Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

Realistically as confident as any other bookings you make.

It ultimately depends a lot on which airlines are involved, but outside of operational issues on the day, generally speaking most of the big airlines don't make any major changes within 3 months.
The only real exception are US domestic operations… there can be some pretty substantial changes every time they go between their winter and summer schedules. Mostly affects secondary cities in terms of major service re-timings or discontinuance of service. Major trunks usually limited to timing changes rather than frequency changes.
 
How safe/wise is it, do you think, to include an UL leg in a OWA for Sept 24?

(I recall some talk a while back about how tentative the airline is and am not really across it.)
 
How safe/wise is it, do you think, to include an UL leg in a OWA for Sept 24?

(I recall some talk a while back about how tentative the airline is and am not really across it.)
If you can find an alternative I’d take it. For peace of mind, if nothing else! 9 months is a long time to be worried.
 
I can vouch for that.
I had , as part of a OWA, a connecting flight from Los Angeles to Seattle on American Airlines. in 2 months time.
It departed at 1400 hrs ( I arrived in LAX at 0850 ) It connected with a Seattle to Fairbanks flight on Alaskan at 1930 . Nice "chest pain" free connection.
AA has cancelled 1400 departure and put us on the 1800 one - misconnect!
I rang the QFF number and nil options could be found - on the day before or the day after.
The very competent lady rang the One World Help Desk - Alaskan , even though it flies close to hourly LAX-SEA, refused to make reward seats available because the cancellation is by AA and not them.
Yes, I have tried other connections on AA LAX- SEA eg via ONT,SNA and even landing in PAE ( near Seattle ) and say flying on AA via DEN and DFW - all available misconnect badly ! I even requested release of award seats leaving SYD the day before but nil available .
I'm going to ring after 1 january in case another Alaskan agent is more amenable - from what the QFF agent said , AA is usually reasonable with this kind of thing vs Alaskan.
Very frustrating but that's life !
Cheers for 2024.
 
I can vouch for that.
I had , as part of a OWA, a connecting flight from Los Angeles to Seattle on American Airlines. in 2 months time.
It departed at 1400 hrs ( I arrived in LAX at 0850 ) It connected with a Seattle to Fairbanks flight on Alaskan at 1930 . Nice "chest pain" free connection.
AA has cancelled 1400 departure and put us on the 1800 one - misconnect!
I rang the QFF number and nil options could be found - on the day before or the day after.
The very competent lady rang the One World Help Desk - Alaskan , even though it flies close to hourly LAX-SEA, refused to make reward seats available because the cancellation is by AA and not them.
Yes, I have tried other connections on AA LAX- SEA eg via ONT,SNA and even landing in PAE ( near Seattle ) and say flying on AA via DEN and DFW - all available misconnect badly ! I even requested release of award seats leaving SYD the day before but nil available .
I'm going to ring after 1 january in case another Alaskan agent is more amenable - from what the QFF agent said , AA is usually reasonable with this kind of thing vs Alaskan.
Very frustrating but that's life !
Cheers for 2024.
This seems to be 100% an AA issue, and not AS.

QF should be contacted the AA oneworld assistance desk to get this sorted.
 
I agree-it's a 100% AA issue but.....
Problem is that Alaskan connect me from SEA to FAI not AA and AA does not fly SEA to Anchorage or Fairbanks.
The original AA conx LAX to SEA departed 0800,1400 and 1800.
The 1400 no longer exists.
If I catch the 1800 departure, there are no Alaskan reward seats in the next 2 days SEA to FAI !
 
So AA should look at indirect routing to get you to SEA on time, do not limit yourself to the 3 times daily direct flights.
 
So AA should look at indirect routing to get you to SEA on time, do not limit yourself to the 3 times daily direct flights.
Thank you-have looked at indirect connections on AA via PHX,DEN, DFW and ORD.
Nil can get me to SEA to connect with the Alaskan flight!
 
Consider just buying a 1 way flight LAX-SEA with AS (or other), domestic US flights are generally inexpensive and great SC earners, unless deleting the AA flight means your itinerary no longer meets the OWA requirements.

