Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[flyingchicken]

**Edited**

I'm looking to travel from Aus on a OWA via SIN-DOH-FCO or KUL-DOH-FCO. But both SIN and KUL are list E countries (ones that require a quarrantine period). I'm still not sure if these transits are counted if I stay airside.

At the moment I can't think of any other way to get to FCO on OWA J. Does anyone else have suggestions about alternative routes I could search for to try and follow a quarrantine-free path?

Recent CX cancellations have torn apart my March/April honeymoon plans and I'm desperately trying to find a way to make it still work.

 

[vetrade]

Thanks, that makes sense, brain not working this morning.

How do surface sectors count with stopovers, if you fly out of one city then later fly out of the same city but travel there independently?
For instance we have a stop in Helsinki before flying HEL-KEF, then doing a "surface sector" back to Europe, can we then find our own way to HEL to fly back to Asia or would it take that as two stopovers in HEL?

The stopover city is the one at the start of a surface sector. In your example, KEF is the stopover city after your stopover in HEL.
Your KEF stopover will include any other cities you travel to prior to your next OWA flight.
Your second time through HEL would therefore count only as a transit.

 

[vetrade]

Hey guys,

Can anyone help me make sense of the 2022 Italy restrictions. I've looked everywhere but I can't get a definitive answer for transit locations.

I'm looking to travel from Aus on a OWA via SIN-DOH-FCO or KUL-DOH-FCO. But both SIN and KUL are list E countries (ones that require a quarrantine period).

Does anyone have experience with this, or know if I'll be treated as if I've 'been to' SIN/KUL even if it's just an international transit airside?

I can't find any formal definitions to determine whether these countries will be included when going to Italy (hence impacting quarrantine requirements).

And at the moment I can't find any other way to get to FCO on OWA J. Recent CX cancellations have torn apart my March/April honeymoon plans and I'm desperately trying to find a way to make it still work. I've been planning/cancelling/changing this honeymoon trip since 2018. I know it's a long shot, but it's really our last chance to go.

I don't know the answer but maybe you should try the Covid thread. That seems to be where those sort of issues are discussed.

 

[flyingchicken]

I don't know the answer but maybe you should try the Covid thread. That seems to be where those sort of issues are discussed.

Okay thanks. I'll try there too.

Was secretly hoping someone here with more knowledge of OWA routes might be able to help me see other options that I may be missing.

 

[ozflier]

If you start your non OWA sidetrip at Helsinki and return to Kelsinki prior to continuing on your OWA, then that counts as one stopover not two !

 

[Matt_01]

Stopovers relate to cities, not countries. You can have stopovers in more than one city within any particular country but they are counted separately

Except for NZ. As posted up thread I am trying to work out a double banger for 2023 starting in NZ April school holidays AKL-BNE-HND-SYD/MEL, either one. Second part September school holidays SYD/MEL/PER-UK/EU-AU or NZ if I have to take that flight. I know milage will be tight and went through the exercise of finding rewards flights and gave QF a call to check that it could be booked. The agent advised that the system would not it allow it to ticket and after a bit of checking was advised the AKL start was the issue as the QF seems to think AKL is part of AU

 

[DC3]

… QF seems to think AKL is part of AU

I saw this, somewhere:

“Section 6 of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act says:

The States shall mean such of the colonies of New South Wales, New Zealand, Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia, and South Australia, including the northern territory of South Australia, as for the time being are parts of the Commonwealth, and such colonies or territories as may be admitted into or established by the Commonwealth as States; and each of such parts of the Commonwealth shall be called a State”

Maybe QF got it mixed up. The door is still open apparently.

 

[PineappleSkip]

Indeed the door is still open, and the UK law that created the Australian Constitution was designed to specifically permit it to be so. Section 6 defined the states and also the originating states which were the states that first joined. WA joined later in 1900 and got itself retrospectively proclaimed an originating state. NZ was also in the list, but ultimately didn't join.

A potted history of NZ's dalliance with Federation is here. They attended some of the constitutional conventions and had a royal commission in 1900 on whether they should join, touring every Australian State - except the other holdout, WA, which is a whole other story.

cheers skip

 

[BillW]

Yes you can. In normal times, cancelling a Oneworld booking attracts a fee of 6,000 points per passenger; but that is currently waived. From the website:

...whether you’re looking to travel soon or down the track, when you use points to book a Classic Flight Reward, you’ll be able to change your travel dates or cancel your booking free of charge.*

Simply book:

an Australian domestic Classic Flight Reward before 30 April 2022 and you can change or cancel your booking free of charge until 30 April 2022
an Trans-Tasman or International Classic Flight Reward before 30 June 2022 and you can change or cancel free of charge until 31 December 2022
If you wish to change your travel dates, we’ll waive the change fee. If you wish to cancel, we’ll waive the cancellation fee. The total Qantas Points used and any taxes, fees and carrier charges paid will be refunded.

For complimentary credit card travel insurance purposes it may pay me to add a return leg to my current one-way flight booking.
If I do so now before departure I presume that the trip points will max out at 318,000, which is no problem.
In terms of the above quote, can I cancel the return leg anytime before end December (and make alternative insurance arrangements)?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

For complimentary credit card travel insurance purposes it may pay me to add a return leg to my current one-way flight booking.
If I do so now before departure I presume that the trip points will max out at 318,000, which is no problem.
In terms of the above quote, can I cancel the return leg anytime before end December (and make alternative insurance arrangements)?

Correct!

