Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[bnr032]

If someone could kindly report on this, as i cant seem to find it anywhere, IF you book say a business class OWA, how does your luggage allowance work a) accross airlines? and b) if as part of that trip, are doing an economy journey?

Ive noticed that luggage even accross the airlines for business class varies (especially when you end up doing domestic flights as part of it).

I know previously when ive book a ticket all through one airline for multiple flights it has carried through (international allowance).

 

[QF029]

Sorry for the noob question. Do you book these on the QF site as multi trip and you can keep amending as flights become available? QF have just release some SYD-LAX flights for my dates and I want to lock them in and build on the trip.

 

[motef]

Sorry for the noob question. Do you book these on the QF site as multi trip and you can keep amending as flights become available? QF have just release some SYD-LAX flights for my dates and I want to lock them in and build on the trip.

Yes

 

[Mr H]

Sorry for the noob question. Do you book these on the QF site as multi trip and you can keep amending as flights become available? QF have just release some SYD-LAX flights for my dates and I want to lock them in and build on the trip.

Your initial booking can be done (sometimes) on the multi city trip and it can be an incomplete route. You can add more flights only by calling them (long waits and variable agents). Right now the changes are free but normally there is a small points penalty for each edit.

 

[QF029]

The booking engine is playing up and not showing some flights on a multi trip. Any issue starting with a single flight (SYD-LAX) and then building around it to eventually become MEL-xSYD-xLAX-LAS and the onwards?

P.S. Thanks so much for the prompt helpful replies!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The booking engine is playing up and not showing some flights on a multi trip. Any issue starting with a single flight (SYD-LAX) and then building around it to eventually become MEL-xSYD-xLAX-LAS and the onwards?

P.S. Thanks so much for the prompt helpful replies!

If i understood the discussion up thread correctly, there can be issues with domestic connections, in that QF ‘blocks’ convenient connections, potentially requiring a long transit.

 

[Danger]

If someone could kindly report on this, as i cant seem to find it anywhere, IF you book say a business class OWA, how does your luggage allowance work a) accross airlines? and b) if as part of that trip, are doing an economy journey?

Ive noticed that luggage even accross the airlines for business class varies (especially when you end up doing domestic flights as part of it).

I know previously when ive book a ticket all through one airline for multiple flights it has carried through (international allowance).

I, too, remember a few years ago when the same baggage allowance applied to all flights in a oneworld award. This was especially useful if the itinerary included the Americas as, if I remember correctly, you'd have two pieces to begin with, even before elite benefits. These days, though, I think the baggage allowance varies by carrier and flight.

 

[madrooster]

I, too, remember a few years ago when the same baggage allowance applied to all flights in a oneworld award. This was especially useful if the itinerary included the Americas as, if I remember correctly, you'd have two pieces to begin with, even before elite benefits. These days, though, I think the baggage allowance varies by carrier and flight.

The baggage rules haven't changed for years.

Where the ultimate/furthest ticketed destination is in the US or Canada (commonly the case for awards starting from PER), you get the same allowance across the entire ticket as the US DoT/CA CTA exception rule applies. The selecting carrier in this case is the first marketing carrier. The selecting carrier can apply their own allowances, or defer to the first most significant carrier. These rules are filed with ATPCO and not readily publicly available info.

A commercial fare example to illustrate this point on an identical routing with different feeder carriers...

QR allows the use of either AC or WS as the Canadian domestic feeder on their fares to/from Canada.

YYZ WS YUL QR DOH QR SYD in Y - WS is the selecting (first marketing) carrier. WS has selected the most significant carrier's baggage policy should apply, which is QR so QR's 2 piece policy applies.
YYZ AC YUL QR DOH QR SYD in Y - AC is the selecting (first marketing) carrier. AC has selected that their own policy should apply, which is 1 piece.

In such a case I would ticket a pax on WS for the domestic feeder so that they receive 2 pieces as their allowance.

Another example but with codeshares...

QR allows the use of either QR codeshares operated by AA or AA primes on their fares to/from the US for the domestic feeder.

DEN QR*AA PHL QR DOH QR SYD in Y - QR is the selecting (first marketing) carrier. QR has selected that their own policy should apply, which is 2 pieces.
DEN AA PHL QR DOH QR SYD in Y - AA is the selecting (first marketing) carrier. AA has selected that their own policy should apply, which is 1 piece.

Where the ultimate/furthest ticketed destination isn't in the US or Canada (commonly the case for awards starting from the east coast), then you get all the varied allowances (IATA resolution 302) as the US DoT/CA CTA exception doesn't apply.

Key east coast examples...

Where an itinerary starts from SYD and contains both LHR and BOS... the varied allowances (IATA resolution 302) apply as SYD-LHR is further than SYD-BOS.

Where an itinerary starts from MEL and contains both LHR and BOS... the same allowance (US DoT/CA CTA exception) applies throughout as MEL-BOS is further than MEL-LHR.

