Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[Des1801]

Hey all, hoping I can get some advice how surface sectors (or flights organised separately outside of the RTW) are treated wrt to stopovers.

Ie if I fly into JFK, stay for a couple of days then take a seperate flight (outside of the RTW booking) to LAS before then continuing on to Mexico after that, will it be treated as one stop over (NYC) or will both NYC and Vegas be counted as a stopover ?

 

[RichardMEL]

Hey all, hoping I can get some advice how surface sectors (or flights organised separately outside of the RTW) are treated wrt to stopovers.

Ie if I fly into JFK, stay for a couple of days then take a seperate flight (outside of the RTW booking) to LAS before then continuing on to Mexico after that, will it be treated as one stop over (NYC) or will both NYC and Vegas be counted as a stopover ?

Fairly certain it is treated as an open jaw and one stopover starting in JFK and ending in LAS. Iirc in a PNR sometimes can go in as ARNK "segment" for unknown arrival or "own arrangements" for surface sector between the two points but as far as the RTW is concerned it is one stop.

Note the mileage between the points (eg JFK-LAS) I believe counts for MPM purposes - but direct, not your actual travel into Mexico.

Happy to be corrected though as things may have changed.

 

[Thomas088]

To share my experience, I've finally locked in the last flight for my OWA in J yesterday. Booked most legs online, then I called to add in the last two flights as they became available. On both occasions had capable (offshore) agents who were able to see the same availability as me and add flights to an existing booking without trouble.

I was worried about how I would go adding the HND-SYD leg, seeing as these seats seem to be snapped up within about 30 seconds of being released online - but the agent was amazing and after I gave her all the flight details she was happy to wait a few minutes until exactly 12pm AEDT (when JAL release seats) to refresh her screen and locked in the seats within seconds! I did need to email the rewards escalation email to get the new e-ticket sent, but good to go now

Full itinerary is below, I'll continue to monitor for a QF release of SYD-JNB seats - but happy with what we've managed to get!

QF SYD-PER
Surface Sector Perth to Cape Town (have booked SAA J for PER-JNB with Velocity points)
BA CPT-LHR
AY MUC-HEL-RVN
AY RVN-HEL-ARN (in Y)
JL FRA-NRT
JL HND-SYD

Now fingers crossed that schedule changes don't cause havoc to our plans!

 

[Mr H]

To share my experience, I've finally locked in the last flight for my OWA in J yesterday. Booked most legs online, then I called to add in the last two flights as they became available. On both occasions had capable (offshore) agents who were able to see the same availability as me and add flights to an existing booking without trouble.

I was worried about how I would go adding the HND-SYD leg, seeing as these seats seem to be snapped up within about 30 seconds of being released online - but the agent was amazing and after I gave her all the flight details she was happy to wait a few minutes until exactly 12pm AEDT (when JAL release seats) to refresh her screen and locked in the seats within seconds! I did need to email the rewards escalation email to get the new e-ticket sent, but good to go now

Full itinerary is below, I'll continue to monitor for a QF release of SYD-JNB seats - but happy with what we've managed to get!

QF SYD-PER
Surface Sector Perth to Cape Town (have booked SAA J for PER-JNB with Velocity points)
BA CPT-LHR
AY MUC-HEL-RVN
AY RVN-HEL-ARN (in Y)
JL FRA-NRT
JL HND-SYD

Now fingers crossed that schedule changes don't cause havoc to our plans!

Ah, you’re going to see Father Christmas. Say hi from me to Napsu the Elf while you’re there.

 

[Gromit]

Looking to book business class RTW capped at 318k for 2025. I understand you can add sectors after booking as long as you don't break the rules for the capped award. Given the poor seat availability I want to book the first half of my flights as soon as award seats become available. Is it valid to book say Canberra-Sydney-LA-Miami and then add the rest of the segments when those seats are released a few weeks later or is it only mid trip sectors I can add?

 

[p--and--t]

Looking to book business class RTW capped at 318k for 2025. I understand you can add sectors after booking as long as you don't break the rules for the capped award. Given the poor seat availability I want to book the first half of my flights as soon as award seats become available. Is it valid to book say Canberra-Sydney-LA-Miami and then add the rest of the segments when those seats are released a few weeks later or is it only mid trip sectors I can add?

The 319k award is not a RTW ticket.

This thread is for those questions

"oneworld" award (132.4K/249.6K/318K/455K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Note that this is not exclusively a "Round The World" Award. While it can be so used, it can also be used for "Round Trips", "Circle" Trips or even "one-way trips" without actually going "Round The World". Also note the following from the T&C review that comes up on Qantas.com if you have...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[elanshin]

One of my AA domestic flight times have been changed and I've been offered with a new flight. How long do I have before I have to accept the new flight? (Travel in August).

I assume it doesn't affect the ticket status right?

 

[cjd600]

One of my AA domestic flight times have been changed and I've been offered with a new flight. How long do I have before I have to accept the new flight? (Travel in August).

I assume it doesn't affect the ticket status right?

I'd accept it sooner rather than later.
If the new option does not suit, I would call sooner rather than later...

 

[elanshin]

I'd accept it sooner rather than later.
If the new option does not suit, I would call sooner rather than later...

Big difference is if i call today I'm still SG. If i call in 8 days, I'll be WP.

And also I know that I need Hobart or Auckland to reticket, also has a big factor. None of the other offices can deal with my ticket.

