Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[andye]

+1 to LCY being a zoo at busy times (which is most of the time.

No lounges and very limited facilities. I don’t think it’s over stating things to call LCY a large regional airport in a big city.

Good to land in
Ordinary to depart (though sometimes a good option if time-poor)

 

[flapper]

Thanks for advice. Yes Fiji CC. As NB I haven't been able to get through to HBA or AKL so far this year, that's with many calls. I will call a few more times to see what they can do. Just a bit of difficult when I am at work with the long call wait times. It has happened to me 3 times previously, some years ago of course, with cancelled flights and QF requested that BA open rewards seats on other flights even though none of those cancellations involved BA. Fingers crossed. BTW restart of QF SYD to SFO flights pushed back to end of Oct.
Update: After 2 drop outs I got through to Fiji after 1 hour. She spoke to her support team as I waited for about 20 mins. They will put a request through to AA to release a seat. I suggested 2 flights that would suit. It will take 24-48 hours and she said they will call me back. I won't be counting on the call back though.

A further update. A few hours later I was looking at Check My Trip and a SFO-LAX flight was included on my OWA itinerary, it was also showing on QF and AA. I rang QF to get it ticketed. I was told because it is a revenue ticket added to a rewards intinerary they need approval from AA, that could take 2-3 days. I'll keep checking and hoping. If AA refuse I'll try a AS flight, theer aren't any rewards seats showing on QF. If I need to buy a ticket it's not a problem, I'd rather it all on one ticket in case the flight to LAX is cancelled at the last minute (crew shortages not just a QF problem) and I'm stuck in SFO.

 

[DC3]

Unfortunately, what I’ve seen on CMT, MMB and in other airline bookings doesn’t necessarily mean that much until ticketing. I have been able to select seats on AA flights (and QF) where ticketing was still pending. Then, out of the blue, the flights disappeared from the OWA. Reason: no e-ticket was re-issued by QF. Very frustrating.

 

[sudoer]

Appreciate all the advice re LCY/LHR. I will stick with LHR and enjoy breakfast in the lounge.

I'm surprised the taxes are so low given you have two long hauls on Qantas and one LHR departure. My last one had taxes of nearly $2K per person. I guess avoiding QR helps a lot.

The FCO-LHR BA flight connects to QF2 so no APD payable on that LHR departure. It definitely helps that the JL and AY flights have stuff all taxes, and I'm looking forward to trying AYs new non-reclining seats!

QF taxes not ideal but I'm justifying it with a couple of hundred classic award SC.

 

[levelnine]

It definitely helps that the JL and AY flights have stuff all taxes

Indeed. Now that I'm getting my QSuites fix through another award booking, next OWA I'll be looking to stick to AY/JL wherever possible to make it a cheap one. Such a shame that CX is basically a no go at the moment (and perhaps forever). I always found them a cheap option as well.

 

[andye]

Indeed. Now that I'm getting my QSuites fix through another award booking, next OWA I'll be looking to stick to AY/JL wherever possible to make it a cheap one. Such a shame that CX is basically a no go at the moment (and perhaps forever). I always found them a cheap option as well.

HKG being out of action is a pain for trans-Pacific

 

[QF029]

Made some additions to my OWA over the weekend and just received the ticket, it's in a pretty good spot I think, taxes below for reference

View attachment 277670

Wanted to get people's takes on departing LHR vs LCY for the flight to AMS. We will be staying near Paddington so the Heathrow Express is very easy, and we'll have F check-in/lounge at LHR.. but could easily change to an LCY departure. Thoughts?

From Paddington it's a no brainer to use LHR. TFL Rail / Elizabeth line will do the same journey with a couple of stops for a much lower price so look into that. If you were closer to the City or East London then LCY is a great option.

 

[FishFood]

I booked a business award SYD - LHR, which I'm now thinking of turning into a OWA. If I add a domestic award to the beginning, will that be added to the OWA? If the arrival and departure times are less than 24 hours then it'll be a transit? Also because QF1 has a stop in SIN, does this count towards the legs or is it one flight since it is booked under the same flight number?

 

[sudoer]

I booked a business award SYD - LHR, which I'm now thinking of turning into a OWA. If I add a domestic award to the beginning, will that be added to the OWA?

Yes, as long as it's a QF flight. Can't add JQ legs.

If the arrival and departure times are less than 24 hours then it'll be a transit?

Correct

Also because QF1 has a stop in SIN, does this count towards the legs or is it one flight since it is booked under the same flight number?

It's considered one flight.

