Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[Phoenix-1]

Also - I have reorganized my trip as I realized that China Airlines isn't a oneworld partner, so I'm thinking about buying some fares in that part of my trip (for example: to taipei from singapore). Just in case is there another way within the oneworld alliance that people usually go about their Asia legs to places like Taipei?

CX, JL and MH fly to TPE and are part of oneworld. Could give them a go.

I'm a month out and still haven't been charged for a (ticketed) RTW. I've tried calling up and the agent insisted the card has been charged and told me there's nothing outstanding. Any other options or keep waiting? As nice as it would be to get a free flight I'd much rather be secure in the knowledge it won't get cancelled.

 

[DC3]

I'm a month out and still haven't been charged for a (ticketed) RTW

This would not be the first time that someone has effectively received free flights.

 

[sqrt()]

CX, JL and MH fly to TPE and are part of oneworld. Could give them a go.

I'm a month out and still haven't been charged for a (ticketed) RTW. I've tried calling up and the agent insisted the card has been charged and told me there's nothing outstanding. Any other options or keep waiting? As nice as it would be to get a free flight I'd much rather be secure in the knowledge it won't get cancelled.

If you have an eticket, why would you call asking if QF really wants your money?

 

[Wolf creek]

About to cancel a awards BA flight Syd-lhr for 8/11 for 2 people it might reappear if someone here wants it

 

[Phoenix-1]

If you have an eticket, why would you call asking if QF really wants your money?

I'm worried about QF realising and then cancelling my ticket. And because CMT is no longer working, there's no way for me to know.

 

[sqrt()]

I'm worried about QF realising and then cancelling my ticket. And because CMT is no longer working, there's no way for me to know.

Yeah, fair enough. Though IME you are more likely to get cancelled by contacting them - for whatever reason! There are so many posts of people calling to make a small change or confirmation and the agent somehow nukes the whole itinerary.

Someone might correct me, but you can confirm your ticket is still valid by requesting QF send it again from MMB.

 

[Mr H]

Yeah, fair enough. Though IME you are more likely to get cancelled by contacting them - for whatever reason!

^^
This

 

[Wolf creek]

I have velocity and qantas points,considering 2 Europe trips using the OWA 318k(35000 miles)rule.I know it’s impossible to start from Oz and will exceed the the 35000 miles.What would be a good starting point,HKG,HND,BKK.

Very up in the air …..fly Singapore to BKK,then start Qantas OWA.
BKK-AMS via(hkg)AMS-BNE via HKG or HND,6 months later return to Europe from BNE or an OZ departure city.

Could this work with more research?Also aware of the 5 stop over rule.
Is there a forum section here for this type of awards travel?

 

[Mr H]

I have velocity and qantas points,considering 2 Europe trips using the OWA 318k(35000 miles)rule.I know it’s impossible to start from Oz and will exceed the the 35000 miles.What would be a good starting point,HKG,HND,BKK.

Very up in the air …..fly Singapore to BKK,then start Qantas OWA.
BKK-AMS via(hkg)AMS-BNE via HKG or HND,6 months later return to Europe from BNE or an OZ departure city.

Could this work with more research?Also aware of the 5 stop over rule.
Is there a forum section here for this type of awards travel?

You will run over the 35,000 mile limit if you return to Australia after your second European visit - you need to add on the mileage back to your point of origin. This is showing your second trip being Istanbul - the closest European city - with direct flights only. Connections will add even more miles.



You could probably manage it if you did not return to Australia from your second trip but returned to BKK - then returned to BNE on a different ticket.

 

[blu]

Waiting in the AAFlagship lounge DFW for QF8, final flight in our RTW itinerary.
SYD-LHR-AMS. BSL-LHR-MAD-DFW-SYD.

 

[Wolf creek]

You will run over the 35,000 mile limit if you return to Australia after your second European visit - you need to add on the mileage back to your point of origin. This is showing your second trip being Istanbul - the closest European city - with direct flights only. Connections will add even more miles.

View attachment 322759

You could probably manage it if you did not return to Australia from your second trip but returned to BKK - then returned to BNE on a different ticket.

Ty for your time Mr H…..what site did you gather information above pls

 

[Mr H]

Ty for your time Mr H…..what site did you gather information above pls

Great Circle Mapper

Great Circle Mapper

gcmap.com

 

[yaksha98]

Just to add as additional data points, on my ticketed OWA for mid this year, since Dec 2022, I've had about 3 instances of carrier initiated changes from aircraft change, to arrival time changes (some by 15-30mins to 2 hrs). I've managed to accept those changes online and the e-ticket was issued not long after. So that part seems to be working...

Unfortunately, the latest change initiated by me a week ago (i.e. adding another leg to the OWA) demonstrates the offshore call centre processes are still broken - will go into that a bit more detail in another post, on the upside the escalations email worked to resolve the issue.

 

[Steph123]

Hey everyone! Long time lurker, first time poster here I'm wondering whether I'm the only one who is struggling with finding rewards flights in April 2024? I'm halfway booked with my OWA itinerary for next year but can't find any (non China Air) flights from Asia back to Aus! I'm starting to get worried as it's getting very close to the dates I was looking to book. I've checked from SIN, HKG, BKK, KUL, HND/NRT, PVG to MEL, SYD, and BNE. I don't mind which OW airline but am feeling very despondent as even economy flights are few and far between. I do know it's school holidays at the time I'm trying to book, but I log on every day at 10am AEST and keep checking throughout the day and still nothing... Thanks for any help or insights!

