Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[Cardinal]

What flight numbers?

QR831 -17 May 18 - BKK to DOH (known about this for a while - probably gone to Perth).

QR7 - 30 May 18 - DOH to LHR (a suite of changes to Qsuites to and from LHR April to July).

 

[Shan Man]

Completed my first and definitely not last 280k award redemption in March.

Amazing value for what it was! Had a slight issue with MH not actually confirming J seats meaning QF had to change my routing home had after I had left SYD. Luckily it was picked up before I was due to fly on them after a missed flight in CDG (my bad, oops!) required re ticketing.

Shame I missed out on newish MH J & their refreshed lounge in KUL however, was keen for some satay =(

AB going under meant I was re-booked by QF on a Joon (AF new millennial airline concept) service & it was actually quite good! Food was nice, IFE was all streamed to your device with in seat power provided through USB ports & crew were super friendly. Miles ahead of what BA provided on their Euro J jets...

JL 787 HND-LHR was amazing & the flight times despite sounding horrific were actually very good for adjusting to GMT. 0245 DEP, 0625 ARR. Full 8hrs sleep on board and woke up at 0430 for breakfast, so basically just felt like a very early start to the day & no jet lag in London! Winning! Also you just cant beat Japanese style & service.

CX 350 FCO-HKG was also great, although I find that the way CX serve in J now is a little dated & potentially in need of a change in style. Hard product was great however & crew as always on CX were very friendly.

Routing was SYD-HND-LHR/LCY-TGL-CDG-LHR-VCE/FCO-HKG-SYD
280k points. $885.92 in taxes.
10/10 would recommend.

 

[madrooster]

before I was due to fly on them after a missed flight in CDG (my bad, oops!) required re ticketing.

Did you get rebooked into a commercial class? If yes, claim the points/SC's/etc!

 

[exceladdict]

....Luckily it was picked up before I was due to fly on them after a missed flight in CDG (my bad, oops!) required re ticketing....

I was under the impression missed flight = loss of entire remainder of PNR? Would you mind sharing the circumstances?

 

[Shan Man]

Did you get rebooked into a commercial class? If yes, claim the points/SC's/etc!

Unfortunately not! U class for HKG-SYD & I am not sure how, but also on AF TGL-CDG.

I was under the impression missed flight = loss of entire remainder of PNR? Would you mind sharing the circumstances?

I missed check in for my flight at CDG by ~20mins, rang QF's french number straight away and spoke to the team there. The guy was extremely helpful & was upfront that they had limited capability to make changes without contacting QF in AUS, but I spent a good 90mins on the phone to them & they were able to move me to the next avail award seat on that route (CDG-LHR) which just so happened to be the same flight the following day.

This move was confirmed BEFORE the scheduled departure time & was issued on a new PNR with my FCO-HKG flight attached, but nothing to SYD.

The french office weren't able to confirm the HKG-KUL-SYD legs due to MH never confirming the original seats and awards no longer existed. So I rang the WP desk a few hours later and despite having no award seats visible online, or to the agent initially they booked a seat in J on CX, so not sure what happened there but it was made available.

They also combined the new "french" PNR with my old one and everything stayed the same, seat selection meals the lot, however when I arrived at check-in the following day BA couldn't action because the E-TICKET number hadn't been attached, so another call to the WP desk to get that fixed was needed.

At no time did any one question the request to move flights because of the no show despite me telling them I had missed it, but it could have been for any or multiple of these reasons (all speculation):

1) The call was received by QF BEFORE the "no show" message went from BA to QF.
OR
2) The call was received before scheduled departure time.
3) The french team weren't that familiar with the process & by accident they re-activated (if possible?) by playing around with the booking.
4) When speaking to the WP desk about multiple PNR's, no award seats despite a confirmed ticket on MH that apparently wasn't confirmed by them, the easiest option was to re-book and resolve the issue
5) WP status??
6) Travel gods looking over me?

 

[exceladdict]

...
6) Travel gods looking over me?

