Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[blu]

do I just wait now to see if they reschedule the connecting flight?

Qatar discontinued a service and put us on a later flight, but unfortunately missing our connection. No action was taken to reschedule the connecting flight by Qatar or Qantas. In the end, we had to book economy awards for that segment and pay seat reservation fees (which we eventually forfeited). As things have changed for the better since then, when finding availability on QF1.

 

[flapper]

Hi all, I was advised that our OWA JAL flight HEL-HND (in Aug 23) has been rescheduled to a day later which means the connection HND-SIN will be missed. I have accepted the change we can work around this but do I just wait now to see if they reschedule the connecting flight? Or do I need to contact Qantas to arrange this myself? Thanks for your help, I will look at other options in the meantime.

Definately need to contact QF even if the email says they are working on it. They will need to request that JL open a revenue seat for you, either an earlier flight to HND or later one from HND. This is likely to take many calls and probably weeks to resolve. Get the names and location of everyone you speak to, take notes and ask them to put a note on the booking. If they tell you they have put in a request call back to check a request has been put through, unfortunatly it is common for the outsourced call centres to lie to get rid of you. If you get no joy, email Markus Svensson, list all the calls you've made with names, locations, dates and times and request the flight you want.

 

[MelbFlyer]

Thanks everyone! I'll just have to keep an eye on flights and see if any business seats pop up

So unfortunately it looks like now I'll have to change my booking completely.

I just called Qantas - if I cancel my 318k OWA trip altogether, they've advised that a 6k cancellation fee will apply, and 95% or so of the taxes would be refunded.

I'll still try to find an alternative 318k eligible itinerary (so it would only be a 5k points change fee plus taxes) but it will be difficult.

However, if in the case that I was able to find another itinerary but only in PE instead of business, would I be refunded any points (assuming that my new trip falls under the PE cap of 249.6k points?).

Ie. I'd be refunded ~68k points minus any change fees if I was able to find an alternative OWA in PE rather than in Business?

Or, would it be better to just cancel completely, get my 318k points back minus the 6k points penalty for cancellation and just start fresh again?

Of course the option would be to not have to change, but it seems it's inevitable now / I wouldn't be able to find an equivalent Business itinerary at an alternative date.

Thankyou in advance!

 

[gfraser]

I have called 3 times today to have a UL flight reinstated and each occasion it has dropped off after 1 hour.
I have also emailed the new reward ticket escalation address, so we,ll see if they are fair dinkum.

72 hours and no response yet!

 

[gfraser]

Maybe the system is improving.
Yesterday I got a call from SA to confirm a time change. She eventually hung up on me and today I called again and requested a ticketed itinerary. Within 3 hours it arrived.
I don’t know if it was the email or just luck but after numerous calls over several weeks - all done.
There has been no indication that the email worked - but hey

 

[PointsTraveller!]

So far MEL-NRT-FRA on JL around $140 taxes pp
MAD-JFK on IB $220 taxes pp
LAX-KIX on JL $44 taxes pp
About to book NRT-MEL next week hopefully.

Somehow have had this ticketed with the added flight of NRT - MEL added. Paid no additional taxes for for 2 pax.

 

[yourmate]

All 3 JL flight departure times on my booking have changed also and I won't be able to make a (JL) connection. I can see a "phantom" booking that would fit my itinerary and I'm tempted to just book it and (hopefully) merge it with my existing booking.

Has anyone attempted this before? Not sure if it will just make things messier...

 

[levelnine]

I'm tempted to just book it and (hopefully) merge it with my existing booking.

Don't do this. You absolutely aren't able to merge bookings. Call QF and try to get the flights you found added to your booking. They should waive any change fees

 

[yourmate]

Don't do this. You absolutely aren't able to merge bookings. Call QF and try to get the flights you found added to your booking. They should waive any change fees

Ah ok, thanks! I did call QF (South Africa call centre) and they weren’t able to add the JL flight I found. They said they’re going to try to get JL to change it…I’m not very optimistic about it.

Will keep trying QF until I get through to Hobart

 

[PaulyB]

Change of arrival time usually requires ticket revalidation not reissue. Had a similar experience about a month ago with a JAL flight from FRA-NRT. No new ticket and everything is still in place. What is the reservation status of the booking on the JAL website? If a new ticket is pending, it probably won't say ticketed.

Following up on this from a previous post:. I went to the JAL site to check the status of a OWA booking. It's all there and ticketed but every flight on the itinerary shows U class!! What is that? Everywhere else correctly shows J.
Thanks!

 

[algae]

Following up on this from a previous thread. I went to the JAL site to check the status of a OWA booking. It's all there and ticketed but every flight on the itinerary shows U class!! What is that? Everywhere else correctly shows J.
Thanks!

I should note. I had a flight change and JL showed ticketed.
But CMT showed no ticket number. I wouldn't trust the JL website.

Also class U is correct. It just means business reward seat

 

[Jacques Vert]

Also class U is correct. It just means business reward seat

Agree; U class is J paid with points.

 

[PaulyB]

Also class U is correct. It just means business reward seat

Agree; U class is J paid with points.

Thanks! .

 

[MelbFlyer]

So unfortunately it looks like now I'll have to change my booking completely.