Whilst it's nice to have this connector included, it isn't imo worth losing the more expensive legs.

If you book the connection as refundable then should an award seat open closer to departure you can always cancel.
 
I agree-it's a 100% AA issue but.....
Problem is that Alaskan connect me from SEA to FAI not AA and AA does not fly SEA to Anchorage or Fairbanks.
The original AA conx LAX to SEA departed 0800,1400 and 1800.
The 1400 no longer exists.
If I catch the 1800 departure, there are no Alaskan reward seats in the next 2 days SEA to FAI !
As Lynda points out, it’s still not an AS issue. AA needs to deal with AS to get seats or whatever released, or even get you on AS out of LAX.
 
Overview

The purpose of this thread is to provide some hope and optimism to those using Qantas points to book a Oneworld Classic Flight Reward.

Many of the posts relating to OWAs on this forum are negative, and understandably so, given Qantas’ enduring administrative failures (e.g. phantom availability, errors issuing tickets, and problems addressing itinerary changes). However, the below is a tale that it can go right, and when it does, it is a fantastic points opportunity.

(There is no intention to discredit or diminish the bad experiences others have had with OWAs, and those who’ve had plans ruined by Qantas’ failings have my sympathies. There will be a separate thread shortly detailing Qantas’ failure to issue a reward ticket on another of our trips.)

Booking

When booking the trip in early January 2023, the briefing was:
  • Christmas 2023 in Brisbane.
  • Reducing our considerable stash of Qantas points.
  • USA to see an NHL game.
  • Japan to catch up with friends in Osaka.
  • A quick stopover (i.e. one night) in Asia.
Based on the above briefing, and flight availability, we booked the following itinerary (all in J):

BA – DUB to LHR
BA – LHR to ORD
JL – ORD to HND
JL – HND to KIX
CX – KIX to HKG
CX – HKG to PER
QF – PER to SYD
CX – SIN to HKG
CX – HKG to LHR

The total cost for 2 passengers was 636,000 points, plus €2,104.56 (Euros as our departure point was Ireland). There were several quirks with our itinerary:
  • Starting in Dublin – we saved over £1,000 by starting the itinerary in Dublin. Some of the savings were attributable to the UK’s high APD (£191 p/p in J from LHR to ORD) which isn’t payable when transiting, but not sure what the additional savings were?
  • HKG to SYD via PER – this was the only option available, though it was fine with us as we needed a QF flight to qualify for a OWA, and the PER to SYD segment would be on an A330 (in theory!).
  • No other domestic flights in Australia – we could have saved money by adding our domestic flying to the OWA itinerary, though we weren’t 100% sure of our plans when booking, and we knew we’d need some flights with VA to requalify for Platinum (which we did).
  • No flight out of Australia – when booking there was simply no availability at all from Australia into Asia in any class (no surprise in late December). Given this limitation, we booked a reasonable economy cash fare on SQ from Brisbane to Singapore.
  • While we could have added segments after making the booking, we were reluctant to do so, as this seemed to be the main source of trouble for others, and we were genuinely happy with what we booked (9 in the hand is worth 16 in the Qantas IT aether!).
Once booked, we selected our seats via the manage my booking function of each airline’s website.

The Dreaded ‘Important – The Departure Date for Your Flight has Changed’ Email

As outlined previously by others on this forum, many of the problems with OWAs seem to start when Qantas’ partner airlines make changes to their schedules, especially with transits, as newly timed flights may not meet an airport’s MCT (or in some cases, the inbound flight arrives after the outbound flight departs!).

For the first 6 months we heard nothing more from Qantas, but in July that changed, and we were hit by a deluge of flight change emails (presumably as the airlines were firming up their 2023 winter schedules):
  • 7 July – BA – LHR to ORD – 20-minute change to departure time
  • 19 July – JL – ORD to HND – 10-minute change to departure time
  • 24 July – CX – HKG to PER – 15-minute change to departure time
  • 24 July – CX – SIN to HKG – departure time moved forward by 9 hours to the middle of the night (1:25am), by far the most irritating change, as we lost our night in Singapore
  • 24 July – CX – HKG to LHR – departure time moved forward by 90 minutes (which is why the SIN to HKG flight was moved forward by 9 hours)
  • 23 August – JL – HND to KIX – 5-minute change to departure time
  • 24 August – CX – HKG to LHR – 15-minute change to departure time
Given the number of changes, and the negative experiences others have had with itinerary changes, we were apprehensive there would be problems re-issuing tickets, and the changes would derail the whole trip.

