Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[elanshin]

I wouldn’t have thought so. You aren’t transiting (or stopping) as your journey is now over.

The end point and the start point are relevant for the 35,000 mile rule as the distance back to the start city is part of the calculation. As you are obviously not travelling beyond the finish point, I can’t see it as being a transit (or a stop).

The end point, even if it is different to the start point, is neither a transit nor a stop.

Yeah I was thinking either that flight, or the system is not liking the 3 Sydney visits for some reason - maybe it thinks the last one is a third transit of SYD rather than the finish point due to needing to include theoretical flight/distance back to CGK?

Should be able to do some dummy bookings in the system to see if it will cap an OWA when including a SkyWest/American Eagle AA flight in the mix.

Yes, that could be it.
As you say: try running a test for each scenario.

SYD - MEL leg is definitely a culprit. I did a dummy 132k Y test using roughly similar distances. without SYD -MEL valid fare. With SYD to MEL - invalid.

This would lead me to conclude that the final leg ending in SYD is counted as a transit stop to CGK (that you're not taking).

 

[elanshin]

AA flight number Operated by SkyWest Airlines for American Eagle is not a problem.

 

[djkelly69]

Could maybe try dropping the MEL-SYD in the middle (and doing that as a surface sector on a separate reward or cash flight) and see if the system likes it then? From memory only the arrival point of a surface sector is the one which the system cares about.

The SYD-DFW leaves pretty late in the afternoon so if you go for an early departure from MEL it wouldn't be too risky and there should be a lot of other MEL-SYD options if your flight happens to get cancelled or delayed.

Not ideal because it will cost you an extra cash or points plus taxes, but unfortunately there may not be much else you can do besides arguing the toss with a machine.

 

[elanshin]

Could maybe try dropping the MEL-SYD in the middle (and doing that as a surface sector on a separate reward or cash flight) and see if the system likes it then? From memory only the arrival point of a surface sector is the one which the system cares about.

The SYD-DFW leaves pretty late in the afternoon so if you go for an early departure from MEL it wouldn't be too risky and there should be a lot of other MEL-SYD options if your flight happens to get cancelled or delayed.

Not ideal because it will cost you an extra cash or points plus taxes, but unfortunately there may not be much else you can do besides arguing the toss with a machine.

Not sure if the system will like that more than dropping the SYD > MEL. The MEL > SYD is a married segment for MEL > DFW. (otherwise I would have given a lot more time at the SYD F lounge). I was basically stretched to keep the original booking valid and under 6 flights.

But yes the problem is almost certainly now the computer thinking theres 3 transfers at SYD. Tested dummy. Doing PVG > SYD > MEL then SYD > DFW works. PVG > SYD, MEL > SYD > DFW both are valid.

 

[DC3]

Called 3 agents so far and all say that you cannot add flights to an existing booking. That they can only create a new booking and then 'link' to the current one (which I know from reading here is wrong)

They are telling big fibs

 

[Mr H]

Yeah I was thinking either that flight, or the system is not liking the 3 Sydney visits for some reason - maybe it thinks the last one is a third transit of SYD rather than the finish point due to needing to include theoretical flight/distance back to CGK?

Should be able to do some dummy bookings in the system to see if it will cap an OWA when including a SkyWest/American Eagle AA flight in the mix.

I don't think that's it, but if it is then it could be neutered by adding in a final sector SYD-xx_ a few days after your arrival in SYD, thereby making it a stop and not a transit. If you have enough of a gap, you can then cancel that dummy sector once you get to SYD and get a refund of the taxes.

 

[elanshin]

I don't think that's it, but if it is then it could be neutered by adding in a final sector SYD-xx_ a few days after your arrival in SYD, thereby making it a stop and not a transit. If you have enough of a gap, you can then cancel that dummy sector once you get to SYD and get a refund of the taxes.

It is indeed the problem. A dummy booking with a SYD > MEL Transit then MEL > SYD transit and ending in SYD was invalid for OWA, but the same itinerary with one of the transits through SYD removed was valid.

Given the fact that this booking is in IDR and most of the call centres don't want to touch IDR, I'd suspect it'll be a major hassle to get a refund for the taxes.

Ill probably just end up not booking one of the SYD <> MEL legs and just separately pick it up.

 

[Mr H]

It is indeed the problem. A dummy booking with a SYD > MEL Transit then MEL > SYD transit and ending in SYD was invalid for OWA, but the same itinerary with one of the transits through SYD removed was valid.

But that doesn't tell you whether the problem was with ending in SYD or whether it was some married sector logic in the earlier flight.

 

[elanshin]

But that doesn't tell you whether the problem was with ending in SYD or whether it was some married sector logic in the earlier flight.

Whilst true i haven't fully tested that side as culprits, this was definitely found to be one culprit. It is true that there could be multiple errors which is what I'll check next (I scheduled HBA to give me a call back in a couple of days).

