Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[pottsy]

Darn will have to wait till Monday when I hope Australia staff are back on deck. I was unable to have the call centre staff person in the Phillipines put a request in for a rewards seat for me . It appeared she did not understand what I was requesting
I have to say I have really noticed the difference between local and overseas staff.

How did you go? Interested what time you rang and if it was the OZ, NZ call centre?

 

[mrsterryn]

How did you go? Interested what time you rang and if it was the OZ, NZ call centre?

The unsuccessful time was midday , however there was an outage that day
The two recent successful ones were mid morning

 

[pottsy]

Whoohoo just rang and got Tassie
All sorted , reward seat requested and I have my reissued E ticket .
I also did advise of the poor service from the Phillipines
I now have my Syd BNE HKD LHR CDG HND LAX Syd done for Dec 2020
[/QUOTE
Well done, out of interest what time did you ring and how do you know it was Tassie?

 

[pottsy]

Much appreciated, will give it a go tomorrow.......wish me luck.....!

The unsuccessful time was midday , however there was an outage that day
The two recent successful ones were mid morning

 

[Jacques Vert]

Hey has anyone had any luck booking flights to Havana with Qantas points? It doesn't come up as a destination on the Qantas website but searching on the JAL site I can see reward seats available on Iberia from Madrid? Can you still book these seats through qantas? Is there some kind of embargo on Cuba from Australia/Qantas?

Yes; been there, done that.

You can't book a Oneworld or Qantas Classic flight reward including Cuba online due to the US embargo. You will have to call.

Reason is (apparently) that if you were able to book online, you may include a US airline (AA) or US transit/stopover, both of which are not allowed on this type of booking.

 

[stirlo]

Reason is (apparently) that if you were able to book online, you may include a US airline (AA) or US transit/stopover, both of which are not allowed on this type of booking.

Would this have changed now? Theres plenty of flights going MIA to HAV these days and I thought Obama removed the restrictions? Why is it not allowed?

 

[DC3]

Would this have changed now? Theres plenty of flights going MIA to HAV these days and I thought Obama removed the restrictions? Why is it not allowed?

Start with the trumpster, perhaps.

 

[Jacques Vert]

Would this have changed now? Theres plenty of flights going MIA to HAV these days and I thought Obama removed the restrictions? Why is it not allowed?

Obama changed things and Trump changed most of them back...

You can fly USA to Cuba if you meet one of the special categories (tourism is not one of those).

Basically, you tell a few fibs to the US border/immigration guys that you are going there for other reasons. Hard to argue that you are not a tourist if you are on a Oneworld Award, for example.

If you include a US airline (AA) or a US airport on your itinerary, it will be cancelled by AA.

I provided some information on another thread: here is a copy...

I visited Havana in 2010 flying in from MAD and flying out via MEX on a Oneworld Award. Unfortunately, the airline I flew HAV-MEX (Mexicana) went into bankruptcy not long afterwards so that routing is no longer available.

Despite some suggestions that things may have changed, the rules seem to be the same as in 2010, that is: if Cuba and a US airport, or any US airline (read AA), are included on the same Oneworld Award (or Qantas Classic Award) ticket, AA will cancel the ticket without notice (within a couple of days). This may be why Havana will not show on the QF website.

You can buy a separate revenue ticket to Cuba as a side trip from the USA, provided you can meet one of the special categories that will qualify for a permit (in addition to Visa requirements). Note: tourism is not one of the 12 allowed categories. Some basic information here: Can a non-US citizen fly to Cuba through the US? - Why Not Cuba?

However, you can still include Cuba on a Oneworld Award, provided there are no US airports or US Airlines (AA) anywhere on the same ticket; therefore, the options into Havana (using a Oneworld Award purchased with QF points) are with IB from MAD, LATAM from LIM, and a twice weekly seasonal flight from HEL.

Alternatively, as @Lynda2475 says, you can buy a separate revenue ticket from somewhere outside the USA.

Provided you avoid AA and any US city/airport (transit or stopover), you can include Cuba on a Oneworld Award; but as I noted previously, you will have to call QF to book (and hopefully get an agent that knows what they are doing).

Good luck!

