Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[levelnine]

Happy to be proved wrong and advised accordingly.

seats.aero only tracks SEA-ANC on AS, not AA or QF.

If seats.aero's search function for AS cannot differentiate between awards available to partners and awards not available to partners, you're out of luck.

 

[ozflier]

I think you are right, way forward would be to request them to add the route on https://seats.aero/qantas/routes

I have but they say it is not a priority.

 

[Mr H]

seats.aero only tracks SEA-ANC on AS, not AA or QF.

If seats.aero's search function for AS cannot differentiate between awards available to partners and awards not available to partners, you're out of luck.

I have just had a look at that website and I can see that many of the routes I have used for QF OWAs are not tracked. This makes the site about as useful as a chocolate teapot.

Quite specifically, I have found zero routes listed for any flights involving Lahore, Tehran, London City, Baghdad, Belfast City. And it's not just less fashionable routes that are not listed - Edinburgh to London is not there - nor is Kuala Lumpur to Tokyo Narita - nor Colombo to Delhi. And these are just the destinations/routes I have wanted for 2022 and 2023 bookings. Presumably others will also be finding huge blind spots. It's hardly something I would pay $120 a year for.

 

[Hamole]

They have only just added QFF so I think lots of routes not on there for Qantas specifically. For example, Kuala Lumper-NRT is on there for AA. If you set up an alert for AA it would more than likely be available on QFF, I had success with this.

Agreed though certainly has lots of limitations and I won't keep it beyond a couple of months of planning.

 

[ellen10]

I have paid positioning flights from SYD to SIN, on the day prior to my Oneworld award flights, booked through Qantas (but on JAL flight numbers) that commence from Singapore.
I have JAL Business reward flights next April, from Singapore to Budapest, via Tokyo and Helsinki to Budapest.

Because of the no flying over Russian airspace, at the moment, these flights and this route is not really happening. If I look at these flights in this direction most are going via Tokyo and then via London to Budapest, up until the end of March 2024. My concern is that the "no flying" over Russian airspace will not be resolved by next April.

My worry is how is this managed? Is it Qantas that will offer alternatives? Or Japan Airlines? I am also concerned that all business class seats will be gone by the time this schedule is changed. There are no alternative business class reward seats when I look now for those dates. So I am locked in at present.

Any thoughts or insights? I realise that I can't do anything at present, but it doesn't stop me from worrying.

 

[PointsTraveller!]

I have paid positioning flights from SYD to SIN, on the day prior to my Oneworld award flights, booked through Qantas (but on JAL flight numbers) that commence from Singapore.
I have JAL Business reward flights next April, from Singapore to Budapest, via Tokyo and Helsinki to Budapest.

Because of the no flying over Russian airspace, at the moment, these flights and this route is not really happening. If I look at these flights in this direction most are going via Tokyo and then via London to Budapest, up until the end of March 2024. My concern is that the "no flying" over Russian airspace will not be resolved by next April.

My worry is how is this managed? Is it Qantas that will offer alternatives? Or Japan Airlines? I am also concerned that all business class seats will be gone by the time this schedule is changed. There are no alternative business class reward seats when I look now for those dates. So I am locked in at present.

Any thoughts or insights? I realise that I can't do anything at present, but it doesn't stop me from worrying.

This happened to me. Was booked on flight from Mel-Nrt-Fra which was re scheduled so couldn’t make my connection. This was a direct impact of not being able to fly over Russia. kept at Qantas via twitter and messenger. Eventually they re accommodated me on Syd-hnd then Nrt-Fra instead. Took some work and is not as direct but still all in business.

 

[ellen10]

Thanks @PointsTraveller! for your information. So they originally sent you a re scheduled flight that didn't work?
How far out was this change offered? Do you have any status? I don't have any status.

So you didn't call you just used twitter and messenger?

 

[PointsTraveller!]

Thanks @PointsTraveller! for your information. So they originally sent you a re scheduled flight that didn't work?
How far out was this change offered? Do you have any status? I don't have any status.

So you didn't call you just used twitter and messenger?

Correct they sent me my updated scheduled flights and I arrived from my first flight bagged my connecting flight departed. No status - Bronze but PC+. Took me around a week to have all sorted again.

Didn’t call, was just working the online portals and being very persistent that it was their issue not mine.

 

[frodo]

I have JAL Business reward flights next April, from Singapore to Budapest, via Tokyo and Helsinki to Budapest.

Because of the no flying over Russian airspace, at the moment, these flights and this route is not really happening. If I look at these flights in this direction most are going via Tokyo and then via London to Budapest, up until the end of March 2024. My concern is that the "no flying" over Russian airspace will not be resolved by next April.

What do you mean? JL47/48 is still operating, although with a reduced schedule (4 or 5 times a week rather than daily), so this could potentially be an issue.

JAL's schedule for the Northern summer (i.e from 30 March 2024 onwards) is also yet to reflect the longer flying time or the reduced flights.
JL47 is scheduled for a 8.25am departure and a 2.40pm arrival from Nov 2023 to March 2024, but after 30 March 2024, it is scheduled for a 10.40am departure and 2.55pm arrival which is highly unlikely - I expect they will change the timing soon when they finalise the Summer 2024 schedule.

Finnair flights from Helsinki to Budapest seem to be operating as per normal as it isn't really affected by the Russian airspace closure.

Edit:

https://www.jal.co.jp/jp/en/info/2023/inter/europe-russia/

Just saw from the JAL website that they are suspending flights to Helsinki from October 29, and yet, they are still selling flights.
Can the ACCC fine them too?

Or am I reading that website wrong and it's just suspended on Oct 29 for 1 day only? Confusing...

 

[ellen10]

Thanks for your reply @frodo , yes you are right JL47 is still operating but not on our scheduled flight day, a Thursday, according to the current schedule it will not operate on our flight date 25 April. If you try to book flights on that date via Helsinki it is not offered. So I think they may continue this schedule for the Northern summer.

So my concern is how they will address this and when a change may be made to our flights. We need to be in Budapest by Friday 26 April. I will make a flexible booking for my Budapest night of the 25 April. We don't want these award flights cancelled as it will mess up the rest of our ongoing award flights.

Our return flights are via London JL42 to Tokyo, so I think that connection may be ok.

 

[soarer]

Fellow frequent flyers
I have a current OWA booking that I will reluctantly
cancel at 9pm Queensland time tonight 29Sept2023.
Not sure when they will appear available on the website
Hopefully this will give a heads up to members who are interested in these flights.

13/10/23 00:55 BNE-HKG CX156 Prem Eco x2
14/10/23 00:45 HKG-YVR CX888 BUS x2
30/10/23 13:40 NY(JFK)-HND JL5 BUS x2
03/11/23 10:55 HND-SIN JL37 BUS x2
06/11/23 16:45 SIN-HKG CX734 BUS x2
07/11/23 18:35 HKG-SYD QF128 BUS x2
09/11/23 07:30 SYD-BNE QF506 BUS x2

Good Luck.

 

[ShelleyB]

Fellow frequent flyers
I have a current OWA booking that I will reluctantly
cancel at 9pm Queensland time tonight 29Sept2023.
Not sure when they will appear available on the website
Hopefully this will give a heads up to members who are interested in these flights.

13/10/23 00:55 BNE-HKG CX156 Prem Eco x2
14/10/23 00:45 HKG-YVR CX888 BUS x2
30/10/23 13:40 NY(JFK)-HND JL5 BUS x2
03/11/23 10:55 HND-SIN JL37 BUS x2
06/11/23 16:45 SIN-HKG CX734 BUS x2
07/11/23 18:35 HKG-SYD QF128 BUS x2
09/11/23 07:30 SYD-BNE QF506 BUS x2

Good Luck.

Sorry to hear that Soarer. Thanks for the heads up to everyone though.

 

[Des1801]

So I have finally managed to piece together my itinerary, as follows (all in J):

QF MEL-HKG (stopover)
BA HKG-LHR (stopover)
BA LHR-AMS (stopover)
Surface sector to Rome
BA FCO-LHR-JFK (stopover)
Surface sector to Philadelphia
AA PHL-LAS (Stopover)
Surface sector to Mexico then back to LA
QF LAX-MEL

Whilst it only comes to a bit over 26k miles (including surface sectors), so well under the 35k allowed, I am pretty sure that if I added anymore legs I’d go over the 318k points cost due to exceeding 5 stopovers, is that correct ?

 

[Warragul]

So I have finally managed to piece together my itinerary, as follows (all in J):

QF MEL-HKG (stopover)
BA HKG-LHR (stopover)
BA LHR-AMS (stopover)
Surface sector to Rome
BA FCO-LHR-JFK (stopover)
Surface sector to Philadelphia
AA PHL-LAS (Stopover)
Surface sector to Mexico then back to LA
QF LAX-MEL

Whilst it only comes to a bit over 26k miles (including surface sectors), so well under the 35k allowed, I am pretty sure that if I added anymore legs I’d go over the 318k points cost due to exceeding 5 stopovers, is that correct ?

Yes.

 

[Must...Fly!]

You could get Eurostar from London to Amsterdam instead.

 

[Des1801]

You could get Eurostar from London to Amsterdam instead.

Did consider that, but then I read there is going to be no trains on that route next year whilst they do upgrade works

 

[Must...Fly!]

Did consider that, but then I read there is going to be no trains on that route next year whilst they do upgrade works

Would just mean necessitating a change in (probably) Brussels instead of direct. Anyway it would be a way to remove a stopover if you wanted to use it elsewhere

 

[yaziyo]

Even booking a regular cash flight to Amsterdam would be an option. A lot of the time when I look at points flights in Europe, just the surcharges alone cost more than paying cash for a ticket, before you even consider the value of the points.

 

[ufoken]

I attempted to create a 16-flight itinerary on the website, but it seems that the website restricts me from entering more than 6 segments (7130). Interestingly, when I contacted the call center, their agents said that the website should allow up to 10 flights, but of course, it aint working.

As a result, I have to break them into batches with 6 flights max or into one by one. All these flights are available and bookable according to Qantas website. What is the best way to do it?

 

[Mr H]

All these flights are available and bookable according to Qantas website. What is the best way to do it?