Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[Warren Mason]

How frustrating is this process!! Just called attempting to complete my booking only to be told she couldn't see the flight I was looking at and that she didn't have access to book Iberia flights and the only way she could see to get us from London to Porto involved 5 flights via Madrid and then onto an airline she had never heard of and she couldn't prounce the name of. I gave up and said I would call back lol. She was from the SA call centre. Back on the phone merry-go-round. Sigh.....

 

[cjd600]

How frustrating is this process!! Just called attempting to complete my booking only to be told she couldn't see the flight I was looking at and that she didn't have access to book Iberia flights and the only way she could see to get us from London to Porto involved 5 flights via Madrid and then onto an airline she had never heard of and she couldn't prounce the name of. I gave up and said I would call back lol. She was from the SA call centre. Back on the phone merry-go-round. Sigh.....

I had problems with adding IB.
Married segments, new bookings only....blah blah
Ended up giving up and had to go with BA/AY

 

[ellen10]

I added Iberia flights together with some BA flights to my J booking back a few months ago. Maybe I was lucky.

 

[Danger]

Of great concern is this "new bookings only" has clearly become the norm when trying to add in award flights to an existing reservation.

 

[cjd600]

Its a lottery.
I called back 3 days in a row, as new IB flights became 'available' and got a different excuse each time.....

 

[Warren Mason]

All done. Called back and got someone from Auckland and they had no problems seeing the IB flights an hour later. Must be a SA problem only lol. Thanks everyone for the advice and guidance. I may be able to sleep tonight lol.

 

[ellen10]

Its such a relief when it all comes together. Well done!

 

[madrooster]

FYI everyone:

JL now does active married segment control on award inventory. This means that whilst you might find DFW-NRT as available and NRT-HKG as available, you might find they cannot be sold together.

Furthermore, JL also manages their award inventory based on point of sale, so a DFW-NRT seat that is available from a US point of sale, may not be available from a AU point of sale.

Current list of carriers that manage award inventory by point of sale:

QF, JL

Current list of carriers that actively use married segment control on award inventory:

JL, CX, QR, IB, AY, EK, AA

 

[cjd600]

The murky waters.

Thanks for the update @madrooster

 

[madrooster]

I have an update on awards including naz_ carriers (eg. EK, QR):

Normally award ticketing goes into an automated queue where often a lot of these fail. These are now ticketed manually, immediately, whilst you are either on the phone, or immediately after the call ends.

Further to what @Mattg posted in Qantas fix for partner award ticketing problems

There is no dummy shell booking created or fooling of partner carriers involved.

 

[Tonkatough]

I had the same experience with my recent 280k booking that was ticketed within the hour straight after I was off the phone - Hobart call centre I think. CSA was worried about QR flights dropping off. He said my credit card would be charged immediately, ticket received within the hour, then points deducted in 1-2 days, and that's exactly what happened.

 

[Mattg]

All done. Called back and got someone from Auckland and they had no problems seeing the IB flights an hour later. Must be a SA problem only lol. Thanks everyone for the advice and guidance. I may be able to sleep tonight lol.

Yeah, the Qantas South African call centre is just awful. They regularly give wrong information and I'm not convinced they have a clue what they're doing. I also think their systems don't empower them to do very much at all and they often can't see flights that are available. Definitely best to HUACA if you get the misfortune of being put through to Cape Town.

 

[serfty]

Definitely best to HUACA if you get the misfortune of being put through to Cape Town.

Are there times of the day or days of the week where SA agents are less likely to answer?

 

[Warren Mason]

Thanks to whom ever it was that gave the warning about CX. All good when I went to bed and 6 hours later all CX flights were gone. Quick call to sort it out and got answered by an SA agent. To his credit he wouldn't let me go till he had the flights restored (same seats still available thankfully) and confirmed and ticketed. All ok with new e-ticket and credit card debuted. Now to wait for December .Thanks again everyone.

 

[11sjw]

Thanks to whom ever it was that gave the warning about CX. All good when I went to bed and 6 hours later all CX flights were gone. Quick call to sort it out and got answered by an SA agent. To his credit he wouldn't let me go till he had the flights restored (same seats still available thankfully) and confirmed and ticketed. All ok with new e-ticket and credit card debuted. Now to wait for December .Thanks again everyone.

You're most welcome. Glad it helped and, like me, your original flights were still available. At least CX let you choose your seat this far out, unlike BA & QR.

317 days to go for us, you?

 

[Warren Mason]

You're most welcome. Glad it helped and, like me, your original flights were still available. At least CX let you choose your seat this far out, unlike BA & QR.

317 days to go for us, you?

301 for us. An eternity but something to look forward to. Had my CX seats but lost them in the stuff up. Will wait till we get hime. We are at the 12 hr race this weekend. 5k from home but better than driving here every day. Real experience planing and talking to Qantas with race csrsin the background lol. Thanks again for the information. Really appreciated.

 

[cjd600]

You're most welcome. Glad it helped and, like me, your original flights were still available. At least CX let you choose your seat this far out, unlike BA & QR.

317 days to go for us, you?

I’ve never had probs selecting QR seats upon booking

 

[ellen10]

I rang QR to select my seats as I couldn't do it online. Very pleasant call centre.

 

[11sjw]

I’ve never had probs selecting QR seats upon booking

Strange. Was able to do it for my daughter and I after not being able to do it the previous two times i tried. Still couldn't do it for my wife (separate booking as she leaves PER the day before us). Had to ring anyway as single person bookings can't access the centre double bed/group section. Now we have 3 of the 4 seats on both flights, pity the person that lobs into the 4th!!!

 

[Familyman1]

Could someone please tell me how much the fees and taxes are for the following flights by putting them into the Qantas multi-city booking tool. I don't have enough points left to get the answer. Thanks in advance: