Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[bookworm]

We are booked to leave on 20/08 (US National Parks South West; Norway; Qatar and Alaska cruise)and I'm still deciding what to do. I can't see the US opening up soon, given their corona stats.
Princess has cancelled the cruise.
So I will have to make some changes to the itinerary.
I would ideally like to reschedule on the same booking (280,000 points) for May 2021.
Like everyone else, it took ages to plan the trip and too many hours on the phone with Qantas to get tickets issued .
For now I'm just waiting until end of July to decide what to do.

 

[DC3]

.... and have someone who know OWA is such a rarity these days for some reason (or just my bad luck) .... even though they can’t tell me where the increase came from .... Waited for 24 hours and this morning I called back just to confirmed the trip has been ticketed .... But my husband now is on the old booking number, with new flights, my qff account said it’s confirmed but I can’t see an eticket number ....

Hobart and Auckland Call Centres are the best, while Cape Town and Manila are not good in my experience.

Exchange rates will affect your refund.

I never wait for more than 60 minutes for the e-ticket. What do you have without it?

 

[flapper]

I’m posting this for the information of anyone who, like me, made a Qantas Classic oneworld J booking prior to the points increase in September last year. My husband and I were due to leave on June 1 on an extensive itinerary, including a three month stay in Toulouse to spend time with our son, and a daughter’s wedding in Tuscany in October (now postponed). The trip was to have lasted 9 months in total and took more than a year in the planning, including a number of posts on this forum late last year. My concern was that if I cancelled our trip, obviously when it becomes possible to take that trip, we would be up for the hefty increase in points from 280k to 318k each – a total of 76k points. That might not sound like a lot to others on this forum, but it’s quite an amount to us.

I have spoken to Celeste at Qantas’ Hobart office (why does Hobart seem to have the most experienced agents…) who, after consulting with a supervisory colleague, has advised me that my best way forward was to wait until the end of May and ring to rebook what I could of the trip for a date as far out as possible. This would take advantage of the current Qantas hold on charging for changes to award bookings and she advised that in all likelihood Qantas would have to continue to waive change fees for as long as they cannot provide flight coverage. The strategy would be to continue to ring and postpone by rebooking new dates for as long as it takes for flights to return to normal.

I honestly don’t know if this approach will work even with the current extraordinary Covid-19 circumstances. I’m guessing that we will end up having to find the extra miles and totally rebook. However, fortunately, we are retired and totally flexible in our dates (pending a new wedding date for the daughter..) and so we have nothing to lose by trying.

I would be interested if anyone else is in a similar position?

I am in a similar situation as you and your post was informative I have 3 concerns though.
1. Classic Flight Rewards will be valid for one year from the original ticketed departure date. (Is this rule going to be waived?)
2. If your initial flight is cancelled by the airline before the end of May won't the whole OWA be cancelled as others have reported here?
3. When you rebook the 1st flight won't all the other flights "drop off" and then the points for the booking be recalculated down? Will it still max out at 280K when you add flights back?
Cheers

 

[Azusa]

Hobart and Auckland Call Centres are the best, while Cape Town and Manila are not good in my experience.

Exchange rates will affect your refund.

I never wait for more than 60 minutes for the e-ticket. What do you have without it?

Do you know any tricks to get to Hobart or Auckland? I have qantas keep hanging up on me even I am in the queue and once I got in I kept being passed around. Or just keep hanging up and call back?

 

[motef]

Hi all,
Does anyone else have a OWA trip booked for the end of this year ? Wondering what the general feel is on how long to wait before cancelling
Thanks!

I have one booked for Oct 20

 

[ozflier]

I’m posting this for the information of anyone who, like me, made a Qantas Classic oneworld J booking prior to the points increase in September last year. My husband and I were due to leave on June 1 on an extensive itinerary, including a three month stay in Toulouse to spend time with our son, and a daughter’s wedding in Tuscany in October (now postponed). The trip was to have lasted 9 months in total and took more than a year in the planning, including a number of posts on this forum late last year. My concern was that if I cancelled our trip, obviously when it becomes possible to take that trip, we would be up for the hefty increase in points from 280k to 318k each – a total of 76k points. That might not sound like a lot to others on this forum, but it’s quite an amount to us.