Reminds me of a time my wife saved us, by the skin of our teeth, from losing the remaining 2/3 of a USDM booking. I was in the lounge, chilling to my heart's content, forgetting that CLT is in a different timezone to IAH, and thinking we had another hour to departure.

Good to hear you were very well looked after.

 

[madrooster]

The french office weren't able to confirm the HKG-KUL-SYD legs due to MH never confirming the original seats and awards no longer existed. So I rang the WP desk a few hours later and despite having no award seats visible online, or to the agent initially they booked a seat in J on CX, so not sure what happened there but it was made available.

MH would've had confirmed seats in the PNR. Else they wouldn't have originally issued a ticket for those seats. It sounds like either MH took their seats back due to no ticket number being associated, or something along those lines (did you make any changes?).

They also combined the new "french" PNR with my old one and everything stayed the same, seat selection meals the lot, however when I arrived at check-in the following day BA couldn't action because the E-TICKET number hadn't been attached, so another call to the WP desk to get that fixed was needed.

Classic case of QF not issuing tickets on time. Well documented here on AFF!

At no time did any one question the request to move flights because of the no show despite me telling them I had missed it, but it could have been for any or multiple of these reasons (all speculation):

1) The call was received by QF BEFORE the "no show" message went from BA to QF.
OR
2) The call was received before scheduled departure time.
3) The french team weren't that familiar with the process & by accident they re-activated (if possible?) by playing around with the booking.
4) When speaking to the WP desk about multiple PNR's, no award seats despite a confirmed ticket on MH that apparently wasn't confirmed by them, the easiest option was to re-book and resolve the issue

The fact you got in before BA cancelled the rest of the itinerary is what saved you. There's probably some element of fault with QF themselves here. As I mentioned above, there's some likelihood they didn't do their ticketing in time and so it would've been up to them to resolve it regardless.

 

[blu]

I had major stress with 'no number, or an invalid ticket number' for about 6 codeshared flights.

 

[Alberto]

Hi I have used the RTW points several times. Hard to get away on points through South America in December and back in Jan though - are you better off paying for a cheap fare to Nth America or Europe and points to go up and down to Sth America or stick to the RTW? Thanks Alberto

 

[JohnK]

Welcome to AFF Alberto!

You might be best asking that question in the Oneworld award planning thread if you have not yet seen that thread.

 

[AndyGoodyear]

Taxes/Airlines to avoid, best research tool and best business class cabins for 280K award

Hi all. I'm looking to book a 280K award for next February/March and am currently in planning phase. I've been a QF frequent flyer for quite some time now but it will be my first time researching and booking one of these awards. I had some questions for those of you more experienced in this

1. Which airlines should I try to avoid in terms of cost (taxes, fees).
2. Which is the best tool for calculating the total taxes before I call up Qantas and get them to book it? ITA Matrix? Skyscanner?
3. Which business class cabins would you recommend in terms of both airline and type of plane? I want to make this the best J class experience possible.
4. Which partner flights will I not be able to find on Qantas.com - I know CX is one of them, are there any others? JAL?
5. I thought Emirates could have been used but alas they cannot. However I've seen on this thread a number of people saying they added EK flights without much extra cost. Does anyone have more info on this? What changes exactly if I want to add an EK flight and what should I look out for. I'm only asking because I have heard their business class product is pretty superior.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Danger]

Taxes/Airlines to avoid, best research tool and best business class cabins for 280K award

Hi all. I'm looking to book a 280K award for next February/March and am currently in planning phase. I've been a QF frequent flyer for quite some time now but it will be my first time researching and booking one of these awards. I had some questions for those of you more experienced in this

1. Which airlines should I try to avoid in terms of cost (taxes, fees).
2. Which is the best tool for calculating the total taxes before I call up Qantas and get them to book it? ITA Matrix? Skyscanner?
3. Which business class cabins would you recommend in terms of both airline and type of plane? I want to make this the best J class experience possible.
4. Which partner flights will I not be able to find on Qantas.com - I know CX is one of them, are there any others? JAL?
5. I thought Emirates could have been used but alas they cannot. However I've seen on this thread a number of people saying they added EK flights without much extra cost. Does anyone have more info on this? What changes exactly if I want to add an EK flight and what should I look out for. I'm only asking because I have heard their business class product is pretty superior.