I just called Qantas - if I cancel my 318k OWA trip altogether, they've advised that a 6k cancellation fee will apply, and 95% or so of the taxes would be refunded.

I'll still try to find an alternative 318k eligible itinerary (so it would only be a 5k points change fee plus taxes) but it will be difficult.

However, if in the case that I was able to find another itinerary but only in PE instead of business, would I be refunded any points (assuming that my new trip falls under the PE cap of 249.6k points?).

Ie. I'd be refunded ~68k points minus any change fees if I was able to find an alternative OWA in PE rather than in Business?

Or, would it be better to just cancel completely, get my 318k points back minus the 6k points penalty for cancellation and just start fresh again?

Of course the option would be to not have to change, but it seems it's inevitable now / I wouldn't be able to find an equivalent Business itinerary at an alternative date.

Thankyou in advance!

So I called up last night to cancel my trip and the 318k points were refunded in full, and it appears without a cancellation fee of 5/6k points (or it just hasn't appeared yet).

The points appeared back in my QFF account in around 4hrs, after being told to expect up to 10-14 business days. The refund of taxes though, hasn't landed just yet but I understand cash refunds do take much longer anyway, so I'll be keeping an eye out for it.

I have booked a new itinerary with the dates I am able to go now, and although the itinerary isn't as good (I have a JQ economy leg (!!!), there wasn't even an option for a QF economy leg back to Melbourne on the date I required), overall it is less points and the dates work better.

Thankyou for everyone's comments and experiences!

 

[Jacques Vert]

I have booked a new itinerary with the dates I am able to go now, and although the itinerary isn't as good (I have a JQ economy leg (!!!), there wasn't even an option for a QF economy leg back to Melbourne on the date I required), overall it is less points and the dates work better.

If you have a JQ leg then it is no longer a Oneworld Award.

 

[MelbFlyer]

If you have a JQ leg then it is no longer a Oneworld Award.

Yep, the new itinerary is nowhere near as good as my first one - business only on limited legs plus a JQ leg of all airlines, but it was less points than the OWA 318k business cap.

I'm just glad that I was able to cancel the 318k trip with no fuss and get all my points back, with no cancellation penalty either. I was expecting 6k to be charged but it hasn't (yet).

 

[Easy Tiger]

HI all, inital leg of OWA 318 booked, however, I believe I have been double charged the fees and taxes....story goes:
Initially booked SYD - FRA in Business for 2 pax and was charged approx $600 in fees & taxes (which seems right), then i added the MEL -SYD to this booking over the phone and was charged another $630 or so rather than just the MEL-SYD taxes?? SPoke to 2 FIJI operators this morning but they were absolutely no use whatsoever and HU in frustration (nice to them though). Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

 

[Captain Halliday]

HI all, inital leg of OWA 318 booked, however, I believe I have been double charged the fees and taxes....story goes:
Initially booked SYD - FRA in Business for 2 pax and was charged approx $600 in fees & taxes (which seems right), then i added the MEL -SYD to this booking over the phone and was charged another $630 or so rather than just the MEL-SYD taxes?? SPoke to 2 FIJI operators this morning but they were absolutely no use whatsoever and HU in frustration (nice to them though). Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

When you make changes to an OWA, all the fees, taxes and carrier charges are recalculated.

So, if since your initial booking, any of those have gone up, you will be paying more.

Additionally, QF is at the higher end of the spectrum in terms of carrier charges.

You could check the breakdown of charges by putting your same routing into ITA matrix. It won’t be extact but should give you some indication.

Edit: if this is the same enquiry you have made in the fees/taxes check thread then you need to be aware it’s not an OWA with MU on the itinerary as MU is not a oneworld airline.

 

[Rach1616]

do I just wait now to see if they reschedule the connecting flight? Or do I need to contact Qantas to arrange this myself?

Thanks for all the advice. Outcome is I have a new connecting flight ticketed after taking the following actions:
1. Emailed the new rewards booking escalating email twice, first time was 5 days ago - no response at all.
2. Contacting Qantas by messenger - got an unhelpful reply after one day, then they emailed me my current itinerary to all use it was correct which it isn't, then messaged back and forward over a couple of days with no outcome except they said they'd send my request to the right department as they couldn't help me.
3. Took the leap and called the call centre right on 8am. First person (Fiji) checked each of the four different flight options I had found with available rewards seats online, and told me there was no reward availability on any of them and I'd have to book the connection myself as a separate booking. HUCA - Fiji again and got lucky. This person found the available seats for my first option right away. Booked that flight, removed the other flights no longer needed, told me how much tax refund I would get and said the booking had been sent for ticketing.
I sent a follow up email to the rewards email and messager requesting they progress the booking for ticketing urgently so the MH flights didn't drop off. I was going to call again today to chase up the e ticket but lo and behold the e ticket came through this morning just over 48 hours since the booking was made on the phone.
I hate to think how many hours I've spent keeping this OWA ticket alive over the last 11 months but one month until take off now so we're almost there!

 

[PaulyB]

Congratulations on the initiative and perseverance.

Emailed the new rewards booking escalating email twice, first time was 5 days ago - no response at all.

This is a bit of a concern, though…