I have spoken to Celeste at Qantas’ Hobart office (why does Hobart seem to have the most experienced agents…) who, after consulting with a supervisory colleague, has advised me that my best way forward was to wait until the end of May and ring to rebook what I could of the trip for a date as far out as possible. This would take advantage of the current Qantas hold on charging for changes to award bookings and she advised that in all likelihood Qantas would have to continue to waive change fees for as long as they cannot provide flight coverage. The strategy would be to continue to ring and postpone by rebooking new dates for as long as it takes for flights to return to normal.

I honestly don’t know if this approach will work even with the current extraordinary Covid-19 circumstances. I’m guessing that we will end up having to find the extra miles and totally rebook. However, fortunately, we are retired and totally flexible in our dates (pending a new wedding date for the daughter..) and so we have nothing to lose by trying.

I would be interested if anyone else is in a similar position?

I share your distress.
We all know how much work goes into making a OWA and it is heartbreaking to see all that go to waste.
Did you have any trouble finding award seats for the same flights on the different dates?

 

[ozflier]

Hi!
So hoping to get some advice here since getting back into the qantas call center and have someone who know OWA is such a rarity these days for some reason (or just my bad luck).
Anyway, last week I received an email from qantas saying out OWA booking in Aug is now cancelled and they will process refund etc within 10 weeks. Now we don’t want cancellation we are happy to have the trip postponed to next year, so I called up and finally got someone who seemed to know OWA arrangement.
There are 2 people on the original booking (husband and I) and the whole way through we confirm that the seats are changed for the two of us. All successful they say, all I need is to pay for the difference in taxes, no problems even though they can’t tell me where the increase came from but anyway.
so I was waiting for the eticket numbers to come through, and while I got an email saying itinerary and eticket on the subject line I couldn’t see any eticket number. Waited for 24 hours and this morning I called back just to confirmed the trip has been ticketed.
after 3 consultants admit they don’t know (and one said haven’t heard of) how to process OWA, I finally got through to a consultant who seems to know. What she however told me appeared to be a stuffed up in the last process.
According to this consultant, the last consultant took my credit note and rebook the flight for my husband, created a new booking ref and that was it. So leaving my husband now have two bookings (one aug and one feb) and I have none. She also said in order for her to fix it, the only way she can do it is cancel my husbands aug flight and rebook it for me (why I don’t know because if the previous consultant used my credit note to book for my husband I can’t see why they can’t use my husbands credit note to book me, but then again she seemed irate so I dare not to challenge her)
She said the original taxes will be refunded (my old credit card is now cancelled and she asked me to deal with visa myself), no extra points but now I have a new booking code. So somehow my husband now gone to the original booking code with his flights updated and I sat on another booking code with the same flights.
I checkes the invoice and eticket came through with my name, on the new booking, with eticket number. All good there.
But my husband now is on the old booking number, with new flights, my qff account said it’s confirmed but I can’t see an eticket number.
do I need to call them again to check that out? I don’t want to jam their phone line but given the messed up I am also worried if the flights are booked correctly.
Thanks!

Interesting that Qantas has cancelled the august booking - I didn't think they were thinking as far ahead as that - do you know if it was the loss of a QF flight or a non QF flight that triggered the cancellation.

 

[Azusa]

Interesting that Qantas has cancelled the august booking - I didn't think they were thinking as far ahead as that - do you know if it was the loss of a QF flight or a non QF flight that triggered the cancellation.

Non QF I believe, because I received one notification from Malaysian airline cancelling one of our legs, when I called in the consultant said a couple of others got cancelled too, we only have one leg to Japan that’s using qantas, the rest are one world partners

 

[ozflier]

Non QF I believe, because I received one notification from Malaysian airline cancelling one of our legs, when I called in the consultant said a couple of others got cancelled too, we only have one leg to Japan that’s using qantas, the rest are one world partners

Ta, I would be surprised that Qantas would be cancelling flights so far away .

