Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[vetrade]

With respect to Mr H's knowledge on this, would anyone else be able to add some data points before I embark on a long and potentially extremely disheartening call to Qantas?

Given my recent personal experience with CMT, I haven't found it to be as reliable as it is purported to be by others. In our case I re-routed from Europe through DOH instead of HND back to MEL because of the risks associated with closure of Russian airspace. Even after the changes were re-ticketed and the new e-Tictet numbers and flights were showing up on the QF, AY and RJ websites, CMT was showing the new flights but for some reason it was still showing the old e-Ticket numbers. Have no idea how or why that happened.

As well, ATM I am waiting on QF to confirm alternate flights because QR rescheduled our DOH - KUL flight so that it now arrives after our KUL - MEL flight departs. The negative transit time is flagged everywhere except on CMT. It's disappointing that the CMT platform hasn't recognised the impossibility of our existing KUL transit.

Having done a few J OWAs in the past, I must say that in booking our latest one, there has been a multitude of glitches and difficulties (not just with CMT) that have made this one several orders of magnitude more difficult than any of the previous ones. Maybe Covid is solely to blame but I have my doubts.

 

[Guvner]

I've signed up for a CMT account so I can check for you. Just waiting on an email confirmation.

As an aside - does anyone have any good resources/tools to monitor for when new flights are added between certain routes and/or on certain dates? For example I see HK have announced they will re-welcome tourists/visitors from May onwards. Is there something out there which can alert me when CX flights between MEL-HKG are added for a certain date (or date range)?

ExpertFlyer sort of does what you want.

 

[Aristotle9]

I needed to change the dates on my one my flights so called up, got through within half an hour n she made the change but could not reissue tickets n gave the old 24 hours spiel that I know is bad. I called back after 5 hours n they sent an email through to ticketing but no tickets yet. Will call again tomm morning I guess, but not looking good. Hopefully flights don't drop off but what can I do except prey I get Hobart

 

[kingzac]

Of our 13 flights that start next week, we have had a cancellation of the shortest flight of all, a connection LHR to BHD.
Instead of moving to one of the 5 other award seats available that day the flight is simply cancelled and a note to call Qantas.
Lucky me on hold waiting to do the long painful dance to get it changed and ticketed short notice.
Imagine if the website had the basic functionality of changing the flight over.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

So I’ve had my U-class OWA booked since December 21 for this September, commencing with a PER-MEL flight to connect with a JAL flight (MEL-NRT-SEA). Original booking had a 3-hour layover in MEL – plenty of time to transfer, even in the event of a delay from PER. A few weeks ago I get an email from Qantas saying they had cancelled my PER-MEL flight and we were now on a later flight, due to arrive in MEL 1 hour prior to my JAL flight. That being a crazy risky scenario (great work Qantas), we decide it’s best to change flights out of PER. The only direct flight with U availability leaves Perth at 6:00 am and arrives in Melbourne at 11:30, a good 13 hours prior to our JAL flight. No worries there as we can catch up with family in Melbourne for the day.

Made the call to Qantas and after 5 hours on the phone have successfully changed the PER-MEL flight, and added a flight home to Perth from Melbourne on our return leg (JFK-HND-NRT-MEL), which I wasn’t able to do when booking online originally. No changes to the JAL flights in or out of Australia, or to the host of internal USA flights booked on AA as part of the OWA. Total additional taxes/fees $12.50. Confirmation email to be sent 24-48 hours later.

So it’s now 5 days later and still no confirmation email. I haven’t had the additional fees/taxes charged to my card yet.

The updated flights are visible in My Bookings on the Qantas site, and they show up as being part of a single leg (i.e. Perth to Seattle, then New York to Perth coming home) but when I send myself a copy of the itinerary via MMB it still shows the original PER-MEL flight (the one that Qantas originally cancelled) and no return MEL-PER flight. The new flight details also show up on CheckMyTrip, and also on the “My Bookings” pages of both JAL and AA. The AA site shows my flights as “Ticketed”.

So I guess my question here is – is this likely to be a revalidation scenario or re-ticketing? Should I get back on the phone to Qantas or should I wait it out for a bit?

Between now and september there will be a stack of changes to your internal AA flights when they do their seasonal schedule changes. AA is good at protecting you on alternative flights, but can also come up with some weird replacement routings. Keep a close eye on it.

 

[ozflier]

Between now and september there will be a stack of changes to your internal AA flights when they do their seasonal schedule changes. AA is good at protecting you on alternative flights, but can also come up with some weird replacement routings. Keep a close eye on it.