 

[k_sheep]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH finally booked! I have an international flight booking in MMB! Ahhhhh! (little excited)

SYD-xDFW-EZE stop for antarctica cruise, Patagonia trekking
EZE-xMAD-PRG stop for work conference in Linz, Austria
PRG-HEL stop for some northern lights or at least some skiing
HEL-xWAW-DOH stop for ..... something .... wanted to go to MCT but that's super expensive
DOH-DEL stop for ... why not, new place we've not been
DEL-xMEL-MCY

Huge thanks to the AFF assistance crew; I lacked the patience and 'outside the box' thinking to put it together myself. All in J except a ghastly 10hr DFW-EZE in Y ... send prayers. Have to book the last couple flights via phone tomorrow because online wouldn't let me do more than 6; but it seems they have fixed the crashing issue when trying to book with IB so that's progress!

 

[There'sOnlyOneJimmy]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH finally booked! I have an international flight booking in MMB!

MMB is nice, but do you have an e-ticket?
It’s not over until the fat lady sings “081-……..”

 

[k_sheep]

Killjoy!

I actually don't know how to get eticket numbers now checkmytrip is dead .... but it's showing as confirmed on QR and BA websites ... cautious optimism.

 

[DC3]

A confirmed reservation is not adequate for boarding a plane and flying. The reservation needs to be ticketed.

An eticket is needed to complete the process. If QR is in the award mix (or probably any non-QF flights for that matter) then I would be following up with the QF Call Centre without delay.

 

[SYD]

Killjoy!

I actually don't know how to get eticket numbers now checkmytrip is dead .... but it's showing as confirmed on QR and BA websites ... cautious optimism.

Several OW airlines “mange booking” pages will give you e-ticket numbers for an Amedeus PNR. RJ used to be good, if not QR or AY.

 

[DC3]

In case anyone has not seen this, Executive Traveller has an article about oneworld award redemptions across partner airlines coming soon:

Qantas, BA to join Oneworld upgrades program

Qantas Points and BA Avios will enable premium economy, business and first class upgrades on other Oneworld airlines.

www.executivetraveller.com

 

[jase05]

In case anyone has not seen this, Executive Traveller has an article about oneworld award redemptions across partner airlines coming soon:

Qantas, BA to join Oneworld upgrades program

Qantas Points and BA Avios will enable premium economy, business and first class upgrades on other Oneworld airlines.

www.executivetraveller.com

Supposedly May is the word but I have my doubts

 

[fresherbill]

I've had a monster of a time rebooking an itinerary with the tax calculations coming back 2.5x what I'd estimated. I've changed it from a BNE origin to a KUL origin - I wouldn't have expected this to make much of a difference but I don't know for sure because I don't have enough points to put the whole trip into a multi-city booking to confirm. The itinerary is:

29 NOV: KUL-xBKK-xHEL-BER (MH Y/AY J/AY J)
17 DEC: BER-HEL (AY J)
21 DEC: HEL-SIN (AY J)
23 DEC: SIN-xHND-JFK (JL J)
2 JAN: JFK-xHND/NRT-KUL (JL J/MH J)

By pricing up the legs individually, I have come up with an estimate of about $620pp, but Qantas quoted $565pp in addition to the $985pp already paid on a previous iteration of the booking. This makes the total taxes $1550 per person, which is huge! I asked the agent to confirm that the $565 was in addition to the taxes already paid or if it was the new total and they confirmed it was additional. I went ahead because the original departure was imminent and had to be moved. I thought ticketing might resolve the discrepancy, but the e-ticket came in pretty quickly showing the $1550 amount.

Anyone have any idea why the increase would be so significant? Could it be due to the change of the origin from BNE to KUL?

Does anyone have enough points to try this in the multi-city tool? I can get all the flights I want on the tool but it falls over at the last step before it gives me a tax total (because I don't have enough points). Most grateful for any insights.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

In case anyone has not seen this, Executive Traveller has an article about oneworld award redemptions across partner airlines coming soon:

Qantas, BA to join Oneworld upgrades program

Qantas Points and BA Avios will enable premium economy, business and first class upgrades on other Oneworld airlines.

www.executivetraveller.com

Put it this way… if it’s such a difficult thing to achieve, yet the airlines are pushing so hard for it…. you can be guaranteed it will be a bad thing for passengers.

 

[Jacques Vert]

I've had a monster of a time rebooking an itinerary with the tax calculations coming back 2.5x what I'd estimated. I've changed it from a BNE origin to a KUL origin - I wouldn't have expected this to make much of a difference but I don't know for sure because I don't have enough points to put the whole trip into a multi-city booking to confirm. The itinerary is:

29 NOV: KUL-xBKK-xHEL-BER (MH Y/AY J/AY J)
17 DEC: BER-HEL (AY J)
21 DEC: HEL-SIN (AY J)
23 DEC: SIN-xHND-JFK (JL J)
2 JAN: JFK-xHND/NRT-KUL (JL J/MH J)

By pricing up the legs individually, I have come up with an estimate of about $620pp, but Qantas quoted $565pp in addition to the $985pp already paid on a previous iteration of the booking. This makes the total taxes $1550 per person, which is huge! I asked the agent to confirm that the $565 was in addition to the taxes already paid or if it was the new total and they confirmed it was additional. I went ahead because the original departure was imminent and had to be moved. I thought ticketing might resolve the discrepancy, but the e-ticket came in pretty quickly showing the $1550 amount.

Anyone have any idea why the increase would be so significant? Could it be due to the change of the origin from BNE to KUL?

Does anyone have enough points to try this in the multi-city tool? I can get all the flights I want on the tool but it falls over at the last step before it gives me a tax total (because I don't have enough points). Most grateful for any insights.

I get 318,000 points + MYR3,207 (~AUD1,066). That includes all legs in J including your KUL-BKK. So yeah, I think you've been had.

Are you game to cancel the booking, get your points back and re-book on line? Of course, you may not get the taxes back before you depart.