Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[flapper]

So due to recent flight and plan changes I need to change every single flight on my OWA. Is it wise to just cancel the booking in its entirety and start again? Or am I better off calling the GCC and changing all the flights over the phone? Personally I'd rather make my booking online as its easier to book and I don't need to put trust in someone over the phone to get it right. But the availability I need is there now and as we no they could likely disappear very fast.

Having battled the ineptitude of the Cape Town CC many times I would choose online when possible every time.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

So due to recent flight and plan changes I need to change every single flight on my OWA. Is it wise to just cancel the booking in its entirety and start again? Or am I better off calling the GCC and changing all the flights over the phone? Personally I'd rather make my booking online as its easier to book and I don't need to put trust in someone over the phone to get it right. But the availability I need is there now and as we no they could likely disappear very fast.

If you need the points from the current booking to make the new booking, it might be a consideration as to how quick the points come back.

 

[Spacetravel]

If you need the points from the current booking to make the new booking, it might be a consideration as to how quick the points come back.

I do the need the points for the new booking, how long would they take to come back?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I do the need the points for the new booking, how long would they take to come back?

I have no recent experience - hopefully someone else has the answer!

 

[Matt_01]

I do the need the points for the new booking, how long would they take to come back?

I can be hot and miss, I have had points returned within a couple of days, some a week or two and others had to ring QF and they sent them back. There seems to be no consistency at the moment.

 

[flapper]

I do the need the points for the new booking, how long would they take to come back?

I have had the points refunded almost immediately. You can ask them to refund the the points whilst you are on the phone. I have also had them take weeks (Cape Town CC) so you will need to ask them to do it. That may be beyond the ability of Cape Town though. If you need the points you may was well make changes to to the current booking on the phone.

 

[11sjw]

I can be hot and miss, I have had points returned within a couple of days, some a week or two and others had to ring QF and they sent them back. There seems to be no consistency at the moment.

That implies there once was!!!

 

[Spacetravel]

I have had the points refunded almost immediately. You can ask them to refund the the points whilst you are on the phone. I have also had them take weeks (Cape Town CC) so you will need to ask them to do it. That may be beyond the ability of Cape Town though. If you need the points you may was well make changes to to the current booking on the phone.

So I just called and I'm pretty sure I'm on the phone to Auckland? (They have a kiwi accent) and while going through trying to change my booking for whatever reason they can't see the same availability as I can on the website. So they said they should be able to cancel and return the points to me right away that way I can rebook online tonight. Currently on hold while they work it out, fingers crossed!

 

[DC3]

So I just called and I'm pretty sure I'm on the phone to Auckland? (They have a kiwi accent)

Auckland is open 24/7. Same with Cape Town and Manila. Auckland is the best of those in my experience. Hobart closes at 11.00pm. Not that we can pick and choose.

Edit: The QF website sometimes shows phantom availability, but you won’t know that until you try and book.

 

[Spacetravel]

Good news! They managed to refund my points immediately and I was able to rebook mostly my entire preferred itinerary!
What I got was:
SYD-YVR - PE QF (Z)
YVR-DFW-MIA - AA Bus (U)
MIA-MCO-LAX - AA Bus (U)
LAX-LHR BA Bus (U)
LHR-BRU BA Bus (U)
BRU-LHR BA Bus (U) -HND-SYD JL Bus (U)

Total cost points 318,000 and $1350 (those BA fees sting!)

Sadly only yesterday there was actually availability SYD-YVR in business with QF but it looks like they changed it today as there is a hard stop of business availability on that flight from end of Feb. Have an EF alert set up for business on the same flight which hopefully it becomes available and I can change.

HND-SYD JL is a bit of a place holder, I'd rather fly on QF (for the SC) or QR for this leg, sadly there is no availability for date range I'm after right now, so also hopefully EF pulls through at a later date and I can change.

Thanks everyone for your help along the way, I wouldn't have been able to manage this booking without this thread!

 

[cambriamarsh]

Good news! They managed to refund my points immediately and I was able to rebook mostly my entire preferred itinerary!
What I got was:
SYD-YVR - PE QF (Z)
YVR-DFW-MIA - AA Bus (U)
MIA-MCO-LAX - AA Bus (U)
LAX-LHR BA Bus (U)
LHR-BRU BA Bus (U)
BRU-LHR BA Bus (U) -HND-SYD JL Bus (U)

Total cost points 318,000 and $1350 (those BA fees sting!)