Ta for that info.
Do you mean the flight changes will occur between now and september or will be announced in that period and will occur post september.
I have several intra USA flights coming up so would be interested to know.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Ta for that info.
Do you mean the flight changes will occur between now and september or will be announced in that period and will occur post september.
I have several intra USA flights coming up so would be interested to know.

They will occur.

Usually no announcement, but u will normally get an email from Qantas. Better to be proactive so you can make sure you have the best replacement flights for ur plans.

 

[Aristotle9]

but u will normally get an email from Qantas.

Yup can confirm, around 5-7 or so over 6 months. All auto handled n ranging from 5-30 mins, terminal, aircraft etc. In my case last one was a favorable change to a direct flight on a non MAX8

 

[Spacetravel]

So I am currently "mid trip" of my OWA. Just received the dreaded "We've had to make some changes to your flight" email. Turns out they cancelled an upcoming segment on BA. I have LHR > BER which is right after my LAX > LHR flight. No alternatives are offered but it says they are looking for alternative flights and will email me once they do. I don't believe this will happen in my favour so about to call QF to get a new flight asap.

Because I am already mid trip how restricted will I be in finding a replacement flight? Do I need to find an award seat between LHR to BER within 24 hours of arriving in LHR (as this was a transit)? or because it was involuntary can I route via another airport/ take longer than 24 hours to transit LHR?

By mid trip I mean I have already flown some flights in this booking. The affected flights don't occur until 30th of May so I do I have some time.

 

[Mr H]

So I am currently "mid trip" of my OWA. Just received the dreaded "We've had to make some changes to your flight" email. Turns out they cancelled an upcoming segment on BA. I have LHR > BER which is right after my LAX > LHR flight. No alternatives are offered but it says they are looking for alternative flights and will email me once they do. I don't believe this will happen in my favour so about to call QF to get a new flight asap.

Because I am already mid trip how restricted will I be in finding a replacement flight? Do I need to find an award seat between LHR to BER within 24 hours of arriving in LHR (as this was a transit)? or because it was involuntary can I route via another airport/ take longer than 24 hours to transit LHR?

By mid trip I mean I have already flown some flights in this booking. The affected flights don't occur until 30th of May so I do I have some time.

There are multiple daily BA flights on that route so the likely outcome is you would be offered the next available flight. I think you are unlikely to be able to create a sixth stopover or make a major itinerary change, but you never know. Prepare options for (a) what you want most, and (b) what would be within the OWA rules and roll the dice.

 

[squid01]

I am looking at booking for September departure, route not 100% sorted just yet. Was going to book some flights to lock them in as availability is scarce. If I want to say remove one of those flights and add another in its place (ie- change route), will they need to reissue the ticket again and hence be a potential for me to lose the other flight(s) which I didn’t want changed?
Does it cost anything to cancel or amend a OWA booking? If I cancel then how long may it take to get all the points refunded?

Also, if I book individual segments on the OWA (ie book ADL to KUL and also KUL to BKK instead of just ADL to BKK) then will my bags be checked all the way through from ADL to BKK? Doing some research people say if it is on the “same ticket” they will. Essentially is the OwA booking just on one ticket? Or do they mean I will still have to book the ADL to BKK path instead of breaking it up?

Thanks!

 

[Ponky]

WIth the AA flight changes, if you are happy with them is it just a case of do nothing, or do you need to contact Qantas and confirm you are happy with them?

 

[vetrade]

So I am currently "mid trip" of my OWA. Just received the dreaded "We've had to make some changes to your flight" email. Turns out they cancelled an upcoming segment on BA. I have LHR > BER which is right after my LAX > LHR flight. No alternatives are offered but it says they are looking for alternative flights and will email me once they do. I don't believe this will happen in my favour so about to call QF to get a new flight asap.

Because I am already mid trip how restricted will I be in finding a replacement flight? Do I need to find an award seat between LHR to BER within 24 hours of arriving in LHR (as this was a transit)? or because it was involuntary can I route via another airport/ take longer than 24 hours to transit LHR?

By mid trip I mean I have already flown some flights in this booking. The affected flights don't occur until 30th of May so I do I have some time.