 

[pye1201]

I am in a similar situation as you and your post was informative I have 3 concerns though.
1. Classic Flight Rewards will be valid for one year from the original ticketed departure date. (Is this rule going to be waived?)
2. If your initial flight is cancelled by the airline before the end of May won't the whole OWA be cancelled as others have reported here?
3. When you rebook the 1st flight won't all the other flights "drop off" and then the points for the booking be recalculated down? Will it still max out at 280K when you add flights back?
Cheers

In answer to your concerns:
1. Yes, from my understanding of pre-covid-19 rules, the flights are valid for a year from original ticketed departure date but in a situation where Qantas cannot supply the flights for the ticketed start date, I am hoping that the onus is on them to defer the same booking at the same mileage cost to a date when they can actually supply the flights. As we're constantly being told - "we're in uncharted territory" - and again, I won't be surprised if Qantas don't come to the party but I can hope...
2. Our flights haven't been cancelled by Qantas yet and are still showing up on our account. How long that will remain so is anybody's guess.
3. Yes, I'm expecting to spend the last few days of May researching available flights and then ring with an alternative itinerary - under the existing rules, you can change dates but not carriers or departure points. I would like to take exactly the same trip when the flights are available but whether or not there will actually be flights to book, let alone award availability, is unknown.
I'm hoping that as Celeste from Hobart advised, if I'm able to rebook the major content of the itinerary, they will let me rebook at the original mileage cost.
I'll keep you posted on my progress (or otherwise...)
Cheers

 

[pye1201]

I share your distress.
We all know how much work goes into making a OWA and it is heartbreaking to see all that go to waste.
Did you have any trouble finding award seats for the same flights on the different dates?

I haven't tried yet - as per Celeste's advice, I'll wait until towards the end of May and hope to make a similar itinerary booking for say early next year. I'll book dummy dates (if possible) for the last half of the itinerary and change those closer to the date when flights become available. I am fully expecting to run into problems - I just can't see Qantas being that accommodating but I live in hope!!

 

[Aristotle9]

My flights from July 10 still show so it's surprising that QF cancelled the whole booking. Anyway my plan is to wait until a few weeks out.

 

[DC3]

Do you know any tricks to get to Hobart or Auckland? I have qantas keep hanging up on me even I am in the queue and once I got in I kept being passed around. Or just keep hanging up and call back?

Hobart is open 7.00am to 11.00pm, every day, as told to me by the Hobart Call Centre. Auckland is open 24/7.

Cape Town and Manila never sleep and are waiting for your call.

Unfortunately, it’s the luck of the draw.

 

[JohnM]

Cape Town and Manila never sleep and are waiting for your call.

 

[pye1201]

This is an update to a post from a couple of days ago about a Qantas Classic Oneworld flight award I had booked back before the mileage increase last year. As advised, I spoke to a very helpful Hobart agent who suggested that in order to avoid having to pay the new increased mileage cost of 318k for the J award itinerary, I wait until a few days before my scheduled departure date (June 1) and attempt to rebook the entire itinerary for next year.

My hand was subsequently forced yesterday when I was advised by Cathay Pacific that several legs of my itinerary were being cancelled. I spent some time researching alternative dates to move the booking forward to next year, then rang Qantas this morning. I took the call-back option as the wait was supposedly in excess of 2 hours but a little over an hour later I had a call back from an agent based in Brisbane who (surprise, surprise) was also exceptionally well acquainted with the details of the above award. As soon as I explained what I wanted to do i.e. preserve the original cost of the award and move the start date to next year (a reasonable request given that Qantas cannot fly me out on the original start date), she was right on to it and even managed to book a leg of the itinerary I thought I would have to drop as I could not find award availability anywhere.

Within ten minutes, I received the new itinerary and e-ticket. There were no charges or fees and I now have the start date set at 20 February with dummy dates in place for the remainder of the itinerary – to be changed at a later date when flights become available. It would seem Qantas are allowing changes not normally considered and are adhering to their promise not to charge for any changes.

As I have a 9 month, 33k mile itinerary planned with 5 full stopovers in Sri Lanka, Europe, USA (2) and Asia, I will be making date changes to all the flights after the first leg early in the new year. With a son in London, a daughter’s wedding in Europe and a daughter in New York I can only hope that we get a vaccine developed REALLY quickly….