 

[jeza]

Was bored last night so had a bit of a play to see what was available at short notice & after another look today may have "accidentally"ended up booking a partial OWA. Whether QF actually tickets it or not who knows

So far I've booked

First half of Sept 22 BKK-HEL & HEL-LIS Stop AY
2nd half of Oct 22 DUB-DOH-BNE-SYD Stop QR/QF
1st half of May 23 MEL-NRT Stop JAL

The AY flights I couldn't book it as a married segment so I've got a 12hr layover in Helsinki. I think that's within the rules???

Last night there was a CDG_DOH-ADL but couldn't find it today so I guess I'm visiting Dublin!

I've worked out that I'm at just over 25K in miles so not quite enough left to go into Europe & back to BKK again. Pretty sure I can get to DOH & back to BKK, so might do that or travel around Asia a bit after Japan.

If anyone is looking there was a bit of availability from Bali to Europe in the first half of September with QR

 

[Guvner]

Just received 2 emails from QF regarding the last 2 legs of my OWA in Sept. Seems JL have cancelled the original HEL-HND flight and I've been put on one the next day.
Unfortunately this lands after my last leg back to MEL departs. Of course there's no award availability now.
Really comforting to know they are "monitoring" my connecting flight...
Email states I need to Accept or Cancel the change, but of course there's no Accept option in MMB.




In short I'm instructed to either:
Accept: Function not available on MMB
Cancel: Function available on MMB, however I don't know if that means cancel the flight or cancel the whole itinerary...? Not willing to find out.
Modify: No options available on MMB

This is now the third involuntary change to my OWA and not once has QF actually remedied the problem without me calling multiple times.
Not sure how QF can claim they've changed their schedule due to Covid when it's a JL flight... more nonsense.

 

[DC3]

Just received 2 emails from QF regarding the last 2 legs of my OWA …

I received something similar from QF regarding a cancelled JL (transit) flight:

… we've had to cancel your flight JL774 to Tokyo Narita ……..

…. We're looking at alternative flight options for you and we'll send your new flight details within the next 72 hours once we've rebooked you …

Anyway, that was 8 days ago, and nothing heard since.

Edited (to remove link )

 

[blu]

HKG being out of action is a pain for trans-Pacific

Is that the case in 2023?
I see AA is cancelling routes too with delays in B787 orders.

 

[DC3]

Is that the case in 2023?

Most likely. CX is in a really bad way.

 

[jase05]

With rumours that the Sri Lankan government are looking to sell off debt riddled UL I’d be very wary of booking anything with them in the itinerary

 

[Sale]

I have gleaned heaps of helpful info over the years from this thread - thank you all. I'm in the throes of booking a OWA for next year and have the flights over to Europe booked (hopefully nothing nasty happens to change them).
Something I have not been able to find - a website that gives a list of direct OneWorld flights to/from a specific airport?
Specifically we are returning from IST and most of the award flights seem to be Qatar which would be a lovely direct flight, or through London - but the taxes are pretty gross and I'm also a little concerned about the reported Qatar flights ticketing issues.

To have ready access to which specific ports to look for flights would be great

many thanks
Sale
(PS What is 'MMB')

 

[DC3]

(PS What is 'MMB')

Manage My Booking

 

[pangwen]

I have gleaned heaps of helpful info over the years from this thread - thank you all. I'm in the throes of booking a OWA for next year and have the flights over to Europe booked (hopefully nothing nasty happens to change them).
Something I have not been able to find - a website that gives a list of direct OneWorld flights to/from a specific airport?
Specifically we are returning from IST and most of the award flights seem to be Qatar which would be a lovely direct flight, or through London - but the taxes are pretty gross and I'm also a little concerned about the reported Qatar flights ticketing issues.

To have ready access to which specific ports to look for flights would be great

many thanks
Sale
(PS What is 'MMB')

I usually check the wiki article for the airport and look at the “airlines and destinations” list. Of course you need to know which ones are oneworld, but you memorise them pretty quickly once booking a OWA!

 

[motef]

So the tip here is to look at the airport you want to fly into on Wikipedia and look at the destinations and work backward to where you want to go next looking at only Oneworld Airlines.

So for example if im in BNE and i want to go to Santorini, i look at Santorini Airport on Wikipedia i see
- British Airways to London
- Qatar to Doha
- Finnair to Helsinki
So then look at those airports and keep working backward

But always be flexible.

 

[sudoer]

Something I have not been able to find - a website that gives a list of direct OneWorld flights to/from a specific airport?

The Flight Timetables function in a paid ExpertFlyer sub can be useful for this - for example here is everything departing Athens today. You would deselect all airlines, then select AA AY BA JL RJ QR etc, and deselect codeshares.



End result:



You can also do the same for arrivals.