Thanks everyone!

1. BA and QR are high. I think IB is up there, too.
2. I would use ITA but note also there are lots of taxes included in the Wiki to this thread.
3. QR A350 and 787 (and Q suites on the 777 but they will be hard to come by), particularly on long haul and overnight flights, wherever possible; CX 777, A350 and A330; AY A350.
4. CX is bookable on the QF website. I think QR flights originating in Doha are unavailable online. Possibly S7.
5. EK taxes are high. Depending on where you want to fly to, it might be better buying Y tickets outright. Personally, I don't rate their J product (although their new 777 J seat is apparently quite good).

 

[exceladdict]

Which partner flights will I not be able to find on Qantas.com - I know CX is one of them, are there any others? JAL?

JAL flights are still, more often than not IME, not showing on qantas.com. I also personally find BA easier to use anyway as you can go forward/back days without having to re-plug-in your search.

 

[AndyGoodyear]

1. BA and QR are high. I think IB is up there, too.
2. I would use ITA but note also there are lots of taxes included in the Wiki to this thread.
3. QR A350 and 787 (and Q suites on the 777 but they will be hard to come by), particularly on long haul and overnight flights, wherever possible; CX 777, A350 and A330; AY A350.
4. CX is bookable on the QF website. I think QR flights originating in Doha are unavailable online. Possibly S7.
5. EK taxes are high. Depending on where you want to fly to, it might be better buying Y tickets outright. Personally, I don't rate their J product (although their new 777 J seat is apparently quite good).

Thanks for this great info. The taxes listed in this thread are fuel surcharge - am I right in saying that other taxes are pretty much the same on each airline, which is why its the fuel surcharges listed here?

The prices of each are certainly interesting. BA and QR are indeed high, but Qantas are much higher than both of those. Calculating the fuel surcharge on a SYD / transit point / LHR itinerary comes up with the following:

JAL - Just $3 fuel surcharge????
CX - $103 AUD
AY - $200 AUD flat fee total for multiple flights all within the same itinerary. This would be extremely good value.
QR - $323
BA - $387
QF - $540

Having put together an itinerary like this that includes Emirates didn't seem to be much of a difference in points. As EK is also $540 like QF flights, is that the only difference if I added an EK flight? To clarify, it states that EK cannot be used in a OneWorld itinerary, however the cost of QF points for the same amount of mileage in a regular multi city is almost the same right? I guess I am just trying to work out if there is a difference between booking the OW award 280K through Qantas, or a regular multi city through QF which is similar points in J?

UPDATE: I have since been told by a QF agent on online chat, that under this itinerary, I can book a flight marketed by QF but operated by EK?

Have you flown AY J class? Would you rate them?

 

[nickfromeastryde]

Thanks for this great info. The taxes listed in this thread are fuel surcharge - am I right in saying that other taxes are pretty much the same on each airline, which is why its the fuel surcharges listed here?

The prices of each are certainly interesting. BA and QR are indeed high, but Qantas are much higher than both of those. Calculating the fuel surcharge on a SYD / transit point / LHR itinerary comes up with the following:

JAL - Just $3 fuel surcharge????
CX - $103 AUD
AY - $200 AUD flat fee total for multiple flights all within the same itinerary. This would be extremely good value.
QR - $323
BA - $387
QF - $540

Having put together an itinerary like this that includes Emirates didn't seem to be much of a difference in points. As EK is also $540 like QF flights, is that the only difference if I added an EK flight? To clarify, it states that EK cannot be used in a OneWorld itinerary, however the cost of QF points for the same amount of mileage in a regular multi city is almost the same right? I guess I am just trying to work out if there is a difference between booking the OW award 280K through Qantas, or a regular multi city through QF which is similar points in J?

