Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[markyb]

Thanks for the suggestions, but pretty frustrated here after spending hours again today searching for 4 J seats from Croatia or Greece in early September. Can get to Asia but every seat from there seems gone, bar Tokyo (and that's after a LHR-HND trip with JAL that costs $2200 in extras).

Can anyone see availability for 4 pax in J from Croatia, Greek Islands or nearby to Sydney in early September? I'm stuck and currently on hold waiting for Qantas to answer at the 43min mark and counting...

After 1hr 45mins wait to get through yday, the rep was ready to book a cheaper flight (after a change to my 3rd stop) but the fees in his system wanted to charge me $700 more (it should have been a $1500-2000 refund). He promised a call back and never delivered (this after a 3hr12min call). I've finally found a flight home in J on the Qantas site, but the rep from South Africa tonight couldn't see availability on her system when logged into my booking. She also said I couldn't book a separate leg and link or merge the two bookings.

Is that correct? And why can I see availability but they can't?

 

[flychrisfly]

She also said I couldn't book a separate leg and link or merge the two bookings.

Is that correct? And why can I see availability but they can't?

Yes, correct. Why? Who knows - HUACA

 

[wentworthmeister]

Quick question about the following T&Cs:

"Classic Flight Rewards are not available on Codeshare Flights unless otherwise specified by Qantas Loyalty. Classic Flight Rewards must be booked using the airline code (eg QF for Qantas) of the Operating Carrier unless otherwise specified by Qantas Loyalty."

Does this mean I won't be able to select a Qantas flight in my OWA itinerary if it's operated by Emirates (e.g. QF8409 MEL-DXB)?

 

[rock86]

Quick question about the following T&Cs:

"Classic Flight Rewards are not available on Codeshare Flights unless otherwise specified by Qantas Loyalty. Classic Flight Rewards must be booked using the airline code (eg QF for Qantas) of the Operating Carrier unless otherwise specified by Qantas Loyalty."

Does this mean I won't be able to select a Qantas flight in my OWA itinerary if it's operated by Emirates (e.g. QF8409 MEL-DXB)?

EK is not part of the OW Alliance, as such not eligible as part of a OWE Award.

 

[markyb]

After many years (I tried to do this before kids), I've finally booked 4 in J (mostly) and have thrown in my learnings below:

SYD-SFO (QF)
LAX-DAL-WAS (AA in Y)
WAS-JFK-LHR-SPU (AA/BA)
SPU-LHR (BA)
AMS-HKG-MNL-HND-NRT-SYD (CX/JAL/QF)

Taxes/fees/surcharges: $935pp

Some things I learnt:
1/ I searched for single legs on Qantas' site, BA executive and aa.com and found one better than the other at different times
2/ Qantas call centre is painful (nothing new here) and no time of the day or night made wait times better. The South African rep gave confident but wrong advice, so best to end call and try again (and wait whilst doing other tasks). NZ call centre rep helped me most in the end
3/ I'd booked BA from USA to LONDON and didnt realise the massive fees (USD2000 or so) until too late. Finally found an AA flight across the Atlantic and fees were about 1/3rd
4/ Flexibility is obviously key. I'd booked the first 3 stops 3 months ago, so finding 4 J seats for the final legs was tough (as will our flight home from AMS - check that for an adventure!)

Thanks again to this thread for advice

 

[wentworthmeister]

EK is not part of the OW Alliance, as such not eligible as part of a OWE Award.

Not even if it's a QF flight?

The T&C's above imply that you can't even access Classic Rewards seats on a code-share flight, but when I searched on the Qantas site it shows Classic Rewards availability for that example flight (QF8409)?

 

[JohnM]

Anything to do with OneWorld fares is not allowed on EK as they are not a member.

So xONEx, OW Award are no-go on EK - irrespective of QF codeshare.

The arrangement between QF and EK is a directly-negotiated partnership; nothing to do with OW Alliance.

 

[Quickstatus]

Not even if it's a QF flight?

The T&C's above imply that you can't even access Classic Rewards seats on a code-share flight, but when I searched on the Qantas site it shows Classic Rewards availability for that example flight (QF8409)?

Classic rewards are available on some EK flights. Usually with QF flight numbers.
But beware it can be a double edged sword. You are now dealing with 2 airlines - EK and QF. Which airline can you rely on to carry the can if there are issues with the flight.