But I live in hope and so far, so good. Hope this info is useful to anyone else out there with similar problems.

 

[ozflier]

This is an update to a post from a couple of days ago about a Qantas Classic Oneworld flight award I had booked back before the mileage increase last year. As advised, I spoke to a very helpful Hobart agent who suggested that in order to avoid having to pay the new increased mileage cost of 318k for the J award itinerary, I wait until a few days before my scheduled departure date (June 1) and attempt to rebook the entire itinerary for next year.

My hand was subsequently forced yesterday when I was advised by Cathay Pacific that several legs of my itinerary were being cancelled. I spent some time researching alternative dates to move the booking forward to next year, then rang Qantas this morning. I took the call-back option as the wait was supposedly in excess of 2 hours but a little over an hour later I had a call back from an agent based in Brisbane who (surprise, surprise) was also exceptionally well acquainted with the details of the above award. As soon as I explained what I wanted to do i.e. preserve the original cost of the award and move the start date to next year (a reasonable request given that Qantas cannot fly me out on the original start date), she was right on to it and even managed to book a leg of the itinerary I thought I would have to drop as I could not find award availability anywhere.

Within ten minutes, I received the new itinerary and e-ticket. There were no charges or fees and I now have the start date set at 20 February with dummy dates in place for the remainder of the itinerary – to be changed at a later date when flights become available. It would seem Qantas are allowing changes not normally considered and are adhering to their promise not to charge for any changes.

As I have a 9 month, 33k mile itinerary planned with 5 full stopovers in Sri Lanka, Europe, USA (2) and Asia, I will be making date changes to all the flights after the first leg early in the new year. With a son in London, a daughter’s wedding in Europe and a daughter in New York I can only hope that we get a vaccine developed REALLY quickly….

But I live in hope and so far, so good. Hope this info is useful to anyone else out there with similar problems.

That is good for you and reassuring news for us all.

 

[Danger]

This is an update to a post from a couple of days ago about a Qantas Classic Oneworld flight award I had booked back before the mileage increase last year. As advised, I spoke to a very helpful Hobart agent who suggested that in order to avoid having to pay the new increased mileage cost of 318k for the J award itinerary, I wait until a few days before my scheduled departure date (June 1) and attempt to rebook the entire itinerary for next year ...

Did you get an indication as to whether or not Qantas will extend the validity of your ticket, such that you'd be able to travel beyond 12 months from the original departure date?

Additionally, when was your ticket issued? Qantas just told me that my ticket is only valid for 12 months from the date of issue, not first departure.

 

[pye1201]

Did you get an indication as to whether or not Qantas will extend the validity of your ticket, such that you'd be able to travel beyond 12 months from the original departure date?

Additionally, when was your ticket issued? Qantas just told me that my ticket is only valid for 12 months from the date of issue, not first departure.

For departure date conditions, the rules state:
"14.6 Classic Flight Rewards - ticketing
14.6.1 Classic Flight Rewards will be valid for one year from the original ticketed departure date"
Given the above, I'm wondering why they told you your ticket is only valid for 12 months from issue date?

My ticket has been totally re-issued dated today, but you have a valid point as, even though I discussed my reasoning with the agent saying that I was intending to be away for nine months from the new departure date and she didn't advise me that I needed to return by 12 months from the original June departure date, neither did she confirm that I did in fact, have 12 months from the new departure date.
Looks like another call to Qantas for clarification coming up....
Thanks for raising the point - I'll keep you posted.

 

[DC3]

For departure date conditions, the rules state:
"14.6 Classic Flight Rewards - ticketing
14.6.1 Classic Flight Rewards will be valid for one year from the original ticketed departure date"
Given the above, I'm wondering why they told you your ticket is only valid for 12 months from issue date? ....

Some of the Call Centre agents are not that good. Many are, of course.

Edit: In particular, I’m referring to the OWA where some don’t understand all of the ins and outs

 

[pye1201]

Some of the Call Centre agents are not that good. Many are, of course.

Edit: In particular, I’m referring to the OWA where some don’t understand all of the ins and outs

I would agree with you there - having had prior experience on a year-long, complex OWA Done4 - I would never assume all Qantas agents have a good handle on the OWA details.