UPDATE: I have since been told by a QF agent on online chat, that under this itinerary, I can book a flight marketed by QF but operated by EK?

Have you flown AY J class? Would you rate them?

Still not completely sure what you are asking. Using EK will mean there will be no cap on the points, they will continue going up as you add flights whereas with the 280K award, once you hit that limit all subsequent flights are capped from a points perspective at least.

It doesn't take too many flights to hit that cap and even if your planned flights are about the same, the ability to add additional flights later is also a great benefit.

I would be trying to use One World first and worrying about taxes second, it's a great way to use your points

 

[Danger]

Thanks for this great info. The taxes listed in this thread are fuel surcharge - am I right in saying that other taxes are pretty much the same on each airline, which is why its the fuel surcharges listed here?

The prices of each are certainly interesting. BA and QR are indeed high, but Qantas are much higher than both of those. Calculating the fuel surcharge on a SYD / transit point / LHR itinerary comes up with the following:

JAL - Just $3 fuel surcharge????
CX - $103 AUD
AY - $200 AUD flat fee total for multiple flights all within the same itinerary. This would be extremely good value.
QR - $323
BA - $387
QF - $540

It might be best if someone like madrooster helps with the +++ questions.

Having put together an itinerary like this that includes Emirates didn't seem to be much of a difference in points. As EK is also $540 like QF flights, is that the only difference if I added an EK flight? To clarify, it states that EK cannot be used in a OneWorld itinerary, however the cost of QF points for the same amount of mileage in a regular multi city is almost the same right? I guess I am just trying to work out if there is a difference between booking the OW award 280K through Qantas, or a regular multi city through QF which is similar points in J?

Emirates flights cannot be included in this type of award. If you've put together the itinerary that you want and it's been not much over 280k (". . . Emirates didn't seem to be much of a difference in points") then you haven't come close to maximising the value of this type of award. As just one quick example, something like MEL-HKG-JNB-LHR-JFK-SCL-SYD-MEL completed as one of these awards would top out at 280k. However, if you were include EK (e.g. HKG-DXB-JNB) it is no longer a oneworld award and you'd be looking at something upwards of probably 400k I would think. So there is a significantly higher cost in points (and almost certainly in taxes too) by including EK into your itinerary (which, again, despite what the QF agent told you, isn't possible under this type of award).

I have since been told by a QF agent on online chat, that under this itinerary, I can book a flight marketed by QF but operated by EK?

The agent is wrong.

Have you flown AY J class? Would you rate them?

Yes but not in some time and it was an A340.

 

[hanrahs]

Great info throughout this thread, thanks to all those who have contributed.

Our planing and dummy bookings are coming along pretty well for our 2XJ OWA flights, we are quite flexible in where we go, and when for the most part so finding pretty good availability for everywhere. The one we can't seem to find any availability to at all is AY to the USA (doesn't seem to matter which dates I check or which departure city or destination I check), if we don't find it we will jump on another airline but would like to try it out if we can so any ideas would be great.

our plan is basically:
PER-DOH-SKP (QR) (basically anywhere in the Balkans will do as we will spend a few months there but SKP saves a few miles)
overland
ZAG-LHR-CDG (BA) (aim for a long transfer at LHR, can start elsewhere, once again anywhere out of the Balkans and ZAG saves a few miles)
overland to Munich then ideally
MUC-HEL-MIA-BOG (AY/AA) (just want to get to Bogota, don't really mind route or where/when we start as long as it is reasonably easy to get to from Munich, more about picking a decent flying experience/new airline, obvious choice would be IB direct from Madrid for best route, just not sure on experience, or something like AA FRA-DFW or CDG-MIA where we can connect easily to BOG but I think it (FRA-DFW at least) is on the awful angled beds)

We will spend a few months over landing to Mexico somewhere, jump a last minute flight to Houston and then on to New Orleans.
then basically we return to PER, probably with a stopover somewhere for a couple days, probably try either CX or a mix of JAL/CX, but we aren't really all that worried about the route as it is basically just the trip home

We will probably use our last stopover either in London or somewhere on the route between Munich and Bogota ie Helsinki, Madrid or somewhere in the US.