However, tickets for these changes were reissued on 9 July, 14 August, 23 August, and 24 August. It seems we were extremely lucky, as the 4 changes from 19 July to 24 July were not reticketed until 14 August.

Equipment Swaps

In addition to the above changes, there were the following equipment swaps:

BA – LHR to ORD – switched from B777 with Club Suites to A380
QF – PER to SYD – switched from A330 to B737

While initially disappointed we would not be flying the new Club Suites, the change to the A380 ended up being fine. The seat is definitely not the class-leading seat it was in 2006 (when the refreshed Club World was introduced), but travelling as a couple on the top deck in 53A and 53B, with a load factor of <40%, it was a good experience (it’s nice being able to talk face to face, though it’s understandable this may not be appealing for solo travellers!).

The big disappointment was the QF switch to the B737 as it’s clearly a huge downgrade in hard product (not to mention the underwhelming soft product; the food was fine, but the crew seemed completely ambivalent and were just going through the motions. Admittedly, it’s the first time we’ve experienced such poor service on Qantas).

The Trip

Despite all the schedule changes, and the two equipment swaps, the trip went off (mostly) without a hitch, and we had a fantastic time. We were able to complete online check in for each leg.

The only small drama we had was upon arrival in Singapore when we received a text saying our SIN to HKG flight had been cancelled. Uncertain of the impact on our onward flight to LHR, we got a taxi from Terminal 2 to Terminal 4 (which cost SGD$11 and surprisingly the driver was not bothered by such a short fare), where the staff couldn’t have been more helpful.

We were rebooked onto the next available flight (some 8 hours earlier than our original (re)scheduled flight) and moved onto the next available flight to Heathrow, which meant getting home quite a bit earlier than planned. After such a long trip, that was fine by us!
 
I’m sorry if this has been asked a million times before, I did search the forum but I don’t think my eyes are connecting to my brain. I’m trying to book a multicity reward on the QF site. I’ve never had an issue before, but for some reason I can’t even get this as an option, only individual legs, which are prohibitively high. Has this option been removed or am I doing something wrong? Thank you in advance.
 
I’m sorry if this has been asked a million times before, I did search the forum but I don’t think my eyes are connecting to my brain. I’m trying to book a multicity reward on the QF site. I’ve never had an issue before, but for some reason I can’t even get this as an option, only individual legs, which are prohibitively high. Has this option been removed or am I doing something wrong? Thank you in advance.
You need to try multi City, and plan it out. Start small with just a few legs and see if that works, then keep refining. If you hit the points max out, you're on the right track. Good luck!
 
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You need to try multi City, and plan it out. Start small with just a few legs and see if that works, then keep refining. If you hit the points max out, you're on the right track. Good luck!
Hey, thank you for your reply. I can’t even get the option to use points for a multicity, only the cash figure. I’ll try it from an actual computer, if I can remember my password! I’ve made previous multicity reward flights before, I was just wondering if the site was being glitchy or if it was my brain.
 
Hey, thank you for your reply. I can’t even get the option to use points for a multicity, only the cash figure. I’ll try it from an actual computer, if I can remember my password! I’ve made previous multicity reward flights before, I was just wondering if the site was being glitchy or if it was my brain.
Weird.

Button seems to be gone for me too. (Edit: browser version of site on iOS via safari)

Seems an odd UX change to roll out NYE. Surely a glitch?

Anyhow, this is what bookmarks are for. Try here: https://www.qantas.com/au/en/book-a-trip/flights/multi-city.html
 
I have an 11.5 month OWA journey coming up. The booking process for me wasnt too bad. I booked the whole ticket originally in around June this year however with the dates not yet available in the second half of the booking I just put in some placeholder legs. Last week I called Qantas and had these changed (the last 3 legs) to suit the intended itinerary.

