Just wanted to share a successful part-OWA just completed last week, with the second part due next year in Mar 2024.
BKK-DOH-ATH (QR)
ATH-MAD-BIO (IB)
MAD-VIE (IB)
CDG-HND-SYD (JL)
SYD-SIN (BA) - 2024
SIN-SYD (BA) - 2024
The trip commenced end-June, and there were a number of surface sectors in Europe taken separately over the 4-5 wk trip and also positioned myself via an SQ reward ticket with a stopover to visit family (SYD-SIN-BKK).
I've just finished my 318K OWA trip. All went well until the last leg which made for a tiring finish but also showed the benefit of not accepting the first Qantas call centre's solutions.
Itinerary was :
SYD-BLR with Qantas
BLR-LHR with BA (great J seats)
FCO-HEL with Finnair (smaller planes so J is 3 seats with middle seat left empty)
HEL-LHR with Finnair then LHR-JFK with BA
Own flight from LGA-ORD but booked with AA as a Economy QFF leg using 12K points (taxes about $US6) Less than 12K points actually as Qantas had a points reduction sale on when I booked
ORD-HND-KUL-SYD with JAL and Malaysian Airlines
This is where the fun began, after an 8 hour wait at HND the 23:55 flight was cancelled due to a mechanical issue. After 3 hours of queuing, I managed to get a direct flight from HND-SYD with ANA but not until 22:00 the following day. Gave the lounge and showers a good nudge at HND - 31 hours minus queuing and airport exit and re-entry time. Yes, that's right, with the flight cancellation, I had to exit the airport through immigration and customs, get my bag from the cancelled plane off the carousel and re-enter the airport which at HND means long long queues.
Because of the flight change I was going to miss my Qantas domestic flight from Syd to home. I had done this as a seperate booking, not on the 318K itinerary. I rang Qantas and old mate #1 wanted to charge me $99 pp for the change and reticket the route at some ridiculous fare price. Also said there were no seats on the next available flight and I'd have to wait 7 hours in SYD
I said thanks but no thanks and hung up, hoping to book the route home on reward points. No reward flights were available so I called back preparing to pay out big $ for the domestic leg and hit the lounge in SYD making up $600+ in G&Ts. Old mate #2 (actually a lovely lady at Qantas) just tacked the domestic leg onto my 318K booking reference and charged me nothing - and got me on the next flight, the one with no apparent seats (plane was one third empty)
Qantas phone support - too many old mates and not enough lovely ladies