 

[User2059]

Hi, sorry if this is the wrong place to post this but am starting to look into doing such a trip and was just wondering what's the cheapest airports and airlines in terms of fuel/carrier/etc charges?

 

[MelbFlyer]

Hi, sorry if this is the wrong place to post this but am starting to look into doing such a trip and was just wondering what's the cheapest airports and airlines in terms of fuel/carrier/etc charges?

As long as your first leg starts in Australia, you'll be charged in AUD for the remaining legs, even despite them not being from Australia.

Avoid departing from the UK if you can, as well as completely avoiding Emirates as their taxes are ridiculous.

Japan is also another expensive country to depart from in terms of taxes.

 

[Mr H]

Hi, sorry if this is the wrong place to post this but am starting to look into doing such a trip and was just wondering what's the cheapest airports and airlines in terms of fuel/carrier/etc charges?

I understood AY and JL were cheap and that BA and RJ were expensive. Not sure about the rest.

But I would not spend too long worrying about nickel and diming yourself. A OWA is a luxury product in every sense and if you can't afford to do it in style, save up until you can. The amount you spend on tours, hotels, taxis, food, visas, etc. will add up anyway, even if you do look for the cheapest routes and carriers.

 

[Mr H]

Avoid departing from the UK if you can, as well as completely avoiding Emirates as their taxes are ridiculous.

EK is not eligible for OWA inclusion anyway. Yes, the UK has air passenger duty which can be expensive, especially for premium cabin long haul routes. But you may spend a small fortune and a lot of time trying to avoid it if you are planning to spend time in the UK. May be better to just suck it up.

 

[funnybrus]

Just 2 non-QF OW carriers. I was under the impression there could only be a maximum of two surface legs, albeit an unwritten rule?

• Surface sectors are allowed, and count as one stopover, but the distance between the two airports counts towards your total limit. Although there is no published limit, Qantas seems to allow up to 2 surface sectors per itinerary.

Can anyone confirm that you can have more than 2 surface sectors when adding flights through the call centre?

 

[Mr H]

Can anyone confirm that you can have more than 2 surface sectors when adding flights through the call centre?

In theory you are allowed five surface sectors but overseas agents seem to have invented a rule that only two surface sectors are permissible.

 

[Steph123]

Can anyone confirm that you can have more than 2 surface sectors when adding flights through the call centre?

My OWA for next year has I think 3 or 4 surface sectors so definitely possible

 

[MEL_Traveller]

It is possible to add a domestic leg. I believe it's just the OS call centres believe you can't, at least that's what they have told me but when I recently had contact with the AKL call centre and asked they said you can and added the flight for me. You can also do it when you book online.

Can only include the domestic connectors if it’s offered at the time of booking as a through fare. Using multi-city to add a domestic sector will almost certainly result in an error at the payment stage.

This is when the o/s call centres tell you there are no flights after 8am for example.

I tested this in two ways.

I asked the call centre to book SYD-LAX, and when they tried to add the domestic sector they couldn’t see it.

I think booked the domestic sector first and asked them to add the SYD-LAX, and they couldn’t see the LAX flight.

So there’s a sales restriction, and the system flips to block the connecting sector.

 

[funnybrus]

Hoping the call centre will get back to me with good news, but in the mean time can anyone shed some light on why they may be having some issues ticketing this itinerary?

BNE-(SYD-SCL [QF]
EZE-GIG [BA]
GIG-MAD-MXP) [IB]
FCO-MAD-MEX [IB]
MEX-JFK [AA]

Everything in the brackets is ticketed, the rest is an addition. If there was an issue I would expect it would be with the first domestic tag flight, but the agent is saying it's the flight after the ticketed segment.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Hoping the call centre will get back to me with good news, but in the mean time can anyone shed some light on why they may be having some issues ticketing this itinerary?

BNE-(SYD-SCL [QF]
EZE-GIG [BA]
GIG-MAD-MXP) [IB]
FCO-MAD-MEX [IB]
MEX-JFK [AA]

Everything in the brackets is ticketed, the rest is an addition. If there was an issue I would expect it would be with the first domestic tag flight, but the agent is saying it's the flight after the ticketed segment.

The agent may not actually know! Adding the BNE will usually result in an error.

The rest looks ok!

 

[cloo]

I'm not sure if I've just been lucky, or whether there's been a subtle change in the way calls have been prioritised since they introduced the IVR change for you to read out your booking number.

I'm lowly bronze and have been slowly building up a OWA in J since Feb. My calls earlier in the year to add additional flights all went to the OS call centres and took numerous HUACA to action correctly.

However, over the past few weeks, I've made 3 calls that I'm pretty sure all went to the local call centre (unfortunately I didn't ask to confirm). The contrast in the level of service and knowledge was evident. One of the calls was able to add a SYD-MEL domestic leg to get me home. All changes have been ticketed successfully, with the email being received within a few hours and the ticket number appearing on RJ. As a data point, I've called 131313 at around 10pm and 7am Melb time.