Sadly only yesterday there was actually availability SYD-YVR in business with QF but it looks like they changed it today as there is a hard stop of business availability on that flight from end of Feb. Have an EF alert set up for business on the same flight which hopefully it becomes available and I can change.

HND-SYD JL is a bit of a place holder, I'd rather fly on QF (for the SC) or QR for this leg, sadly there is no availability for date range I'm after right now, so also hopefully EF pulls through at a later date and I can change.

Thanks everyone for your help along the way, I wouldn't have been able to manage this booking without this thread!

Sorry there aren't SCs on award flights

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Sorry there aren't SCs on award flights

There are now for members of Qantas' Points Club and Points Club Plus when flying on QF flights. Not many, but enough to make it worthwhile.

 

[vetrade]

In March this year I booked MEL - SYD as the first leg of a OW 318K award itinerary for Mrs V and myself to take advantage of QF's free change offer. I want to cancel that booking now because, since QF extended the offer to next year, I'd prefer to start a new booking and kick it off by locking in some QR flights as soon as they appear online rather than risk losing them by possibly being caught on-hold with the QF call centre for hours.

My query is this: when attempting to cancel the existing booking online, I'm getting a screen saying I'll get a QF flight credit for $388 - no mention of being refunded my 36,800 points and the $77 in taxes I paid. I thought it would be obvious that QF should refund in the same manner as the tickets were paid for. Although I don't need the points for a new booking, I'd still prefer to get them back.

Has anyone encountered the same problem who can advise whether they got their points automatically credited back when they cancelled online?

 

[Jacques Vert]

Yes I got something similar and points were refunded pretty much straight away. However, IIRC only the points for one pax were automatically retuned, had to call and chase the points for the second pax and wait weeks for the taxes.

 

[Matt_01]

My query is this: when attempting to cancel the existing booking online, I'm getting a screen saying I'll get a QF flight credit for $388 - no mention of being refunded my 36,800 points and the $77 in taxes I paid. I thought it would be obvious that QF should refund in the same manner as the tickets were paid for. Although I don't need the points for a new booking, I'd still prefer to get them back.

I have posted elsewhere on this site the haphazard QF approach to changing their pop-up refund messaging over the past year. I booked about 1.8M worth of rewards in Arp/May for travel next year, which have since been cancelled. Most of the time points came back pretty quick taxes hit and miss. For two of the bookings my experience was similar to @Jacques Vert in that only one set of points came back and I had to call to get the other set returned. I had not encountered this before but I think @serfty has reported this is a known issue going back a few years.

The thing to remember whatever the QF refund pop-ups state, rewards booking will always return points and taxes refunded in full, it is the way the booking class is structured. I will be having another go at booking again in about 6-8 weeks and I am a little more confident international travel in Sep/ Oct 22 may actually occur.

 

[Inuniform]

Are there any issues with transiting through the same airport up to three times or backtracking? My itinerary will potentially include the sectors: syd - hkg - yvr, yvr - hkg - fco, cdg - hkg - hnd. I can't get from yvr to italy without flying BA and they're too expensive and a below average carrier. The total mileage isn't an issue and I won't mind the extra travel time on CX or JL.

 

[ChrisMars]

I don't think you can transit 3 times.
You might be able to transit twice, and do a stop over, aka staying 24h in HKG before your next flight. Maybe. Someone with more experience will know.

 

[vetrade]

Are there any issues with transiting through the same airport up to three times or backtracking? My itinerary will potentially include the sectors: syd - hkg - yvr, yvr - hkg - fco, cdg - hkg - hnd. I can't get from yvr to italy without flying BA and they're too expensive and a below average carrier. The total mileage isn't an issue and I won't mind the extra travel time on CX or JL.

You can have 2 transits and one stopover in a city but not 3 transits. You'd have to make one a stopover by staying > 24hrs.

 

[vetrade]

Update re post 9653:
Got all my points back overnight and an email stating I'll get the taxes in up to 8 weeks.
Happy with that but still puzzled as to why the QF website plucked a refund figure of $388 out of the air

 

[DC3]

Are there any issues with … backtracking? …

Backtracking is fine. There are no rules about direction of travel.