 

[pottsy]

Yet another question if anyone would be kind enough to advise (whilst I'm looking at altering my OWA booking)?
Which major One World airlines (that can be used for OWA) , charge the most taxes and which charge the least? (I think I have read that BA charges the most? Just wondering about CX, Singapore, Qatar etc??
Would be nice to have some idea of the difference.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Jacques Vert]

Singapore is not a Oneworld airline.

CX, BA, RJ, QR & QF are all expensive, IME

 

[DC3]

Yet another question if anyone would be kind enough to advise (whilst I'm looking at altering my OWA booking)?
Which major One World airlines (that can be used for OWA) , charge the most taxes and which charge the least? ...

If you have no concerns with MH, and if their routes fit your travels, they can be a good deal cost-wise. Might be worth looking into UL as well

Edit: You can probably disregard this post as I was thinking about fare cost rather than your Oneworld Award flights. . Can’t find strikethrough.

 

[JohnM]

Singapore is not a One world airline.

CX, BA, RJ, QR & QF are all expensive, IME

Not entirely in my recent experience.

I've just made an award booking CDG-xHKG-xSIN-SYD in CX F, CX J, BA F and the cash component was only $264.89 which blew me away.

But outbound PER-xDOH-CDG in QR F, QR J was $512.81.

 

[DC3]

Hey has anyone had any luck booking flights to Havana with Qantas points? It doesn't come up as a destination on the Qantas website but searching on the JAL site I can see reward seats available on Iberia from Madrid? Can you still book these seats through qantas? Is there some kind of embargo on Cuba from Australia/Qantas?

The problem is with AA, or more precisely, Donald Trump. Obama’s lifting of the embargo was overturned.

There’s a current thread running on AFF about flying to/from Havana from the USA. Not impossible, but not easy to do under the current USA regime, so other options need to be considered, IB being one, as you mentioned.

Edit: The thread that I was referring to, regarding HAV, is actually this thread. (Post # 8248)

 

[DC3]

Just wondering if anyone 'of late' has altered their OWA 'originally booked for 280,000 points' and the points deducted have remained the same, (not increased to 318,000) ...

Any issues, then HUACA of course. Waste of time arguing.

 

[DC3]

Yet another question if anyone would be kind enough to advise (whilst I'm looking at altering my OWA booking)?
Which major One World airlines (that can be used for OWA) , charge the most taxes and which charge the least? ...

AA have no fuel fines and minimal taxes, starting from about $US 4.50 (yes, $4.50) for domestic

 

[jeza]

Yet another question if anyone would be kind enough to advise (whilst I'm looking at altering my OWA booking)?
Which major One World airlines (that can be used for OWA) , charge the most taxes and which charge the least? (I think I have read that BA charges the most? Just wondering about CX, Singapore, Qatar etc??
Would be nice to have some idea of the difference.
Thanks in advance.

A lot of these charges were listed in the Wiki for this thread . QR is definitely at the more expensive end but worth it if you snag a Q Suite.

The thread below also provides a bit of info as @madrooster was providing segement calculations that we could compare with our own final cost.

Member Offers - oneworld award Surcharges / Taxes Check

 

[JohnM]

Not entirely in my recent experience.

I've just made an award booking CDG-xHKG-xSIN-SYD in CX F, CX J, BA F and the cash component was only $264.89 which blew me away.

But outbound PER-xDOH-CDG in QR F, QR J was $512.81.

Oops - correction. The 264.89 was Euros as the purchase was Europe-based. The AUD amount on my CC statement was $439.29. Still not too bad, IMO.

 

[Guvner]

I looked at a CX F award HKG-SFO and (from memory) the add-ons were only AUD200 or so.

 

[pottsy]

I have altered flights on my OWA after finally getting through to customer service. Against my better judgement (please let me be proved wrong) I dealt with the Phillipines....................
As payment of the extra taxes etc are not yet showing on my bank account, how long shall I wait before panicking 'entirely'! (Payment was made approx 5 or so hours ago...flights are showing as altered.)

 

[exceladdict]

I have altered flights on my OWA after finally getting through to customer service. Against my better judgement (please let me be proved wrong) I dealt with the Phillipines....................
As payment of the extra taxes etc are not yet showing on my bank account, how long shall I wait before panicking 'entirely'! (Payment was made approx 5 or so hours ago...flights are showing as altered.)

Don't worry so much about the payment, but that you receive a new e-ticket.