I got a similar email a week ago but QF didn't contact me with new flight options, so expect to have to take the initiative yourself.
I rang them again 2 days ago and CSA said he would call me back after he checked if QR would release seats for us but I'm on hold again now 'cos, unsurprisingly, he hasn't called back.
There shouldn't be any problem in having a stop in LHR instead of a transit provided 1. you don't already have a LHR stopover and 2. you don't already have 5 stopovers in your itinerary. QF won't allow changes which exceed the 5 stopover rule. As Mr H said, there are plenty of alternate flights on that route and BA usually has good availability for intra-Europe flights (they may not show on the QF site but usually agents can find them OK)

 

[Spacetravel]

There are multiple daily BA flights on that route so the likely outcome is you would be offered the next available flight. I think you are unlikely to be able to create a sixth stopover or make a major itinerary change, but you never know. Prepare options for (a) what you want most, and (b) what would be within the OWA rules and roll the dice.

I got a similar email a week ago but QF didn't contact me with new flight options, so expect to have to take the initiative yourself.
I rang them again 2 days ago and CSA said he would call me back after he checked if QR would release seats for us but I'm on hold again now 'cos, unsurprisingly, he hasn't called back.
There shouldn't be any problem in having a stop in LHR instead of a transit provided 1. you don't already have a LHR stopover and 2. you don't already have 5 stopovers in your itinerary. QF won't allow changes which exceed the 5 stopover rule. As Mr H said, there are plenty of alternate flights on that route and BA usually has good availability for intra-Europe flights (they may not show on the QF site but usually agents can find them OK)

Thanks, I got off the phone with QF and the only flight available was the following day which creates a 6th stopover and 2 at LHR. They did give me the flight though and its now showing in my account. Do I have to worry QF system might catch up and cancel it or should I be in the clear now?

 

[vetrade]

Do I have to worry QF system might catch up and cancel it or should I be in the clear now?

All I can say is that it's very unusual for QF to break 2 of their own cornerstone OWA rules like that. Was the agent who booked that for you even aware that both the "1 stopover per city" and "maximum 5 stopovers" rules were being broken? Normally they would only allow something like that for last minute disruptions like a cancellation for mechanical reasons, such as, if you were actually already at LHR and they needed to get you to BER.
Bottom line is that I can't give you a definitive answer to your question, but if the ststem is going to reject those changes, my guess is that it will do so in a few days or less.

 

[Lynda2475]

WIth the AA flight changes, if you are happy with them is it just a case of do nothing, or do you need to contact Qantas and confirm you are happy with them?

My AA jfk -ord flight was changed from a very convenient 2pm to a less convenient 4:45pm ( means i'll be later for a dinner date), i just received an email advising the time change and a separate email with an updated e-ticket. Wasnt given any option to accept or reject the change.

Given all the drama to get the owa ticketed in the first place, i will wait and see if it changes again as still a few months away.

2pm was perfect, checkout at 11am, subway to jfk just shy of 1 hour, 1 hour to check in some lounge time. Later flight means lunch in city and more time waiting at the airport lounge.

 

[ausfox]

The changing of flights is not new. We were doing a status run via Las Vegas and fronted to the desk for an earlier flight. Told our original flight had changed forward 2 hours. We did get an earlier flight .

 

[vetrade]

The changing of flights is not new. We were doing a status run via Las Vegas and fronted to the desk for an earlier flight. Told our original flight had changed forward 2 hours. We did get an earlier flight .

Wow, fancy only finding out at the airport that your flight is departing 2 hrs earlier.

 

[Rach1616]

I've been researching for months and I'm almost ready to book OWA commencing in March/April 23. I've been trialling lots of options in Qantas multicity bookings and have a question about surface sectors. I know they are allowed and must be counted in total miles. Is there a limit on the number of surface sectors? I've read that there is no "official" limit on the number of surface sectors but also that there may be a limit of two surface sectors (possibly only for online bookings?). The 2 surface sector limit seems to align with the errors I'm getting when looking at itineraries via Qantas multicity booking tool. As soon as I add more than 2 surface sectors the tools errors out so hoping someone can clarify before I look at what else I could be doing wrong. Thank you.

 

[DC3]

Thanks, I got off the phone with QF and the only flight available was the following day which creates a 6th stopover and 2 at LHR. They did give me the flight though and its now showing in my account. Do I have to worry QF system might catch up and cancel it or should I be in the clear now?

My experience with AA, some years ago on a DONE4, was that once the trip had started, rules went out the window. When operational things went wrong, the airline moved me along in order to resume the trip, even though it meant exceeding the segment limit as well as the number of flights within the US.