Mostly been using Qantas and BAEC to check out the availability, and the one world route map and more so the flightconnections (not sure if I'm allowed to put the .com after it?) website for route planning, and GCM for distance

so a couple questions:
1. If anyone has any ideas about finding the AY flights particularly from Europe to the US I would be interested to hear them, cant use expert flyer either as they don't pick up AY in J.
2. Its easy enough to find out the plane, but is there any where to find out which configuration the plane will be in (particularly thinking of the AA flights as they have some old junk seats still flying around).
3. and any suggestions of good routes/experiences flying back from the US to PER, probably have time for a stop over of a day or two somewhere, but we basically have a week from when we finish in New Orleans until we need to be back in Perth, so may need to take whatever is available. Miles available shouldn't be a problem, should be enough to com back via DOH with QR if my calcs are correct.

 

[exceladdict]

Great info throughout this thread, thanks to all those who have contributed.

Our planing and dummy bookings are coming along pretty well for our 2XJ OWA flights, we are quite flexible in where we go, and when for the most part so finding pretty good availability for everywhere. The one we can't seem to find any availability to at all is AY to the USA (doesn't seem to matter which dates I check or which departure city or destination I check), if we don't find it we will jump on another airline but would like to try it out if we can so any ideas would be great.

our plan is basically:
PER-DOH-SKP (QR) (basically anywhere in the Balkans will do as we will spend a few months there but SKP saves a few miles)
overland
ZAG-LHR-CDG (BA) (aim for a long transfer at LHR, can start elsewhere, once again anywhere out of the Balkans and ZAG saves a few miles)
overland to Munich then ideally
MUC-HEL-MIA-BOG (AY/AA) (just want to get to Bogota, don't really mind route or where/when we start as long as it is reasonably easy to get to from Munich, more about picking a decent flying experience/new airline, obvious choice would be IB direct from Madrid for best route, just not sure on experience, or something like AA FRA-DFW or CDG-MIA where we can connect easily to BOG but I think it (FRA-DFW at least) is on the awful angled beds)

We will spend a few months over landing to Mexico somewhere, jump a last minute flight to Houston and then on to New Orleans.
then basically we return to PER, probably with a stopover somewhere for a couple days, probably try either CX or a mix of JAL/CX, but we aren't really all that worried about the route as it is basically just the trip home

We will probably use our last stopover either in London or somewhere on the route between Munich and Bogota ie Helsinki, Madrid or somewhere in the US.

Mostly been using Qantas and BAEC to check out the availability, and the one world route map and more so the flightconnections (not sure if I'm allowed to put the .com after it?) website for route planning, and GCM for distance

so a couple questions:
1. If anyone has any ideas about finding the AY flights particularly from Europe to the US I would be interested to hear them, cant use expert flyer either as they don't pick up AY in J.
2. Its easy enough to find out the plane, but is there any where to find out which configuration the plane will be in (particularly thinking of the AA flights as they have some old junk seats still flying around).
3. and any suggestions of good routes/experiences flying back from the US to PER, probably have time for a stop over of a day or two somewhere, but we basically have a week from when we finish in New Orleans until we need to be back in Perth, so may need to take whatever is available. Miles available shouldn't be a problem, should be enough to com back via DOH with QR if my calcs are correct.

If you've tried every city combo, there's not much more you can do with AY. I remember noticing Saturday flights had more avails for US>HEL when I looked a while ago. Unsure if the same the other way.

In an AAdvantage email I got today, AA had recently announced a year-round ZRH>PHL route, might be some availability on that.

Other than avoiding the 767s unsure re: avoiding bad AA planes sorry.

 

[nickfromeastryde]

Great info throughout this thread, thanks to all those who have contributed.