 

[yaksha98]

Hey everyone! Long time lurker, first time poster here I'm wondering whether I'm the only one who is struggling with finding rewards flights in April 2024? I'm halfway booked with my OWA itinerary for next year but can't find any (non China Air) flights from Asia back to Aus! I'm starting to get worried as it's getting very close to the dates I was looking to book. I've checked from SIN, HKG, BKK, KUL, HND/NRT, PVG to MEL, SYD, and BNE. I don't mind which OW airline but am feeling very despondent as even economy flights are few and far between. I do know it's school holidays at the time I'm trying to book, but I log on every day at 10am AEST and keep checking throughout the day and still nothing... Thanks for any help or insights!

Most of the April dates have not opened up yet

 

[Steph123]

Most of the April dates have not opened up yet

Hey. I know most April dates aren't opened yet, but I have been keeping an eye every day for the last couples weeks. Day by day new flights/dates were released - until the end of March. Then for the past week or so there's been nothing released except China Air flights in April (as of today can see until 7/4/24). I hope that makes sense!

 

[cloo]

Hi all. I have a question around the taxes and charges payment when making changes to a J OWA booking.

I made my first change to my OWA at the start of this month. I was lucky enough to get an agent from the Philippines who knew what she was doing. She took payment for the difference between the new total and the taxes&charges that I had originally been charged. Payment has now gone through on my credit card and I've been re-ticketed.

Today I've spent most of the day HUACA to try complete my OWA back to Australia. I received the whole gamut of excuses until I eventually spoke to an agent who was able to add the leg I was seeking (HEL-HND-SYD) to my OWA. She correctly recalculated the points total to come out to 318k and the new total fees & charges matched my expectations. However when it came to making the payment, instead of being charged for the difference between the new and old taxes&charges like previously, she insisted on taking the full payment. She said that I would be refunded my previous payments. Not wanting to lose the seats, I went along with it.

I know that my points charged sofar will be refunded and the new points total deducted.
Does the same apply with the taxes & charges? Or have I been overcharged?

 

[cjd600]

Hi all. I have a question around the taxes and charges payment when making changes to a J OWA booking.

I made my first change to my OWA at the start of this month. I was lucky enough to get an agent from the Philippines who knew what she was doing. She took payment for the difference between the new total and the taxes&charges that I had been originally been charged. Payment has now gone through on my credit card and I've been re-ticketed.

Today I've spent most of the day HUACA to try complete my OWA back to Australia. I received the whole gamut of excuses until I eventually spoke to an agent who was able to add the leg I was seeking (HEL-HND-SYD) to my OWA. She correctly recalculated the points total to come out to 318k and the new total fees & charges matched my expectations. However when it came to making the payment, instead of being charged for the difference between the new and old taxes&charges like previously, she insisted on taking the full payment. She said that I would be refunded my previous payments. Not wanting to lose the seats, I went along with it.

I know that my points charged sofar will be refunded and the new total points total deducted.
Does the same apply with the taxes & charges? Or have I been overcharged?

I've only ever had to pay (or receive) the $ difference when making a change....
Maybe she cancelled and rebooked the lot...do you have the same booking ref/PNR?

 

[cloo]

I've only ever had to pay (or receive) the $ difference when making a change....
Maybe she cancelled and rebooked the lot...do you have the same booking ref/PNR?

The PNR is the same. I'm going to need to change the OWA once more so hopefully any overcharging will be reflected in a refund at that point.

 

[ameliorate]

It's a direct flight but not a non-stop flight, stops at AKL. I just did a random multi trip reward search and QF4 was showing, maybe a vagary of the book engine. Should be bookable by the call centre.


View attachment 322536

I called them up and they said it was an issue with the website showing fake availability for a number of my sectors sadly. I cross-referenced with Expert Flyer as suggested elsewhere for those sectors in this forum and it also suggested this was an issue of phantom availability. I ended up changing my plans and the order of my flights.

Would appreciate some advice from someone re the questions below. My booked itinerary (woo!) is now as follows:

*SYD-ADL
(ADL-DPS on a separate classic rewards flight as I couldn't find non-Jetstar or Oneworld flights for SYD-DPS on my dates)
(DPS-TPE separately as no reasonable Oneworld options (maybe DPS-SIN-TPE could work but it's more work + more points than I have which makes a revenue fare DPS-TPE more sensible)
(TPE-SIN - I was going to do this on points separately but could also do this as part of my one world classic reward itinerary - I'm a bit confused about the best option here, see below)

*SIN-DBV
(DBV-BCN - revenue fare)
*BCN-EWR
*EWR-LAX
*LAX-SYD

I'm a bit confused about what changes I can make in future, if availability opens up on the SYD-DPS route, can I later change my first flight to SYD-DPS? As I understand it, I can then cancel by ADL-DPS flight for a cancellation fee of 6,000 points?

I am considering adding in a longer/more awkwardly timed/non-direct flight option but which is One World and so fits into my classic reward itinerary to get from TPE-SIN instead of buying a direct flight with points on China Airlines. The main reason for this would be because I'd like to fly back into Singapore 2-3 days before my SIN-DBV flight, but I'm worried about somehow not being able to get back to SIN in time because of typhoons etc. that sometimes happen in Taiwan at that time of year. If I add in a TPE-SIN to my current classic reward fare, would they help rebook me on the SIN-DBV if there are issues? I assume the rest of my fare wouldn't automatically cancel then if I missed a flight because an earlier classic reward flight on the same booking reference was canceled, right?

Or, as this is a worse flight option, for the more experienced travellers out there, is 2 and a half days enough leeway to get to my SIN-DBV sector if I choose the direct TPE-SIN China Airlines classic reward flight and need to get on a new flight/wait out a weather event? Would Qantas still cancel my other flights if the reason why I couldn't get there is a because a classic reward flight on a different booking reference got canceled or some type of force majeure?

Thanks again all!