 

[ozflier]

If i understood the discussion up thread correctly, there can be issues with domestic connections, in that QF ‘blocks’ convenient connections, potentially requiring a long transit.yo

That hasn't been the case in my experience. although I do tend to book further out.

 

[gilldo]

AS business award flights using QF classic redemptions will be at the First Class rate. Until such time as AS determines otherwise.

So, if anyone really wants to fly AS on the 318,000 points award, then it will be in Coach.

Edit: This is not a glitch on the part of QF (or a Call Centre issue), but it’s how AS is playing it

So why do QFF now include the information bubble indicating that the AS flight will be in Business? This wasn't the case previously, and I'm sure AS haven't radically changed their First Class offering.

 

[Mr H]

The baggage rules haven't changed for years.

Where the ultimate/furthest ticketed destination is in the US or Canada (commonly the case for awards starting from PER), you get the same allowance across the entire ticket as the US DoT/CA CTA exception rule applies. ...

This is not how my current OWA booking works. I have various allowances - 40kg, 2 pieces, 3 pieces. The allowances are the same for each flight on the same sector, but the allowances differ by sector.

 

[bnr032]

So going on MadRooster has said. my Proposed itinery of
BNE-HND-KIX-LAX
LAX-PHX-YYC
YYC-ORD-LHR-EDI
EDI-HEL-CPH
CPH-DOH-BNE (depending routing)

In a Business class reward (i understand not all flights will be business seats avail) .. I should have the 2 checked for the whole trip?
But Mr Hs then states its not the case for his booking.
The main issue i have, is some airlines accept that for ice hockey gear, the bag (with equipment) + Sticks are one 'item' even though they get tagged seperately as sticks are oversized.
But other airlines (ie qantas) decide they are counted as seperate peices.

 

[madrooster]

So going on MadRooster has said. my Proposed itinery of
BNE-HND-KIX-LAX
LAX-PHX-YYC
YYC-ORD-LHR-EDI
EDI-HEL-CPH
CPH-DOH-BNE (depending routing)

In a Business class reward (i understand not all flights will be business seats avail) .. I should have the 2 checked for the whole trip?

EDI is the ultimate ticketed destination in your itinerary, so IATA resolution 302 applies, ie. varied allowances.

BNE-HND-KIX-LAX will be JL's allowance of 3pc
LAX-PHX-YYC assuming it's in J will be 2pc
YYC-ORD-LHR-EDI will be 2pc
EDI-HEL-CPH will be 2pc assuming it's in J
CPH-DOH-BNE will be 40kg if on QR

This is not how my current OWA booking works. I have various allowances - 40kg, 2 pieces, 3 pieces. The allowances are the same for each flight on the same sector, but the allowances differ by sector.

What is your itinerary?

If your booking has had manual intervention at some point, someone at QF may have incorrectly applied the rules to your ticket. It's an issue I've debated with QF a number of times so I wouldn't be surprised.

 

[bnr032]

thats dissapointing - LAX to YYC sector looks like it will be Economy.

 

[Mr H]

What is your itinerary?

MEL-KUL-CMB (MH)
CMB-LHR (UL)
LGW-DOH-IKA (BA and QR)
IKA-DOH-LAX (QR)
LAX-HND (JL)
NRT-MEL (JL)

 

[BillW]

Are you located in Australia? If so, how are you getting to Britain or Europe? I'm very familiar with the ANZ cover and you only need to charge $250 to the card before travel commences, which would be before departing Australia. That doesn't have to be on your actual, big OWA.

What I was writing is that my travel would not be return to Australia (the starting point).

 

[Mr H]

I'm very familiar with the ANZ cover and you only need to charge $250 to the card before travel commences, which would be before departing Australia. That doesn't have to be on your actual, big OWA.

Being picky, you need to have spent $250 before any incident that causes you to make a claim - so if you had a medical condition now that prevents travel next June, you would want to have spent the $250 already to trigger the cover.

 

[BillW]

Are multi city classic award trips easier to construct at the BA site? Or others? Finding QFF frustrating.

 

[Mr H]

Are multi city classic award trips easier to construct at the BA site? Or others? Finding QFF frustrating.

I found it reasonably straightforward but time consuming on QFF. I found a valid first sector and then used that to commence multiple searches. Then for each search, I popped in one single sector/flight in addition to the known first one until I got something I liked - write it down - and then wiped that sector/flight and replaced it in the tool with the next sector/flight I was searching for. So I only ever had two sectors in the tool at a time and didn't waste a lot of time clicking through sectors I had already searched for. Then when I had a list of what I wanted to book, I added in all the relevant sectors and pressed the button to book.

 

[madrooster]

MEL-KUL-CMB (MH)
CMB-LHR (UL)
LGW-DOH-IKA (BA and QR)
IKA-DOH-LAX (QR)
LAX-HND (JL)
NRT-MEL (JL)

IATA resolution 302 applies in your case as LON is your ultimate ticketed destination, so it's correct to have varied allowances.