The ticket is:

Auckland-Hong Kong-Osaka (Cathay, Business)
Osaka-Tokyo-Honolulu (Japan Airlines, Premium Economy)
Honolulu-Los Angeles (Alaskan, Business)
Mexico City-London-Helsinki (British / Finnair, Business)
Helsinki-Delhi (Finnair, Business)
Kuala Lumpur-Melbourne (Malaysian, Business)

318000 points (+5000 change fee), $1400 taxes each (NZD)

Pretty happy with the booking. Couldnt get a Business seat on Japan Airlines to Honolulu but that is okay. It was hard to find anything from Asia back to Aus in Business and 12 months out so went with Malaysian. A few land segments but that is what we were planning. Between LA and Mexico we are going right to south to Patagonia on Latam Business award but thats on a separate ticket. My partner and I tried to do a similar trip in 2020 but had to return home after 3 months. We got all the points refunded from that ticket which was nice. A bit harder to get to Sth America on an OneWorld award now that Latam is not part of it.

My experience with Qantas was quite good. No long on holds and very helpful staff. I think I got an Aus call center too. I was thinking it was going to be harder without the Qantas Chat thing being available. That was how i made all the changes when booking the 2020 trip.

Anyway, looking forward to starting this next week. Good luck to others trying to book.
 
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I have an 11.5 month OWA journey coming up. The booking process for me wasnt too bad. I booked the whole ticket originally in around June this year however with the dates not yet available in the second half of the booking I just put in some placeholder legs. Last week I called Qantas and had these changed (the last 3 legs) to suit the intended itinerary.

The ticket is:

Auckland-Hong Kong-Osaka (Cathay, Business)
Osaka-Tokyo-Honolulu (Japan Airlines, Premium Economy)
Honolulu-Los Angeles (Alaskan, Business)
Mexico City-London-Helsinki (British / Finnair, Business)
Helsinki-Delhi (Finnair, Business)
Kuala Lumpur-Melbourne (Malaysian, Business)

318000 points (+5000 change fee), $1400 taxes each (NZD)

Pretty happy with the booking. Couldnt get a Business seat on Japan Airlines to Honolulu but that is okay. It was hard to find anything from Asia back to Aus in Business and 12 months out so went with Malaysian. A few land segments but that is what we were planning. Between LA and Mexico we are going right to south to Patagonia on Latam Business award but thats on a separate ticket. My partner and I tried to do a similar trip in 2020 but had to return home after 3 months. We got all the points refunded from that ticket which was nice. A bit harder to get to Sth America on an OneWorld award now that Latam is not part of it.

My experience with Qantas was quite good. No long on holds and very helpful staff. I think I got an Aus call center too. I was thinking it was going to be harder without the Qantas Chat thing being available. That was how i made all the changes when booking the 2020 trip.

Anyway, looking forward to starting this next week. Good luck to others trying to book.
Welcome to AFF! Enjoy your trip.
 
Hi all, I am starting to plan for an OWA commencing next year. This thread has so much valuable info - thanks to all the regular contributors!

I have done some dummy itineraries using the QANTAS online multi-city flight finder (what a dog of a system that is) and one caught my eye that surprisingly capped out at the 132.4k points. Planning to take a positioning flight and take as two separate holidays within the 12 months. Dummy booking was for:

[separate positioning flight to SIN]
SIN > HEL > LHR
LHR>BCN
[surface segment by rail back to LHR via Paris]
LHR>HKG>SYD
SYD>LAX
[separate ticketed flights within USA]
LAX>MEL


Total of the above is 34,338 miles on GCM, but after adding MEL > SIN to account for a return (assuming the system does this automatically without actually adding a flight?) the total comes to 38,082 miles.

I can get all the way to the 'Book' page after flights are selected and checked. Still showing as the 132.4k points + ~S$1k taxes. Will the system have a hissy fit when I try to pay, or is GCM's margin of error really ~10% and we trust the system?
 
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