 

[RichardMEL]

Big difference is if i call today I'm still SG. If i call in 8 days, I'll be WP.

Won't have a lot of bearing with relation to AAvailability through QF, but I guess better chance as WO of getting access to better agents at QF.

 

[elanshin]

Won't have a lot of bearing with relation to AAvailability through QF, but I guess better chance as WO of getting access to better agents at QF.

Problem is I already know my ticket can't be reticketed by anywhere but Hobart due to previous interactions.

Hobart had to contact me and even they initially got it wrong. Only at my suggestion, they looked into it, called back a week later and said "wow you got it right, its now fixed and ticketed".

 

[madrooster]

Problem is I already know my ticket can't be reticketed by anywhere but Hobart due to previous interactions.

Hobart had to contact me and even they initially got it wrong. Only at my suggestion, they looked into it, called back a week later and said "wow you got it right, its now fixed and ticketed".

Can I ask what is wrong with the PNR/ticket? This is a straight forward involuntary reissue if you aren't needing to change the AA flight.

 

[elanshin]

Can I ask what is wrong with the PNR/ticket? This is a straight forward involuntary reissue if you aren't needing to change the AA flight.

If I just want to accept then yes, I can hit it online and be done, but if I want to change anything, reticketing can't be done by any other QF location.

OWA first leg originates from CGK thus IDR is the currency and basically every QF call centre AND Indonesia office washes their hands and says can't do.

 

[madrooster]

If I just want to accept then yes, I can hit it online and be done, but if I want to change anything, reticketing can't be done by any other QF location.

OWA first leg originates from CGK thus IDR is the currency and basically every QF call centre AND Indonesia office washes their hands and says can't do.

Did you pay in IDR or AUD?

If you paid in IDR... if you are doing ex-CGK in future, get it ticketed in AUD from AU point of sale. it'll save you a tonne of headaches. Same goes for ex-BKK.

Are you looking to change the AA flight?

 

[elanshin]

Did you pay in IDR or AUD?

If you paid in IDR... if you are doing ex-CGK in future, get it ticketed in AUD from AU point of sale. it'll save you a tonne of headaches. Same goes for ex-BKK.

Are you looking to change the AA flight?

It's IDR. Also can't get it done with AUD i thought. Its 3 trips on one OWA using Aus as 2 stops. AA cancelled their DFW > IAD and shifted me to a flight 2 hr earlier to DCA but I just wanted to see if there are other options to move the flight.

 

[madrooster]

You can ticket in any currency that QF has a ticketing office in (which is most of your major currencies, GBP, EUR, USD, CAD, ZAR, HKD, JPY and a few others), from any origin.

If you start the booking online, then use the multi city tool and book a SYD-MEL (or any other AU domestic) with a dummy date as your first segment. then CGK-SYD/MEL/whatever your ex-CGK segment is. When you make the first change to the itinerary to add segments, you drop the SYD-MEL.

If booking via the contact centre just ask for it to be ticketed in AUD in AU point of sale.

Send me your booking ASAP and which flight you want as I am sending a batch of PNRs off to AA tomorrow to confirm alternative flights in redemption classes so I can include yours.

 

[MelbFlyer]

Not really OWA related (but still sort of somewhat related as it's a rewards redemption), I've booked a few business reward seats with partner airlines (MU / CI / CX and JL).

I booked the main / longer flights (MU and JL) first a few months ago as these were harder to find and secure - especially the JL one coming back to Australia - as soon as they were available, they were snapped up (we procrastinated one night and the next day, the said business reward seats were gone).

We then looked at short / regional flights within Asia and there was plenty of awards availability so we decided to book at a later time when we got more points etc.

We got CI and CX business reward seats a few days ago.

The CI and CX itineraries were ticketed within 10mins of completing the bookings (1 flight per PNR)
The MU and JL ones on the other hand, even after 45mins - 1hr, no itinerary and e-ticket was received so I called up to get it done - it was then issued within 15mins of calling.

I booked these under 3 PNRs as I knew all about the partner awards ticketing issue / saga and just wanted to avoid said issues if changing the original PNR (if even able to add legs if consultants can even see the seats I'm looking at online!)

Surely OWA itineraries can also be done within a reasonable amount of time. Seems it's just too hard.

 

[sap1l]

I made a change to an existing OWA this afternoon, and call center staff are having problems re-ticketing - they say that I need to wait for someone at rewardsticketingescalations to ticket it.

Fine, but MH have been very trigger happy with getting rid of non-ticketed flights - I have already had to get a cancelled MH flight reinstated.

I suspect the problem with ticketing is that I changed the point of origin from SYD to KUL.

Is this a HUACA situation? Been through 10 agents now, and I've gotten a couple of agents that seem to understand the problem, and have waited with me on the phone for 30 mins waiting for a ticket, only to say that they cannot ticket it on their end.

RJ MMB no longer displays the e-ticket.

 

[MelbFlyer]

Is this a HUACA situation?

Yes, call until you get someone who can ticket the itinerary ASAP.

 

[madrooster]

Is this a HUACA situation? Been through 10 agents now, and I've gotten a couple of agents that seem to understand the problem, and have waited with me on the phone for 30 mins waiting for a ticket, only to say that they cannot ticket it on their end.

RJ MMB no longer displays the e-ticket.

Have you been given the tax amount you need to pay?