't have a problem stopping in Dallas or anywhere nearby (would prefer not to go via the East Coast as I will be visiting there later).
Next, I need to fly across from the West Coast to the East Coast, either New York or Boston, around the 22nd of August.
Finally, I'll be heading home late December or early January, and I imagine this will be from the West Coast. I'm not sure if I'll be able to include the flight from the East Coast back to the West Coast for my flight home in the RTW package.

Thanks in advance!

 

[flychrisfly]

Finally, I'll be heading home late December or early January, and I imagine this will be from the West Coast. I'm not sure if I'll be able to include the flight from the East Coast back to the West Coast for my flight home in the RTW package.

You're not buying a RTW package using the oneworld award - you can go anywhere within the OWA restrictions. If you are buying a RTW package then this is the wrong thread for you

 

[CaptainCurtis]

My mistake, wrong choice of words. Definitely looking for the award.