 

[JohnM]

Usually with QF flight numbers.

Is that really the case? I think every QF Classic Award on EK that I have had has had an EK flight number (even if the flight has carried QF codeshare number).

 

[wentworthmeister]

So xONEx, OW Award are no-go on EK - irrespective of QF codeshare.

Understood, thanks for clarifying. So if I want to get from MEL-ATH as part of my OWA, it looks like my only other options are:

MEL-LHR-ATH (QF, BA), or
MEL-DOH-ATH (QR)

Except neither of these show on the Qantas multi-city tool - does that mean I'll have to use the call center to include them in the booking (assuming they have Awards availability on those dates)?

 

[JohnM]

You have a few direct flight options to/from ATH: oneworld Online Timetable

(Hopefully that will show as I see it.)

HEL & MAD could perhaps come into play as well?

 

[JohnM]

Dang - link I posted doesn't show what I was looking at. Anyway, click on ATH and sort the direct flights from/to there.

 

[wentworthmeister]

You have a few direct flight options to/from ATH: oneworld Online Timetable

Yeah that shows the same two options I posted earlier. Looks like a very useful tool though - thanks for sharing!

 

[Jacques Vert]

Is that really the case? I think every QF Classic Award on EK that I have had has had an EK flight number (even if the flight has carried QF codeshare number).

Correct; you can book EK flights with QF points and mix and match with other QF partners. HOWEVER, as EK are not in the Oneworld alliance, it will not "max-out" at 140/280/420k. The required points will just keep on adding up.

So for simple, short itineraries EK may be fine. Once you add in a couple of extra flights on a long haul itinerary the points tally quickly becomes eye-watering

 

[Warren Mason]

Hi, Still attempting to find a way home from Europe. I keep finding the perfect flights into Australia but they disappear before the availability to fly from Perth for example back to Sydney appears. I can find flights via Doh but they don't seem to be available on the Qantas engine. Is this normal and would they be available if I called Qantas? The other option I guess is to book flights back as soon as I can find more and then sacrifice another 10k points and book the return to Sydney flight later. Any advice? This all started out as a lot of fun that is now becoming very frustrating.

 

[jaseb]

I've been planning on booking a OWA 280K fare in J for some time now... however, reading these posts, it seems like a *lot* of work and has potential to shave years off of ones life to align everything.

I'm wondering - are the OWA 420K F fares easier to book? Is there more availability? Is it worth spending the extra 140k points for the added convenience and *some* legs in F - assuming not all routes would have F carriage available.... and thus would be relegated to J for those anyway?

 

[cjd600]

The other option I guess is to book flights back as soon as I can find more and then sacrifice another 10k points and book the return to Sydney flight later. Any advice? This all started out as a lot of fun that is now becoming very frustrating.

Yeah, best to lock in asap the flight to Aust, then cop the 10K once the domestic connection is released.....

 

[flychrisfly]

MEL-LHR-ATH (QF, BA), or
MEL-DOH-ATH (QR)

Except neither of these show on the Qantas multi-city tool - does that mean I'll have to use the call center to include them in the booking (assuming they have Awards availability on those dates)?

They showed up for me when I started a dummy booking with points on a Tuesday in Nov '19

 

[wentworthmeister]

They showed up for me when I started a dummy booking with points on a Tuesday in Nov '19

Interesting, maybe it's a dates issue. Thanks for checking. We've canned the idea of doing Greece first up, so our draft itinerary is looking a bit different:

MEL-PER-LHR (QF)
LHR-MAD (Surface sector encompassing UK, Iceland, Scandinavia, Greece, Italy, France and Spain)
MAD-JFK-YYZ (IB, AA) or MAD-LHR-YYZ (BA)
YYZ-YVR (No OW routes as far as I can tell, might have to make it YYZ-ORD-SEA)
YVR-LAX (Surface sector down the US west coast)
LAX-SCL-PUQ (LAN)
PUQ-SCL-MEL (LAN)

To the best of my knowledge that's 4 stopovers and 33,893 statute miles.

 

[JohnM]

Don't forget to try another browser if things down't seem to be behaving.

I seem to be having quite a few issue with Firefox recently that Chrome sails across.