Our planing and dummy bookings are coming along pretty well for our 2XJ OWA flights, we are quite flexible in where we go, and when for the most part so finding pretty good availability for everywhere. The one we can't seem to find any availability to at all is AY to the USA (doesn't seem to matter which dates I check or which departure city or destination I check), if we don't find it we will jump on another airline but would like to try it out if we can so any ideas would be great.

our plan is basically:
PER-DOH-SKP (QR) (basically anywhere in the Balkans will do as we will spend a few months there but SKP saves a few miles)
overland
ZAG-LHR-CDG (BA) (aim for a long transfer at LHR, can start elsewhere, once again anywhere out of the Balkans and ZAG saves a few miles)
overland to Munich then ideally
MUC-HEL-MIA-BOG (AY/AA) (just want to get to Bogota, don't really mind route or where/when we start as long as it is reasonably easy to get to from Munich, more about picking a decent flying experience/new airline, obvious choice would be IB direct from Madrid for best route, just not sure on experience, or something like AA FRA-DFW or CDG-MIA where we can connect easily to BOG but I think it (FRA-DFW at least) is on the awful angled beds)

We will spend a few months over landing to Mexico somewhere, jump a last minute flight to Houston and then on to New Orleans.
then basically we return to PER, probably with a stopover somewhere for a couple days, probably try either CX or a mix of JAL/CX, but we aren't really all that worried about the route as it is basically just the trip home

We will probably use our last stopover either in London or somewhere on the route between Munich and Bogota ie Helsinki, Madrid or somewhere in the US.

Mostly been using Qantas and BAEC to check out the availability, and the one world route map and more so the flightconnections (not sure if I'm allowed to put the .com after it?) website for route planning, and GCM for distance

so a couple questions:
1. If anyone has any ideas about finding the AY flights particularly from Europe to the US I would be interested to hear them, cant use expert flyer either as they don't pick up AY in J.
2. Its easy enough to find out the plane, but is there any where to find out which configuration the plane will be in (particularly thinking of the AA flights as they have some old junk seats still flying around).
3. and any suggestions of good routes/experiences flying back from the US to PER, probably have time for a stop over of a day or two somewhere, but we basically have a week from when we finish in New Orleans until we need to be back in Perth, so may need to take whatever is available. Miles available shouldn't be a problem, should be enough to com back via DOH with QR if my calcs are correct.

Have done a couple of similar trips in the past (based in Syd which is much easier) and one going the other way later this year.

1. Have found generally that IB and BA offer best availability to USA east coast though IB seems to often only have 1 seat available for QFF
2. Almost impossible to find direct availability MIA to BOG. We travel there every year and have found either via CAN or DFW or even LIM if you want to travel J all the way. Most often we end up paying for a direct flight
3. Most likely to find J availability back to Perth via Asia using CX though we have jagged QF8 from DFW a couple of times

I think you might find some of these routings quite indirect and would be worried about exceeding the 35K distance allowance

 

[hanrahs]

Have done a couple of similar trips in the past (based in Syd which is much easier) and one going the other way later this year.

1. Have found generally that IB and BA offer best availability to USA east coast though IB seems to often only have 1 seat available for QFF
2. Almost impossible to find direct availability MIA to BOG. We travel there every year and have found either via CAN or DFW or even LIM if you want to travel J all the way. Most often we end up paying for a direct flight
3. Most likely to find J availability back to Perth via Asia using CX though we have jagged QF8 from DFW a couple of times

I think you might find some of these routings quite indirect and would be worried about exceeding the 35K distance allowance

Thanks for the info, i have actually found pretty good availability on the IB direct from MAD to BOG usually with multiple seats available, and that is probably the smart way to go, not sure what their A340 is like... and yes not so much on the MIA-Bog route... I assume you mean CUN can have availability, probably try and avoid LIM as the lounge situation sucks at the moment and it will make the miles a bit tight depending on the route home, we actually have a fair few miles up our sleeves as long as we get the PER-DOH-*Balkans*.